t the fender back, and getting stiffly to her feet, cramped by
nearly an hour's crouching, returned to her own room and locked the
just-found hypodermic case safely away in the bottom of her
travelling-box.

* * * * *

By five o'clock next morning Anne was fully dressed, capped, and
aproned. She made herself a cup of strong black tea over her little
spirit lamp, nibbled two biscuits, and, glancing at her bracelet-watch,
went out with her light, quick step. She passed Chesney's door and
entered the dressing-room. Gaynor, who slept as lightly as a cat,
started wide awake when the nurse entered. He drew the bedclothes to his
chin, feeling with his other hand for his dressing-gown which lay on a
chair near by. He could never get used to the unceremonious entrances of
this little stranger woman into his bedroom. She came to him, her finger
against her lips, bent down, and whispered:

"I've found the morphia and the syringe Mr. Chesney has been hiding,
Gaynor. I'm going to tell him of it myself. He'll be rousing about now.
No matter what you hear, don't get frightened. I'm going to lock his
door inside and put the key in my pocket. Don't try to interfere--will
you? Don't come to the door or answer, even if he calls you?"

Gaynor had flushed deeply on hearing of his master's detected falsehood.
Now he turned pale. "Ain't you afraid, Miss?" he asked. He was always
punctiliously civil to the nurse. He felt that it would not be
respectful for one in his position to call her "Nurse"--the little woman
who was trying to save his master. He had a sense of gratitude and of
fitness rare, not only in a servant.

"No!" Anne whispered vigorously. "No; I'm not a bit afraid. I've had
much worse cases than this. I'll manage him."

"He's a gentleman with a very high spirit, Miss."

"I'm not afraid of his high spirit. Maybe it won't be so high when I'm
through with him. I'm an Australian, you know, Gaynor. I don't think
Australians are as afraid of their menfolk as Englishwomen. You must
keep quiet till I'm through. That's all."

She turned and went out, passing through the connecting door into
Chesney's bedroom. She locked the door as she had said, pocketing the
key. Shrewdly she glanced at the still sleeping man. He had been asleep
for ten hours now. She knew that at the stage of morphinomania that he
had reached the effect of a dose lasted only about four hours when the
victim of the habit was awake,