r voice shook and sank almost to a whisper---"I am glad that you
care for me."

At this moment a curtain was hastily swung aside and Lily appeared.

"Missy, the mem-sahib asking for you now; please to come quickly," and
with a swift glance at her "missy" obeyed; the _purdah_ fell heavily
behind her slim, white figure and Shafto was alone. His mission had
been fruitless, and yet when he rode away from "Heidelberg" in his
heart he carried the flower of Hope.

CHAPTER XXXIV

ALL IS OVER

That same evening, as Sophy was sitting alone in the veranda after
dinner, Lily ayah appeared, her fat arms uplifted in eloquent appeal.

"Oh, missy--you come with me--I think our mem-sahib soon, soon _die_!"

"Die!" exclaimed Sophy, springing to her feet.

"Yes, somehow these drug people are too clever--she has got cocaine. I
think that water man bring it; anyhow, mem-sahib has taken one big, big
dose, and lies as one gone from the world."

"Send at once for Herr Krauss--he is in his office," and Sophy ran
towards her aunt's room and found, as Lily had described, that her
relative was passing away; indeed, save for her faint breathing, one
would have supposed that she had already crossed the border.

Herr Krauss cast one hurried glance, thundered out of the room, and
rang up the telephone; then he returned and stood gazing at his wife,
his face working with emotion.

"What has happened?" he asked, turning abruptly to Sophy. "_Why_ is
she like this? What does it mean?"

"I cannot tell." A reply which could be taken in two ways.

"It must have been some sudden attack--her heart, I suppose. Marling,
the nearest doctor, will be here instantly." And as he spoke a
square-shouldered, severe-looking man entered. Without a word, but in
a most business-like manner, he made an examination of the patient,
felt her pulse, turned back her eyelids, and then ejaculated an ominous:

"Ha!"

"What is it?" inquired Krauss; "what is the matter with my wife? Is it
serious?"

"Don't you know?" demanded the doctor, turning on him sharply, "it is
cocaine poisoning--the stage."

"Cocaine!" echoed Krauss, and his large buff-coloured face turned to a
leaden hue. "You are mistaken. That is not _possible_!"

"Well, if you don't believe me, get another opinion," retorted the
doctor brusquely. "Judging from the slight examination I have made,
your wife has been taking the drug for _years_."

"Impossible!" almost shouted Krauss.