ked toward the sofa, considered with
herself for a moment, and answered Mr. Bashwood's inquiry by a question
on her side.

"Is the cab that brought you here from the railway still at the door?"

"Yes."

"Drive at once to the gates of the Sanitarium, and wait there till I
join you."

Mr. Bashwood hesitated. She lifted her eyes to his, and, with a look,
sent him out of the room.

"The gentleman is coming to, ma'am," said the landlady, as the steward
closed the door. "He has just breathed again."

She bowed in mute reply, rose, and considered with herself once
more--looked toward the sofa for the second time--then passed through
the folding-doors into her own room.

After a short lapse of time the surgeon drew back from the sofa and
motioned to the landlady to stand aside. The bodily recovery of the
patient was assured. There was nothing to be done now but to wait, and
let his mind slowly recall its sense of what had happened.

"Where is she?" were the first words he said to the surgeon, and the
landlady anxiously watching him.

The landlady knocked at the folding-doors, and received no answer. She
went in, and found the room empty. A sheet of note-paper was on the
dressing-table, with the doctor's fee placed on it. The paper contained
these lines, evidently written in great agitation or in great haste: "It
is impossible for me to remain here to-night, after what has happened.
I will return to-morrow to take away my luggage, and to pay what I owe
you."

"Where is she?" Midwinter asked again, when the landlady returned alone
to the drawing-room.

"Gone, sir."

"I don't believe it!"

The old lady's color rose. "If you know her handwriting, sir," she
answered, handing him the sheet of note-paper, "perhaps you may believe
_that_?"

He looked at the paper. "I beg your pardon, ma'am," he said, as he
handed it back--"I beg your pardon, with all my heart."

There was something in his face as he spoke those words which more than
soothed the old lady's irritation: it touched her with a sudden pity
for the man who had offended her. "I am afraid there is some dreadful
trouble, sir, at the bottom of all this," she said, simply. "Do you wish
me to give any message to the lady when she comes back?"

Midwinter rose and steadied himself for a moment against the sofa. "I
will bring my own message to-morrow," he said. "I must see her before
she leaves your house."

The surgeon accompanied his patient into the street.