on't be anxious--she's not suffering just now. We
shall send for the doctor soon. She's very plucky"; and with an
unaccustomed sensation of respect and pity she repeated: "Don't be
anxious, sir."

"If she wants to see me at any time, I shall be in my study. Save her
all you can, nurse."

The nurse was left with a feeling of surprise at having used the word
"Sir"; she had not done such a thing since--since--! And, pensive, she
returned to the nursery, where Gyp said at once:

"Was that my father? I didn't want him to know."

The nurse answered mechanically:

"That's all right, my dear."

"How long do you think before--before it'll begin again, nurse? I'd like
to see him."

The nurse stroked her hair.

"Soon enough when it's all over and comfy. Men are always fidgety."

Gyp looked at her, and said quietly:

"Yes. You see, my mother died when I was born."

The nurse, watching those lips, still pale with pain, felt a queer pang.
She smoothed the bed-clothes and said:

"That's nothing--it often happens--that is, I mean,--you know it has no
connection whatever."

And seeing Gyp smile, she thought: 'Well, I am a fool.'

"If by any chance I don't get through, I want to be cremated; I want to
go back as quick as I can. I can't bear the thought of the other thing.
Will you remember, nurse? I can't tell my father that just now; it might
upset him. But promise me."

And the nurse thought: 'That can't be done without a will or something,
but I'd better promise. It's a morbid fancy, and yet she's not a morbid
subject, either.' And she said:

"Very well, my dear; only, you're not going to do anything of the sort.
That's flat."

Gyp smiled again, and there was silence, till she said:

"I'm awfully ashamed, wanting all this attention, and making people
miserable. I've read that Japanese women quietly go out somewhere by
themselves and sit on a gate."

The nurse, still busy with the bedclothes, murmured abstractedly:

"Yes, that's a very good way. But don't you fancy you're half the
trouble most of them are. You're very good, and you're going to get on
splendidly." And she thought: 'Odd! She's never once spoken of her
husband. I don't like it for this sort--too perfect, too sensitive; her
face touches you so!'

Gyp murmured again:

"I'd like to see my father, please; and rather quick."

The nurse, after one swift look, went out.

Gyp, who had clinched her hands under the bedclothes, fixed