e_, and expecting moment by moment to hear something
which would give him ample excuse for rushing in.

"And what good will that do?" he argued, as his spirits grew lower and
lower. "It'll be too late then, for I ought to be there to stop him.
He's half-mad, and if I was there I might prevent it; but he would not
have it. He'd tell me I was mad to think of such a thing, and kick me
out!"

"Well," he said to himself, after waiting for an interminable time, all
worry and indecision, "I've a good mind to risk his being angry; for I'm
sure he wants something to eat. I will, before it's too late."

He rose from his seat once more, and was in the act of crossing the
lobby, when a piteous cry escaped his lips, for there was a sharp
concussion, the windows of the place he was in rattled, and he heard the
sound of a heavy fall!

Crying out "Too late! too late!" he dashed at the door, flung it open,
and entered.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

DEAD OR ALIVE?

As Jerry rushed into Lacey's room, it was with the full expectation of
seeing the master for whom he had begun to feel a warm respect
stretched, face downward, upon the carpet; but the place was vacant,
and, panting and trembling, he ran on to where the heavy curtain draped
the bedroom door, swung it aside, and rushed in--there to see that the
lieutenant, in shirt and trousers, had fallen upon the bed, from which
he was now evidently writhing and struggling to the floor.

Jerry was a man of resource. He had not been servant and valet to
gentlemen for years without picking up a great deal--nursing being one
of his accomplishments.

"Badly, perhaps fatally, wounded," he thought, "and immediate aid might
be invaluable;" so, with this idea uppermost, he flung himself upon the
young officer just as his feet touched the carpet, stooped down, and, by
a clever quick motion, seized him round the knees, lifted his legs, and
threw him on his back.

"Oh, how could you--how could you?" he cried, as he leant over him,
pressing him down with his head on the pillow, and searched him wildly
with his eyes, and then with one hand, for the wound.

"Do you hear?" he half-whimpered. "How could you? Oh, Mr Lacey, sir,
how could you?"

The young officer's eyes looked fixed and staring, his face was white
and drawn, and his mind was evidently confused and wandering. For the
first few moments he struggled violently; then he lay back panting with
his lips apart, while Jerry went on e