witnessed the scene which had taken
place with such lightning-like rapidity, sprung forward and grasped the
furious woman, pinioning her hands behind her, and called loudly upon
the servants to come to his aid and remove her from Jay Gardiner's
bedside.

But there was little need of their assistance. Sally Gardiner stood
regarding Bernardine, her hands hanging by her sides, her eyes staring
eagerly at the intruder.

"_You_ here!" she muttered, in an almost inaudible voice. "What are
_you_ doing in his sick-room, _you_ whom he always loved instead of me?
He married _me_ from a sense of honor, but he loved you, and never
ceased to let me understand that to be the case. What are you doing here
now--_you_ of all other women?"

"Come with me quietly into the other room and I will tell you how it
happens that I am here--in _his_ home," whispered Bernardine, huskily.

"No," she shrieked, laughing a hard, jeering, terrible laugh in
Bernardine's white, pain-drawn face as she battled fiercely to shake off
the doctor's hold of her pinioned arms. "I shall not go--I shall not
leave my post until he is _dead_! Do you hear?--until he is dead! I
shall not save him for you! I'd rather be his widow than his unloved
wife!"

"Come!" whispered Bernardine, sternly. "A human life is at stake--he is
dying. You _must_ come with me and let the doctor be free to do his
work. I command you to come!" she added, in a stern, ringing, sonorous
voice that seemed to thrill the other to her very heart's core and
fascinate her--ay, fairly paralyze her will-power. "Come!" repeated
Bernardine, laying a hand on her shoulder--"come out into the grounds
with me, Mrs. Gardiner--out into the fresh air. I have something to tell
you. I had an encounter with Victor Lamont last night," she added in a
whisper, her eyes fixed steadily on the young wife as she slowly uttered
the words.

Their effect was magical on Sally Gardiner. She reeled forward like one
about to faint.

"Let me go out into the grounds alone," she cried, hoarsely. "I must
collect my scattered thoughts. Come to me there in half an hour, and
tell me. I--I can listen to you then."

And with these words, the fiery creature left the room, staggering
rather than walking through the open French window.

The doctor caught Bernardine's hand in his.

"If he lives, it will be to your strategy that he owes his life," he
said, hurriedly. "Now leave the room quickly. In ten minutes I will call
you,