ling, so long as you want
me here."

"I want you--always." Then with a gleam of returning strength and
memory: "What was it they said about your father?"

Lesley shivered.

"Never mind, Ethel, dear," she said.

"But--I know--I remember. That he was--a--oh, I can't say the word. But
that is not true."

"I _know_ it is not true. It is a foolish, cruel mistake."

"It could not be true," Ethel murmured. "He was always kind and good.
Tell him--from me--that I don't believe it, Lesley. And don't let them
take you away from me."

Holding Lesley's hand in hers, at last she fell asleep; and sleep was
the very thing that was likely to restore her. The doctor came and went,
forbidding the household to disturb the quiet of the sick-room; and
after a time, Lesley, exhausted by the excitements and anxieties of the
day, laid her head on the pillow and also slept. It was late in the
afternoon when Maurice Kenyon, stealing softly into the room, found the
two heads close together on one pillow, the arms interlaced, the slumber
of one as deep as of the other. His eyes filled with tears as he looked
at the sleeping figures. "Poor girls!" he muttered to himself. "Well for
them if they can sleep; but I fear that theirs will be a sad awakening."

Suddenly Lesley opened her eyes. The color rushed to her pale cheeks as
she saw who was regarding her, but she had sufficient self-control not
to start or move too hastily. Ethel altered her position at that moment,
and left Lesley free to rise, then sank back to slumber. And, obeying a
silent motion of Maurice Kenyon's hand, Lesley followed him noiselessly
into the dressing-room.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE EVIDENCE.

"She ought not to be left alone: I promised not to leave her," said
Lesley in a low tone.

"I have brought a nurse with me. She can go in and sit by the bed until
you are ready to return," said Maurice, quietly. "Call us, nurse, if my
sister wakes and asks for us; but be very careful not to disturb her
unnecessarily."

The nurse, whose face Lesley scanned with involuntary interest, was
gentle and sensible-looking, with kindly eyes and a strong, well-shaped
mouth. She looked like a woman to be trusted; and Lesley was therefore
not sorry to see her pass into Ethel's room. She had felt very conscious
of her own ignorance of nursing during the past few hours, and had not
much confidence in the sense or judgment of any woman in the house.
Maurice made her sit down, and th