besides: "One drop of this
stains the hands, and it can not be got off for months. I thought this
might be sufficient reason for placing this young girl at your
disposal."

"You are very thoughtful, sir," said Nadine Holt, sweetly; but Dorothy
spoke never a word.

Both doctors turned and looked keenly at her; then the conversation
drifted quickly into another channel; but both had made up their minds
that this boded no good for the slender, dark-looking woman with the
blue glasses who hovered continually about the sick girl's couch.

As the doctors were leaving, under guise of giving a few words of
instruction to Myra, the mulatto girl, they whispered hurriedly in her
ear.

"I understand," she answered, with a nod of her head. "Nothing shall
escape my eye."

The next day Doctor Crandall made minute inquiries regarding every
member of the household, and every addition that had been made to it for
the past few months; and he learned, casually, that the only person
under that roof with whose history the Garners were not thoroughly
acquainted was--Mrs. Brown.

Furthermore, he discovered that she had secured the place without proper
recommendations. This he considered a serious affair. He was quite
willing to give her the benefit of a doubt; still, it was too grave a
matter of which he had charge. Every moment of time wasted in
discovering the perpetrator of the awful crime was dangerous to Miss
Staples, his beautiful patient, exposed to such deadly peril.

All unmindful of the espionage placed upon her, Dorothy went about her
duties in the same faithful manner.

In the morning she read to and amused old Mrs. Garner. In the afternoon
she attended to all the duties of the household; for in the midst of
their difficulties their housekeeper had left them.

In the evening she relieved Nadine Holt from her arduous duties in the
sick-room.

The only gleam of brightness that fell athwart her path was meeting Jack
Garner at the table three times a day. Her life merged into one great
longing to be near him.

She tried to picture how it would be when Jessie recovered and he should
marry her. Of course, they would still dwell beneath that roof. Could
the same home that held them hold her?

She could not endure seeing them so happy in each other's love. Whenever
Jack entered the sick-room, Dorothy always made some pretense to leave
it.

The sight of him bringing a flower to Jessie would be enough to almost
break her h