which the careful nurse had transcribed as falling
from her delirious patient's lips.

They were these:

I love but thee,
And thee will I love to eternity.

The exact lines, no more, no less, which Sweetwater had found written on
the back of the Swiss clock cherished by Mr. Roberts.

XXVIII

"ROMANTIC! TOO ROMANTIC!"

Next morning Mr. Gryce left his home an hour earlier than usual. He
wished to have a talk with Mrs. Taylor's nurse before encountering the
Inspector.

It was an inconvenient time for a nurse to leave the sick-bed; but the
matter being so important, she was prevailed upon to give him a few
moments, in the little reception room where he had seated himself. The
result was meagre--that is, from her standpoint. All she had to add to
what she had written him the day before was the fact that the two lines
of verse quoted in the note she had sent him were Mrs. Taylor's first
coherent utterance, and that they had been spoken not only once but many
times, in every kind of tone, and with ever-varying emphasis. That and a
dreamy request for "The papers! the papers!" which had followed some
action of her own this very morning comprised all she had to give in
fulfillment of the promise she had made him at the beginning of this
illness.

Mr. Gryce believed her and rose reluctantly to his feet.

"Then she is still very ill?"

"Very ill, but mending daily; or so the doctor says."

"If she talks again, as she is liable to do at any moment, do not check
her, but remember every word. The importance of this I cannot impress
upon you too fully. But do not by any show of curiosity endanger her
recovery. She seems to be one of the very best sort; I would not have her
body or mind sacrificed on any account."

"You may trust me, sir."

He nodded, giving her his hand.

But as he was turning away, he looked back with the quiet remark: "I
should like to ask a final question. You have been in constant attendance
on this lady for some time and must have seen many of her friends, as
well as taken charge of her mail and of any messages which may have been
left for her. Has there been anything in this experience to settle the
doubt as to whether her talk of a vision in which she saw her absent
husband stricken simultaneously with the poor child lying at that very
moment dead at her feet simply delirium or a striking instance of
telepathy recording an accomplished fact? In other words, do you believe
he