ed down the lamps to
see the fireworks. He laid her upon a sofa and turned them up again.

The light upon her face showed it pinched and deathly. Her breathing
seemed to be suspended. He left her and went swiftly to the dining-room
in search of brandy.

Returning with it, he knelt beside her, forcing a little between the
rigid white lips. His own mouth was grimly compressed. The sight of his
little playfellow lying like that cut him to the soul. She was
uninjured, he knew, but he asked himself if the awful fright had killed
her. He had never seen so death-like a swoon before.

He had no further thought for what was passing on the verandah outside.
Tommy had said that Peter was bitten, but there were three people to
look after him, whereas Tessa--poor brave mite--had only himself. He
chafed her icy cheeks and hands with a desperate sense of impotence.

He was rewarded after what seemed to him an endless period of suspense.
A tinge of colour came into the white lips, and the closed eyelids
quivered and slowly opened. The bluebell eyes gazed questioningly into
his.

"Where--where is Scooter?" whispered Tessa.

"Not far away, dear," he made answer soothingly. "We will go and find
him presently. Drink another little drain of this first!"

She obeyed him almost mechanically. The shadow of a great horror still
lingered in her eyes. He gathered her closely to him.

"Try and get a little sleep, darling! I'm here. I'll take care of you."

She snuggled against him. "Am I going to stay all night!" she asked.

"Perhaps, little one, perhaps!" He pressed her closer still. "Quite
comfy?"

"Oh, very comfy; ever--so--comfy," murmured Tessa, closing her eyes
again. "Dear--dear Uncle St. Bernard!"

She sank down in his hold, too spent to trouble herself any further, and
in a very few seconds her quiet breathing told him that she was fast
asleep.

He sat very still, holding her. The awful peril through which she had
come had made her tenfold more precious in his eyes. He could not have
loved her more tenderly if she had been indeed his own. He fell to
dreaming with his cheek against her hair.

CHAPTER VII

RUSTAM KARIN

How long a time passed he never knew. It could not in actual fact have
been more than a few minutes when a sudden sound from the verandah put
an end to his reverie.

He laid the child back upon the sofa and got up. She was sleeping off
the shock; it would be a pity to wake her. He moved noiseles