a woman in the bazaar who would
do--an elderly woman--I think he said she is the grandmother of Hafiz
who sells trinkets. You know Hafiz, I expect? I don't like him, but he
is supposed to be respectable, and Peter is prepared to vouch for the
woman's respectability. Only she has been terribly disfigured by an
accident, burnt I think he said, and she wears a veil. I told him that
didn't matter. Baby is too ill to notice, and he evidently wants me to
have her. He says she has been used to English children, and is a good
nurse. That is what matters chiefly, so I have told him to engage her."

"I am very glad to hear it," Bernard said.

"Yes, I think it will be a relief. Those screaming fits are so
terrible." Stella checked a sharp shudder. "Peter would not recommend
her if he did not personally know her to be trustworthy," she added
quietly.

"No. Peter's safe enough," said Tommy. He was bolting his meal with
great expedition. "Is the kiddie worse, Stella?"

She looked at him with that in her tired eyes that went straight to his
heart. "He is a little worse every day," she said.

Tommy swore into his cup and asked no further.

A few moments later he got up, gave her a brief kiss, and departed.

Stella sat on with her chin in her hand, every line of her expressing
the weariness of the hopeless watcher. She looked crushed, as if a
burden she could hardly support had been laid upon her.

Bernard looked at her once or twice without speaking. Finally he too
rose, went round to her, knelt beside her, put his arm about her.

Her face quivered a little. "I've got--to keep strong," she said, in the
tone of one who had often said the same thing in solitude.

"I know," he said. "And so you will. There's special strength given for
such times as these. It won't fail you now."

She put her hand into his. "Thank you," she said. And then, with an
effort, "Do you know, Bernard, I tried--I really tried--to pray in the
night before I lay down. But--there was something so wicked about it--I
simply couldn't."

"One can't always," he said.

"Oh, have you found that too?" she asked.

He smiled at the question. "Of course I have. So has everybody. We're
only children, Stella. God knows that. He doesn't expect of us more than
we can manage. Prayer is only one of the means we have of reaching Him.
It can't be used always. There are some people who haven't time for
prayer even, and yet they may be very near to God. In times of stress