gh there is a great improvement in you, you
are, nevertheless, far from well," the man said, his eyes still fixed
upon her pale countenance.

"Dr. Weirmarsh," she protested, "this constant declaration that I am ill
is awful. I tell you I am quite as well as you are yourself."

"Ah! there, I'm afraid, you are mistaken, my dear young lady," he
replied. "You may feel well, but you are not in quite such good health as
you imagine. The general is greatly concerned about you, and for that
reason I wished to see you to-night," he added with a smile as, bending
towards her, he asked her to remove her glove.

He took her wrist, holding his stop-watch in his other hand. "Hum!" he
grunted, "just as I expected. You're a trifle low--a little run down. You
want a change."

"But we only returned from Scotland yesterday!" she cried.

"The North does not suit such an exotic plant as yourself," he said. "Go
South--the Riviera, Spain, Italy, or Egypt."

"I go with Mrs. Caldwell at the end of November."

"No," he said decisively, "you must go now."

"Why?" she asked, opening her eyes in astonishment at his dictatorial
manner.

"Because----" and he hesitated, still gazing upon her with those
strangely sinister eyes of his. "Well, Miss Enid, because a complete
change will be beneficial to you in more ways than one," he replied with
an air of mystery.

"I don't understand you," she declared.

"Probably not," he laughed, with that cynical air which so irritated her.
She hated herself for coming to that detestable house of grim silence;
yet his word to her was a command which she felt impelled by some strange
force to fulfil with child-like obedience. "But I assure you I am
advising you for your own benefit, my dear young lady."

"In what way?"

"Shall I speak plainly?" asked the man in whose power she was. "Will you
forgive me if I so far intrude myself upon your private affairs as to
give you a few words of advice?"

"Thank you, Dr. Weirmarsh, but I cannot see that my private affairs are
any concern of yours," she replied with some hauteur. How often had she
endeavoured in vain to break those invisible shackles?

"I am a very sincere friend of your stepfather, and I hope a sincere
friend of yours also," he said with perfect coolness. "It is because of
this I presume to advise you--but, of course----" And he hesitated,
without concluding his sentence. His eyes were again fixed upon her as
though gauging accurately the extent