across the hall to her patient's room,
devoutly hoping the doctor would not find out she had overslept. Luck
was against her. For the first time since she had been on the case he
was there before her, standing at the foot of the bed, looking down
thoughtfully at the sleeping old man. It was not a heinous offence to
be twenty minutes late on a single occasion, yet somehow the sight of
the big, bulky figure, planted there as though lying in wait for her,
made her suddenly uncomfortable.

"I'm afraid I've overslept a little," she murmured apologetically as
she greeted him.

Instead of replying, he took his watch from his pocket and looked at
it. Then, without moving his head, he turned his little greyish eyes
upon her and regarded her fixedly. That was all, yet she felt
completely crushed by his disapprobation. She started to make excuses,
then felt that she could not. Her tongue clove to the roof of her
mouth. She knew that any explanation would sound stupid and futile.
Why was it the man affected her in this oppressive fashion? No other
doctor had ever done so. Why was it that the mere physical presence of
him, of his big, thick body and his little bald head with its small,
glancing eyes, filled her at times with a sort of repulsion? From the
first she had had the sensation vaguely, now it had become intensified
a hundred-fold.

"I'm developing nerves!" she scolded herself severely as she went into
the dressing-room to prepare her patient's morning milk. "Why should I
be afraid of any man? ... Yet it isn't that I'm exactly afraid. I
can't explain it, quite."

She was glad when she returned to find him gone. She gratefully drank
the tea which a maid brought her and began to take a more normal view
of things. She recalled the fact that to-night she was going to dine
and dance with Roger Clifford, and the thought cheered her immensely.
By the time she had had her breakfast she was inwardly calm and ready
to face the doctor when he came for his usual morning visit. Moreover,
she was pleased about Sir Charles, who was making really steady
progress. It astonished her that a man of his age and general health
should be doing so well.

With this in her mind, she was unprepared for the sober, pessimistic
expression of Dr. Sartorius's face when he had finished his
examination. He withdrew a little distance from the bed, and beckoned
her to follow him.

"We must do something," he said in a low tone, frowni