On Esther they bent but a casual glance. She
was apparently quite absorbed in the contents of her bag.

"She saw him in bed, ill, very ill. There was a nurse beside him."

"Oh, ill enough for a nurse ... Well, did she see anything more?"

"No, that was all, except that she described the doctor."

"Not my friend Sartorius?"

"Yes, she described him perfectly."

Esther strained her ears to catch all they said. Dr. Sartorius--so
these people were patients of his!

"What then?"

"Nothing. She woke up."

"She would!"

He gave an ironical laugh.

"Still, Arthur, one can't help thinking ... after all, he's
seventy-three...."

"Yes, and he'll live to be ninety. You'll see."

"Ninety!"

"I'm not joking. It wouldn't surprise me if he outlived us both."

There was a gasp of horror from the Frenchwoman.

"Oh, Arthur, it's cruel of you! Besides, I tell you, it's impossible;
it's----"

"Yes, I know, it's simply not done. But he'll do it, you'll see."

"I will not see. I refuse to believe it. He cannot, he----"

"Steady on, Therese!"

There was a note of warning in his voice the cause of which Esther
perceived when a moment later the couple were joined by a plump
Frenchwoman with hennaed hair and a burnt-orange make-up.

"_Comment ca va, Therese?_ Ah, Captain, _on me dit que vous avez
l'intention de nous quitter. C'est vrai?_"

What ensued was lost in a cackle of French interspersed with
high-pitched laughter. The friend sat down for a few minutes, joked
with the "Captain," drank the remainder of his cocktail, and patted him
familiarly on the cheek. Esther stole a glance at the beautiful blonde
woman and found her calm, gazing across the room with narrowed eyes and
an expression of thought. At last she got out her mirror and made
herself up, as delicately as a cat washes its face, little touches here
and there.

"Going?"

"Yes, I shall see if the doctor will give me a _piqure_. I am very
tired."

"I thought you had them on Mondays and Thursdays."

"Yes, but sometimes I have an extra one. They pick me up."

"_Ah, les piqures! Je suis, tres bien, ca!_"

In two minutes all three had risen and disappeared into the crowd about
the broad stairs that led into the room. Left behind, Esther felt a
sense of flatness and anti-climax. She had begun to take such a keen
interest in the blonde woman and her young Englishman, that the thought
of not finding out more about them filled her wi