ll come again in the morning about ten
o'clock, and if any complication should arise in the meantime, you will
of course telephone me. She is suffering now from shock, it seems,
combined with the after-effects of morphia. Later when she is less
exhausted she may be intensely nervous. One must see that she is kept
absolutely quiet, with nothing to agitate her. A fresh shock might do
great harm."

Roger glanced at the grey-white face on the pillow. It was thin and
drawn; it was hard to understand how it could have altered so much in
these few days' time. What had happened to her to give her that
pinched look? The shadows under the closed eyes were deep violet.

"Tell me, doctor," he whispered. "Have you been able to come to any
conclusion on the subject of her mental condition?"

He brought out the last words with a painful hesitation.

"I am not an alienist, at least not an expert," replied the little man
cautiously, elevating the reddish tufts of his brows. "Of course I
have a general knowledge. During the short interval when she was
conscious she did not appear to be other than normal, but that, I fear,
is not conclusive evidence. One would have to study her. If, as Dr.
Sartorius suggests, she may be suffering from confusional attacks, she
would part of the time be so completely sane that one would suspect
nothing wrong. Subjects of that kind often live a sort of double life.
They are apt to invent romantic or mysterious histories about
themselves, intrigues in which they figure, often as a persecuted
victim. They make these tales so extremely convincing that they
frequently succeed in imposing their belief on other people."

"You mean there would be nothing about her to make one know she was not
normal mentally?"

"Quite so, unless one happened to possess proof that her stories were
untrue."

Roger's heart sank. Horrible as it was to contemplate the thought of
the crime committed in their midst, it was to him infinitely worse to
think of Esther as mentally unbalanced.

"Have you noticed anything yourself which you would regard as a
suspicious symptom, doctor?" he inquired with difficulty.

"Only her violent antipathy to Dr. Sartorius. I should consider that
rather a bad sign. It is the sort of thing these subjects are prone
to, monsieur," and the little man shook his head disparagingly.

Roger risked one more question, dreading the answer.

"How can we find out about her? You say she wil