a as she is
now--with that mysterious and almost imperceptible hint of sorrow
in the tenderly youthful dignity of the features.

"We exchanged only the words I have written you; she passed her
way leaning on Miss Lester's arm; I went for a mud bath as a
precaution to our inherited enemy. If rheumatism gets me at last
it will not be the fault of your aged and timorous aunt.

"So that was all, yesterday. But to-day as I was standing on the
leafy path above the bath-houses, listening to the chattering of
some excited birds recently arrived from the North in the first
batch of migrants, Miss Lester came up to me and said that Shiela
would like to see me, and that the doctors said there was no harm
in her talking to anybody if she desired to do so.

"So I took my book to a rustic seat under the trees, and
presently our little Shiela came by, leaning on Miss Lester's
arm; and Miss Lester walked on, leaving her seated beside me.

"For quite five minutes she neither spoke nor even looked at me,
and I was very careful to leave the quiet unbroken.

"The noise of the birds--they were not singing, only chattering
to each other about their trip--seemed to attract her notice, and
she laid her hand on mine to direct my attention. Her hand
remained there--she has the same soft little hands, as dazzlingly
white as ever, only thinner.

"She said, not looking at me: 'I have been ill. You understand
that.'

"'Yes,' I said, 'but it is all over now, isn't it?'

"She nodded listlessly: 'I think so.'

"Again, but not looking at me she spoke of her illness as dating
from a shock received long ago. She is a little confused about
the lapse of time, vague as to dates. You see it is four months
since Louis--did what he did. She said nothing more, and in a few
minutes Miss Lester came back for her.

"Now as to her mental condition: I have had a thorough
understanding with the physicians and one and all assure me that
there is absolutely nothing the matter with her except the
physical consequences of the shock; and those are wearing off.

"What she did, what she lived through with him--the dreadful
tension, the endless insomnia--all this--and then, when the
searching party was out all night long in the rain and all the
next day--and _then_, Garry, to have her stumble on him at
dusk--that young girl, all alone, nerves s