before him a
young woman who was about to ring the bell. She glanced up with
frightened eyes; he was no less startled; and then, with a hurried "I
beg your pardon," she turned to go away. But Maurice was by her side in
a moment--bareheaded as he was.

"Miss Ross!" he exclaimed--for surely, surely, he could not have
mistaken the pale olive face and the beautiful, soft, dark, lustrous
eyes; nay, he made bold to put his hand on her arm, so determined was he
to detain her.

"I--I only wished to hear how he was--but--but not that he should know,"
Nina said (she was all trembling, and her lips were pale).

"Oh, yes," Mangan said. "But you must not go away--I have something to
tell you--come in-doors! You know he is seriously ill--you cannot
refuse!"

There was but an intervening step or two; she timidly followed and
entered the little hall; and he closed the door after them.

"Is he so very ill?" she said, in a low voice. "I saw it in the
newspapers--I could not wait--but he is not to know that I came--"

"But--but I have something to say to you," he answered her, somewhat
breathlessly, for he was uncertain what to do; he only knew that she
must not go. "Yes, he is very ill--and distressed--his brain is
excited--and we want to calm him. Surely you will come and speak to
him--"

She shrank back involuntarily, and there was a pathetic fear in the
large, timid eyes.

"Me? No--no!" she said. "Ah, no, I could not do that! Is he so very
ill?"

Tears stood in the long, black lashes, and she turned her head away.

"But you don't understand," Maurice said, eagerly. "All the way through
this illness, it is about you he has been grieving; you have never been
out of his thoughts; and if you saw his distress, I know you would do
anything in your power to quiet him a little. It is what his cousin said
yesterday. 'If we could only find Miss Ross,' she said, 'that would be
everything; that would bring him rest; he would be satisfied that she
was well, and remembering him, and not gone away forever.' I never
expected to see you; I thought it was useless trying to find you; but
now--now--you cannot be so cruel as to refuse him this comfort! You
would be sorry if you saw him. Perhaps he might not recognize
you--probably not. But if you could persuade him that you really were in
London--that you would come some other day soon to see him again--I know
that would pacify him, just when peace of mind is all-important. Now,
can you ref