e not take
the liberty of imposing a line of conduct on Mademoiselle Kostalergi, I
have resolved to run the hazard with _you_! Let _hers_ be the task of
entertaining him; let _her_ be the reader--and he loves being read to--and
the talker, and the narrator of whatever goes on. To you be the part of
quiet watchfulness and care, to bathe the heated brow, or the burning hand,
to hold the cold cup to the parched lips, to adjust the pillow, to temper
the light, and renew the air of the sick-room, but to speak seldom, if at
all. Do you understand me?'

'Perfectly; and you are wise and acute in your distribution of labour: each
of us has her fitting station.'

'I dared not have said this much to _her_: my doctor's instinct told me I
might be frank with _you_.'

'You are safe in speaking to me,' said she calmly.

'Perhaps I ought to say that I give these suggestions without any concert
with my patient. I have not only abstained from consulting, but--'

'Forgive my interrupting you, Sir X. It was quite unnecessary to tell me
this.'

'You are not displeased with me, dear lady?' said he, in his softest of
accents.

'No; but do not say anything which might make me so.'

The doctor bowed reverentially, crossed his white hands on his waistcoat,
and looked like a saint ready for martyrdom.

Kate frankly held out her hand in token of perfect cordiality, and her
honest smile suited the action well.

'Tell Miss Betty that our sick charge shall not be neglected, but that we
want her here herself to help us.'

'I shall report your message word for word,' said he, as he withdrew.

As the doctor drove back to Dublin, he went over a variety of things in
his thoughts. There were serious disturbances in the provinces; those
ugly outrages which forerun long winter nights, and make the last days of
October dreary and sad-coloured. Disorder and lawlessness were abroad; and
that want of something remedial to be done which, like the thirst in fever,
is fostered and fed by partial indulgence. Then he had some puzzling cases
in hospital, and one or two in private practice, which harassed him; for
some had reached that critical stage where a false move would be fatal,
and it was far from clear which path should be taken. Then there was that
matter of Miss O'Shea herself, who, if her nephew were to die, would most
likely endow that hospital in connection with the Bleeding Heart, and
of which he was himself the founder; and that this fate w