ent; and Elizabeth listened, the diamonds in her hair and the folds
of her satin dress glistening among the shadows of the half-lit room,
the slow tears on her cheeks.

At last a step descended. Anderson entered the room.

"He wants you," he said, to Elizabeth, as the two women rose. "I am
afraid you must go to him."

The electric light immediately above him showed his frowning, shaken
look.

"He is so distressed by your going?" asked Elizabeth, trembling.

Anderson did not answer, except to repeat insistently--

"You must go to him. I don't myself think he is any worse--but--"

Elizabeth hurried away. Anderson sat down beside Mrs. Gaddesden, and
began to talk to her.

When his sister entered his room, Philip was sitting up in an arm-chair
near the fire; looking so hectic, so death-doomed, so young, that his
sister ran to him in an agony--"Darling Philip--my precious Philip--why
did you want me? Why aren't you asleep?"

She bent over him and kissed his forehead, and then taking his hand she
laid it against her cheek, caressing it tenderly.

"I'm not asleep--because I've had to think of a great many things," said
the boy in a firm tone. "Sit down, please, Elizabeth. For a few days
past, I've been pretty certain about myself--and to-night I screwed it
out of Barnett. I haven't said anything to you and mother, but--well,
the long and short of it is, Lisa, I'm not going to recover--that's all
nonsense--my heart's too dicky--I'm going to die."

She protested with tears, but he impatiently asked her to be calm. "I've
got to say something--something important--and don't you make it harder,
Elizabeth! I'm not going to get well, I tell you--and though I'm not of
age--legally--yet I do represent father--I am the head of the
family--and I have a right to think for you and mother. Haven't I?"

The contrast between the authoritative voice, the echo of things in him,
ancestral and instinctive, and the poor lad's tremulous fragility, was
moving indeed. But he would not let her caress him.

"Well, these last weeks, I've been thinking a great deal, I can tell
you, and I wasn't going to say anything to you and mother till I'd got
it straight. But now, all of a sudden, Anderson comes and says that
he's going back. Look here, Elizabeth--I've just been speaking to
Anderson. You know that he's in love with you--of course you do!"

With a great effort, Elizabeth controlled herself. She lifted her face
to her brother's as she s