nate when there was so much work to be
done. Chailey herself limped because of the rheumatism in her feet, but
it appeared to her mere waste of time to take any notice of the unruly
flesh of servants. The evening went on. Dr. Lesage arrived unexpectedly,
and stayed upstairs a very long time. He came down once and drank a cup
of coffee.

"She is very ill," he said in answer to Ridley's question. All the
annoyance had by this time left his manner, he was grave and formal, but
at the same time it was full of consideration, which had not marked
it before. He went upstairs again. The three men sat together in the
drawing-room. Ridley was quite quiet now, and his attention seemed to
be thoroughly awakened. Save for little half-voluntary movements and
exclamations that were stifled at once, they waited in complete silence.
It seemed as if they were at last brought together face to face with
something definite.

It was nearly eleven o'clock when Dr. Lesage again appeared in the room.
He approached them very slowly, and did not speak at once. He looked
first at St. John and then at Terence, and said to Terence, "Mr. Hewet,
I think you should go upstairs now."

Terence rose immediately, leaving the others seated with Dr. Lesage
standing motionless between them.

Chailey was in the passage outside, repeating over and over again, "It's
wicked--it's wicked."

Terence paid her no attention; he heard what she was saying, but it
conveyed no meaning to his mind. All the way upstairs he kept saying to
himself, "This has not happened to me. It is not possible that this has
happened to me."

He looked curiously at his own hand on the banisters. The stairs were
very steep, and it seemed to take him a long time to surmount them.
Instead of feeling keenly, as he knew that he ought to feel, he felt
nothing at all. When he opened the door he saw Helen sitting by the
bedside. There were shaded lights on the table, and the room, though
it seemed to be full of a great many things, was very tidy. There was a
faint and not unpleasant smell of disinfectants. Helen rose and gave up
her chair to him in silence. As they passed each other their eyes met in
a peculiar level glance, he wondered at the extraordinary clearness of
his eyes, and at the deep calm and sadness that dwelt in them. He sat
down by the bedside, and a moment afterwards heard the door shut gently
behind her. He was alone with Rachel, and a faint reflection of the
sense of relie