ld feel the blank wall with his hand and,
turning close to it, know himself shut away from all possible prying of
unseen eyes. This was how he now lay, and he did not turn as they
entered.

Just the dear dark head upon the pillow. It was all Jane saw at first.
Then his right arm in the sleeve of a blue silk sleeping-suit,
stretched slightly behind him as he lay on his left side, the thin
white hand limp and helpless on the coverlet.

Jane put her hands behind her. The impulse was so strong to fall on her
knees beside the bed, take that poor hand in both her strong ones, and
cover it with kisses. Ah surely, surely then, the dark head would turn
to her, and instead of seeking refuge in the hard, blank wall, he would
hide that sightless face in the boundless tenderness of her arms. But
Deryck's warning voice sounded, grave and persistent: "If you value
your own eventual happiness and his--" So Jane put her hands behind her
back.

Dr. Mackenzie advanced to the side of the bed and laid his hand upon
Garth's shoulder. Then, with an incredible softening of his rather
strident voice, he spoke so slowly and quietly, that Jane could hardly
believe this to be the man who had jerked out questions, comments, and
orders to her, during the last half-hour.

"Good morning, Mr. Dalmain. Simpson tells me it has been an excellent
night, the best you have yet had. Now that is good. No doubt you were
relieved to be rid of Johnson, capable though he was, and to be back in
the hands of your own man again. These trained attendants are never
content with doing enough; they always want to do just a little more,
and that little more is a weariness to the patient.--Now I have brought
you to-day one who is prepared to do all you need, and yet who, I feel
sure, will never annoy you by attempting more than you desire. Sir
Deryck Brand's prescription, Nurse Rosemary Gray, is here; and I
believe she is prepared to be companion, secretary, reader, anything
you want, in fact a new pair of eyes for you, Mr. Dalmain, with a
clever brain behind them, and a kind, sympathetic, womanly heart
directing and controlling that brain. Nurse Gray arrived this morning,
Mr. Dalmain."

No response from the bed. But Garth's hand groped for the wall; touched
it, then dropped listlessly back.

Jane could not realise that SHE was "Nurse Gray." She only longed that
her poor boy need not be bothered with the woman! It all seemed, at
this moment, a thing apart from hers