Crofton, if you cannot sleep
at will. I am afraid you are nervous, too, by the way you darted out
of the room just now.'

'I heard that door shut, and thought Susan was coming to call me.'

'I had just been in to see how the invalid was going on--that is
all.'

She passed me, and went back to her own apartments, which were on
the other side of the house. I felt that it was quite useless trying
to sleep; so I returned to my room only to change my dressing-gown
for my dress, and then went back to Milly. She had been sleeping
very quietly, Susan told me.

'I suppose you told Mrs. Darrell that all was going on well when she
came to inquire just now?' I said.

'Mrs. Darrell hasn't been since you went to lie down, miss,' the
girl answered, looking surprised at my question.

'Why, Susan, you must surely forget. Mrs. Darrell was in the
dressing-room scarcely ten minutes ago. I heard her coming out, and
went to see who was there. Didn't she come in here to inquire about
Miss Darrell?'

'No, indeed, miss.'

'Then I suppose she must have peeped in at the door and seen that
Miss Darrell was asleep,' I said.

'I don't see how she could have opened that door without my hearing
her, miss. It was shut fast, I know.'

It had been shut when I went in through the dressing-room. I was
puzzled by this incident, small as it was. I knew that Augusta
Darrell hated her stepdaughter, and I could not bear to think of
that secret enemy hovering about the sick-room. I was puzzled too by
the look which I had seen in her face--no common look, and not easy
to be understood. That she hated me, I had no doubt; but there had
been fear as well as aversion in that look, and I could not imagine
any possible reason for her fearing such an insignificant person as
myself.

The rest of that evening and night passed without any event worth
recording. I kept the door of communication between the bedroom and
dressing-room wide open all night, determined that Augusta Darrell
should not be in that room without my knowledge; but the night
passed, and she never came near us.

When I went into the garden early the next morning to gather the
flowers for Milly's room, I found Peter at work again. He looked
very white and feeble, scarcely fit to be about just yet; but there
he was, sweeping the fallen leaves into little heaps, ready for his
barrow. He came to me while I was cutting the late roses for my
bouquet, and asked after Milly. When I had answere