were at his sides, his head was
fallen forward a little, and his face was white. But his eyes frightened
her most; instead of the old, semi-defiant expression which she
remembered from childhood, they had in them a dumb suffering that went to
her heart. He looked at her, tried to straighten up, and fell back again.

"N--nothing's the matter," he said, "nothing. A little spell. I'll be all
right in a moment."

Victoria did not lose an instant, but climbed into the buggy at his side
and gathered up the reins, and drew the fallen lap-robe over his knees.

"I'm going to take you back to Fairview," she said. "And we'll telephone
for a doctor."

But she had underrated the amount of will left in him. He did not move,
though indeed if he had seized the reins from her hands, he could have
given her no greater effect of surprise. Life came back into the eyes at
the summons, and dominance into the voice, although he breathed heavily.

"No, you're not," he said; "no, you're not. I'm going to Ripton--do you
understand? I'll be all right in a minute, and I'll take the lines."

Victoria, when she got over her astonishment at this, reflected quickly.
She glanced at him, and the light of his expression was already fading.
There was some reason why he did not wish to go back to Fairview, and
common sense told her that agitation was not good for him; besides, they
would have to telephone to Ripton for a physician, and it was quicker to
drive there. Quicker to drive in her own runabout, did she dare to try to
move him into it. She made up her mind.

"Please follow on behind with that trap," she called out to Rangely; "I'm
going to Ripton."

He nodded understandingly, admiringly, and Victoria started Hilary's
horse out of the bushes towards the entrance way. From time to time she
let her eyes rest upon him anxiously.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, "yes. I'm all right. I'll be able to drive in a minute."

But the minutes passed, and he made no attempt to take the reins.
Victoria had drawn the whalebone whip from its socket, and was urging on
the horse as fast as humanity would permit; and the while she was aware
that Hilary's look was fixed upon her--in fact, never left her. Once or
twice, in spite of her anxiety to get him home, Victoria blushed faintly,
as she wondered what he was thinking about.

And all the while she asked herself what it was that had brought him to
this condition. Victoria knew suffici