gs labouring heavily, while the sweat of agony glistened on his
forehead and plastered his white hair to his backward-tossed head. Deb
was frantic with fear and grief. She summoned the doctor again, sending
commands to him to summon more doctors--the best in Melbourne, and any
number of them--in defiance of Mr Thornycroft's known wishes to the
contrary. At the same time she sent for the clergyman.

"Dear," she crooned in the patient's ear, when he seemed a little
easier, "Mr Bentley will be here presently."

Mr Thornycroft's brows seemed to gather a momentary frown over his
closed eyes.

"I'd rather not, Deb--"

"Oh, not for THAT! But--the wind will change soon, and then you will
feel better; and then--you said it would help you to get well--I
will--if you like--"

He opened his eyes and gazed at her. It took him a few seconds to
understand.

"Ah--darling!" he breathed, between his pants, and with an effort drew
her hand to his lips. Then--they were his last words, whispered very
low--"Never mind now, Debbie--so long as you are here."

He seemed to drowse into a kind of half-sleep, in spite of his too
obvious and audible suffering. She sat beside him, sponging and fanning
him, listening to his shallow, jerky, wheezy respiration, watching for
the subtle something in the stifling room that should announce a change
of wind, thinking of Mr Bentley's coming, and many other things. The
weary nurse came back from her brief rest and cup of tea, and sat down
at the foot of the bed. She studied the patient's face intently for
some time, and felt his feet; then she took the fan from Deborah's hand.

"You go and lie down, Miss Pennycuick. Mrs Dobson will come and sit
with me for a while."

"No, no," said Deb. "He wants me to be here. I cannot leave him."

After a few more minutes of silence, the nurse said again: "You had
better go, Miss Pennycuick." When Deb repeated her refusal, the nurse
went out to fetch the housekeeper to persuade her.

A minute afterwards, Deb lifted her head with a jerk, and sniffed
eagerly. At the same instant she heard a distant door bang.

"Thank God!" she ejaculated, and flew to the windows that all day had
had to be shut tight against the furnace blast outside, and flung them
wide, one after the other. The trees in the old garden were bending and
rustling; the sweet, cool air came pouring in.

"The wind has changed," she whispered, almost hysterically, to the
nurse and the housekeeper, a