ly understood what it meant. . . ." Her expression
changed to blank fear. "You do _believe_ he's still alive?"

"I do." He bent down and fumbled for the wine with a needless clatter in
the ice-pail. "Agnes, for your sake, for all your sakes, I'm very, very
glad!"

3

The next morning Eric called on Dr. Gaisford in Wimpole Street before
going to his office. His brain felt numbed, and he had to speak with
artful choice of words to prevent being tripped up by a stammer. The
doctor looked once at his drawn face and pink eye-lids, then pushed a
chair opposite his own and tidied away his papers.

"I suppose you _have_ breakfasted, by the way?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not much of a breakfast-eater," Eric answered. "You must
forgive a very early call, Gaisford; it's so hard for me to get away
during the day. Well, it's the old trouble; I'm sleeping abominably. I
took your wretched medicine, but it didn't have any effect."

"H'm. You did _not_ take my advice to go right away."

"It hasn't been practicable so far. I may go--quite soon. But I've a
certain number of things to finish off and I want to be absolutely at
my best for them." He moistened his lips and repeated "I want to be
absolutely at my best for them. I've been rather worried and I've lost
confidence in myself."

Gaisford listened to his symptoms, asked a few questions and set about
his examination. At the end he made a note in his card-index and wrote
out a prescription.

"If you're not careful," he said deliberately, as he blotted it, "you'll
have a bad break-down. Now, I never tell people to do things, when I
know they're going to disobey me; I shan't order you to California
to-day, I shan't knock you off all work. But how soon can you go?"

"Oh--a week, if I have to," Eric answered carelessly.

"Then go in a week. Your own work, your writing--can you drop that
absolutely? It's far more exhausting--anything creative--than your
office-work. And what's your minimum for your office? Don't do a stroke
more than the minimum. As regards your general mode of life . . ."

He ordained a rigid, but familiar, rule of diet, exercise and rest; and
Eric's attention began to wander. As well bid him add a cubit to his
stature! He wondered how much Gaisford suspected. . . .

He became aware, in mid-reverie, that the doctor had finished speaking.

"And I'm to take this stuff?" Eric tried to read the prescription.
"Strychnine--Is that right? Iron? Bromide? I can't mak