Anyhow, I've kept him going. But I can't make a decent man of him.
No one can. He has lucid intervals, but they get shorter and
shorter. Just at present--" he paused momentarily, then plunged
on--"I told you last night he wasn't ill. That was a lie. He is
down with delirium tremens, and it isn't the first time."

"Ah!" Sylvia said. He had made her understand at last. She stood
for a space staring at him, then with a groping movement she found
and grasped the back of a chair. "Why--why did you lie to me?" she
said.

"I did it for your sake," he answered briefly. "You couldn't have
faced it then."

"I see," she said, and paused to collect herself. "And does
he--does he realize that I am here?" she asked painfully. "Doesn't
he--want to see me?"

"Just now," said Ranger grimly, "he is too busy thinking about his
own troubles to worry about anyone else's. He does know you are
coming. He was raving about it two nights ago. Then came your
wire from Cape Town. That was what brought me here to meet you."

"I see," she said again. "You--you have been very good. It would
have been dreadful if--if I had been stranded here alone."

"I'd have stopped you at Cape Town if I could," he said.

"No, you wouldn't have stopped me," she answered, with a drear
little smile. "I should have had to come on and see Guy in any