was blue and cyanosed still, and his lips had a violet tinge.
Barnes had been coughing a great deal. Now and then his mouth was
flecked with foamy blood, which the nurse wiped gently away.
Kennedy picked up a piece of the blood-soaked gauze.

A moment later we withdrew from the room as quietly as we had
entered and tiptoed down the hall, Miss Euston and the young
doctor following us more slowly. As we reached the door, I turned
to see where she was. A distinguished-looking elderly gentleman,
sitting in the waiting-room, had happened to glance up as she
passed and had moved quickly to the hall.

"What--you here, Maude?" we heard him say.

"Yes, father. I thought I might be able to do something for
Granville."

She accompanied the remark with a sidelong glance and nod at us,
which Kennedy interpreted to mean that we might as well keep in
the background. Euston himself, far from chiding her, seemed
rather to be pleased than otherwise. We could not hear all they
said, but one sentence was wafted over.

"It's most unfortunate, Maude, at just this time. It leaves the
whole matter in the hands of Lane."

At the mention of Lane, which her father accompanied by a keen
glance, she flushed a little and bit her lip. I wondered whether
it meant more than that, of the two suitors, her father obviously
preferred Barnes.