"Ah!" he coldly laughed; "she does indeed rave." And while I admired
his self-control, I could not prevent myself from experiencing an
increased dread of this nature that was so ready for all emergencies
and so panoplied against all shock.

I might have felt a more vivid apprehension still, had I known what
was passing in his mind as we traversed the hall back to the sick-
chamber. But the instinct which had warned me of so much, did not
warn me of that, and it was with no other feeling than one of
surprise that I noted the extreme deference with which he opened his
mother's door for me, and waited even in that moment of natural
agitation and suspense for me to pass over the threshold before he
presumed to enter himself.

Dwight Pollard, however, did not seem to be so blind, for a change
passed over his face as he saw us, and he half rose from the
crouching position he still held over his mother's form. He subsided
back, however, as I drew to one side and let Guy pass unheeded to
the bed, and it was in quite a natural tone he bade me seat myself
in the alcove towards which he pointed, till his mother's condition
required my services.

That there was really nothing to be done for her, I saw myself in
the one glimpse I caught of her face as he started up. She was on
the verge of death, and her last moments were certainly due to her
children. So I passed into the alcove, which was really a small room
opening out of the large one, and flinging myself on the lounge I
saw there, asked myself whether I ought to shut the door between us,
or whether my devotion to Ada's cause bade me listen to whatever