he had much of a physique. Sometime or other the day will come when
life or death for him will depend entirely upon his will."

She nodded and moved away. "My stateroom is just opposite, if you
want me at any time, doctor," she said.

He bowed and closed the door after her. Katharine made her way into
her cabin, sat on her steamer trunk and looked around a little
helplessly. The confusion of thought in which she had come on board
was only increased by this introduction to doctor and patient. A
presentiment of strange and imminent happenings kept her seated there
long after the dressing bugle had sounded.

The _City of Boston_ was four hours out of harbour, with her course
set direct for Liverpool. The passengers, of whom there were only a
very moderate number, had taken possession of their staterooms,
examined their lifebelts, eaten their first meal, and were now, at
eight o'clock on a fine June evening, mostly strolling about the deck
or reclining in steamer chairs. There was none of the old-time feeling
that a six-days' holiday was before them, a six-days' freedom from all
anxiety and care. Even in these first few hours of their enterprise a
certain strain of suppressed excitement was almost universally
noticeable. There was no escaping from grim facts, and the facts were
brought home to them all the time by those two businesslike destroyers
flying the Stars and Stripes, and whose decks were swept continually
by a deluge of green salt water. Amongst the few people who conversed
there was but one subject of conversation, a subject which every one
affected to treat lightly, and yet which no one managed to discuss
without signs of anxiety.