n't meet."

"I am sorry," Lucas said quietly. And though he said no more, she knew
that he was thinking of her.

"How is Nap?" she ventured hesitatingly.

"Nap," he said with deliberation, "will be himself again in a very few
weeks. You need have no anxiety for him."

Again she did not wholly understand his tone. She glanced at him
nervously, half afraid that he was keeping something from her.

"You really mean that?"

His eyes met hers, very level and direct. "He is badly battered, of
course. But--he is not quite like other men. He has no nerves to speak of
in a physical sense. He will make a quick recovery. Broken bones mean
very little to a man of his calibre."

She heard him with relief mingled with a faint wonder at his confidence
on this point.

"The doctor has seen him?" she asked.

"Yes; and I have sent my man in the motor to ask him to come on here."

She shivered again irrepressibly. "Giles hates Dr. Randal."

"I do not think that will make any difference," Lucas said gently.

Thereafter they sat together almost in silence, till the buzzing of the
motor told of the doctor's arrival. Then with the aid of a stick Lucas
began to drag himself laboriously to his feet. Anne rose to help him.

He took her arm, looking at her shrewdly.

"Lady Carfax, will you let me speak to him alone?"

"If you wish it," she said.

"I do wish it." His eyes passed hers suddenly and rested upon the lace at
her neck. In one place it was torn, and the soft flesh was revealed;
revealed also was a long red stripe, swollen and turning. In an instant
his glance fell, but she saw his brows contract as if at a sharp twinge
of pain. "I do wish it," he said again very gently. "P'r'aps you will
wait for me here."

And with that he relinquished her arm, and made his halting, difficult
way across the room to the door.

Anne sat down before the fire to wait. She had, to a large extent,
recovered her self-control, but a deadly weariness was upon her which she
found it impossible to shake off. She kept it at bay for a time while she
listened for any sound. But no sound came, and at length exhausted nature
prevailed.

When Lucas came back she was sunk in her chair asleep.

He took up his stand near her while he waited for the doctor, and again
that deep furrow showed between his brows. But the eyes that watched her
were soft and tender as a woman's. There was something almost maternal in
their regard, a compassion so deep as to