coming had made a deep impression upon Hudson. He had watched the lines
upon his master's face till he knew them by heart. He knew when anxiety
kept the weary eyes from closing. He knew when the effort of the mind was
more than the body could endure. Of Lucas's pleasure at his brother's
return he raised no question, but that it would have been infinitely
better for him had Nap remained away he was firmly convinced. And he knew
with the sure intuition that unceasing vigilance had developed in him
that Capper thought the same.

Capper resented as he did the intrusion of the black sheep of the
family. But Capper was obviously powerless--even Capper, who so
ruthlessly expelled him from his master's presence, had proved impotent
when it came to removing Nap.

There was a mysterious force about Nap that no one seemed able to
resist. He, Hudson, had felt it a hundred times, had bowed to it in
spite of himself. He called it black magic in his own dark heart, and
because of it his hatred almost amounted to a mania. He regarded him
with superstition, as a devilish being endowed with hellish powers that
might at any moment be directed against his enemies. And he feared his
influence over Lucas, even though with all his monstrous imaginings he
recognised the fact of Lucas's ascendency. He had a morbid dread lest
some day his master should be taken unawares, for in Nap's devotion he
placed not a particle of faith. And mingled with his fears was a
burning jealousy that kept hatred perpetually alive. There was not one
of the duties that he performed for his master that Nap had not at one
time or another performed, more swiftly, more satisfactorily, with that
devilish deftness of his that even Capper had to admire and Hudson
could never hope to achieve. And in his inner soul the man knew that
the master he idolised preferred Nap's ministrations, Nap's sure and
dexterous touch, to his.

And so on that day of riotous spring he waited with murder in his heart
to see his enemy emerge from the closed room.

But he waited in vain. No hand touched the door against which he stood.
Within the room he heard only vague movements, and now and then Capper's
voice, sharp and distinct, giving a curt order. Two doctors and two
nurses were there to do his bidding, to aid him in the working of his
miracle; two doctors, two nurses, and Nap.

Gradually as the minutes passed the truth dawned upon the great
half-breed waiting outside. Against Capper's