e so capable as a Gym. mistress; I
must get some one else!' No, no, my dear, I must go on, I must fight it
out. You'd be surprised to see how I _can_ fight when Miss Farnborough
comes on the scene!"

"Very well. You have had your say, now I'm going to have mine! If you
go on as you have been doing the last month, growing stiffer week by
week, you won't be _able_ to hide it! The other mistresses talk about
it already. They were discussing you in staff-room last week. If you
go on trusting to chance, you are simply courting disaster. Now I'll
tell you what I am going to do. I'm going to find out the address of a
good specialist, and make an appointment for next Saturday morning. You
shan't have any trouble about it, and I'll call in a taxi, and take you
myself, and bring you safely back. And it will be the wisest and the
cheapest two guineas you ever spent in your life. Now! What have you
got to say to that?"

"Oh, I don't know, I don't know! You are very kind. I suppose I ought
to be grateful. I suppose you are right. Oh, I'll go, I suppose, I
must go. _Bother_!" cried Sophie ungraciously, whereupon Claire hastily
changed the conversation, and made no further reference to health during
the rest of her visit.

Mrs Willoughby supplied the name of a specialist; the specialist
granted an appointment for the following Saturday at noon, when the two
girls duly appeared in his consulting-room; and Sophie underwent the
usual examination, during which the great doctor's face assumed a
serious air. Finally he returned to the round-backed chair which stood
against the desk, and faced his patient across the room. Sophie was
looking flushed and pretty, she was wearing her best clothes, and she
wore them with an air which might well delude a masculine eye into
believing them much better than they really were. Claire had her usual
smart, well-turned-out appearance. They seemed to the doctor's eyes two
prosperous members of Society.

"I fear," he said gravely, "I fear that there is no doubt that your
rheumatism is the sort most difficult to treat. It is a clear case of
rheumatoid arthritis, but you are young, and the disease is in an early
stage, so that we must hope for the best. In olden times it was
supposed to be an incurable complaint, but of late years we have had
occasional cures, quite remarkable cures, which have mitigated that
decision. You must realise, however, that it is a difficult fight, and