y. The visitor was only a decayed clergyman in search of
help.'

'Cannot I see my husband?' was the anxious question of the bishop's
wife.

Graham shrugged his shoulders, and looked doubtfully at the poor lady.
'Better not, Mrs Pendle,' he said judiciously. 'I have given him a
soothing draught, and now he is about to lie down. There is no occasion
for you to worry in the least. To-morrow morning you will be laughing
over this needless alarm. I suggest that you should go to bed and take a
stiff dose of valerian to sooth those shaky nerves of yours. Miss Lucy
will see to that.'

'I should like to see the bishop,' persisted Mrs Pendle, whose instinct
told her that the doctor was deceiving her.

'Well! well!' said he, good-humouredly, 'a wilful woman will have her
own way. I know you won't sleep a wink unless your mind is set at rest,
so you _shall_ see the bishop. Take my arm, please.'

'I can walk by myself, thank you!' replied Mrs Pendle, testily; and
nerved to unusual exertion by anxiety, she walked towards the library,
followed by the bishop's family and his chaplain, which latter watched
this scene with close attention.

'She'll collapse after this,' said Dr Graham, in an undertone to Lucy;
'you'll have a wakeful night, I fear.'

'I don't mind that, doctor, so long as there is no real cause for
alarm.'

'I give you my word of honour, Miss Lucy, that this is a case of much
ado about nothing.'

'Let us hope that such is the case,' said Cargrim, the Jesuit, in his
softest tones, whereupon Graham looked at him with a pronounced
expression of dislike.

'As a man, I don't tell lies; as a doctor, I never make false reports,'
said he, coldly; 'there is no need for your pious hopes, Mr Cargrim.'

The bishop was seated at his desk scribbling idly on his blotting-pad,
and rose to his feet with a look of alarm when his wife and family
entered. His usually ruddy colour had disappeared, and he was
white-faced and haggard in appearance; looking like a man who had
received a severe shock, and who had not yet recovered from it. On
seeing his wife, he smiled reassuringly, but with an obvious effort, and
hastened to conduct her to the chair he had vacated.

'Now, my dear,' he said, when she was seated, 'this will never do.'

'I am so anxious, George!'

'There is no need to be anxious,' retorted the bishop, in reproving
tones. 'I have been doing too much work of late, and unexpectedly I was
seized with a faintness. Gra