beginning
to be desperately afraid of the mystery she could not penetrate.

She was not so well in the morning, and Dr. Jim rigidly refused to allow
either Nick or Muriel at her bedside.

He himself was there during the greater part of the day, watching her,
waiting upon her, with a vigilance that never slackened. She suffered a
good deal of pain, but his unremitting care did much to alleviate it,
and in the evening she was better again, albeit considerably weakened.

After that, her progress was slow, and finding the effort of thought
beyond her, she was forced wearily to give up the attempt to think. Even
when at length her strength returned sufficiently for her to be carried
downstairs and laid on a couch in the garden, the mystery still remained
a mystery, and for some reason unintelligible even to herself she had
grown content to leave it so. She avoided all thought of it with a
morbid dread that was in part physical; for any attempt at concentration
in those days always entailed a headache that rendered her practically
blind and speechless for hours.

Meantime, they sought to keep her occupied with thoughts of her coming
adventure in the East with Nick. There were many preparations to be
made, and Muriel tackled them with a steady energy that could not fail
to excite Olga's interest. She even roused herself to assist, though Dr.
Jim would not permit her to do much, and would often rise and take the
work out of her hands when her eyes began to droop.

She had her hours of great depression also, when life was nothing but a
burden and she would weep without knowing why. On these occasions Nick
was invaluable. He had a wonderful knack of banishing those tears, and
in his cheery presence the burden was never insupportable.

It was on Nick's wiry strength that she leaned when she tottered forth
for her first walk in the garden. She would probably have wept over her
weakness if he had not made her laugh at it instead. It was a morning of
soft misty sunshine in the early autumn, and a robin trilled his gay
greeting to them as they slowly crept along.

"Jolly little beggar!" said Nick. "Robins always appeal tome. They know
how to be cheerful in adversity. Care to go down to the glen,
sweetheart? I'll haul you back again."

Yes, Olga would go to the glen. It was a favourite haunt with both of
them. The sun glinted on the narrow pathway as they went. The twinkle of
the stream was like fairy laughter, with every now