p from his chair. "Don't take my mind back to
that--pray don't!" he pleaded earnestly. "I can't bear it, Doctor
Benjulia--I can't bear it! Please to excuse my rudeness: it isn't
intentional--I don't know myself what's the matter with me. I've always
led a quiet life, sir; I'm not fit for such things as these. Don't
suppose I speak selfishly. I'll do what I can, if you will kindly spare
me."

He might as well have appealed to the sympathy of the table at which
they were sitting. Benjulia was absolutely incapable of understanding
the state of mind which those words revealed.

"Can you take these papers to your wife?" he asked. "I called here this
evening--being the person to blame--to set the matter right. As it is,
I leave her to make the discovery for herself. I desire to hold no more
communication with your wife. Have you anything to say to me before I
go?"

"Only one thing. Is there any harm in my calling at the house, to ask
how poor Carmina goes on?"

"Ask as often as you like--provided Mrs. Gallilee doesn't accompany
you. If she's obstinate, it may not be amiss to give your wife a word of
warning. In my opinion, the old nurse is not likely to let her off, next
time, with her life. I've had a little talk with that curious foreign
savage. I said, 'You have committed, what we consider in England, a
murderous assault. If Mrs. Gallilee doesn't mind the public exposure,
you may find yourself in a prison.' She snapped her fingers in my face.
'Suppose I find myself with the hangman's rope round my neck,' she said,
'what do I care, so long as Carmina is safe from her aunt?' After
that pretty answer, she sat down by her girl's bedside, and burst out
crying."

Mr. Gallilee listened absently: his mind still dwelt on Carmina.

"I meant well," he said, "when I asked you to take her out of this
house. It's no wonder if _I_ was wrong. What I am too stupid to
understand is--why _you_ allowed her to be moved."

Benjulia listened with a grim smile; Mr. Gallilee's presumption amused
him.

"I wonder whether there was any room left for memory, when nature
furnished your narrow little head," he answered pleasantly. "Didn't
I say that moving her was the least of two risks? And haven't I just
warned you of what might have happened, if we had left your wife and her
niece together in the same house? When I do a thing at my time of life,
Mr. Gallilee--don't think me conceited--I know why I do it."

While he was speaking of himself