, where a little bottle was
standing, and ran downstairs without a word. Laverick mixed some
of the spirit, and moved over to the side of the fainting man.

CHAPTER XV

LAVERICK's PARTNER FLEES

The doctor, a grave, incurious person, arrived within a few minutes
to find Morrison already conscious but absolutely exhausted. He
felt his patient's pulse, prescribed a draught, and followed
Laverick down into the sitting room.

"An ordinary case of nervous exhaustion," he pronounced. "The
patient appears to have had a very severe shock lately. He will be
all right with proper diet and treatment, and a complete rest. I
will call again to-morrow."

He accepted the fee which Laverick slipped into his hand, and took
his departure. Once more Laverick was alone with the girl, who had
followed them downstairs.

"There is nothing to be alarmed at, you see," he remarked.

"It is not his health which frightens me. I am sure--I am quite
sure that he has something upon his mind. Did he tell you nothing?"

"Nothing at all," Laverick answered, with an inward sense of
thankfulness. "To tell you the truth, though, I am afraid you are
right and that he did get into some sort of trouble last night. He
was just about to tell me something when he fainted."

Upstairs they could hear him moaning. The girl listened with
pitiful face.

"What am I to do?" she asked. "I cannot leave him like this, and
if I am not at the theatre in twenty minutes, I shall be fined."

"The theatre?" Laverick repeated.

She nodded.

"I am on the stage," she said,--"only a chorus girl at the
Universal, worse luck. Still, they don't allow us to stay away,
and I can't afford to lose my place."

"Do you mean to say that you have been keeping yourself here, then?"
Laverick asked bluntly.

"Of course," she answered. "I do not like to be a burden on any
one, and after all, you see, Arthur and I are really not related at
all. He has always told me, too, that times have been so bad lately."

Laverick was on the point of telling her that bad though they had
been Arthur Morrison had never drawn less than fifteen hundred a
year, but he checked himself. It was not his business to interfere.

"I think," he said, "that your brother ought to have provided for
you. He could have done so with very little effort."

"But what am I to do now?" she asked him. "If I am absent, I shall
lose my place."

Laverick thought for a moment.

"If yo