the whole of that great apartment,
had sunk to the lowest of whispers.

"Are you a brave man, Mr. Hamel?" she asked.

He was staggered but he answered her promptly.

"I believe so."

"Don't give up the Tower--just yet. That is what--he has brought you
here for. He wants you to give it up and go back. Don't!"

The earnestness of her words was unmistakable. Hamel felt the thrill of
coming events.

"Why not?"

"Don't ask me," she begged. "Only if you are brave, if you have feeling
for others, keep the Tower, if it be for only a week. Hush!"

The door had been noiselessly opened. The doctor appeared and advanced
to the table with a grave little bow.

"Mr. Fentolin," he said, "has been kind enough to suggest that I take a
glass of wine with you. My presence is not needed up-stairs. Mr. Hamel,"
he added, "I am glad, sir, to make your acquaintance. I have for a long
time been a great admirer of your father's work."

He took his place at the head of the table and, filling his glass,
bowed towards Hamel. Once more Gerald and his sister relapsed almost
automatically into an indifferent and cultivated silence. Hamel found
civility towards the newcomer difficult. Unconsciously his attitude
became that of the other two. He resented the intrusion. He found
himself regarding the advent of Doctor Sarson as possessing some
secondary significance. It was almost as though Mr. Fentolin preferred
not to leave him alone with his niece and nephew.

Nevertheless, his voice, when he spoke, was clear and firm.

CHAPTER XIV

Mr. Fentolin, on leaving the dining-room, steered his chair with great
precision through the open, wrought-iron doors of a small lift at the
further end of the hall, which Doctor Sarson, who stepped in with him,
promptly directed to the second floor. Here they made their way to the
room in which Mr. Dunster was lying. Doctor Sarson opened the door and
looked in. Almost immediately he stood at one side, out of sight of Mr.
Dunster, and nodded to Mr. Fentolin.

"If there is any trouble," he whispered, "send for me. I am better away,
for the present. My presence only excites him."

Mr. Fentolin nodded.

"You are right," he said. "Go down into the dining-room. I am not sure
about that fellow Hamel, and Gerald is in a queer temper. Stay with
them. See that they are not alone."

The doctor silently withdrew, and Mr. Fentolin promptly glided past him
into the room. Mr. John P. Dunster, in his night cloth