.

"When he reached the garden all was still, and he loosed
his malediction upon the night air. But even as he turned
to go back the bell fluttered near at hand, and he dived
among the bushes to silence it He nearly fell over one that
kneeled between two big shrubs and wagged a little ram
bell.

"'What in hell is this?' demanded the doctor fiercely,
seizing the bell.

"'It is me,' answered a voice, and the Predikant rose to
his feet. 'Be careful where you tread. There are things
lying about your feet you had better not touch. Has it done
her any good?'

"'You stricken fool!' cried the doctor, 'do you know no
better than to go rattling your blasted bells about the
place tonight? You're mad, my man--mad and inconvenient.'

"'But is she better?' persisted the Predikant.

"'I'll tell you in ten minutes.' replied the doctor. 'But
if you make any more noise you'll kill her, mind that.'

"The Predikant went with him to the stoop, and stayed there
while the doctor returned to the bedside. At the end of an
interval he was out again, and took the husband by the arm.

"'It's over,' he said. 'She's doing finely. Sleeping like a
child. You can thank God now, Mynheer Mostert.'

"The Predikant stared at him dumbly.

"'Thank God, did you say?' he asked at last.

"'And me,' answered the doctor, smiling.

"'I do thank you,' answered the Predikant. 'I do thank you
from my heart, doctor. But for the rest--'

"And here, with a voice as even as one who speaks on the
traffic of every day, with a calm face, he poured forth an
awful, a soul-wracking blasphemy.

"'Here!' cried the doctor, startled. 'Draw the line
somewhere, Predikant. That sort of thing won't do at all,
you know.'

"'Now let me see my wife,' said the Predikant; and after a
while, when he had warned him very solemnly on the need for
silence, the doctor took him in and showed him Paula, thin
and shorn, sleeping with level breath. The Predikant looked
on her with parted lips and clenched hands, and when he was
outside again he turned to the doctor.

"' I value my soul,' he said simply. 'But it is worth it.'

"'I haven't a notion what you are gibbering about,'
answered the doctor, who had a glass in his hand. 'But
there's long sleep and a dream killer in this tumbler, and
you've to drink it.'

"'I need nothing,' said the Predikant, but at the doctor's
urgency he drank the dose, and was soon in his bed and
sleeping.

"Next day, when he was let in to Pa