m catch his breath in a struggling sigh, and for a moment his
eyes met her own, anxious and troubled.

"Well?" queried Mrs Asplin gently. "Well, tell me the verdict!"--and
the doctor crossed the room again and seated himself by her side.

"My dear lady, you ask a hard question. It is difficult to say in a few
words all that one thinks of a case. You are not strong; you need rest.
I will prescribe for you, and see you again later on, and meanwhile I
should like to see your husband, if he could have a talk with me here.
There are certain rules which I should like you to observe, but we don't
care to trouble patients with these matters. It is simpler and better
to instruct their friends."

Mrs Asplin looked at him steadily, a smile lighting up her face.

"Ah, doctor, it won't do. You can't take me in at all!" she cried in
her winsome Irish voice. "It's the truth I want, and no pretence. My
husband believes that I am shop-gazing in Regent Street, and that's all
he is going to hear about this visit. He is delicate himself, and puts
an altogether exaggerated value on his old wife. Indeed, he'd worry us
both to death if he knew I were ill. Don't be frightened to speak
plainly. I am not a coward! I can bear the truth, whatever it may be.
It is the heart that is wrong?"

"Yes," he said, and looked at her with kindly eyes. There was an
invincible fascination about Mrs Asplin which strangers were quick to
acknowledge, and it was easy to see that admiration and respect combined
to make his task exceptionally trying. "Yes, the heart is very weak.
It can never have been strong, I think, and you have not spared
yourself. You are the kind of woman who has lived, in the fullest sense
of the word; lived in every faculty--"

"Every single one, and I'm thankful for it! I've been so happy, so
rich, so sheltered! Whatever happens now, I have been one of the most
fortunate of women, and dare not complain. So tell me, please, what
does it mean? To what must I look forward?"

"You must face the fact that you can no longer afford to live at full
pressure. You must be content to let others work, and to look on
quietly. I fear you must face increasing weakness and languor."

"And for--how long? My children are still young. I should like to see
them settled. I should like to feel my husband had other homes open to
him when he was left alone. If I am _very_ careful--for how long?"

Peggy closed her eyes with a feeli