think not. However, suppose you
step into the room and listen to what she says. If we can only rid her
of her fears and get her to rest quietly, I am positive she will
recover."

I shook his hand warmly and went upstairs to Helen's room. I knew what
it was Helen feared. The consequences of her crime. The terrible fear
of public prosecution for the murder of her husband was torturing her
poor delirious brain. For a moment I forgave her everything and pitied
her from the depths of my heart.

The smell of ether lay thick in the air as I walked down the long
corridor to Helen's room. I knocked softly at the door and a
white-capped nurse opened it a little way, her finger to her lips. I
beckoned her outside and told her Doctor Forbes wished me to find out,
if I could, what troubled my sister's mind.

As we entered, I saw Mary sitting by the bed, holding the hand of the
poor white figure that lay, death-like, beneath the sheet. Helen's
head was swathed in bandages, except for the oval of her face. She
looked quite like some fair nun who had said her last "Ava." It was
impossible to believe that it was her hand that had fired the shot that
killed Jim, and if she lived, that she would have to face the world a
murderer.

Mary only glanced up at me for a moment and then turned her eyes again
to Helen's lips to catch any sound that might pass them. As I watched
her sitting there so patiently, a little pale from her cramped vigil by
the bedside, a great tenderness welled up in my heart, for her. Just
then Helen's lips began to move. At first the words were inaudible,
although Mary leaned forward to catch them. Then with a half-cry, in
which there was a perfect agony of fear----

"Look out, Jim! It's going to hit us! Oh-oh-oh----"

The voice died away and was succeeded by moans, low and trembling.
Mary glanced up with a startled look in her eyes. The nurse went
quickly to the bedside and soothed the impatient hand that was plucking
at the sheets. As for me, my forehead was bathed in sweat and tears
were running down my cheeks, but a joy throbbed and sang through my
heart till I felt that I should suffocate unless I left that
ether-filled room for the open air.

I tiptoed toward the door and caught a nod from Mary as I passed, which
said she would join me later. For a second, after I closed the door, I
couldn't move. My legs failed me and I felt I was going to faint.
Gathering all my strength, I stumbled