a note the day before, bidding him delay his
visit. Now she was under the same roof with him, greatly to her
delight, and his disgust.

John Arthur had not fared so well at the hands of the learned
physician. He had swallowed his powders faithfully and hopefully, but
the morning found him languid and dismal, with aching brain and
nauseated stomach.

The doctor shook his head, and bade him prepare for a slight attack of
the fever. It promised to be very slight, but he must keep his room,
for a few days at least, and attend to his medicine and his diet.

And so the drama had commenced in earnest.

CHAPTER XXIX.

A STARTLING EPISODE.

Claire Keith had said truly that the woman across the way would prove
interesting to her.

She grew more and more fond of watching for the tall form, with its
trailing robes of black, its proudly-poised, heavily-veiled head, and
slow, graceful movement. Sometimes she saw a white hand pull away the
heavy curtains, and knew that the owner of the hand was looking out
upon the street. But the face was always in shadow. She could not
catch the slightest glimpse of it.

"She has strong reasons for not wishing to be seen and recognized; I
wonder what they are?" Claire would soliloquize at such times.

Then she would chide herself for being so curious. But the fits of
wondering grew stronger, until she came to feel an attraction that was
more than mere curiosity; a sort of proprietorship, as it were, in the
strange lady. She began to wish that she might know her, and at last,
in a very unexpected manner, the wish was gratified.

Claire had returned from a grand ball, weary and somewhat bored.
Disrobing with unusual haste, she sought her couch. She had supposed
herself very sleepy, but no sooner was her head upon the pillow, than
sleep abandoned her, and she tossed restlessly, and very wide awake.

Finding sleep impossible, and herself growing nervous, Claire at
length arose. Throwing on a dressing-gown, she pushed a large chair
to the window, and flinging herself in it, drew back the curtain.
Glancing across the way, she was startled by a light shining out from
the upper windows of the mysterious house. She had looked at that
house when quitting her carriage, because to look had become a habit.
But there had been no light then; not one glimmer. And now the entire
upper floor was brilliantly illuminated.

Claire rubbed her eyes and looked again. Then, with a cry of alarm,
she s