held the door ajar; she whispered, "I
have prepared him, madam; he is all right."

Lady Bassett, by a great effort, kept her feet from rushing, her heart
from crying out with joy, and she entered the room. Sally closed the
door like a shot, with a delicacy one would hardly have given her
credit for, to judge from appearances.

Sir Charles stood in the middle of the room, beaming to receive her,
but restraining himself. They met: he held her to his heart; she wept
for joy and grief upon his neck. Neither spoke for a long time.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THEY were seated hand in hand, comparing notes and comforting each
other. Then Lady Bassett met with a great surprise: forgetting, or
rather not realizing, Sir Charles's sex and character, she began with a
heavy heart to play the consoler; but after he had embraced her many
times with tender rapture, and thanked God for the sight of her, lo and
behold, this doughty baronet claimed his rights of manhood, and, in
spite of his capture, his incarceration, and his malady, set to work to
console her, instead of lying down to be consoled.

"My darling Bella," said he, "don't you make a mountain of a mole-hill.
The moment you told me I should be a father I began to get better, and
to laugh at Richard Bassett's malice. Of course I was terribly knocked
over at first by being captured like a felon and clapped under lock and
key; but I am getting over that. My head gets muddled once a day, that
is all. They gave me some poison the first day that made me drunk
twelve hours after; but they have not repeated it."

"Oh!" cried Lady Bassett, "then don't let me lose a moment. How could I
forget?" She opened the door, and called in Mr. Jones and the nurse.

"Mr. Jones," said she, "the first day my husband came here Mr. Salter
gave him a sedative, or something, and it made him much worse."

"It always do make 'em worse," said Jones, bluntly.

"Then why did he give it?"

"Out o' book, ma'am. His sort don't see how the medicines work; but we
do, as are always about the patient."

"Mr. Jones," said Lady Bassett, "if Mr. Salter, or anybody, prescribes,
it is you who _administer_ the medicine."

Jones assented with a wink. Winking was his foible, as puckering of the
face was Coyne's.

"Should you be offended if I were to offer you and the nurse ten
guineas a month to pretend you had given him Mr. Salter's medicines,
and not do it?"

"Oh, that is not much to do for a gentleman like Sir