t evening, and, in the quiet of a
_tete-a-tete_, announce his determination to leave the Court before the
week was out; but now, once again, circumstances conspired against him.
There was a greater question at stake than his own miserable comings or
goings, for the shadow of death hovered over the Court, and none could
tell what the morning might bring forth.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

MRS. WOLFF.

The next morning Mr Farrell was reported better, though unable to leave
his bed. His old friend, the doctor, had stayed with him for the
greater part of the night, and had now taken his departure, pronouncing
all immediate danger to be over. A few days' rest would no doubt make
the patient much as he had been before, to outward seeming, though to
the professional eye, a little weaker, a little nearer the end.

At breakfast Mrs Wolff fussed in a feeble, self-injured manner because
she was not admitted to the sick-room.

"It is so dreadful for him to be left without a woman! I can't think
how he will be nursed without a woman!" she repeated monotonously, while
her hearers breathed an earnest wish that, when their turn came to be
nursed, it might not be by a woman of her calibre. Mr Farrell was a
hundred times better off with his quiet, capable James.

A shadow of depression rested upon all the young people, though Ruth
could not help feeling thankful for a reasonable excuse for a sadness
which had nothing to do with Uncle Bernard or his health. Now, no one
would wonder if she were sad or silent, and she would escape the
questioning she had so much dreaded. Immediately breakfast was over she
announced her intention of devoting the morning to photography, and
disappeared indoors, while Victor took his accustomed path to the
stables.

Mollie would have followed her sister, but Jack detained her with an
appeal which could not be denied.

"Stay and talk to me a little while; do! or I shall think you are
offended by my stupidity yesterday. I have to thank you for your
reminder last night. If you had not stopped me I should have spoken
even more strongly than I did, and have been filled with remorse. As it
is, I don't think anything I said could have been responsible for this
attack. Considering all things I kept pretty cool, didn't I now?"

"I think you did," conceded Mollie, smiling. "No; I expect it has been
coming on for some days, and that was why he was so cross. You
generally find people are ill if they