forefront of her thoughts. She found herself recalling
every unpleasant detail of the old Kashmiri beggar who had lured Ralph
Dacre from her side on that last fateful night. The old question arose
within her and would not be stifled. Had the man murdered and robbed him
ere flinging him down to the torrent that had swept his body away? The
wonder tormented her as of old, but with renewed intensity. She had
awaked with the conviction strong upon her that the man was not far
away, that she had seen him recently, and that Everard Monck had seen
him also.

That brought her thoughts very swiftly to the present, to Monck's
illness and dependence upon her, and in a flash to the realization that
she had spent nearly the whole day as well as the night in sleep. In
keen dismay she started from her bed and began a rapid toilet.

A quarter of an hour later she heard Peter's low, discreet knock at the
door, and bade him enter. He came in with a tea-tray, smiling upon her
with such tender solicitude that she had it not in her heart to express
any active annoyance with him.

"Oh, Peter, you should have called me hours ago!" was all she found to
say.

He set down the tray with a deep salaam. "But the captain _sahib_ would
not permit me," he said.

"He is better?" Stella asked quickly.

"He is much better, my _mem-sahib_. The doctor _sahib_ smiled upon him
only this afternoon and told him he was a damn' fraud. So my _mem-sahib_
may set her mind at rest."

Obviously the term constituted a high compliment in Peter's estimation
and the evident satisfaction that it afforded to Stella seemed to
confirm the impression. He retired looking as well pleased as Stella had
ever seen him.

She finished dressing as speedily as possible, ate a hasty meal, and
hastened to Tommy's room. To her surprise she found it empty, but as she
turned on the threshold the sound of her brother's laugh came to her
through the passage. Evidently Tommy was visiting his fellow sufferer.

With a touch of anxiety as to Monck's fitness to receive a visitor, she
turned in the direction of the laugh. But at Monck's door she paused,
constrained by something that checked her almost like a hand laid upon
her. The blood ran up to her temples and beat through her brain. She
found she could not enter.

As she stood there hesitating, Monck's voice came to her, quiet and
rational. She could not hear what he said, but Tommy's more impetuous
tones cutting in were clearly a