.

"Yes!"

"Is she within easy reach?"

"She is employed in the family of a friend of ours, living five miles
away from us."

"Send for her instantly!"

Mrs. Linley looked at him with a wildly-mingled expression of hope and
fear. She was not thinking of herself--she was not even thinking, for
that one moment, of the child. What would her husband say, if she (who
had extorted his promise never to see the governess again) brought
Sydney Westerfield back to the house?

The doctor spoke to her more strongly still.

"I don't presume to inquire into your private reasons for hesitating to
follow my advice," he said; "but I am bound to tell you the truth. My
poor little patient is in serious danger--every hour of delay is an hour
gained by death. Bring that lady to the bedside as fast as your carriage
can fetch her, and let us see the result. If Kitty recognizes her
governess--there, I tell you plainly, is the one chance of saving the
child's life."

Mrs. Linley's resolution flashed on him in her weary eyes--the eyes
which, by day and night alike, had known so little rest. She rang for
her maid. "Tell your master I want to speak to him."

The woman answered: "My master has gone out."

The doctor watched the mother's face. No sign of hesitation appeared in
it--the one thought in her mind now was the thought of the child. She
called the maid back.

"Order the carriage."

"At what time do you want it, ma'am?"

"At once!"

Chapter XVII. The Husband.

Mrs. Linley's first impulse in ordering the carriage was to use it
herself. One look at the child reminded her that her freedom of action
began and ended at the bedside. More than an hour must elapse before
Sydney Westerfield could be brought back to Mount Morven; the bare
thought of what might happen in that interval, if she was absent, filled
the mother with horror. She wrote to Mrs. MacEdwin, and sent her maid
with the letter.

Of the result of this proceeding it was not possible to entertain a
doubt.

Sydney's love for Kitty would hesitate at no sacrifice; and Mrs.
MacEdwin's conduct had already answered for her. She had received
the governess with the utmost kindness, and she had generously and
delicately refrained from asking any questions. But one person at Mount
Morven thought it necessary to investigate the motives under which she
had acted. Mrs. Presty's inquiring mind arrived at discoveries; and Mrs.
Presty's sense of duty communicated them t