He seemed to find speech
difficult.

At last he said, in a voice which shook slightly: "Dear Lady Ingleby, he
did not--he does not--think you so."

"No, no!" she cried, sitting forward again. "He thinks of me nothing but
what is kind and right. But he never expected me to be more than a nice,
affectionate, good-looking dog; and I--I have not known how to be better
than his expectations. But, although he is so patient, he sometimes grows
unutterably tired of being with me. All other pet creatures are dumb; but
I love talking, and I constantly say silly things, which do not _sound_
silly, until I have said them. He goes off to Norway, fishing; to the
Engadine, mountain-climbing; to this horrid war, risking his precious
life. Anywhere to get away alone; anywhere to----"

"Hush," said the doctor, and laid a firm brown hand, for a moment, on the
white fluttering fingers. "You are overwrought by the suspense of these
past weeks. You know perfectly well that Lord Ingleby volunteered for
this border war because he was so keen on experimenting with his new
explosives, and on trying these ideas for using electricity in modern
warfare, at which he has worked so long."

"Oh, yes, I know," said Myra, smiling wistfully. "Tiresome things, which
keep him hours in his laboratory. And he has some very clever plan for
long distance signalling from fort to fort--hieroglyphics in the sky,
isn't it? you know what I mean. But the fact that he volunteered into all
this danger, merely to do experimenting, makes it harder to bear than if
he had been at the head of his old regiment, and gone at the imperative
call of duty. However--nothing matters so long as he comes home safely.
And now you--you, Sir Deryck--must help me to become a real helpmeet to
Michael. Tell me how you helped--oh, very well, we will not mention
names. But give me wise advice. Give me hope; give me courage. Make me
strong."

The doctor looked at the clock; and, even as he looked, the chimes in the
hall rang out the half-hour.

"You have not yet told me," he said, speaking very slowly, as if
listening for some other sound; "you have not yet told me, your second
reason for leaving town."

"Ah," said Lady Ingleby, and her voice held a deeper, older, tone--a note
bordering on tragedy. "Ah! I left town, Sir Deryck, because other people
were teaching me love-lessons, and I did not want to learn them apart
from Michael. I stayed with Jane Dalmain and her blind husband, befo