ging
tone, Grace said:

"There is still, I hope, a little charity left in the world. The reference
is hardly becoming. There are others beside Mr. Lorimer who would benefit,
directly, by Geoffrey Ormond's death."

I would have spoken, but she prevented me; and her father stood for a
moment speechless with astonishment. Grace was a dutiful daughter, and,
though he must have tried her patience hardly now and then, I fancied that
this was the first time she had ever openly defied him; while I saw that
the shaft had gone home. Colonel Carrington was not, however, to be shaken
into any exhibition of feeling, for he turned to me with his usual
chilliness:

"I congratulate you on your lucky escape," he said. "Calvert has told me.
If you are quite ready, Grace, and will get on your wrappings, we will
drive over and visit the sick man immediately."

So, seeing that my presence was by no means desired, I saluted the Colonel
with stiffness, and hurried on foot in the direction of Wilson's house. He
was a bachelor, it appeared, who dealt in mining gear, and during their
business intercourse had made friends with Ormond. Now he was absent
inland, but his housekeeper had placed the pretty wooden dwelling at our
patient's disposal. What passed between the latter and Colonel Carrington
I do not know, but when Grace met me on the stairway as I entered she
said:

"He told us how much you had done for him, and made my father believe it
even against his will."

Presently the surgeon came down.

"I can do little for him," he said. "There are internal injuries--I
needn't describe them--which practically leave no hope of recovery. You
can't get a trained woman nurse for love or money, and it rests between
yourselves and a Chinaman. I fancy that he would prefer you. I don't know
how he stood the journey."

"We did our best, and he was very patient," I said. And the surgeon
answered:

"I have no doubt you did, and it speaks well for your comrade's fortitude.
You need not blame yourselves, however, for from the first he could not
have got better."

"I'll take first watch," said Harry, when, after giving us full
instructions, the surgeon departed. "Miss Carrington has already insisted
on helping. I've sampled Wilson's wardrobe, but his things would split up
if you tried to get into them. Go out and borrow or buy some anywhere. You
can't expect to meet Miss Carrington in that most fantastic disarray. I've
taken quarters at the Burrar