nfusional
attacks'?"

"I don't know. Yes, perhaps. What about it?"

"That is what the doctor thinks she has."

"Utter rubbish! Miss Rowe is one of the most normal people I have ever
known."

"So she impressed me, at least most of the time. Indeed the doctor
says that a person who has those attacks may be quite normal part of
the time, only sometimes they get strange ideas into their heads and
behave queerly. That was what Miss Rowe was doing. It didn't seem
altogether wise to have her here."

There was an ominous glitter in the ill man's eyes, the muscles in his
cheeks twitched as his lips tightened.

"What do you mean by 'not altogether wise'?" he inquired coldly.

"I see you don't believe me, Roger. I don't suppose you noticed
anything wrong with her. I don't know that I should have done so, if
the doctor hadn't told me certain things. But the fact is, she wasn't
always quite to be trusted in emergencies. She was a little--what do
you call it?--erratic, that's the word. The doctor is even convinced
that she was largely responsible for your father's relapse. There! I
had not meant to speak of it!"

"That at least is a lie, a barefaced attempt to injure her!" cried
Roger, unable to bear any more.

"My dear! How can you!" murmured Therese so incredulously that he felt
slightly ashamed.

"I don't say you invented it, Therese, but it's a lie for all that."

"I heard, too, from Dido about her sending you an excited message and
then going off without seeing you," continued his stepmother calmly.
"That is quite typical behaviour, so the doctor says. It is just the
sort of thing she would do; it is really a mild mental case."

He made a gesture of weariness, suddenly feeling he must get rid of her.

"It may all be true, Therese; I'm sure I don't know. At any rate I
think I'll try to get a nap, if you'll leave me. I didn't sleep well
last night."

"Of course, dear! Thank Heaven you are going to be sensible. Perhaps,
too, you'll let the doctor advise you about that anti-toxin? I should,
if I were you."

"Yes, I'll let him talk to me, if you like."

Anything to get rid of her, he thought. He kept his eyes tight closed
until she was well out of the room and the door shut behind her. Then
he sprang out of bed and with trembling haste put on his clothes. When
he was completely dressed he rang for Chalmers and demanded a taxi.

"But you're not going out, Mr. Roger! I don't know what the d