l have to be studied?"

"Very probably, monsieur. There are certain tests. I should suggest
that if the young woman is someone in whom you are particularly
interested"--he gave a tactful cough which Roger understood well--"the
best thing you can do is to place her for a few weeks in a quiet
sanatorium. There is one near Grasse; either Dr. Sartorius or I could
arrange it, for you."

"I see, doctor. Well, we will think about it."

He watched the little man depart, grimly resolved never to let Esther
be placed in a sanatorium, no matter what happened. Sartorius himself
had mentioned the quiet place near Grasse. That fact alone was enough
to decide him against it. He was alone now with Esther. A few minutes
before he had persuaded his aunt to go to her room and try to sleep.
She had demurred at first, but he had firmly led her to her door.

"I'll go if you insist," she gave in at last. "But you're so far from
well yourself, it will be a great strain on you to sit up all night."

"Nonsense; this business has made me forget all about myself. If you
insist on sharing watches, I will call you early in the morning."

She nodded reluctantly, then looked at him with a troubled brow.

"Roger, where in heaven's name do you suppose that poor girl has been
these past two days?"

He shook his head slowly.

"If we knew that, Dido, we'd have the key to the whole damned mystery,"
he said.

Sinking down wearily in the chair beside the bed he painstakingly
attempted to organise a plan of action. It was a difficult business
when he had so little he could definitely go on. His efforts brought
meagre results; moreover he felt confused, curiously fatigued in mind
and body. In the dim light of the shaded lamp the figures on the Toile
de Jouy danced incessantly before his eyes with an eerie effect; he
felt himself enveloped in a phantasmagoria of which it was impossible
to tell substance from shadow. Every few seconds his eyes kept
gravitating back to the pale, fragile face of Esther, which was
troubled even in sleep, the brow furrowed slightly, the muscles about
the mouth twitching from time to time. Whatever the cause of her
present state, he felt gravely apprehensive for her, afraid that she
might be in for a serious nervous illness. Perhaps what she wished to
tell him might be buried in oblivion for months, if indeed it ever came
to light. It even occurred to him that she might wake up completely
ignorant of every