e study. Trowse eyed his friend curiously.

"I wonder," he said, "what the devil made you send for me?"

Sir Powers Fiske did not immediately reply. The two men stood side by
side upon the hearthrug. Trowse, who seemed to have forgotten his hurry,
lit a cigarette and threw the match into the fire.

"I scarcely see," he said, "where I come in. You have your chance, you
have taken it, and you have succeeded. Very well! What do you want with
me? If it had been before the risk was over, I could have understood it.
At present I must admit that I cannot."

Powers answered as one who makes a confession.

"I have lost my nerve," he said.

Trowse looked at him oddly.

"I might believe that of some men," he said, "not of you. Besides, the
risk is over. The girl will live. You know that as well as I do."

"She will live," Powers answered, "yes! That is certain. And yet, since
she opened her eyes, since I heard her speak, I have felt myself nothing
less than a murderer. That is what I am. A murderer, Trowse."

Trowse stared at his friend for several moments without speaking--a
cold, deliberate inspection. Then he sighed.

"You are not the man you were, Powers," he said, speaking softly, and as
though to himself. "It isn't drink, and you don't smoke much. What has
happened to your nerves?"

Powers looked steadfastly and gloomily out of the window.

"I cannot tell you," he answered. "You know me better than most men,
Trowse. You have never seen me turn a hair at any operation yet.
Together we have watched death come to strong men and to beautiful
women. These things have never troubled me. I have never felt anything
more than curiosity. Yet there is a weak spot somewhere. I have learned
what fear is."

Trowse eyed his friend with interest.

"If the girl were dead," he remarked meditatively, "it might have turned
out awkwardly for you. As it is, you seem to have stumbled across a very
nearly perfect physical creature. She is less likely to die than you or
I. In a fortnight she will be recovered."

Powers frowned impatiently.

"You have not made a study of this thing as I have, Trowse," he said.
"Yours is the purely scientific point of view. You do not see--what lies
beyond."

Trowse shook his head.

"I do not understand you," he said simply.

"I want you to understand," Powers declared. "We have talked of this
thing many times, until it has grown to seem a simple thing. We forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

"Forgot t