"I don't see that you want a physician."

"Oh, I am getting much better now," I replied; "and I hope soon to be
quite well."

"Who's your doctor?"

I hesitated. Somehow the name of Heliobas would not come to my lips.
Fortunately Mrs. Challoner diverted her daughter's attention at this
moment by the announcement that a dressmaker was waiting to see her;
and in the face of such an important visit, no one remembered to ask me
again the name of my medical adviser.

I left the Grand Hotel in good time to prepare for my second visit to
Heliobas. As I was going there to dinner I made a slightly dressy
toilette, if a black silk robe relieved with a cluster of pale pink
roses can be called dressy. This time I drove to the Hotel Mars,
dismissing the coachman, however, before ascending the steps. The door
opened and closed as usual, and the first person I saw in the hall was
Heliobas himself, seated in one of the easy-chairs, reading a volume of
Plato. He rose and greeted me cordially. Before I could speak a word,
he said:

"You need not tell me that you slept well. I see it in your eyes and
face. You feel better?"

My gratitude to him was so great that I found it difficult to express
my thanks. Tears rushed to my eyes, yet I tried to smile, though I
could not speak. He saw my emotion, and continued kindly:

"I am as thankful as you can be for the cure which I see has begun, and
will soon be effected. My sister is waiting to see you. Will you come
to her room?"

We ascended a flight of stairs thickly carpeted, and bordered on each
side by tropical ferns and flowers, placed in exquisitely painted china
pots and vases. I heard the distant singing of many birds mingled with
the ripple and plash of waters. We reached a landing where the
afterglow of the set sun streamed through a high oriel window of richly
stained glass. Turning towards the left, Heliobas drew aside the folds
of some azure satin hangings, and calling in a low voice "Zara!"
motioned me to enter. I stepped into a spacious and lofty apartment
where the light seemed to soften and merge into many shades of opaline
radiance and delicacy--a room the beauty of which would at any other
time have astonished and delighted me, but which now appeared as
nothing beside the surpassing loveliness of the woman who occupied it.
Never shall I behold again any face or form so divinely beautiful! She
was about the medium height of women, but her small finely-shaped head
was