the waves of sleep that lapped her
round. Struggled and fought, till at last, after what seemed like
centuries of darkness, she won back to light and opened her eyes.

She was lying in a long narrow bed, one of many, ranged on both sides
down the hospital walls. Large windows, set very high up, opened on to
grey skies and a flood of rather cold sunshine. At the foot of her bed,
watching her with impartial eyes, stood a man, and beside him two
nurses, their neat pink dresses and starched aprons rustling a little as
they moved.

Joan's eyes, wide and bewildered, met the doctor's, and he leant forward
and smiled.

"That's better," he said, "you have got to make an effort towards living
yourself, young lady." He nodded and turned to the nurse at his right
hand. "How long has she been in now, Nurse?"

"Ten days to-morrow," the woman answered, "and except for the first day,
when she moaned a good deal and talked about having to fight, she has
scarce seemed to be conscious."

Joan's lips, prompted by the insistent voice within her, repeated, "I
have got to fight," stiffly.

The doctor came a little nearer and stooped to hear the words, "Yes," he
agreed, "that is right, you have got to fight. See if you can get her to
talk now and again, Nurse," he added; "she wants rousing, otherwise
there is nothing radically to keep her back."

Joan's face, however, seemed to linger in his mind, for, as he was about
to leave the ward after his tour of inspection, he turned again to the
elder nurse in charge.

"Have you been able to find out anything about bed 14?" he asked.

"No, sir. We have had no inquiries and there was nothing in any of her
pockets except a cloak-room ticket for Victoria Station."

"Humph," he commented, "yet she must have relations. She does not look
the friendless waif type."

Nurse Taylor pursed up her lips. She had her own opinion as to the
patient in bed 14. "There was the unfortunate circumstance of her
condition," she mentioned; "the girl may very well have been desperate
and lonely."

"Anyway, she hasn't any right to be left like this," the doctor
retorted. "If you can get her to talk about relations, find out where
they are and send for them. That is my advice."

Nurse Taylor owned a great many excellent qualities; tact and compassion
were not among them. Long years spent in a profession which brought her
daily into contact with human sin and human suffering had done nothing
to soften her outloo