val home."

"You've got it," the doctor assented. "It's a tangled-up position, but
we've got to deal with it--or rather you have. I can assure you," he
went on, "that all her other delusions have gone. She speaks of the
ghost of Roger Unthank, of the cries in the night, of his mysterious
death, as parts of a painful past. She is quite conscious of her several
attempts upon your life and bitterly regrets them. Now we come to
the real danger. She appears to be possessed of a passionate devotion
towards you, whilst still believing that you are not her husband."

Dominey pushed his chair back from the fire as though he felt the heat.
His eyes seemed glued upon the doctor's.

"I do not pretend," the latter continued gravely, "to account for that,
but it is my duty to warn you, Sir Everard, that that devotion may
lead her to great lengths. Lady Dominey is naturally of an exceedingly
affectionate disposition, and this return to a stronger condition
of physical health and a fuller share of human feelings has probably
reawakened all those tendencies which her growing fondness for you and
your position as her reputed husband make perfectly natural. I warn you,
Sir Everard, that you may find your position an exceedingly difficult
one, but, difficult though it may be, there is a plain duty before you.
Keep and encourage your wife's affection if you can, but let it be a
charge upon you that whilst the hallucination remains that affection
must never pass certain bounds. Lady Dominey is a good and sweet woman.
If she woke up one morning with that hallucination still in her mind,
and any sense of guilt on her conscience, all our labours for these last
months might well be wasted, and she herself might very possibly end her
days in a madhouse."

"Doctor," Dominey said firmly. "I appreciate every word you say. You can
rely upon me."

The doctor looked at him.

"I believe I can," he admitted, with a sigh of relief. "I am glad of
it."

"There is just one more phase of the position," Dominey went on, after a
pause. "Supposing this hallucination of hers should pass? Supposing she
should suddenly become convinced that I am her husband?"

"In that case," the doctor replied earnestly, "the position would be
exactly reversed, and it would be just as important for you not to check
the affection which she might offer to you as it would be in the other
case for you not to accept it. The moment she realises, with her present
predisposition