action. He sprang up.

Mrs. Armine was standing near the top of the companion.

XXXVII

She came towards them.

"You've made friends without any introduction?"

She had on a hat and veil, and carried a fan in her hand.

"How can you be awake and up? But it's impossible, after the veronal I
gave you. And such a night as you had! You mustn't--"

Doctor Hartley, still looking dreadfully guilty, was beside her. His
solicitude was feverish.

"Really, I can't permit--" he almost stammered.

She looked at him.

"Your voices woke me!"

He was silent. He stood like a man who had been struck.

"How d'you do, Doctor Isaacson? Please forgive me for saying it, but,
considering you are two doctors discussing the case of a patient
sleeping immediately beneath you, you are not too careful to moderate
your voices. Another minute and my husband would have been awake. He was
moving and murmuring as it was. As for me--well, you just simply woke
me right up, so I thought I would come and join you, and see whether I
could keep you quiet."

Her face looked ghastly beneath the veil. Her voice, though she kept it
very low, sounded bitter and harsh with irony, and there was something
almost venomous in her manner.

"The question is," she added, standing midway between Hartley and
Isaacson, "whether my unfortunate husband is to have a little rest or
not. When we tied up here we really thought we should be at peace, but
it seems we were mistaken. At any rate, I hope the consultation is
nearly done, for my head is simply splitting."

Doctor Hartley was scarlet. He shot a vicious glance at Isaacson.

"There has been no consultation, Mrs. Armine," he said.

His eyes implored her forgiveness. His whole body looked pathetic,
begging, almost like a chastised dog's.

"No consultation? Then what's the good of all this talky-talky? Have you
waked me up by discussing the weather and the temples? That's really too
bad of you!"

Her face worked for a second or two. It was easy to see that she was
scarcely mistress of herself.

"I think I shall pack you both off to see Edfou," she continued,
violently beginning to use her fan. "You can chatter away there and make
friends to your hearts' content, and there'll be only the guardian to
hear you. Then poor Nigel can have his sleep out whatever happens to
me."

Suddenly she gaped, and put up her fan to her mouth.

"Ah!" she said.

The exclamation was like something between a si