with slightly open mouth, as if
suddenly struck with amazement which held in it a touch of shock. Dowie
herself was obliged to make an affectionate joke.

"Your short skirts make such a child of you that I feel as if I was
taking you out to walk in the park, and I must hold your hand," she
said.

Robin glanced down at herself.

"They do make people look young," she agreed. "The Lady Downstairs
looked quite like a little girl when she went out in them. But it seems
so long since I was little."

* * * * *

She walked with Dowie bravely though they did not go far from the
Castle. It happened that they met the doctor driving up the road which
twisted in and out among the heath and gorse. For a moment he looked
startled but he managed to control himself quickly and left his dogcart
to his groom so that he might walk with them. His eyes--at once grave
and keen--scarcely left her as he strolled by her side.

When they reached the Castle he took Dowie aside and talked anxiously
with her.

"There is a change," he said. "Has anything happened which might have
raised her spirits? It looks like that kind of thing. She mustn't do too
much. There is always that danger to guard against in a case of sudden
mental stimulation."

"She had a dream last night," Dowie began.

"A dream!" he exclaimed disturbedly. "What kind of dream?"

"The dream did it. I saw the change the minute I went to her this
morning," Dowie answered. "Last night she looked like a dying
thing--after one of her worst breakdowns. This morning she lay there
peaceful and smiling and almost rosy. She had dreamed that she saw her
husband and talked to him. She believed it wasn't a common dream--that
it wasn't a dream at all. She believes he really came to her."

Doctor Benton rubbed his chin and there was serious anxiety in the
movement. Lines marked themselves on his forehead.

"I am not sure I like that--not at all sure. In fact I'm sure I don't
like it. One can't say what it may lead to. It would be better not to
encourage her to dwell on it, Mrs. Dowson."

"The one thing that's in my mind, sir," Dowie's respectfulness actually
went to the length of hinting at firmness--"is that it's best not to
_dis_courage her about anything just now. It brought a bit of natural
colour to her cheeks and it made her eat her breakfast--which she hasn't
been able to do before. They _must_ be fed, sir," with the seriousness
of experience. "Y