grand
piano, with no knick-knacks on it indicates,--he may begin that sort of
thing at once, before he is ready to be worried with the Braille
system, or any other method of instructing the blind. But contrive an
easy way--a little notch in the wood-work below the note--by means of
which, without hesitation or irritation, he can locate himself
instantly at middle C. Never mind the other notes. It is all the SEEING
he will require when once he is at the piano. Ha, ha! Not bad for a
Scotchman, eh, Nurse Gray?"

But Jane could not laugh; though somewhere in her mental background she
seemed to hear laughter and applause from the duchess. This was no
comedy to Jane,--her blind Garth at the piano, his dear beautiful head
bent over the keys, his fingers feeling for that pathetic little notch,
to be made by herself, below middle C. She loathed this individual who
could make a pun on the subject of Garth's blindness, and, in the back
of her mind, Tommy seemed to join the duchess, flapping up and down on
his perch and shrieking: "Kick him out! Stop his jaw!"

"And now," said Dr. Mackenzie unexpectedly, "the next thing to be done,
Nurse Gray, is to introduce you to the patient."

Jane felt the blood slowly leave her face and concentrate in a terrible
pounding at her heart. But she stood her ground, and waited silently.

Dr. Mackenzie rang the bell. Simpson appeared.

"A decanter of sherry, a wine-glass, and a couple of biscuits," said
Dr. Rob.

Simpson vanished.

"Little beast!" thought Jane. "At eleven o'clock in the morning!".

Dr. Rob stood, and waited; tugging spitefully at his red moustache, and
looking intently out of the window.

Simpson reappeared, placed a small tray on the table, and went quietly
out, closing the door behind him.

Dr. Rob poured out a glass of sherry, drew up a chair to the table, and
said: "Now, Nurse, sit down and drink that, and take a biscuit with it."

Jane protested. "But, indeed, doctor, I never--"

"I have no doubt you 'never,'" said Dr. Rob, "especially at eleven
o'clock in the morning. But you will to-day; so do not waste any time
in discussion. You have had a long night journey; you are going
upstairs to a very sad sight indeed, a strain on the nerves and
sensibilities. You have come through a trying interview with me, and
you are praising Heaven it is over. But you will praise Heaven with
more fervency when you have drunk the sherry. Also you have been
standing during twenty-t