all
this time in the rain, Mrs. Darrell?'

'Yes, I have been out in the rain, Miss Crofton,' she answered in a
vexed impatient tone. 'Is that so very shocking to your sober ideas
of propriety? I could not endure the house to-night. One has
feverish fancies sometimes--at least I have; and I preferred being
out in the rain to not being out at all. Good-night.'

She gave me a haughty nod, and ran up-stairs with a quick light
step. The old butler came to lock and bolt the hall-door as the
clock struck ten, according to unalterable custom; and I went back
to my room, wondering what could have kept Mrs. Darrell out so long--
whether she had been upon some special errand, or had only been
wandering about the grounds in a purposeless way.

For some days Milly went on very well; then there came a little
change for the worse. The symptoms were not quite so favourable. Mr.
Hale assured us that there was no reason for alarm, the recovery was
only a little retarded. He had not the least doubt that all would go
well. Mr. Egerton was very quick to take fright, however, and
insisted on Dr. Lomond, a famous provincial physician, being
summoned immediately from Manchester.

The great man came, and his opinion coincided entirely with that of
Mr. Hale. There was not the slightest cause for fear. Careful
nursing and quiet were the two essential points. The patient's mind
was to be made as happy as possible. The physician made minute
inquiries as to the arrangements for attendance in the sick-room,
and suggested a professional nurse. But I pleaded so hard against
this, assuring him of my capacity for doing much more than I had to
do, that he gave way, and consented to Milly being waited only by
myself and her maid.

Mrs. Darrell was present during this conversation, and I was rather
surprised by her taking my side of the question with regard to the
nursing, as it was her usual habit to oppose me upon all subjects.
To-day she was singularly gracious.

Another week went by, and there was no change for the better, nor
any very perceptible change for the worse. The patient was a little
weaker, and suffered from a depression of mind, against which all my
efforts were vain.

Angus Egerton came twice daily during this week, but he rarely saw
Mrs. Darrell. I think he studiously avoided meeting her after that
painful scene in the drawing-room. It was for me he inquired, and he
used to come up-stairs to the corridor outside Milly's room, a