t me."

"Till you go to Italy?"

"Very well. Till I go to Italy."

"When are you going?"

"Not till you're well enough to go with me."

"How did you know I was ill?"

"Because I saw that Kitty had had to finish what your dear little
hands had begun."

"Ah--you should have had them sooner--"

"Why should I have had them at all? Do you think I would have
published them before I knew I had dedicated them to my wife?"

"Keith--dear--you mustn't talk about that yet."

She hid her face on his shoulder; he lifted it and looked at it as if
it could have told him what he had to know. It told him nothing; it
had not changed enough for that. It was like a beautiful picture
blurred, and the sweeter for the blurring.

He laid his hand over her heart. At his touch it leapt and throbbed
violently, suggesting a new terror.

"Darling, how fast your heart beats. Am I doing it harm?"

"No, it doesn't mind."

"But am I tiring it?"

"No, no, you're resting it."

She lay still a long time without speaking, till at last he carried
her upstairs and delivered her into Kitty's care. At the open door of
her room he saw a nurse in uniform standing ready to receive her. Her
presence there was ominous of the unutterable things he feared.

"Kitty," said Lucia, when they were alone. "It looks as if I had been
shamming after all. What do you think of me?"

"I think perhaps Sir Wilfrid Spence needn't come down to-morrow."

"Perhaps not. And yet it would be better to know. If there really is
anything wrong I couldn't let him marry me. It would be awful. I want
to be sure, Kitty, for his sake."

Kitty felt sure enough; and her certainty grew when Lucia came down
the next morning. But she was unable to impart her certainty to Keith.
The most he could do was to hide his anxiety from Lucia. It wanted but
a day to the coming of the great specialist; and for that day they
made such a brave show of happiness that they deceived both Kitty and
themselves. Kitty, firm in her conviction, left them to themselves
that afternoon while she went into Harmouth to announce to Lucia's
doctor the miracle of her recovery.

When she had left the house a great peace fell on them. They had so
much to say to each other, and so little time to say it in, when
to-morrow might cut short their happiness. But Lucia was sorry for
Kitty.

"Poor Kitty," said she, "she's going to marry her cousin Charlie
Palliser. But that won't be the same."

"The same as