than those of this loyal sister of a fugitive brother.

That her conjecture was correct, she became every instant more
convinced. She sensed it in the stilled atmosphere of the house; she
sensed it in the glances of cold and watchful hostility Miss Sherman
now and then stole at her. She was wondering what should be her next
step, when Doctor West, who had felt Elsie's pulse and examined the
temperature chart, drew Miss Sherman back to near where Katherine
stood.

"Still nothing from Doctor Sherman?" he whispered in grave anxiety.

"Nothing," said Miss Sherman, looking straight into her questioner's
eyes.

"Too bad, too bad!" sighed Doctor West. "He ought to be home!"

Miss Sherman let the first trace of feeling escape from her compressed
being.

"But still there is a chance?" she asked quickly.

"A fighting chance. I think we shall know which it's to be within an
hour."

At these words Katherine heard from behind her ever so faint a sound,
a sound that sent a thrill through all her nerves. A sound like a
stifled groan. For a minute or more she did not move. But when Doctor
West and Miss Sherman had gone back to their places and Doctor West
had begun the final fight for Elsie's life, she slowly turned about.
Before her was a door. Her heart gave a leap. When she had entered she
had searched the room with a quick glance, and that door had then been
closed. It now stood slightly ajar.

Some one within must have noiselessly opened it to hear Doctor West's
decree upon the patient.

Swiftly and silently Katherine slipped through the door and locked it
behind her. For a moment she stood in the darkness, striving to master
her throbbing excitement.

At length she spoke.

"Will you please turn on the light, Doctor Sherman," she said.

There was no answer; only a black and breathless silence.

"Please turn on the light, Doctor Sherman," Katherine repeated. "I
cannot, for I do not know where the electric button is."

Again there was silence. Then Katherine heard something like a gasp.
There was a click, and then the room, Doctor Sherman's study, burst
suddenly into light.

Behind the desk, one hand still upon the electric key, stood Doctor
Sherman. He was very thin and very white, and was worn, wild-eyed and
dishevelled. He was breathing heavily and he stared at Katherine with
the defiance of a desperate creature brought at last to bay.

"What do you want?" he demanded huskily.

"A little talk with you,"