d hush, her eyes fixed on the white face on
the pillow, in almost hypnotic restfulness. The pushing open of the
door behind was so soft that she didn't notice. Miss Gallifer turned
another page.

It was the sense that someone was in the room which made Barbara
glance over her shoulder and Miss Gallifer look up. A little gray
figure in a battered black hat stood just within the door. She stood
just within the door, but with no consciousness of anything or anyone
in the room. She saw only the upturned face and its deathlike fixity.

With slow, spellbound movement she began to come forward. Barbara, who
had never seen the Letty who used to be, knew her now only by a
terrified intuition. Miss Gallifer was entirely at a loss, and
somewhat indignant. The little gray vagrant was not of the type she
had been used to treating with respect.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, as soon as speech came
to her.

Letty didn't look at her, or remove her eyes from the face on the
pillow. A woman in a trance could not have spoken with greater
detachment or self-control. "I came--to see."

"Well, now that you've seen, won't you please go away, before I call
the police?"

Of this Letty took no notice, going straight to the bedside, while
Miss Gallifer moved toward Barbara, who stood as she had risen from
her chair.

"Do you know who she is?" Miss Gallifer asked, with curiosity greater
than her indignation.

Barbara nodded. "Yes, I know who she is. I thought she'd--disappeared."

"Oh, they never disappear for long--not that kind. What had I better
do? Is she anything--to _him_?"

Barbara was saved the necessity of answering because Letty, who was on
the other side of the bed, bent over and kissed the feet, as she had
kissed them once before.

"Is she dotty?" Miss Gallifer whispered. "Ought I to take her by the
shoulders and put her out the door? I could, you know--a scrap of a
thing like that."

Barbara whispered back. "I can't tell you who she is, but--but I
wouldn't interfere with her."

"Oh, the doctor'll do that. _He'll_ not----"

But Letty raised herself, addressing the nurse. "Is he--dead?"

Miss Gallifer's tone was the curt one we use to inferiors. "No, he's
not dead."

"Is he going to die?"

"Not this time, I think."

Letty looked round her. "Well, I'll just sit over here." She went to a
chair at the back of the room, in a corner on a line with the door. "I
won't give any trouble. The minute he be