Another day, another, and another, with life seeming to hang as by a thread; while Max, strictly avoiding the sick-chamber, waited anxiously for the result; for this was an accident upon which, with all his foresight, he had not calculated. But he could obtain no comfort from doctor or nurse. Their looks grew more and more ominous, and at last he began to calculate upon what would be his position, should the worst come to the worst. Certainly, he had by deception--a stratagem, he termed it--induced Ella Bedford to place herself under his protection, and if she died it would be in the doctor's hands. There would be no coroner's inquest, and the law could not touch him. And besides, she had no relatives to call him to account, while surely--he smiled gravely as he thought it--_his brother-in-law_ would say nothing! But all the same, in his heart of hearts Max Bray knew that, if Ella died, he would be morally guilty of her murder. That last was an ugly word, but it insisted upon being spoken, to afterwards ring again and again in his ears as he restlessly moved in his seat. But now a change had taken place in Ella's state. From the soft appealing prayer for leave to go and answer the calls she fancied that she heard, she now became fiercely excited, moved by a dread of pursuit, and shrinking from every one who approached her. She would even wildly inveigh against the doctor, whom she accused of being in the pay of Max to drag her away. No more soft appeals now, but frantic shrieks and fierce struggles for freedom. Again and again those who watched found that she had taken advantage of a few minutes' absence to dress hurriedly, when it was only by a gentle application of force that she could be overcome. Then came the time when she seemed to have fallen into a weak and helpless state, lying day after day apparently devoid of sense and feeling. Max was asked again and again whether he would see her; but he invariably refused with a coward's shiver of dread, to the great disgust of all who had taken interest in the poor girl's state. "I declare, it's scandalous!" said the landlady in confidence to her husband. "He seems to neither know nor care how she is. No relatives are sent to, he has no letters; and it's my belief there's more than we know hanging to this." "'Tisn't our business to interfere," said the landlord. "He pays like a gentleman, if he isn't one; and if we get our living by visitors, it isn't for us to be playing the spy upon them." The landlady did not say anything, but she evidently thought a great deal. The doctor, too, had his opinion upon the subject, but he was silent, and tended his patient to the best of his ability, shaking his head when questioned as to her recovery. Volume 3, Chapter XIX. THE NET BREAKS.