He exchanged his boots for slippers, which he kept in a little cupboard below the bookshelves, among old newspapers, and went softly from the room. The gas was burning dimly on the stairs and on the landing above. He opened the door of the invalid's room softly, and went in. Mrs. Woolper was seated beside the bed. She looked up at him with unwinking eyes. "I thought you was abed, sir," she said. "No; I am too anxious to sleep." "I think every one is anxious, sir," Mrs. Woolper answered, gravely. "How is your patient?" The pretty white curtains of the little brass Arabian bedstead were drawn. "She is asleep, sir. She sleeps a great deal. The doctor said that was only natural." "She has taken her medicine, I suppose?" said Mr. Sheldon. He glanced round the room as he asked this question, but could see no trace of medicine-bottle or glass. "Yes, sir; she has taken it twice, the poor dear." "Let me look at the medicine." "The strange doctor said as I was to let no one touch it, sir." "Very likely; but that direction doesn't apply to me." "He said no one, sir." "You are an old fool!" muttered Mr. Sheldon, savagely. "Ah no, sir," the housekeeper answered, with a profound sigh; "I am wiser than I was when poor Mr. Halliday died." This answer, and the sigh, and the look of solemn sadness which accompanied it, told him that this woman knew all. She had suspected him long ago; but against her unsupported suspicion the mere force of his character had prevailed. She was wiser now; for on this occasion suspicion was confirmed by the voice of science. He stood for a few minutes looking at his old nurse, with a dark moody face. What could he feel except supreme indignation against this woman, who dared to oppose him when he had the best right to rely on her faithful service? She had promised him her fidelity, and at the first hint from a stranger she coolly deserted him and went over to the enemy. "Do you mean to say that you refuse to let me look at the medicine which you have been giving to my stepdaughter?" he asked. "I mean to say that I will obey the orders given me by the strange doctor," the old woman answered, with a calm sadness of tone, "even if it turns you against me--you that have given me a comfortable home when there was nothing before me but the workhouse; you that I carried in my arms forty years ago. If it was anything less than her dear life that was in danger, sir, and if I hadn't stood by her father's deathbed, I couldn't stand against you like this. But knowing what I do, I will stand firm as a rock between you and her; and think myself all the more truly your faithful servant because I do not fear to offend you."