My cheeks burned. I followed her upstairs and into my master's room. Sir William Dagmar was awake. He looked a mere skeleton, and his transparent face was as white as the coverlid. He greeted me with a wan smile and a hoarse whisper: "It is good to see you again, Brown," he muttered. "It proves to me that I am on the mend." I took his feeble hand and pressed it gently. At the bottom of my heart I really liked the man. "You must make haste and get well, sir," I said softly. "The world grows impatient for your book." Ah! vanity! Sir William's cheeks flushed, and a warm light flashed into his deep thoughtful eyes. "I'll not keep it waiting a minute longer than I can help!" he cried. But at that Marion stepped forward and compelled me from the room. It was a keen pleasure to prepare her breakfast. I gave her the things that I myself liked best, and half an hour later it fed my vanity to watch her eat. I waited upon her, but she did not speak to me throughout the meal. Nurse Hargreaves had once insisted upon my sitting down with her to table. But somehow I preferred to serve Marion as a flunkey, rather than dine with any other woman in the world. Presently she gave me instance of her spirit. Mr. Sefton Dagmar entered the room when she had almost finished. "Ah, Brown!" said he, "I'm late as usual. Good morning, Miss Le Mar; you are looking rather pale. Did the old buck give you a bad night?" The vacuous puppy! Marion blushed and her eyes glittered. "Do you refer to your uncle?" she asked in freezing tones. "Well, now," he replied with a leer of admiration, "who else would you suppose? Much better have taken my tip and gone with me to a music-hall, my dear. You are too doocid pretty a girl to be tied up by a sick bed. Waste of charms, and all that sort of thing." Marion arose from her chair, and with a curling lip, swept out of the room. I darted forward to open the door for her, but she passed me in disdain, without a glance. Mr. Sefton Dagmar laughed loud and long. But I was mad with him, and malice prompted me to cut his laughter short. "Sir," said I, "have you seen Sir William this morning?" "No!" he cried, "have you?" "Yes--he has rounded the corner. He is sensible again, and Sir Charles Venner declares that he is on the high road to recovery!" "Hell and curses!" gasped Mr. Dagmar. "Is that true?" "Too true!" I heaved a sigh, but in truth his despairing rage had thoroughly delighted me. He had insulted Marion. "What in blazes am I to do?" he muttered, pushing his plate aside with savage gesture. His appetite had incontinently vanished. "If I were you, sir," I ventured gently, "I should return at once to Newhaven. If your uncle knew you were here, who knows what he might say?" "Be damned if I do!" he snapped. "It may be only a flash in the pan. Curse me, if I don't go up and have a look at the old boy myself."