She gave me an envelope, and, enclosing the card, I wrote the superscription, "Doctor Carl Hoefer, 63, Museum Mansions, Bloomsbury." Her ladyship at once sent the servant on the message, and then without delay returned to my side. "Well, Doctor," she asked in a low, strained voice, "what is your opinion? Will she recover?" "I cannot say," I responded mechanically, my eyes still fixed upon my patient's face, watching for any change that might occur there. At my request her ladyship brought the brandy decanter from the dining-room, and I managed, after some difficulty, to force a few drops between her cousin's lips. "Now tell me," I said firmly, turning to the agitated woman at my side, "how did this occur?" "I don't know." "But if her life is to be saved we must know the truth," I said, my eyes fixed upon her. "In this manner to prevaricate is useless. Tell me how it is that I find her in this condition of fatal collapse." "I cannot tell you things of which I myself am ignorant," she answered, with a well-feigned air of innocence. "You wish to save your cousin's life?" I inquired. "Certainly. She must not die," she cried anxiously. "Then answer my questions plainly, and leave the rest entirely in my hands," I replied. "From your manner I know that you have some secret which you are striving to conceal. Knowledge of this secret will, no doubt, place me in a position to combat this extraordinary attack. If because you maintain silence she dies, then an inquest will be held, and the truth must come out--and a scandalous truth it will be." "Scandalous!" she exclaimed with some hauteur. "I don't understand." "An attempt has been made upon her life," I said as calmly as I could. "Those who are responsible for this must, if she dies, be discovered." "An attempt upon her life? How do you know?" she gasped. I smiled, but made no direct answer to her question. "I am aware of it by the same means that I know that Feo Ashwicke and Beryl Wynd are one and the same person." She started quickly. "Who told you that?" she asked, with a strange flash in her eyes. I smiled again, answering, "I think it would be best if you confided in me in this matter, instead of leaving me to obtain the truth for myself. Remember, you have called me here to save your cousin, and yet, by her side, while her young life is slowly ebbing, we are engaged in a battle of words. Now tell me," I urged, "how did this occur?" She shook her head. "Shall I begin?" I suggested. "Shall I say that you came up with Miss Beryl from Atworth yesterday, quite unexpectedly, in order to keep an appointment? That you--" "How did you know?" she gasped again. "How did you know our movements?"