I was quite contented with the present. The future had no charms just then. I lay there, looking at her. She was paler and thinner than she had been when she left Mayberry, almost as pale and thin as when I first met her in the back room of Mrs. Briggs' lodging house. And there was another change, a subtle, undefinable change in her manner and appearance that puzzled me. Then I realized what it was; she had grown older, more mature. In Mayberry she had been an extraordinarily pretty girl. Now she was a beautiful woman. These last weeks had worked the change. And I began to understand what she had undergone during those weeks. “Have you been with me ever since it happened--since I was hurt?” I asked, suddenly. “Yes, of course.” “All night?” She smiled. “There was very little of the night left,” she answered. “But you have had no rest at all. You must be worn out.” “Oh, no; I am used to it. My--” with a slight pause before the word--“work of late has accustomed me to resting in the daytime. And I shall rest by and by, when my aunt--when Miss Cahoon comes.” “Miss Cahoon? Hephzy? Have you sent for her?” My tone of surprise startled her, I think. She looked at me. “Sent for her?” she repeated. “Isn't she here--in Paris?” “She is in Interlaken, at the Victoria. Didn't the concierge tell you?” “He told us she was not here, at this hotel, at present. He said she had gone away with some friends. But we took it for granted she was in Paris. I told them I would stay until she came. I--” I interrupted. “Stay until she comes!” I repeated. “Stay--! Why you can't do that! You can't! You must not!” “Hush! hush! Remember you are ill. Think of yourself!” “Of myself! I am thinking of you. You mustn't stay here--with me. What will they think? What--” “Hush! hush, please. Think! It makes no difference what they think. If I had cared what people thought I should not be singing at--Hush! you must not excite yourself in this way.” But I refused to hush. “You must not!” I cried. “You shall not! Why did you do it? They could have found a nurse, if one was needed. Bayliss--” “Doctor Bayliss does not know. If he did I should not care. As for the others--” she colored, slightly, “Well, I told the concierge that you were my uncle. It was only a white lie; you used to say you were, you know.” “Say! Oh, Frances, for your own sake, please--” “Hush! Do you suppose,” her cheeks reddened and her eyes flashed as I had seen them flash before, “do you suppose I would go away and leave you now? Now, when you are hurt and ill and--and--after all that you have done! After I treated you as I did! Oh, let me do something! Let me do a little, the veriest little in return. I--Oh, stop! stop! What are you doing?” I suppose I was trying to sit up; I remember raising myself on my elbow. Then came the pain again, the throbbing in my head and the agonizing pain in my side. And after that there is another long interval in my recollections.