Paul went back to tell Grace that the man on the beat was to be at hand, and it did not occur to her fortunately to ask what good being at hand would do for Margaret. But she had found out through the landlady that if two doctors declared Mr. Drayton to be mad, they could get a magistrate's order and have him put under restraint. "After all, you have done a great deal more than I have done; I have wasted my day, and done nothing," said poor Paul, who was fairly tired out. Grace did not contradict him; so far from thinking she had done much she felt as though all the real effort, all the great trial, had yet to come. She awaited with impatience the arrival of the doctor, turning over in her own mind after her usual fashion what she should say and how she should say it. On his arrival he was surprised to find her sitting up when he had imagined her very ill; he stopped short, and gazed at her a little helplessly--what did she want with him? As may be remembered, he had not been accustomed to much beauty, and was always on his guard against being influenced by it in an undue manner. Grace was not so beautiful as Margaret, but she was not like the ordinary women he had seen; he had got into a groove of very middle-aged ladies, and, seeing them in private, saw them bereft of those adornments which concealed the ravages of time from the outside world. Grace with her rippling hair tumbling over her shoulders, a heightened colour and sparkling eyes, prejudiced him directly. So handsome a young woman must be certainly very wicked. Doctor Jones is not the only person in the world who imagines that goodness and plainness walk hand in hand. He prepared from the first therefore to act on the defensive, and his tone, asking, "You wished to see me, madam," was distinctly aggressive, and Grace, sensitive and anxious, recognized the tone and felt that at the outset she was met with a difficulty. "Doctor Jones, you have seen and you know my sister, Mrs. Drayton." "I have seen her; I cannot say that I _know_ her; one cannot know a person just by seeing them for a moment or two." "Well," said Grace, a little impatiently, "you know her husband, Mr. Drayton?" "Slightly; yes, slightly, I do know him." "Do you know that he is--mad?" "No, I know nothing of the kind. Who says so, Miss Rivers?" "I _know_ it," said Grace, "and something must be done immediately!" She spoke with rising excitement. "I cannot understand what you're driving at." "Doctor Jones, a friend of ours went there to-day; he saw Mr. Drayton, and he told me if something was not done immediately he was quite quite certain that my sister will suffer. I am afraid for her poor child." "Is she afraid for herself?" he asked, with a disagreeable smile.