"Yet you have told her she will recover." "I think she may live many years yet; but she must be content with a quiet invalid's life. She will, I fear, always be crippled." "Oh, how dreadful! She has been such an active woman. How will she bear it?" "As many others have borne it. Pluck is not lacking in her composition." "She is always asking when she will be well again. You must break it to her." "I would rather leave it to you," said the doctor, with a little rueful smile. "You manage her better than we do." And so it came to pass that, two or three weeks later, Rowena got her chance; and when Mrs. Burke said impatiently that, if the doctor could not cure her quicker she would go up to town for special treatment, she answered her. "I wonder if you realize how very, very ill you have been?" "I should think I do. They say I never do things by halves; and I've never been ill in my life before, so I have done the job pretty thoroughly now!" "Rheumatic fever generally leaves its effects behind," Rowena went on. "I am afraid you will be no exception to the rule." "What do you mean?" Real fright showed itself in Mrs. Burke's eyes. Rowena leant forward and took one of her poor swollen hands in hers. "You have never shirked difficulties, or even danger, have you? Can you be brave if I tell you what every doctor would fear in your case?" "Go on. For goodness' sake don't beat about the bush." "The fear is that you may never wholly get the use of your limbs again. You are getting better, and you will be able to walk soon, I hope, with the help of a stick; but you must make up your mind to lead a quiet life and be more or less of an invalid." "Rubbish! I won't make up my mind to it. I will resist with all the power that is in my body against such a verdict. I shall go to Harrogate. I have seen cripples cured there. I shall go abroad to the baths. I will travel all over the world before I'll lie down under such an infamous assertion." "You see, you cannot do the cures because of the weakness of your heart." Mrs. Burke laughed scornfully. "So this old molly of a doctor says. Now make arrangements for the best specialist on rheumatism to come down and see me. I will make him tell me a different tale to that. Write at once, Rowena; don't lose a post." "But," said Rowena, with a little helpless laugh, "whom can I write to? I must ask Dr. Hole to give me the name of one." "Telephone to the little wretch at once, then." Rowena went to the telephone in the hall. She came back presently with the name of a specialist, and as Mrs. Burke happened to know of him, he was summoned at once. In two days' time he arrived. But he could not give her much hope. "If you were ten years younger, madam, you would have a better chance. As it is, time may be kind to you, and you may to a great extent get the better of the disease. I should hope for it, if I were you; and you will find that you can still enjoy life quietly and peacefully."