"And she's behaving shamefully to poor Sir Cheltnam." "Ah!" "Yes; shamefully, Ralph, shamefully." "And you came to tell me that, my dear?" said Elthorne quietly. "Yes, Ralph, and it has come to this." She stopped short, and dabbed her face with her handkerchief. "Yes, my dear, it has come to this? Tell me. I am tired. I must sleep again." "That this woman, this nurse must leave the house at once." "Leave? Nurse Elisia leave?" said Elthorne with a faint smile. "No, my dear, you do not wish to kill me." "Heaven forbid, Ralph! I will nurse you now, and Isabel shall relieve me from time to time." "No, my dear, no," he said gently. "You are very good and kind, but you do not understand." "Not understand nursing?" she cried angrily. "Not such nursing as I require. No, my dear. She cannot go." "Then I shall," cried Aunt Anne angrily. Her brother laughed softly. "No," he said; "you will not go. The house could not exist without you, sister." "Am I to keep your house, then, or not, Ralph?" "To keep it? of course, dear, as you always have done." "I am mistress here, then?" "Yes, my dear, yes." "Then that woman goes at once," cried Aunt Anne emphatically. "No," said Ralph Elthorne quietly. "But I say yes, Ralph. I am mistress of this house, and it is my duty to send her away." "And I am master, dear, feeble and broken as I am. She stays till I bid her go." "Ralph, must I tell you everything I know?" "There is no need, sister." "But the woman's antecedents? Maria was at the hospital, and saw all her dreadful goings on with the students, and with poor deluded Neil." "Maria? Pish!" said Elthorne with a contemptuous smile. "Nurse Elisia's face tells something different from that, my dear. I would sooner believe her candid eyes than Maria Bellow's oath." "Ralph! Has this dreadful woman bewitched you too?" "Enough!" he said feebly. "Go to your cupboards and your keys, Anne. You are a good, true woman, but you have always been as blind and prejudiced as your brother has been overbearing and harsh. This illness has brought me very low, dear, and taught me much. Go now, and remember: I owe Nurse Elisia my life. She is to be treated with respect, and I shall send her away when I think good." "The woman is a witch," muttered Aunt Anne, as she left the room. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. DISCUSSING THE PAST. A fortnight's watching, and the accompaniments of care and skill, had been needed to save Ralph Elthorne from sinking slowly into his grave. The shock of his seizure had wrought terrible havoc, but the worst was now over, and he was weak, but recovering fast.