He laughed again. “You must have some sense of humour, my dear man. Fancy Oliver and Julia! What could I have said to them? What could they have said to me? I sat staring up at her window. The rain was falling. Everything was still. It was night. You know how quiet everything is there. Then I seemed to hear footsteps and I turned, and a kind of shape--a woman's--disappeared. I know I was off my head, but I began to think. I had a funny experience once--I 've never told you. It was the day she came out of prison. I sat down in St. James's Park and fell half asleep,--that sort of dog sleep one has when one's tired,--and I thought I saw her going for Stella--Stella in her bed at the Channel House--going to strangle her. This came into my mind, and then something hit me,--a chunk of overhanging cliff loosened by the rain, I suppose,--and, as I 've told you, it knocked me out. But it's devilish odd that she should be mixed up in it.” “As I said, your brain was playing you tricks,” said Herold, outwardly calm; but within himself he shuddered. The woman was like a foul spirit hovering unseen about those he loved. Presently the doctor, a young man with a cheery face, came in and made his examination. There was no serious damage done. The only thing to fear was the chill. If the patient's temperature went down in the morning, he could quite safely be moved to his own home. For the present rest was imperative, immediate sleep desirable. He wrote a prescription, and with pleasant words went away. Then Unity, summoned to the room, heard the doctor's comforting opinion. “I 'll be with you to-morrow,” said John. “You don't mind leaving him to Mrs. Ripley and me just for one night?” asked Herold. “He 's always safe with you,” Unity replied, her eyes fixed not on him, but on John Risca. “Good-bye, Guardian dear.” John drew an arm from beneath the bedclothes and put it round her thin shoulders. “Good-by, dear. Forgive me for giving you such a fright, and make my peace with auntie. You 'll be coming back with my things, won't you?” “Of course; but you 'll be asleep then.” “I should n't wonder,” said John. She made him cover up his arm again and tucked the bedclothes snugly about him, her finger-tips lingering by his cheeks. “I 'll leave you, too. Try and get to sleep,” said Herold. They went together out of the room and back to the library. “Has he said anything more?” He stood before her trembling all over. “What is the matter?” He burst into an uncontrollable cry. “It 's that hellish woman again! He saw her spying on him outside his office, he saw her in a railway carriage on the train he took. Because she disappeared each time, he thinks it was an hallucination; and somehow he was aware of her presence just before the piece of rock came down.” Unity's face beneath the skimpy hair and rubbishy tam-o'-shanter was white and strained. “She threw it. I knew she threw it.”