Again she half-smiled, and again, so it seemed to me, she had to make a great effort for self-control. "I told you a little while ago," she said quietly, "that he gave me the impression of having suffered blow after blow. This is another blow--and perhaps the worst. How do you think he'll stand it?" I didn't answer, and she continued: "It's rather an awful thing--to have your life-work stolen and used by somebody else. I wonder if you can imagine it. I've tried to--and I think I can--just a little.... And I pity him when he finds it out." "How do you think he will find it out?" "I'm going to see him the day after to-morrow." "And tell him?" "Yes. He'll have to learn--somehow and from somebody. And I think I can tell him better than anybody else." Then she told me why she had sent for me. "I felt I had to tell somebody about it," she said, "and you were the only person I could think of." She added: "That's a compliment, though it mayn't sound one. You can guess how I felt--reading that speech and recognizing parts of it.... I'm so glad--_now_--that you came--it's doing me good to have this talk with you...." We talked on, but there wasn't much else to say. The Liverpool train came in at an adjoining platform; I wanted her to stay for a later one, but she wouldn't. Then I offered to go with her to Liverpool, but she said (sensibly enough) that I had my own work to do and must get back to it. Just before the train started she leaned out of the window and touched my arm. "We mustn't let Terry go under, must we?" she said eagerly. "This _may_ seem--when he hears about it--the last straw--but he won't go under, will he?" "Not if you can stop him, I know." "And you," she insisted. She went on quickly: "I don't want to have all the job to myself. You've got to help--we've all got to help.... You _will_ help me, won't you?" "All I possibly can," I answered, and she smiled happily as the train separated us. VI