"From your husband. I told him I was coming in this direction, and he suggested that I should come over and look you up." Very casually he made reply, and he could not have been aware of the flood of colour his words sent to her face, for he continued in the same cool fashion as he strolled by her side. "I was afraid you might consider it an unpardonable liberty, but he assured me you wouldn't. So--" the green eyes smiled upon her imperturbably--"as I am naturally interested in your welfare, I took my courage in both hands and, at the risk of being considered unprofessional,--I came." It was unexpected, but it was disarming. Avery found herself smiling in answer. "I am very pleased to see you," she said. "But your coming just at this time is rather amazing all the same, for I was thinking of you, wishing I could see you, only a few minutes ago." "What can I do for you?" said Maxwell Wyndham. She hesitated a little before the direct question; then as simply as he had asked she answered, laying the matter before him without reservation. He listened in his shrewd, comprehending way, asking one or two questions, but making no comments. "There need be no difficulty about it," he said, when she ended. "You say the child is tractable. Keep her in bed to-morrow, and say a medical friend of yours is coming over to see if he can do anything for her cough! Then if you'll ask me to lunch--I'll do the rest." He smiled as he ended, and thrust out his hand. "I'll be going now. I left my bicycle in the village and hope to find it still there. Now remember, Lady Evesham, my visit to-morrow is to be of a strictly unprofessional character. You didn't send for me, so I shall assume the privilege of coming as a friend. Is that understood?" He spoke with smiling assurance, and seeing that he meant to gain his point she yielded it. Not till he was gone did she come to ponder the errand that had brought him thither. She went back to Jeanie, and found her with aching eyes fixed resolutely on her book. Yes, she was a little tired, but she would rather go on, thank you. Oh no, she did not mind staying in bed to-morrow to please Avery, and she was sure she would like Avery's doctor though she didn't expect he would manage to stop the cough. She would have to do her task though all the same; dear Avery mustn't mind. You see, she had promised. But she would certainly stay in bed if Avery wished. And then came the tired sigh, and then that racking, cruel cough that seemed to rend her whole frame. No, she would not finish for another hour yet. Really she must go on. The brown head dropped on to the little bony hands, and Jeanie was immersed once more in her task. More than once in the night Avery awoke to hear that tearing, breathless cough in the room next to hers. It was no new thing, but in view of the coming ordeal it filled her with misgiving. When she rose herself in the morning she felt weighed down with anxious foreboding.