"No, of course not. Well, to put it as simply as possible, it is likely that your father will live a long time now. When he said he felt as if his mind and body had been rejuvenated he was speaking the truth." "But he will be ninety next year," she said bluntly. "I know. But that will make no difference. This germ, that is now in his body, has the power of arresting all further decay. Your father will remain as he is now for an indefinite period." I met her eyes as steadily as I could, but there was a quality in her gaze that caused me to look elsewhere. "How do you know this?" she asked after a painful silence. "I--er--I can't tell you." The colour mounted to my cheeks, and I began to tap the carpet impatiently with the toe of my boot. "You wouldn't understand," I continued in as professional a manner as I could muster. "You would need first to study the factors that bring about old age." "Where did the Blue Disease come from? Tell me. I can surely understand that!" "You have read the paper, haven't you?" "I've read that no one understands what it is, and that the doctors are puzzled." "How should I know where it comes from?" She regarded me searchingly. "You know something about it," she said positively. "Richard, you are keeping it back from me. I have a right to know what it is." I was silent. "If you don't tell me, how can I trust you again?" she asked. "Don't you see that there will always be a shadow between us?" It was not difficult for me to guess that my guilty manner had roused her suspicions. She had seen my agitation, and had found it unaccountable. I resolved to entrust her with the secret of the germ. "Do you remember that I once told you my friend, Professor Sarakoff, had succeeded in keeping butterflies alive for over a year?" She nodded. "He and I have been experimenting on those lines and he has found a germ that has the property of keeping human beings alive in the same way. The germ has escaped ... into the world ... and it is the cause of the Blue Disease." "How did it escape?" I winced. In her voice I was conscious of a terrible accusation. "By accident," I stammered. She jumped to her feet. "I don't believe it! That is a lie!" "Alice, you must calm yourself! I am trying to tell you exactly what happened." "Was it by accident?" The vision of that secret expedition to the water supply of Birmingham passed before me. I felt like a criminal. I could not raise my eyes; my cheeks were burning. In the silence that followed, the sound of Mr. Annot's voice became audible. Alice stood before me, rigid and implacable.