"That's a good girl. Now don't talk. Just lie back quietly and see if you can sleep. I shan't leave you till you're able to fend for yourself." He sat down beside the bed and took her wrist in sturdy brown fingers. "You're so good," she whispered tremulously. "And I'm such a nuisance." "Didn't I say not to talk?" The tone was gruff, but his fingers tightened about the frail wrist. "I'll--be good." The low voice broke. A moan issued from quivering lips. "Oh, oh, I cannot bear it! I cannot bear it," she sobbed. Her breast rose and fell in stormy gasps. The young doctor leaned over her. "Don't, don't, you will hurt yourself! What is the matter? Tell me about it, perhaps I can help!" "I cannot bear it!" The sobs rose wildly. Brown face drained of color, he put his arms about the slight body and pillowed her head on his breast. "There, there, cry it out if you must. There's no one but me to hear you." "Oh, oh, oh!" The slight body writhed in a renewed gust. "What shall I do? What will become of us all?" "There, there." He stroked the convulsed forehead with cool fingers. "Things can't be as bad as all that. Tell me about it. That's what I'm here for, you know." The cyclonic sobs increased. He cradled the small tortured body within his arms and rocked it to and fro like a baby. "I wish I were dead. I ought never to have been born!" The man was frightened. If this were to last much longer, there was no telling what would happen. When he spoke his voice was purposely abrupt. "This must stop at once. Do you want to kill your child?" "It would be better for him if he never were born." But his tone of command had calmed her. The sobs died down into a whimper. He followed up his advantage sternly. "You must not say such things nor think them." She stirred in his arms and he laid her back upon the pillow. "But it is true. Nobody wants either of us. Nobody ever has wanted us." "That is because you don't give them a chance. You are so shy. You always run away. Nobody could help loving you if they really knew you." She hid her pallid young face. "Alexis doesn't. He wants me to get a divorce." He reddened with anger. "That doesn't prove anything! These artistic people must be the devil to live with. Why don't you give him a divorce if he wants one? What is the use of staying together if you aren't happy?" "I can't--you don't understand----" her voice came muffled from within the pillow. He looked down upon the small dark head with compassion. "Oh, yes, I understand all right. You think you love him and all that. Women like you always fall for the brutes. But it really isn't love, you know. An obvious case of masochism. My advice is to divorce and forget him. He isn't worth all these tears. There are plenty of men in the world who would be proud and happy in your love. I'm sorry this had to come up when you're not in the best condition for it. But now that it has, you might as well face the music."