“Oh, Mary, dear!” Agnes cried. She was choking with excitement and emotion, but the imperative gesture by which her sister’s companion warned her to be on her guard stopped the tears in her eyes and the words in her mouth. Even in that glance Agnes perceived that it was the doctor in whose care Mary had been placed who came in behind her. This did something to still the beating of her amazed and anxious heart. “Oh, Rogers,” said Mary, “I am so glad to see you before I go to him. How is he? He was quite well when I left home. Do tell me everything before I go to him: for I am sure you have never left him, you faithful servant--more faithful than his wife,” she said with a smile, turning to the doctor, who stood behind. Lady Frogmore looked exactly as if she had come from a visit as she said, a little troubled that she had not been sent for at once, yet scarcely anxious. Agnes even thought she looked younger, better, more self-possessed than of old. “You were not aware he was ill, Lady Frogmore. You must rest a little and get warmed, and take something--a cup of tea, perhaps--before you go to his room. You must not take in too much cold air to the room of a patient with bronchitis. In the meantime I will go--shall I?--and bring you an exact report.” “Do!” said Mary, “that will be the kindest thing. I can trust to what you say. But it is cold this morning,” she added, walking up to the fire. “I must not go and touch my dear old lord with cold hands. How are they at home, Agnes? and how long have you been here?” “They are quite well,” said Agnes, very tremulous. “My father begins to show signs of getting old----” “I thought him very well indeed the last time I saw him,” said Mary; “he can’t have grown much older since then. I wonder,” she added, “how Frogmore got this bad cold--it must have been the very night I went away. I think men cease taking care of themselves when they have a wife to do it for them. And Rogers used to coddle him so--I must blame Rogers. He ought to have returned to his old habits and watched him more carefully when I was away. What is this. Upjames? Tea? Yes, give it me; it will warm me. I must be warm, you know, when I go to my lord.” “Yes, my lady,” said Upjames, in a trembling voice. He was very pale and there was fright in his voice, though he was a large man, and his restored mistress so slim and little likely to harm anyone. “I--I--am so happy, my lady--to see your ladyship so much better.” “Oh there has been nothing the matter with me,” said Mary, quickly. “I am always well. But you should not have let my lord catch cold, Upjames, the moment my back was turned. How am I ever to go off on a visit again, however short it may be, when you take so little care of my lord?” The big butler trembled like a leaf, a gasp came from his throat, his large cheeks hung pendulous with fright. “My lady, I----don’t know how it happened,” he stammered forth.