"Certainly! And seems likely to remain indefinitely." "Really?" "Yes! I forgot to tell you that May begged to be allowed to see him yesterday. As she was able to get up, and lie on the sofa, I consented, for I feared a refusal would agitate her too much. I only stipulated that he should not remain with her over half an hour. What occurred during this meeting, of course, I don't know. But May experienced no bad effects. On the contrary, her mother writes that she has seemed calmer and more cheerful ever since." "They are probably engaged. Don't you think so?" And as I put the question, I knew that if the answer were affirmative my chance of happiness was gone for ever. "I don't believe it," he answered, "for after his interview with May, Norman spent the rest of the day sunk in the deepest gloom. He ate scarcely anything, and when forced to remain in the house (feeling, I suppose, that politeness demanded that he should give us at any rate a little of his society) he moved restlessly from one seat to another. Several times he tried to pull himself together and to join in the conversation, but it was no use; notwithstanding all his efforts he would soon relapse into his former state of feverish unrest. Now, that doesn't look like the behaviour of a happy lover, does it? "Since he has been here he has spent most of his time prowling about the Derwents' house, and as Alice was leaving their place yesterday evening she caught a glimpse of him hiding behind a clump of bushes just outside their gate. At least, she is almost sure that it was he, but was so afraid it would embarrass him to be caught playing sentinel that, after a cursory glance in his direction, she passed discreetly by. Afterwards it occurred to her that she should have made certain of his identity, for the man she saw may have been some questionable character. We are not sure that May's extreme nervousness is not due to the fact that she is being persecuted by some unscrupulous person, her brother, for instance. You know I have always believed that he was in some way connected with her illness." "I know you have." "But to return to Norman," continued Fred. "I not only suspect him of haunting her door by day, but of spending a good part of the night there. At any rate, I used to hear him creeping in and out of the house at all sorts of unusual hours. The first night I took him for a burglar, and showed what I consider true courage by starting out after him with an empty pistol and--a crutch!" "I don't think that anything you have told me, however, is at all incompatible with his being Miss Derwent's accepted suitor. His distress is probably due to anxiety about her health." I said this, hoping he would contradict me. Whether he would have done so or not I shall never know, for at that point our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of his sister; and as it had been previously arranged that she was to drive me over to the Derwents, we started off at once.