"Yes--yes--I remember!" Violet's brows were drawn with the effort; there was a look of dawning horror in her eyes. "I remember, Allegro!" she said, speaking rapidly. "He--he was very brutal to me, wasn't he? He made me tell him where to find the cigarettes, and then--and then--yes, he took them away. I've hated him ever since." Again that vindictive note sounded in her voice. "I won't bear brutality from any man," she said. "Do you know, if I didn't hate him, I believe I should be afraid of him? I know you are, Allegro." "Perhaps; a little," Olga admitted. "Ah! I knew it. He can do anything he likes with you. But I am different." She lifted her head proudly. "I am no man's slave," she said. "He thinks that he has only to speak, and I shall obey. He was never more mistaken in his life." "But, Violet, he was only treating you as a patient," Olga protested. "And he only took the cigarettes because--" "I know why he took them." Quickly Violet interrupted. "And remember this, Allegro! Whatever happens to me in the future you must never, never let him attend me again. I suffered more from his treatment than I have ever suffered before, and I can never go through it again. You understand?" She looked at Olga with eyes that had in them the memory of a great pain. "It was torture," she said. "He forced his will upon mine. He crushed me down, so that I was at his mercy. It was like an overpowering weight. I thought my heart would stop. I don't know--even now--how it was I didn't die." "He gave you the pain-killer, dear," said Olga soothingly. "That was what made you well again." "The pain-killer!" Violet gazed at her bewildered. "What is--the pain-killer?" she said. Olga shook her head. "I don't know what it is. He wouldn't tell me. He calls it--sudden death." Violet gave a great start. "Good heavens, Allegro! And he gave me that?" "Only enough to make you sleep," explained Olga. "He gave me some the other day, when the heat upset me. I liked it." Violet's eyes were glittering very strangely. "And you--came back again after it?" she said. "Allegro, are you--sure?" "Of course," said Olga. "I don't know what you mean, dear. Of course I came back, or I shouldn't be here now." "No--no, of course not!" Violet lay back in her chair, gazing straight up through the limes at the flawless August sky. "So that is why I didn't die," she said. "He only let me go--half-way. If I'd only had a little more--a little more--" She broke off suddenly and threw a quick side glance at Olga. "What queer creatures doctors are!" she said. "They spend their whole lives fighting, with the certainty that they are bound to be conquered in the end." "They are splendid!" said Olga, with shining eyes.