"Then he had wished to die? He was going to, you mean, and--and----" Henriette wrenched out the words. "Yes, and the doctor says that he would have died. It is all a matter of will-power. But we told him that he would get his sight and hearing back and except for some little scars will be the same as before." "Will he?" "He must! We must not allow him or ourselves to think anything else. Just must--must!" "Yes!" Henriette breathed faintly. "Will you go in and see him?" "I----" Henriette hesitated. "No, not to-night!" she concluded. The two sisters walked along the path in silence, which was a gripping silence for both. When they came to the parting of the ways to their quarters, Helen took Henriette's hand in hers. "There is another reason why he wants to live. You asked him to," she said. "I--I could not bear it--I went out. How could I? What do you mean?" "The will was everything in the crisis, as I said. Often such cases--well--some one had to speak to him and tell him it would all come out right when it was so hard for him to breathe, or he would not have tried to breathe any more. So I wrote on his arm and asked him to live for--for the sake of those who loved him--and he could not see that it was I--and I signed it H!" Henriette withdrew her hand from Helen's in a spasm which shook her frame. She opened her lips to speak, but would not trust her own tongue and whirling brain. "Again you took my place!" she exclaimed, at last. "It was for you--to give him hope to inspire him for the fight!" Helen replied, with passionate conviction. "Yes--yes, I understand. I can't think! It's too horrible! Go on taking my place--you can--it's easier for you! Yes, go on! It unstrings me too much now to see him--yes, look after him, encourage him. Go on--only don't tell any one the ruse that you are playing!" she concluded, with a burst of emphatic coherency before she bolted along the path, murmuring to herself: "Yes, that is it--that is the way out!" Over at Lady Truckleford's lot they had been thinking of little else but Henriette. How would she take it? The lot was gathered in the reception-room before going into dinner, and when Henriette entered all eyes were covertly or openly upon her. Lady Violet took the lead by springing up and kissing Henriette on the cheek. "You poor dear!" breathed Lady Violet. "Of course we've heard, and we've all felt for you!" Henriette, pale in her distress, had never seemed more beautiful to Captain Landor, who had had a bullet through the arm. Usually Henriette cut his meat for dinner; but to-night Lady Violet was assured of the privilege.