The woman wore one of those feature-destroying veils that made it impossible to judge much of her appearance, but Gano had a vague impression of slim middle age and unimpressive looks, soft ways, and a sort of "mother-tenderness" about her. But she was so colorless, so much more an influence than a person, that he did not realize he had never heard, or at least never noticed, her voice, till one evening she said _Bong soir_ in an amazing accent. "English!" commented Ethan, involuntarily, as the door closed. "Australian," corrected the sick man. "She's rather neglected you lately," remarked Gano, as a kind of apology for the unmistakable bulginess of his pockets. He unloaded on the rickety table. "I say, why do you bring all that truck in here?" Driscoll demanded, ungraciously. "You keep quiet! You've got to have somebody to do your marketing for you, I suppose. I thought your Australian friend had thrown up the post." "So she had," grumbled the invalid. "Women are damned selfish." "Well, they repent sometimes; there's that in their favor." Gano set about making coffee. "She didn't repent," mumbled Driscoll. "Oh, is this the last of her?" "No; I only meant I had to send for her." And then they talked of other things. The next time Gano saw the woman was after Driscoll got worse. He went up one night, and found him pallid, speechless, wrestling with one of his worst attacks of pain. The woman was bending over him. "Please go and get that filled." She held out an empty bottle, hardly looking at Gano. He hurried obediently down-stairs. Behind his anxiety for the man he had come to feel so much liking for, was a sense of surprise that the Australian was not so middle aged as he had thought. "She's not thirty-five," he speculated in between his wondering how Driscoll could get on without a night-nurse; "and she's not bad looking." He was back again, two steps at a time, with the medicine. Driscoll was quieter. The woman motioned the bottle away. She was taking his temperature. "Hospital nurse," was Gano's mental comment upon the air of usage and competence. He sat there awhile, and then whispered: "I'm in the room on the left at the bottom of the first flight, if you want me." She nodded, and he went down to his work.