Before she could stow herself under the covers again to conceal her overwhelming shame, she noticed Miss von Schwertfeger look about the room hastily, make a dash for something round and grey unostentatiously lying in a corner--Lilly did not realise it was Walter's cap until later--shove back the bolt of the door to the colonel's room, and then in sudden transition to tranquillity seat herself alongside Lilly's pillow. "Be careful not to cry," Lilly heard her say; and that instant the colonel's step resounded in the corridor. "Well, well, so late! How time does fly when you talk!" cried Miss von Schwertfeger for the benefit of the colonel before he entered. Her voice expressed endless astonishment. There he stood disagreeably surprised, it seemed, not to find his young wife alone. "Where did you drop from all of a sudden, colonel? You didn't order a special train, did you? You couldn't have flown here either. At least I've never observed that you possess the art of flying, have you Lilly dear? Poor Lilly's lying there perfectly stiff with surprise." Thus Miss von Schwertfeger talked against time, evidently trying to secure a few moments for Lilly in which she might pull herself together. And the colonel willy-nilly had to render account. On the way to the station it had occurred to him that one of the neighbours--he mentioned the name--was celebrating his birthday that day. So he drove over to his place instead of going to town. "Well," said Miss von Schwertfeger, "the greatest marvels have the simplest explanations. Good-night, dear, I hope you sleep well and get rid of that headache of yours." The colonel pricked up his ears. "If she has a headache, why didn't you let her go to sleep long ago?" When once aroused, not the least inconsistency escaped his attention. But Miss von Schwertfeger was his match, and rejoined without an instant's hesitation: "She wanted compresses again, but I thought it better simply to hold my hand to her forehead. She was just about to go to sleep; and we ought not to disturb her any more. Don't you agree with me, colonel? Good-night, colonel." With that she extinguished the lights. Lilly wanted to cry to her: "Stay here, stay here, he'll choke me." But Miss von Schwertfeger was already out in the corridor; and she had done such excellent preliminary work that the colonel after a brief "I hope you feel better," to Lilly, left the room without further question. Had he remained, the game might have ended in a nervous breakdown. Lilly lay in bed paralysed by a dull fright, listening now for sounds in the colonel's room, now to the wailing of the wind, interrupted for three or four seconds by a very, very soft rustle.