His face was so ghastly that I thought he had passed away; but, without waiting to pour it out in a glass, I hastily trickled some of the strong stimulant medicine he was taking between his lips, and as Miss Carr, with agonised face, knelt beside him, holding his hand, there was a quiver in his eyelids, and a faint pressure of the hand that held his. The signs were slight, but they told us that he had but fainted, and when, at last, he re-opened his eyes, they rested upon Miss Carr with such a look of rest and joy, that it was impossible to extinguish the hope that he might yet recover. He was too weak to speak, for the interview had been so powerful a shock to his system, that it was quite possible for the change we saw in his face to be but the precursor of one greater, so that it was with a sense of relief that I heard the doctor's step once more upon the stairs, and Mary's knock at the door. I offered Miss Carr my hand to take her into the next room, and as if waking out of a dream, she hastily rose and smoothed back her hair, but only to bend down over the sufferer, and whisper a few words, to which he replied with a yearning look that seemed to bring a sensation of choking to my throat. The doctor passed us on his way in, and I led Miss Carr into the front room, where Linny was sobbing on the couch, and Mrs Hallett was sitting back, very white and thin, in her chair. As we entered Linny started up, and in response to Miss Carr's extended hands, threw her arms round her neck, and kissed her passionately. "Dear sister!" I heard Miss Carr murmur; and then she turned from Linny, who left her and glanced at me. "Mrs Hallett," I said simply, "this is Miss Carr." I hardly knew what I said, for Miriam was so changed. There was a look of tenderness in her eyes, and a sweet smile just dawning upon her lip as she advanced towards the invalid's chair, and bent down to kiss her; but with a passionate look of jealousy and dislike, Hallett's mother shrank from her. "Don't touch me!" she cried. "I knew that you were here, but I could not leave my chair to curse you. Murderess, you have killed him! You are the woman who has blasted my poor boy's life!" A piteous look of horror came into Miss Carr's face, and she sank upon her knees by the great cushioned chair. "Oh, no, no!" she said piteously. "Do not accuse me. You do not--you cannot know." "Know!" cried Mrs Hallett, whiter than ever with the feeling of dislike and passion that animated her; "do I not know how you have robbed me of my poor dying boy's love; how you have come between us, and filled his head with foolish notions to invent--to make money--for you?" "Oh, Mrs Hallett, for shame!--for shame!" I exclaimed indignantly.