"Yes! but, Harry," she persisted, "I know you _will_ think me foolish; you will imagine that I have got some delusion into my head when you hear what I have to say." "Well, let us hear what it is, darling," he said, kissing her. "Harry, if--if--anything happens to me, what will become of my baby?" He looked puzzled, not understanding the drift of her question, so replied: "My dear Mary, you must not take it into your head that you are going to be ill." "Yes! but _if_ I am," she continued, anxiously--"if I am, who will take care of my baby?" "My dear child, don't worry yourself about such a matter as that. Supposing even that you were ill, there are such things as trustworthy nurses to be found, I suppose." "Never!" she almost shrieked in her excitement, as she tightened her clasp of his hands. "Never, oh, never! You don't know--you don't know! Harry, if I am ill, send for your sister's nurse--I can trust her. But you must promise me that no strange nurse--no other nurse but that one--comes into this house. I should go mad--I should die, if I thought that there was any chance of your doing so. Oh, Harry! you will kill me if you won't grant me this. I tell you you will kill me and your child, too." "My darling! my poor little darling! do not be so agitated. I will promise you this. Calm yourself, Mary; you can rely on me to carry out all your wishes." "That is it! I must feel that I can rely on you or I shall die. Do not promise me this merely to humour me, Harry--to humour what you think is a morbid fancy. When I am lying ill, dear, I must feel that friends are watching my baby as I would myself. Oh, Harry! if I could only tell you--if I could only tell you! This is not a mere fancy--I know that there is a great peril before us, and I do not know whether we can escape it." She wrung her hands as she uttered these last words in accents of wild anguish; then pausing, she looked into his eyes for a few moments and continued, earnestly: "Harry, I see in your face that you do not believe this: you think that I am merely crazed and nervous. For God's sake, put that idea out of your mind. Oh, if I could tell you! and yet what could I tell you? I don't myself know yet what is the danger, or whence it is coming." She burst into hysterical tears and hid her face in her hands. "Mary, dear," her husband said in earnest tones as he folded her in his arms; "my dear little wife, I promise to you, whatever opinions I may hold about this fear of yours, that no one shall go near our baby except my sister and her own children's nurse, if you are ill. No strange servants shall be allowed to enter this house. You can be quite sure, dear, that I will do what I say."