"Yes, I am going to take a studio there. I have something left to me still. I can paint, and paint I will!" Gabrielle was amazed. She gazed with affectionate eyes at Dora, and kissed her. It was happiness to see her reviving interest in life. "Send for a cab, darling," said Dora. When the vehicle was at the door, Dora, with Gabrielle at her side, descended the steps with a firm foot, seated herself in the cab, and gave the driver an address in Finchley Road. She was set down in front of the office of an estate agent, and told the driver to wait. There she was given several addresses of apartments to let. Two or three rooms, one of them large and possessing a good north light, was what she wanted. After a round of inspection, she fixed her choice upon a set of rooms a few yards from Elm Avenue. The place suited her requirements in every respect, and the price was reasonable, thirty pounds a year. She was not asked for references, for her name was well known in these regions. The people who let her the rooms thought that Philip had need of a studio there for some special work, and that his wife had been sent to choose a suitable one for him. "When do you wish to take possession, madam?" asked the agent, who had accompanied her. "At once," replied Dora, "that is, to-morrow or the next day." And the whole matter was arranged then and there. When Dora got into her cab again, she began to talk almost gaily. She looked happy once more. It was a glimpse of the old Dora that Gabrielle had known all her life, but missed for a while, and now rejoiced to see again. At the end of a couple of hours they were at home again. Poor Hobbs had been a prey to terrible fears, all the while conjuring up in her mind visions of her beloved mistress being brought back on a litter in a dying condition. She had spent the time watching at the window in mortal anxiety. Dora stepped briskly out of the cab, paid the driver, and threw her arms round the poor woman, who looked more dead than alive. "Ah, at last," gasped Hobbs. "Oh, ma'am how could you! how could you!" So saying, she burst into tears, and then began to smile again on seeing Dora standing so alert and on the point of making fun of her. "But what do you mean, my dear Hobbs?" said Dora. "I feel quite recovered. The fresh air has done me a lot of good and has given me a ferocious appetite." "Well, well! I declare!" exclaimed Hobbs, comforted a little by these words and the sight of her patient. But she went on wondering whether she was dreaming or whether Dora had gone clean mad. "Hobbs," said Dora, "we must make haste about our preparations. We leave the house to-morrow, and, God be praised, never to return," she added. "To-morrow, ma'am!" rejoined Hobbs, with a look that seemed to express the impossibility of further astonishment. "Yes, to-morrow, we get to a new home and take leave of this one." "She has already taken leave of something else," thought the distressed servant.