Lawless put out a hand gropingly. He was tired. He had better get back to bed. It was all finished. He had not succeeded in convincing them. They saw things from a different level; they couldn't get down to him. "I daresay you're right," he said uncertainly. "Anyway, it hardly seems to matter. I'm derelict... and done for." Mrs Lawless turned quickly. He did not see the swift rush of pity that suffused her face, the tears that streamed from her eyes. He was not conscious that she sprang towards him, that it was her arm about him that saved him from falling when, having used up his last reserve of strength in attempting to gain the door, he stumbled over a mat in his progress, and fell forward a collapsed and pitiful object, with drawn and shrunken features, and pallid lips. The Colonel was at her side in an instant. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's only fainted. We'd better get him back to bed. He ought never to have left it... The folly of it!" "I ought to have come," she whispered, sobbing. "You see--I did no good... The sight of me distressed him. I might have guessed..." She knelt on the floor beside him and pillowed his head on her knee. It gave her infinite pleasure merely to hold him in her arms against the bosom that had hungered for him so long. But oh! the pity of it! to see him reduced, this strong man, to a mere helpless wreck. She drew him closer to her and her tears fell on his face. "I believe he's dying," she murmured... "And he'll never know how greatly I loved him... Why do we keep these things to ourselves till too late?" The Colonel rang for assistance. To his infinite relief it was the schoolmaster who came to the door when it opened. In his assumption of authority Mr Burton seemed a tower of strength. He took in the situation at a glance, and, unaccountably, appeared not in the least surprised. He assumed prompt and resolute command. Between them he and the Colonel got the patient back to his room and into bed. Mr Burton, anticipating something of the sort when Lawless insisted on dressing, had sent for the doctor, and the medical man arrived very shortly, and standing at the bedside looked with grave dissatisfaction at his patient. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked concisely. And Mr Burton explained. While they conferred and acted in the sick-room, Mrs Lawless remained outside the door, listening for any sound from within, her face tense with anxiety, and her eyes tormented. After a while the door opened and the Colonel came forth, and seeing her there took her by the arm and led her back to the sitting-room. "They'll be some time in there," he said. "You can't stand about waiting. You shall see him before he leaves." "Was he better?" she asked, not heeding him. "He'd come round--Yes." She sat down at a small table, and stretched her arms upon it, and looked at him miserably.