Impelled by an uncontrollable urgency she made her way along the Marylebone Road. Miss Dear was not expecting her till late. But the responsibility, the urgency. She must go abroad. About Dr. Densley. That was easy enough. There was a phrase ready about that somewhere. Three things. But she could not go abroad to-night. Why not go to the Lyons at Portland Road station and have a meal and get calm and think out a plan? But there was no time to lose. There was not a moment to lose. She arrived at the dark gate breathless and incoherent. A man was opening the gate from the inside. He stood short and compact in the gloom holding it open for her. "Is it Miss Henderson?" he said nervously as she passed. "Yes" said Miriam stopping dead, flooded with sadness. "I have been hoping to see you for the last ten days" he said hurriedly and as if afraid of being overheard. In the impenetrable gloom darker than the darkness his voice was a thread of comfort. "Oh yes." "Could you come and see me?" "Oh yes of course." "If you will give me your number in Wimpole Street I will send you a note." 11 "My _dear_!" The tall figure, radiant, lit from head to foot, "as the light on a falling wave" ... "as the light on a falling wave." ... Everything stood still as they gazed at each other. Her own self gazed at her out of Miss Dear's eyes. "Well I'm _bothered_" said Miriam at last, sinking into a chair. "No need to be bothered any more dear" laughed Miss Dear. "It's extraordinary." She tried to recover the glory of the first moment in speechless contemplation of the radiant figure now moving chairs near to the lamp. The disappearance of the gas, the shaded lamp, the rector's wife's manner, the rector's wife's quiet stylish costume; it was like a prepared scene. How funny it would be to know a rector's wife. "He's longing to meet you. I shall have a second room to-morrow. We will have a tea party." "It was to-day, of course." "Just before you came" said Miss Dear her glowing face bent, her hands brushing at the new costume. "You'll be our greatest friend." "But how grand you are." "He made my future his care some days ago dear. As long as I live you shall want for nothing he said." "And to-day it all came out." "Of course he'll have to get a _living_ dear. But we've decided to ignore the world." What did she mean by that.... "You won't have to." "Well dear I mean let the world go by." "I see. He's a jewel. I think you've made a very good choice. You can make your mind easy about that. I saw the great medicine man to-day." "It was all settled without that dear. I never even thought about him."