Ha, ha! Not bad for a Scotchman, eh, Nurse Gray ?" But Jane could not laugh; though somewhere in her mental background she seemed to hear laughter and applause from the duchess.

This was no comedy to Jane,--her blind Garth at the piano, his dear beautiful head bent over the keys, his fingers feeling for that pathetic little notch, to be made by herself, below middle C.She loathed this individual who could make a pun on the subject of Garth's blindness, and, in the back of her mind, Tommy seemed to join the duchess, flapping up and down on his perch and shrieking: "Kick him out! Stop his jaw!" "And now," said Dr.Mackenzie unexpectedly, "the next thing to be done, Nurse Gray, is to introduce you to the patient." Jane felt the blood slowly leave her face and concentrate in a terrible pounding at her heart.

But she stood her ground, and waited silently.
Dr.Mackenzie rang the bell.

Simpson appeared.
"A decanter of sherry, a wine-glass, and a couple of biscuits," said Dr.Rob.
Simpson vanished.
"Little beast!" thought Jane.

"At eleven o'clock in the morning!".
Dr.Rob stood, and waited; tugging spitefully at his red moustache, and looking intently out of the window.
Simpson reappeared, placed a small tray on the table, and went quietly out, closing the door behind him.
Dr.Rob poured out a glass of sherry, drew up a chair to the table, and said: "Now, Nurse, sit down and drink that, and take a biscuit with it." Jane protested.