The rains were lessening at last, and the cholera-fiend had been driven forth.

Merryon was to go to the Hills on sick leave for several weeks.

Colonel Davenant had awaked to the fact that his life was a valuable one, and his admiration for Mrs.Merryon was undisguised.

He did not altogether understand her behaviour, but he was discreet enough not to seek that enlightenment which only one man in the world was ever to receive.
To that man on the night before their departure came Puck, very pale and resolute, with shining, unwavering eyes.

She knelt down before him with small hands tightly clasped.
"I'm going to say something dreadful, Billikins," she said.
He looked at her for a moment or two in silence.
Then, "I know what you are going to say," he said.
She shook her head.