Here, take a sip of this water, while I go and get you some brandy." He put the glass in her hand, laced her cold fingers round it, and hurried across to a cupboard in one of the oak cabinets.

She was sipping the water bravely when he returned.

He took the glass from her, emptied nearly all the contents away into the coal-scuttle--the first receptacle that came to his hand--and poured in the neat spirit.
"Now drink a few sips of this," he said.
She put it to her lips, then lowered her hand again.
"You're really very kind to me," she said in gratitude.
"Kind! Not a bit.

Go on--drink it." She drank a little, obediently, and the points of light came back again into her eyes, the colour burnt once more with a little fevered glow in her cheeks.

Then she sat up suddenly with the glass gripped tightly in her hand.
"Oh, what a fool you must think I am," she exclaimed bitterly, "to make a scene like this, the very first evening that you bring me to your rooms.