Do you know what time it is ?" "No." "It is after midnight....

If you feel ill enough to lie here, you ought to be undressed.

May I help you ?" There was no answer.

For a moment Kathleen stood looking down at the girl in silence; then a sudden shivering seized her; she strove to control it, but her knees seemed to give way under it and she dropped down beside the bed, throwing both arms around Geraldine's neck.
[Illustration: "Oh, the horror of it!--the shame, the agonised surprise."] "Oh, don't, _don't_!" she whimpered.

"It is too terrible! It ruined your father and your grandfather! Darling, I couldn't bear to tell you this before, but now I've got to tell you! It is in your blood.
Seagraves die of it! Do you understand ?" "W-what ?" stammered the girl.
"That all their lives they did what--what you have done to-day--that you have inherited their terrible inclinations.