An oracular shake of the head conveyed more than the words.
"What do you imagine my complaint, as you term it, to be ?" asked the young man curtly.
Colwyn wondered whether even a fashionable physician, used to the freedom with which fashionable ladies discussed their ailments, would have the courage to tell a stranger that he regarded him as an epileptic.

The matter was not put to the test--perhaps fortunately--for at that moment there was a sharp tap at the door, which opened to admit a chambermaid who seemed the last word in frills and smartness.
"If you please, Sir Henry," said the girl, with a sidelong glance at the tall handsome young man by the mantelpiece, "Lady Durwood would be obliged if you would go to her room at once." It speaks well for Sir Henry Durwood that the physician was instantly merged in the husband.

"Tell Lady Durwood I will come at once," he said.
"You'll excuse me," he added, with a courtly bow to his patient.
"Perhaps--if you wish--you might care to see me later." "Many thanks, Sir Henry, but there will be no need." He bowed gravely to the specialist, but smiled cordially and held out his hand to Colwyn, as the latter prepared to follow Sir Henry out of the room.

"I hope to see you later," he said.
But when Colwyn, after a day spent on the golf-links, went into the dining-room for dinner that evening, the young man's place was vacant.
After the meal Colwyn went to the office to inquire if Mr.Ronald was still unwell, and learnt, to his surprise, that he had departed from the hotel an hour or so after his illness..