“Of course not,” she made answer.  The consciousness of his weakness had fully restored her confidence and her authority.  “Besides, I have had mine.  Tommy, you too!  It is too bad, I shall never dare to close my eyes again.”

At this point Monck laughed so suddenly and boyishly that she found it utterly impossible to continue her reproaches.  He humbly apologized as he subsided upon the bed, and turning to Tommy who, fully dressed, was reclining at his ease in a deck-chair by its side said with a smile, “You get back to your own compartment, my son.  It isn’t good for me to have two people in the room with me at the same time.  And your sister wants to take my pulse undisturbed.”

“Or listen to your heart?” suggested Tommy irreverently as he rose.

“Turn him out!” said Monck, leaning luxuriously upon the pillows that Stella arranged for him.

Tommy laughed as he sauntered away, pulling the door carelessly after him but recalled by Monck to shut it.

A sudden silence followed his departure.  Stella was at the window, looping back the curtains.  The vague sunlight still smote across the dripping compound; the whole plain was smoking like a mighty cauldron.  Stella finished her task and stood still.

Across the silence came Monck’s voice.  “Aren’t you going to give me my medicine?”

She turned slowly round.  “I think you are nearly equal to doctoring yourself now,” she said.

He was lying raised on his elbow, his eyes, intent and searching, fixed upon her.  Abruptly, in a different tone, he spoke.  “In other words, quit fooling and play the game!” he said.  “All right, I will—­to the best of my ability.  First of all, may I tell you something that Ralston said to me this morning?”

“Certainly.”  Stella’s voice sounded constrained and formal.  She remained with her back to the window; for some reason she did not want him to see her face too clearly.

“It was only this,” said Monck.  “He said that I had you to thank for pulling me through this business, that but for you I should probably have gone under.  Ralston isn’t given to saying that sort of thing.  So—­if you will allow me—­I should like to thank you for the trouble you have taken and for the service rendered.”

“Please don’t!” Stella said.  “After all, it was no more than you did for Tommy, nor so much.”  She spoke nervously, avoiding his look.

The shadow of a smile crossed Monck’s face.  “I chance to be rather fond of Tommy,” he said, “so my motive was more or less a selfish one.  But you had not that incentive, so I should be all the more grateful.  I am afraid I have given you a lot of trouble.  Have you found me very difficult to manage?”

He put the question suddenly, almost imperiously.  Stella was conscious of a momentary surprise.  There was something in the tone rather than the words that puzzled her.  She hesitated over her reply.