As I strolled round the garden in Nap’s company I often saw Leah sitting sewing at her mistress’s window:  she would put down her work and watch me until I was out of sight.  I felt the woman hated me, and this surveillance was very unpleasant to me.  I never felt quite free until I reached the kitchen-garden.

Mr. Hamilton visited his sister’s room regularly three times a day.  He never stayed long:  he would satisfy himself about her condition, say a few cheerful words to her, and that was all.

His manner to me was grave and professional.  Now and then, when he had given his directions, he would ask me if there were anything he could do for me, and if I were comfortable:  and yet, in spite of his reserve and guarded looks and words, I felt an atmosphere of protection and comfort surrounding me that I had not known since Charlie’s death.

Every day I had proofs of his thought for me.  The flowers and fruits that were sent into the sick-room were for me as well as Gladys.  I was often touched to see how some taste of mine had been remembered and gratified:  sometimes Chatty would tell me that master had given orders that such a thing should be provided for Miss Garston; and in many other ways he made me feel that I was not forgotten.

For some days Gladys continued very ill; she slept fitfully and uneasily, waking in terror from some dream that escaped her memory.  I used to hear her moaning, and be beside her before she opened her eyes.  ’It is only a nightmare,’ I would say to her as she clung to me like a frightened child; but it was not always easy to banish the grisly phantoms of a diseased and overwrought imagination.  The morbid condition of her mind was aggravated and increased by physical weakness; at the least exertion she had fainting-fits that alarmed us.

She told me more than once that a sense of sin oppressed her; she must be more wicked than other people, or she thought Providence would not permit her to be so unhappy.  Sometimes she blamed herself with influencing Eric wrongly:  she ought not to have taken his part against his brother. ’"He that hateth his brother is a murderer.”  Ursula, there were times, I am sure, when I hated Giles.’  And with this thought upon her she would beg him to forgive her when he next came into the room.

He never seemed surprised at these exaggerated expressions of penitence:  he treated it all as part of her malady.

‘Very well, I will forgive you, my dear,’ he would say, feeling her pulse.  ‘Have you taken your medicine, Gladys?’

’Oh, but, Giles, I do feel so wretched about it all!  Are you sure that you really and truly forgive me?’

‘Quite sure,’ he returned, smiling at her.  ’Now you must shut your eyes, like a good child, and go to sleep.’  But, though she tried to obey him, I could see she was not satisfied:  tears rolled down her cheeks from under her closed eyelids.

‘What is it, my darling?’ I asked, kissing her.  ’Do you feel more ill than usual?’