None of her statements deterred me from my intention, and I was delighted when I found myself fairly installed at the Hotel Mars.  Zara gave me a beautiful room next to her own; she had taken pains to fit it up herself with everything that was in accordance with my particular tastes, such as a choice selection of books; music, including many of the fascinating scores of Schubert and Wagner; writing materials; and a pretty, full-toned pianette.  My window looked out on a small courtyard, which had been covered over with glass and transformed into a conservatory.  I could enter it by going down a few steps, and could have the satisfaction of gathering roses and lilies of the valley, while outside the east wind blew and the cold snowflakes fell over Paris.  I wrote to Mrs. Everard from my retreat, and I also informed the Challoners where they could find me if they wanted me.  These duties done, I gave myself up to enjoyment.  Zara and I became inseparables; we worked together, read together, and together every morning gave those finishing-touches to the ordering and arrangement of the household which are essentially feminine, and which not the wisest philosopher in all the world has been, or ever will be, able to accomplish successfully.  We grew to love each other dearly, with that ungrudging, sympathizing, confiding friendship that is very rarely found between two women.  In the meantime my cure went on rapidly.  Every night on retiring to rest Heliobas prepared a medicinal dose for me, of the qualities of which I was absolutely ignorant, but which I took trustingly from his hand.  Every morning a different little phial of liquid was placed in the bathroom for me to empty into the water of my daily bath, and every hour I grew better, brighter, and stronger.  The natural vivacity of my temperament returned to me; I suffered no pain, no anxiety, no depression, and I slept as soundly as a child, unvisited by a single dream.  The mere fact of my being alive became a joy to me; I felt grateful for everything—­for my eyesight, my speech, my hearing, my touch—­because all my senses seemed to be sharpened and invigorated and braced up to the keenest delight.  This happy condition of my system did not come suddenly—­sudden cures mean sudden relapses; it was a gradual, steady, ever-increasing, reliable recovery.

I found the society of Heliobas and his sister very fascinating.  Their conversation was both thoughtful and brilliant, their manners were evenly gracious and kindly, and the life they led was a model of perfect household peace and harmony.  There was never a fuss about anything:  the domestic arrangements seemed to work on smoothly oiled wheels; the different repasts were served with quiet elegance and regularity; the servants were few, but admirably trained; and we all lived in an absolutely calm atmosphere, unruffled by so much as a breath of worry.  Nothing of a mysterious nature went on, as far as I could see.