“‘My daughter’s condition is not a fit subject for jesting.’

“’Certainly not.  Send for her husband, or the undertaker, whichever you please,’ I said, forgetting my manners and my temper together, for I was more irritable then than I am now, and there was something so repulsive about the woman, that I felt as if I was talking to an evil creature that for her own ends, though what I could not tell, was tormenting the dying lady.

“‘I understood you were a gentleman—­of experience and breeding.’

“‘I am not in the question, madam.  It is your daughter.’

“‘She shall take your prescription.’

“‘She must see her husband if it be possible.’

“‘It is not possible.’

“‘Why?’

“‘I say it is not possible, and that is enough.  Good morning.’

“I could say no more at that time.  I called the next day.  She was just the same, only that I knew she wanted to speak to me, and dared not, because of the presence of the two women.  Her troubled eyes seemed searching mine for pity and help, and I could not tell what to do for her.  There are, indeed, as some one says, strongholds of injustice and wrong into which no law can enter to help.

“One afternoon, about a week after my first visit, I was sitting by her bedside, wondering what could be done to get her out of the clutches of these tormentors, who were, evidently to me, consuming her in the slow fire of her own affections, when I heard a faint noise, a rapid foot in the house so quiet before; heard doors open and shut, then a dull sound of conflict of some sort.  Presently a quick step came up the oak-stair.  The face of my patient flushed, and her eyes gleamed as if her soul would come out of them.  Weak as she was she sat up in bed, almost without an effort, and the two women darted from the room, one after the other.

“‘My husband!’ said the girl—­for indeed she was little more in age, turning her face, almost distorted with eagerness, towards me.

“‘Yes, my dear,’ I said, ’I know.  But you must be as still as you can, else you will be very ill.  Do keep quiet.’

“‘I will, I will,’ she gasped, stuffing her pocket-handkerchief actually into her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, as if that was what would hurt her.  ‘But go to him.  They will murder him.’

“That moment I heard a cry, and what sounded like an articulate imprecation, but both from a woman’s voice; and the next, a young man—­as fine a fellow as I ever saw—­dressed like a game-keeper, but evidently a gentleman, walked into the room with a quietness that strangely contrasted with the dreadful paleness of his face and with his disordered hair; while the two women followed, as red as he was white, and evidently in fierce wrath from a fruitless struggle with the powerful youth.  He walked gently up to his wife, whose outstretched arms and face followed his face as he came round the bed to where she was at the other side, till arms, and face, and head, fell into his embrace.