“Certainly,” was the reply.  The two launches were drawn side by side, and the transfer made; the man who was running the smaller launch stepped into ours—­evidently having been instructed in advance.

“You will excuse us please?” said the little doctor to me.  The man who had stepped into our launch spoke to the captain of it, and the power was then put on, and we moved away a sufficient distance to be out of hearing.  I thought this a strange procedure, but I conjectured that the doctors had become nervous as to what I might have told van Tuiver.  So I dismissed the matter from my mind, and spent my time reviewing the exciting adventure I had just passed through.

How much impression had I made?  It was hard for me to judge such a man.  He would pretend to be less concerned than he actually was.  But surely he must see that he was in my power, and would have to give way in the end!

There came a hail from the little vessel, and we moved alongside again.  “Would you kindly step in here with us, Mrs. Abbott?” said Dr. Perrin, and when I had done so, he ordered the boatman to move away once more.  Van Tuiver said not a word, but I noted a strained look upon his face, and I thought the others seemed agitated also.

As soon as the other vessel was out of hearing, Dr. Perrin turned to me and said:  “Mrs. Abbott, we came out to see Mr. van Tuiver, to warn him of a distressing accident which has just happened.  Mrs. van Tuiver was asleep in her room, and Miss Lyman and another of the nurses were in the next room.  They indiscreetly made some remarks on the subject which we have all been discussing—­how much a wife should be told about these matters, and suddenly they discovered Mrs. van Tuiver standing in the doorway of the room.”

My gaze had turned to Douglas van Tuiver.  “So she knows!” I cried.

“We don’t think that she knows, but she has a suspicion and is trying to find out.  She asked to see you.”

“Ah, yes!” I said.

“She declared that she wished to see you as soon as you returned—­that she would not see anyone else, not even Mr. van Tuiver.  You will understand that this portends trouble for all of us.  We judged it necessary to have a consultation about the matter.”

I bowed in assent.

“Now, Mrs. Abbot,” began the little doctor, solemnly, “there is no longer a question of abstract ideas, but of an immediate emergency.  We feel that we, as the physicians in charge of the case, have the right to take control of the matter.  We do not see——­”

“Dr. Perrin,” I said, “let us come to the point.  You want me to spin a new web of deception?”

“We are of the opinion, Mrs. Abbott, that in such matters the physicians in charge——­”

“Excuse me,” I said, quickly, “we have been over all this before, and we know that we disagree.  Has Mr. van Tuiver told you of the proposition I have just made?”