“Oh!” she whispered, half to herself.  “Mary Abbott did say it!”

“What if she did?”

“Oh, Douglas, Mary would never have said such a thing to a nurse unless she had been certain of it!”

“Certain?” he broke out.  “What certainty could she imagine she had?  She is a bitter, frantic woman—­a divorced woman—­who jumped to the conclusion that pleased her, because it involved the humiliation of a rich man.”

He went on, his voice trembling with suppressed passion:  “When you know the real truth, the thing becomes a nightmare.  You, a delicate woman, lying here helpless—­the victim of a cruel misfortune, and with the life of an afflicted infant depending upon your peace of mind.  Your physicians planning day and night to keep you quiet, to keep the dreadful, unbearable truth from you——­”

“Oh, what truth?  That’s the terrifying thing—­to know that people are keeping things from me!  What was it they were keeping?”

“First of all, the fact that the baby was blind; and then the cause of it——­”

“Then they do know the cause?”

“They don’t know positively—­no one can know positively.  But poor Dr. Perrin had a dreadful idea, that he had to hide from you because otherwise he could not bear to continue in your house——­”

“Why, Douglas!  What do you mean?”

“I mean that a few days before your confinement, he was called away to the case of a negro-woman—­you knew that, did you not?”

“Go on.”

“He had the torturing suspicion that possibly he was not careful enough in sterilizing his instruments, and that he, your friend and protector, may be the man who is to blame.”

“Oh!  Oh!” Her voice was a whisper of horror.

“That is one of the secrets your doctors have been trying to hide.”

There was silence, while her eyes searched his face.  Suddenly she stretched out her hands to him, crying desperately:  “Oh, is this true?”

He did not take the outstretched hands.  “Since I am upon the witness-stand, I have to be careful of my replies.  It is what Dr. Perrin tells me.  Whether the explanation he gives is the true one—­whether he himself, or the nurse he recommended, may have brought the infection——­”

“It couldn’t have been the nurse,” she said quickly.  “She was so careful——­”

He did not allow her to finish.  “You seem determined,” he said, coldly, “to spare everyone but your husband.”

“No!” she protested, “I have tried hard to be fair—­to be fair to both you and my friend.  Of course, if Mary Abbott was mistaken, I have done you a great injustice—­”