A PALPITATING INTERVIE]TV.

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“You mean you were at the dance?” cricd, wildly. .17 the dance! Then are-—that 1s, you are not- ——"

“ A patient?” 1 shouted, a light breaking suddenly upon me. “Not I, thank Heaven ! And you?”

But she was gone. Before you could say “Jack Robinson!” that girl was up two fights of stairs and out of sight, lecaving mc ke one m a drcam, gazing stupl(ll\ at the knife, which she had flunn on the carpet at my fect. Then T slowly turned and made for my room.

During the remainder of that bewildering night much of the truth dawned upon me;

but it was not until after explanation that 1

DANCE?'

AT THE learned and realized i its fullest extent the herotsm of my beautiful companion. 1 was told that she was Dr. Stelling's ward, and that, though staying in the house, a severe head- ache had ]\c])t her to her room during the dance, and of the subscequent housing of 50

many of the guests she, of course, knew nothing. On awakening from the first heavy

slecp mto which she had fallen, she was startled by the sound of the of the sliding pancl —which 1 mml])ulltul ,Jumml; cnouwh- and, cautiously opening her door, she Jll(’ht sluht of a strange man creeping Stefllthll} past. She was ’puigul' familiar with all the mmates of the house —in- cluding the attendants and, as 1 was quite unknown to her, she decided at once that I was probably a patient cscaped from

SHE

519

supervision, and determined to follow me at all costs and give the alarm. But it was not

until she saw me seize the carving-knife that her apprehensions reached a chimax; and it

was at that moment that T first caught sight of her m the glass. Afterwards, half dead with fright, she remained by my side, having the strength of mind to sustain a two hours’ téfe-a-téte with one whom she believed to be a dangerous lunatic, in the hope that her presence might avert a catastrophe.

That she was D Stelling's ward T learned from Mrs. Stelling, who, knitting in hand, was entertaining me \\1Lh a cup of tea and small talk the next afternoon, when all the noisy guests had departed. 1 had remained in my

CRIED, WILDLY.”

room until late in the day, really feeling too scedy to put moan appearance earlier, and had just aceepted a pressing invitation from the Stellings that T should remain with them for a few s, and be doctored up.

“You ICJ”\’ look thoroughly out of sorts, Mr. Carlton,” said my kind hostess, eycing me symp: thetic ally 5 “and now that all thesce

gay young people have cleared off, I shall h e to hurse you up before we allo\\ you to leave us.”

I assured the good lady that I should, in a very few hours, be as good as new again, and wondered how T should find out, as I was burning to do, whether my unknown acquaintance had also “cleared off 7 with the rest.

“Nobody i1s here now but Dulcie,” con-