“Pour a little into this glass,” the doctor added.

As Dexie came near at the doctor’s direction, Hugh looked up, and for one short moment their eyes met.

But that moment assured Hugh that Dexie was safe; that was all he could comprehend at present, for he was too weak to ask any more questions.  Dexie could not bear the strain much longer, so, bending over Mrs. Gurney, she whispered: 

“Tell me I may go, if only into the next room.  I cannot bear it.”

“Just a moment more, Miss Sherwood,” the doctor whispered, overhearing the request “Help me a moment here,” he said aloud, “and then you may retire.”

She came towards the bed, and complied with his directions, knowing full well that Hugh’s eyes were devouring her face.

“Is it you, Dexie, or your spirit?” the words were low and tremulous, but, in the stillness of the room, sounded clear and distinct.

“It is I, Mr. McNeil, alive, and well as ever I was.”

“Thank God!”

His eyes closed, and with a gesture the doctor dismissed her; then taking his seat beside the bed, he watched until he was assured that Hugh had fallen into a natural sleep.

As Dexie left the room, she mentally said a final good-bye to it, feeling thankful enough that her services would not be needed again to hush the despairing cries or still the grasping hands that had clutched at space.  It was the last time her eyes rested on Hugh for weeks.  She knew he was recovering, and that was enough.

During his convalescence, Dexie never entered the Gurney household, lest by some chance she might come face to face with her enemy.

The occurrence on the boat was tacitly dropped by all parties concerned, and only when Hugh accidentally heard that the Sherwoods were preparing to return to the States did his reserve break down, and it was to Mrs. Gurney alone he expressed his regrets and intentions.

CHAPTER XXXI.

“Here’s news, girls; we are going back to Maine!” and Georgie rushed into the sitting-room where his sisters and their girl friends were chatting together.  “Papa says we are going back for sure, in just a few weeks, too!  Isn’t that jolly?” and he manifested his delight in a series of handsprings that would have charmed the heart of an acrobat.

“Yes, I heard something of it, but hoped it would not come to pass,” said Dexie.

“It is the best news I’ve heard for a long time, the sooner we leave this horrid place the better I’ll be pleased,” was Gussie’s comment.

Elsie was quite depressed at the thought of parting from her friends; but the intervening weeks were full of pleasure and excitement, and drives and parties seemed to follow one another in quick succession.

One day Dexie came in from a shopping expedition in great excitement, saying: 

“Oh, girls, I have met my double; met her down in a store on Granville Street, and I actually followed her until she entered a house on Spring Garden Road.  If she had worn one of my suits, I should have expected her to walk home instead of me.  I began to think ‘this could not be I.’  Whom do you think she can be?”