“Poor child!” Mrs. Costello went on.  “This is better than I ever hoped for her.”  They went nearer, and Mrs. Bellairs bent down and kissed Lucia’s cheek.

“Make your mother go home with me,” she whispered.  “This will be more than she is equal to.”  Then turning again to her friend she went on, “I see you are right, and I must go back and tell my husband.  You will come with me?”

“No.  I have a presentiment that I shall not be needed here long; while I am, I must stay.”

“But you cannot be sure, and you must not tire yourself out at the beginning.”

“I shall not tire myself.  I can rest here perfectly, only I cannot leave him.”

“We met the doctor just now.  He said he was coming here again.  Will you come if he advises it?”

Mrs. Costello again shook her head.

“You all think too much of me.  You must leave me here, dear Mrs. Bellairs, and Lucia can stay for an hour or two if she wishes; and tell Mr. Bellairs how much we thank him, and that nothing can be done now.”

Lucia looked wistfully at her mother’s pale face.

“Cannot you trust me to watch here for a little while?  There seems to be so very little to do,” she said; but Mrs. Costello had made up her mind, and their friend left them both together.

As she went down, the doctor was coming in.  She would not leave the jail until she had heard his report; so she sat down to wait in Mrs. Elton’s sitting-room.

Doctor Hardy had little expectation of finding any change.  He had said to Mr. Strafford that the next four-and-twenty hours might bring the final one, but even that would come softly and gradually.  He knew also that he should find Mrs. Costello installed as nurse, and guessed that she had more than an ordinary interest in her task; but for the first moment he doubted whether she knew the true state of her patient.  This doubt, however, she soon ended, for she asked, as he had been asked before.

“Do you think it likely he may become conscious again?”

He shook his head.

She sighed.

“It is better so, no doubt, but I wish so much for five minutes even.”

Then she remembered that she was speaking out her thoughts to one who was not in her secret.  She hesitated a moment, but as her eye fell upon Lucia, she decided to trust this one more.  Her voice trembled, however, as she spoke.

“You have seen already,” she said, “that we are not strangers; I think I ought to tell you the truth.  I am his wife; we were married long ago in England, and separated when Lucia was a baby.”

Doctor Hardy bowed.  He did not know exactly what to say, and saw no necessity for confessing that he had, some time ago, surmised pretty nearly the facts he was now told.

Mrs. Costello went on:  “I intended to acknowledge my marriage, but since it can be of no benefit to my husband, my friends have persuaded me not to do so.  But you can imagine how much I wish——­” She faltered and stopped, looking at the dying man, who was never to know what care and love surrounded him at last.