“Why do you permit——”

“Ask me no questions, Yanna. A doctor cannot prevent symptoms, he can only watch for them, and be ready to fight danger when he sees it. I am in that position, hour after hour. That is all.”

“But it is misery for you.”

“Yes; but I am watching for the soul of one I love better than myself.”

“How long is it to last?”

“God knows; to the end of my life, if needs be.”

Then Rose called Yanna sharply, and both went to her side. “I am coming to see you to-morrow, Yanna,” she said. “I have something to tell you, dear,” and she spoke with the old bewitching smile; and Yanna answered:

“Do come, Rose. You have never yet seen my baby.”

Then at a word Rose turned to her purchases, and apparently forgot both her husband and her sister-in-law. Adriana had no heart to buy what she had come to buy. She passed out into the cold, dirty street, and drove back at once to her home.

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