"They are closed now, and he lies there quiet as a child. There is some burden upon the brain."
"But the doctors, how can they leave him? He might die."
"It is only long enough to visit Jessup. He is wounded badly, the people say who took him home."
"Yes, I know. I heard them speaking of blood on the grass as they came up. Of—of course, the doctors must go to him—and you; it is but right."
A strange resolve had suddenly flashed into her thoughts.
"You will go to your room now, Lady Rose. It is long after midnight," said the baronet, as he opened a door leading to the hall.
"No, Sir Noel; I could not sleep; I could not breathe under all this uncertainty. You will find me here, with your news, good or bad. It would be like shutting myself in a prison cell if I went to my room now."
"As you wish. I will not be gone long," answered the baronet.
Lady Rose stood in the middle of the library, listening, until Sir Noel's footsteps died out on the terrace; then she stole into the hall and mounted the stairs, holding her breath as she went.
In her dressing-room she found a woman leaning back in an easy-chair, who had fallen into a restless sleep.