The sun was in the heavens when, finding other procedure unavailing, he gently touched the girl, and Alice Deringham rose silently and turned to him some moments later almost proudly with a soft glow in her cheeks, and a question in her eyes.
"Yes," said the doctor, smiling. "I fancy we have seen the worst."
Then the girl's strength went from her, and she caught at the rail of the bed, shivering, until the man touched her arm and led her from the room. "You have done a great deal, I think, and must sleep," he said.
It was afternoon when Alice Deringham resumed her watch, and she met
Seaforth on her way to the sick man's room.
"I want to thank you, Miss Deringham. He is my partner, and the only friend I have," he said, with a slight huskiness.
The girl regarded him steadily. "You mean it?"
Seaforth winced a little. "Yes," he said.
Alice Deringham still fixed her eyes upon him. "And yet you distrusted me once?"
Seaforth's face was haggard, but it was less pale than it had been when he bent his head. "I can only throw myself on your mercy. I was more of a fool than usual then."
Alice Deringham laughed softly but graciously. "I could not blame you—and you may have been right," she said.