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 address to me? Be it so; I am here to answer. Ask, Mr. Fairlie&mdash;oblige me by asking, to your heart's content."

He had said so much already in spite of me; and he looked so dreadfully capable of saying a great deal more, also in spite of me, that I declined his amiable invitation, in pure self-defence.

"Many thanks," I replied. "I am sinking fast. In my state of health, I must take things for granted.  Allow me to do so on this occasion.  We quite understand each other.  Yes.  Much obliged, I am sure, for your kind interference.  If I ever get better, and ever have a second opportunity of improving our acquaintance&mdash;&mdash;"

He got up. I thought he was going. No. More talk; more time for the development of infectious influences&mdash;in my room, too; remember that, in my room!

"One moment, yet," he said, "one moment before I take my leave. I ask permission at parting to impress on you an urgent necessity. It is this, sir!  You must not think of waiting till Miss Halcombe recovers, before you receive Lady Glyde.  Miss Halcombe has the attendance of the doctor, of the housekeeper at Blackwater Park, and of an experienced nurse as well&mdash;three persons for whose capacity and devotion I answer with my life.  I tell you that.  I tell you, also, that the anxiety and alarm of her sister's illness has already affected the health and spirits of Lady Glyde, and has made her totally unfit to be of use in the sick-room.  Her position with her husband grows more and more deplorable and dangerous, every day.  If you leave her any longer at Blackwater Park, you do nothing whatever to hasten her sister's recovery, and, at the same time, you risk the public scandal, which you, and I, and all of us, are bound, in the sacred interests of the Family, to avoid. With all my soul, I advise you to remove the serious responsibility of delay from your own shoulders, by writing to Lady Glyde, to come here at once. Do your affectionate, your honourable, your inevitable duty; and whatever happens in the future, no one can lay the blame on you. I speak from my large experience; I offer my friendly advice. Is it accepted&mdash;Yes, or No?"

I looked at him&mdash;merely looked at him&mdash;with my sense of his amazing assurance, and my dawning resolution to ring for Louis, and have him shown out of the room, expressed in every line of my face. It is perfectly incredible, but quite true, that my face did not appear to produce the slightest impression on him. Born without nerves&mdash;evidently, born without nerves.