268 STRAY -AW AYS 



III 



Out of dark spaces of eternity there came at length 

 a faint activity. Drifts of evil dreams passed by, like 

 ghosts of things more evil than they ; the deep-seated 

 mind consciousness began to discern them, while yet 

 the physical consciousness was far away. There were 

 figures against light, with a blue fog round them; a 

 long way off a voice said very lazily, and in time to a 

 strange burring rhythm, " She's conscious." 



Some one wiped her cheeks softly, tears were sliding 

 down them, something was put into her mouth and 

 she swallowed it; she coughed and the cough ended 

 in a sharp cry that she herself hardly heard. There 

 was a red-hot thrust in her side, far in, with all the 

 horror of a pain never known before. She was in 

 bed, and two men and a young woman were standing 

 beside her; she thought that the girl must be a very 

 smart servant to have her cap and apron so white, 

 but as yet she wondered little at anything. It was 

 a lofty room, with two other beds in it, both empty; 

 the polished floor reflected the light, and a cool air 

 came through a tall window. She did not know 

 whether it were evening or morning. 



" You're better now," said one of the men, a gentle- 

 man, she knew at once, though she saw things very 

 indistinctly. 



" Thank you, sir," she said, her voice seeming to 

 herself heavy and lagging. She lay quiet, while a 

 light hand felt her pulse, and the problem of whether 

 it were evening or morning engrossed her brain. Fever 

 drummed and rushed in her ears, her hands as they 

 lay on the counterpane were remote from her and 

 beyond her influence, her body was immovably 

 bandaged, and all the while a cloud of uncomprehended 

 catastrophe covered half her mind. 



