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CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 ,,NTV. OF CAT-IF. tTBRARY. LOS ANGFXE» 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 BY MRS. HORACE TREMLETT 
 
 Mr 
 
 LONDON JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD 
 NEW YORK JOHN LANE COMPANY :: :: 
 
 TORONTO BELL & COCKBURN MCMXIV 
 
Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited, Edinburgh 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 2133248 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CHRISTOPHER BROWN sat one October 
 afternoon on a small wicker-work chair in 
 the sitting-room of a top fiat in Shaftesbury 
 Avenue, looking the picture of misery. And not with- 
 out reason : for difficulties encompassed him round 
 about, they hedged him in on every side, so that 
 whichever way he moved he would be in trouble ; 
 and he could think of no solution of them that 
 would combine peace with honour, both of which 
 were very dear to Christopher — but particularly 
 peace. 
 
 We will admit at once that his point of view was 
 a wrong one, and that if he had faithfully followed 
 in the strait and narrow path, which is said to lead 
 to salvation, he would not have been sitting on that 
 chair chewing the cud of bitterness. For the 
 fiat belonged to Lebah Manisty, a cool-headed, 
 sphinx-eyed girl who earned her living on the stage ; 
 and Christopher, although he had a nice little wife 
 and two children of his own in Uppington-on- 
 Thames, had fallen so desperately under her spell 
 
2 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 that his life was a burden to him. She obsessed 
 him by night and by day, she dazzled his senses, 
 blinded his eyes, made him a king one moment and 
 a fool the next, in the old familiar way. But it was 
 not familiar to Christopher, for he had been very 
 carefully brought up, married young, and had conse- 
 quently very little experience of — love, to give 
 the thing a name which really belongs to some- 
 thing much better. 
 
 He looked, in his neat blue serge suit and with 
 his carefully brushed hair, very out of place in that 
 untidy room. The walls were a blaze of yellow, 
 littered with rough signed sketches and unframed 
 photographs. On the floor lay a cheap Indian 
 carpet from which most of the colour had mercifully 
 faded. A divan in one corner was heaped with 
 gay cushions of all shapes and sizes, and the whole 
 apartment wore a jaunty air of disorder and uncon- 
 ventionality, generally associated with the artistic 
 temperament, and formed a striking contrast to the 
 obviously suburban respectability of Mr. Brown. 
 
 He sat there gazing with unseeing eyes through 
 the window, at the wet tiles of the adjacent roofs, 
 and his face wore the gloomy, introspective look of 
 one who wrestles with his own soul. But, as 
 Christopher always felt much more than he thought, 
 he was unaware of any psychic conflict within 
 himself and only knew that he was extremely un- 
 comfortable and unhappy. Some people are so 
 accustomed to discomfort that they think nothing 
 of it ; they expect it, and make the best of it when 
 it comes, thereby forging for themselves an armour 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 3 
 
 of philosophy, which frustrates the worst intentions 
 of Fate. They also in the course of time learn many 
 useful little dodges and devices for escaping trouble, 
 or shifting it on to the shoulders of other people. 
 But Christopher's life had lain, up to the present, 
 in such pleasant places, that he had never needed 
 any more deadly weapon of defence than his own 
 naturally indolent and complacent disposition. 
 He had evaded or avoided most of the ills to which 
 humanity is heir, by the simple expedient of not 
 perceiving them at all ; and at the age of twenty- 
 eight was totally miprepared for the devastating 
 onslaught of this Thing which had overtaken him. 
 
 If Amy had stayed at home all the summer and 
 looked properly after him, or if he had gone with her 
 to Folkestone, and played on the sands with the 
 children as was his wont every other August, we 
 should probably not have found him on this damp 
 October afternoon in Lebah's fiat. But Amy was 
 one of those enthusiastic little mothers who believe 
 that nobody can look after their babies excepting 
 themselves ; and, when Dolly and Dick recovered 
 sufficiently from their attack of whooping-cough, 
 nothing would satisfy her but that she must take 
 them herself to the sea for a couple of months to get 
 rid of the last whoop before the wmter set in. 
 Christopher, being thus left dangerously to his own 
 devices, elected to shut up the house at Uppington 
 and live at his club in town, in order to save expense ; 
 and it was this praiseworthy endeavour to economize 
 which led to his undoing. For the poor man had 
 nowhere to go and nothing to do in the evenings, 
 
 k 
 
4. CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 and when Jimmy Grover, who was a city nut and 
 knew actresses by the dozen, introduced him one 
 evening to Lebah Manisty his fate was as good as 
 sealed. 
 
 Before he had known her a week she filled his 
 thoughts to the exclusion of everything else ; and 
 by the end of the month he was in a state of grovel- 
 ling adoration which made him look a much bigger 
 fool than he really was by nature. He did not, 
 however, in the least mind looking a fool. He felt 
 that it was somehow to his credit — the hall mark of 
 the true lover ; and he gloried in his folly almost as 
 much as he enjoyed his yearnings and longings, 
 telling himself that he had never until he met 
 Lebah known the meaning either of Love or of 
 Life itself. This period of enjoyment was very 
 brief — indeed Christopher himself had hardly re- 
 cognized it as such, so beset with hopes and fears 
 was he — before Amy came back and put a sudden 
 end to it. Not intentionally, for of course she had 
 never heard of Lebah, and Christopher meant to 
 take very good care that she never should do so ; 
 but none the less effectually did she rope him in 
 with those silken threads of duty, affection, and 
 conventionality, which are the strongest assets of 
 the good and faithful wife. 
 
 Christopher did not want to be roped in. He 
 wished to be perfectly free and independent, so 
 that he might be able to make a slave of himself 
 in another quarter ; and Amy's persistent and 
 quite innocent attentions worried him exceed- 
 ingly, the more so because he dared not openly 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 5 
 
 resent them for fear of rousing her suspicions. If 
 there was little comfort for him at home, there 
 was less in Shaftesbury Avenue, for Lebah was 
 one of those girls, elusive and alluring at the same 
 time, who can neither make a man happy nor leave 
 him alone in peace; and Christopher never knew 
 whether he was in Heaven or in Hell, so quickly did 
 she raise him to the one or plunge him into the 
 other. He only knew that he could not live without 
 her, and that he did not mean to try ; and he spent 
 much of his time in anxiously planning how he 
 could see her, and perhaps more of it in strenuous 
 endeavour to prevent Amy from finding out what 
 he was up to. 
 
 But it was all very wearing to the nerves and often 
 Christopher's heart failed him, and he wondered 
 dismally how it would end. Almost every solution 
 seemed a catastrophe. He felt that whether he 
 gave up his home and famUy, or gave up Lebah, 
 his sufferings, although of a very different 
 nature, would be equally acute. It seemed that 
 the only course open to him was to keep things 
 going as long as possible, something like a conjurer 
 with half a dozen balls and only two hands with 
 which to catch them ; and it made him dizzy with 
 apprehension to think how easy it must be to drop 
 one, and what a horrid noise it would make if it 
 fell. 
 
 His meditations were interrupted by a step in the 
 hall outside the door, and a moment later the lady 
 herself entered the room, slim and insinuating in a 
 purple satin kimono. Her face was colourless, and 
 
6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 framed by plaits of black hair coiled neatly round 
 her small shapely head. Her scarlet lips wore a 
 slightly bitter smile, and her eyes were those dark, 
 fathomless wells of mystery, which give no indication 
 of the soul within. 
 
 " Dear Kit," she drawled, " is it really necessary 
 to call at three o'clock in the afternoon ? " 
 
 Kit had risen eagerly and was holding both her 
 hands in his own. 
 
 " Ah, but, Lebah, I can't keep away ! I tried, 
 honestly, after lunch to do some work. No 
 good — I just had to shut it up and come round 
 and see you." 
 
 Lebah disengaged her hands gently, and moving 
 across the room threw herself into a long chair which 
 stood by the fire. 
 
 " Well, sit down, now you're here," she said 
 carelessly, " and make yourself at home. Pass 
 the cigarettes, will you ? " 
 
 Kit hastily opened his case and handed it to her, 
 then lighting one for himself he sank into an arm- 
 chair on the other side of the hearth with a sigh of 
 relief. 
 
 " I don't know how it is, Lebah," he began, " you 
 have a most extraordinary effect upon me. I come 
 here seething with worry, and all that, you know, 
 and before I've been here five minutes, it all 
 goes and I feel so peaceful — so restful," 
 
 He gazed on her with ineffable content. 
 
 " Sweet woolly lamb," said Lebah, blowing rings 
 to the ceiling. 
 
 " No, but seriously," he said, " I don't think you 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 7 
 
 quite realize what my life is at present. Of course," 
 he hesitated, " naturally you don't like to hear 
 about my wife and family, and I don't want to 
 talk about them. But it's just this : things there 
 are impossible, and I can't stand it any longer." 
 
 Lebah looked up at him speculatively, with 
 dawning interest. 
 
 " What are you going to do, then ? " 
 
 " That's just it," said Kit miserably. " I don't 
 know what to do. You see when Amy was at the 
 seaside with the children it was all right : I stayed 
 at my club and there was no one to bother and ask 
 questions. But since she came back — these last 
 few weeks — it's been simply unbearable. ' Where 
 have you been ? Where are you going ? What 
 time will you be in ? 7s anything worrying you ? 
 Do you feel well ? ' And of course I lose my 
 temper, and there you are ! " 
 
 " Have you told her that you know me ? " 
 asked Lebah, watching him curiously. 
 
 " Told her ! " exclaimed Kit, " of course I haven't 
 told her. She'd be frightfully upset. In a way 
 I feel sorry for Amy. Before I met you, do 
 you see, I used to think there was nobody like 
 her." 
 
 He gazed reminiscently into the fire. 
 
 " I used to potter about the house, or do a bit 
 of gardening, or play with the kids. I suppose 
 I was happy, in a sort of way. But now," 
 he sighed, " it's all so different. The house is 
 like a prison. My nerves are in such a state I 
 can't stand the kids about ; and as for Amy, of 
 
8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 course she can't make me out at all, and the way she 
 looks and looks at me drives me mad." 
 
 Lebah threw him a quizzical glance from under 
 her long lashes, but made no comment. 
 
 " All I think of," he went on, " is how soon I can 
 see you again. I rush through at the office to spend 
 an hour here, but I've hardly had time to look at 
 you before it's train-time ; and then I have to 
 go back to Amy. All the evening I sit and think 
 and brood, and wonder what you're doing in that 
 beastly theatre, or who is seeing you home. My 
 God, if you only knew the agony of mind I go 
 through ! " 
 
 He leaned forward, burying his head in his hands, 
 and his shoulders heaved convulsively. 
 
 Lebah knocked the ash carelessly from the end 
 of her cigarette on to the floor. 
 
 " The fact is. Kit," she said, " you're one of those 
 mutton-headed chumps who try to please every- 
 body ; and it doesn't work, dear old thing." 
 
 " I know," replied Kit despondently, " but you 
 don't realize what it is to have your heart torn in 
 two. I'd do anything on earth to save Amy going 
 through what she is at present; and if she ever 
 found out the truth I believe it would simply 
 kiU her." 
 
 Lebah looked with resignation round the room. 
 
 " A happy release, I should say, if you bore her 
 the way you do me." 
 
 She pitched the end of her cigarette into the fire 
 with vigour. 
 
 " Look here. Kit," she began, after a short pause. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 9 
 
 *' I'm going to talk common sense to you. It's a 
 thing I have no use for myself, but you're one 
 of those stodgy people who can't get on without 
 it." 
 
 Kit raised his head. 
 
 " How do you mean ? " he asked anxiously. 
 
 " When I first met you," continued Lebah, 
 " there was no talk of a wife and family. For 
 all I knew, you were as free as I am, and so, 
 somehow, we drifted into this. But, do you see, 
 there's quite a lot of difference between a young 
 man at a loose end, and one with a wife and family 
 at Uppington." 
 
 " But I told you," interrupted Kit, " as soon as 
 it mattered, and . . . and . . . you didn't seem to 
 mind much." 
 
 " I did mind," replied Lebah shortly. " But 
 you were so grateful and harmless that I hadn't 
 the heart to send you away, and that's the 
 truth." 
 
 " And I'm harmless and grateful still," smiled 
 Kit uneasily. 
 
 Lebah looked straight past him. 
 
 " But now," she went on, " it's different. I can 
 see you're making a perfect fool of yourself about 
 me : upsetting your home and your wife ; and, 
 after all, you know you're very fond of her." 
 
 " I swear I'm not," protested Kit. " I like Amy, 
 and that's all I can say ; I'm certainly not in love 
 with her in the least." 
 
 " You are," insisted Lebah with composure, "and, 
 what's more, I don't fancy myself in the rdle of 
 
lo CURING CHRISTOITIER 
 
 seductive syren. I don'1 want other women's 
 husbands : wrecked homes and blighted lives are not 
 in my programme at all, even if I am an actress." 
 
 Kit looked at her uncertainly. 
 
 " All I want," she went on a trifle wearily, " is 
 to be happy. I don't ask anything from anybody, 
 and I don't want to be bothered with other people's 
 worries." 
 
 " And you shan't be," said Kit diplomatically. 
 " I promise you I won't worry you any more." 
 
 He rose from his seat, and kneeling down 
 beside her took one of her slim brown hands in 
 his own. 
 
 " Just let me see you as much as I want to 
 and I'll do anything you wish. But don't," his 
 voice shook and he gazed anxiously into her face, 
 " talk like that again, will you ? You don't know 
 how you turned me over just now, Lebah. You 
 see," he went on emotionally, " you are everything 
 to me, the only little bit of happiness I have 
 in life. You wouldn't take that away, would 
 you ? It means so little to you : to me — 
 well, it's my life. I couldn't live without you, 
 I wouldn't." 
 
 Lebah looked at him gravely ; her inscrutable 
 eyes were almost kind. 
 
 " Poor old Kit ! " she said. " Do you really feel 
 like that ? " 
 
 Tears welled up into his eyes and he struggled 
 a moment to regain his composure. 
 
 " I'm a silly ass about you," he said at length, 
 " no good pretending to be anything else. I 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER ii 
 
 wouldn't have believed I could ever feel as I do 
 now. I thought I was a phlegmatic, serious sort 
 of cove, but, by Jove, here I am, ready to cry 
 like a woman at a kind word from you." 
 
 He rose hastily to his feet and pulled himself to- 
 gether with an effort. 
 
 " I suppose you despise me for a weak fool," he 
 said, with an uncertain watery smile. 
 
 " I don't call you exactly weak," replied Lebah, 
 " but you're not cut out for this sort of thing ; 
 you're too emotional, and you take yourself too 
 seriously." 
 
 " You know," said Kit, blowing his nose vigor- 
 ously, " you're perfectly right, you always are. 
 But I'm going to turn over a new leaf. We'll just 
 be real good pals. After all, Amy couldn't 
 object to that, could she, even if she found out ? 
 Only I must see a great deal of you, I want you 
 to let me come here whenever I can, and we 
 might . . . what do you say if we go down 
 to Brighton on Sunday and spend a nice long day 
 together by the sea ? " 
 
 " I don't think I could stand the excitement of 
 it, Kit dear." 
 
 " Ah, do be nice to me, Lebah," he pleaded, " just 
 one long day to set me up for the week. I 
 promise you I won't bore you. So long as I can sit 
 and look at you, that's all I want, just to be near 
 you. Don't say no ! " 
 
 Lebah considered a moment. 
 
 " After all," she said impatiently, " why shouldn't 
 I go ? If people can't look after their own husbands. 
 
12 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 that's not my fault. All right, Kit. Victoria, isn't 
 it ? What time ? " 
 
 " That's right," said Kit joyously. " There's a 
 train at ten exactly, and we'll have a glorious day 
 by the sea — do both of us no end of good. We'll 
 dine at the Crown and catch the nine something 
 back to town." 
 
 He rose and took up his hat. 
 
 " I suppose I ought to be off now," he said with a 
 sigh. " I have a lot of work to finish before I leave 
 the office to-night." 
 
 Lebah was looking moodily into the fire and made 
 no reply. 
 
 " Good-bye," said Kit, standing beside her chair. 
 
 " Good-bye." 
 
 He bent down to her. 
 
 " Lebah, I haven't made you unhappy, have I ? " 
 
 " No. Good-bye, old boy." 
 
 He stood irresolute. , 
 
 " I wish I understood you better," he said. 
 
 No answer. 
 
 " I mean, I don't know whether you want me 
 to kiss you, or whether you'd rather I didn't." 
 
 A tiny smile played round the corners of her 
 mouth. 
 
 " It's awkward for you," she said. 
 
 " I think I'll risk it," said Kit, much encouraged. 
 
 But she held out her fingers, cool and aloof ; 
 and, after a glance at her averted face, he took them 
 in his own and pressed his lips reverently upon 
 them. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 13 
 
 As the door closed behind him, Lebah stretched 
 herself out like a cat in the sun, 
 
 " Oh," she yawned, " for a Man — a real live, 
 violent, primitive man ! How utterly fed up I 
 am with everybody." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE village of Uppington was bounded on one 
 side by the Thames, and on the three others 
 by London suburbs ; but Uppington itself 
 was not a suburb, and its inhabitants were anything 
 and everything but suburban. No insult could wound 
 their tenderest feelings more deeply than that 
 pernicious word : it was reserved only for the lowest 
 of the low, and no character, however otherwise 
 noble, could survive the epithet in Uppington. 
 
 The shopping centre consisted of one long street, 
 down which the electric trams ran, with an audacity 
 that even after four or five years daily surprised 
 and pained the older inhabitants. It was the custom 
 of Uppington ladies to shop there from eleven to 
 one every morning, in the interests of their house- 
 keeping. The financial operations might not be 
 extensive, and not infrequently were briefly entered 
 in the grocer's weekly book as one tin pine chunks, 
 4^d., the tradesmen having earlier in the morning 
 collected their orders from the cook, or from 
 the mistress herself in an art pinafore. But eleven 
 o'clock was the appointed time for shopping, 
 and, as every one was bent on the same errand, 
 it had become a recognized social event, with its 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 15 
 
 own rules of precedent, procedure, and etiquette. 
 You might, indeed should, wear old clothes in the 
 morning. A knitted coat and well-worn blue 
 serge skirt, with a hat you had obviously — the 
 more obviously the better — trimmed yourself, was a 
 scheme of dress that evinced the right feeling. Silk 
 underskirts and white kid gloves were the outward 
 and visible sign of the bounder and the outsider, 
 who, however, was not left long to bound out- 
 side if surreptitious inquiries as to the source of her 
 affluence were found satisfactory ; that they were so 
 often not so perhaps accounted for the Uppington 
 prejudice in favour of simple attire. 
 
 The babies also took their airing from eleven to 
 one ; their spotless prams propelled with either lofty 
 indifference or with nervous over-anxiety by their 
 attentive mothers, but never with anything that 
 could be mistaken for accustomed ease. They formed 
 naturally the chief topic of conversation, and were 
 responsible for most of the heart-burnings and bitter 
 feuds that existed in the village of Uppington. 
 But not all. For, besides the maternal contingent, 
 there was a powerful and sinister band of females 
 who had nothing on earth to do, and endless days in 
 which to do it. These also might be seen on the 
 morning parade, the muscular ones armed with 
 golf clubs or tennis rackets, and the flabby ones 
 taking the dog for a walk. But all and sundry, 
 mothers, maiden aunts, and mere women, were 
 actuated by a beautiful unity of spirit on one sub- 
 ject. They each possessed a frank and unashamed 
 determination to know each other's business. No 
 
i6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 detail was too slight, nor any moment too sacred 
 to be withheld from the common cause. Each 
 worked with zeal and enthusiasm to elicit what she 
 could from her neighbour, and to impart in her 
 turn her own share of the spoil. No hive of bees 
 — or is it wasps ? — ever possessed such reliable and 
 intimate information about its members, or was ever 
 served more willingly and faithfully. Later in the 
 day the distributions were made : each bee — or wasp 
 — turning up at the At Home day of another, and 
 adding her contribution of news to the general fund. 
 
 The system went like clockwork, and would 
 perhaps in time have grown monotonous, excepting 
 for the fact that everybody had something of 
 which she was ashamed, or that she wished to 
 hide ; and it was this very human attribute that 
 lent an alluring air of sport to the proceedings and 
 gave zest to the chase. If Mrs. Jones refused to 
 impart, or at least to indicate the source of her 
 husband's income, it followed that there must be 
 something shady about it, and the scent was strong 
 on Mrs. J., until Mrs. Smith went up to town alone, 
 and maintained a silence on the subject, when the 
 pack turned eagerly on the trail of Mrs. Smith. 
 
 Some few ladies were clever in the cult of the red 
 herring, and these lived in the odour of sanctity — 
 till they were found out. Others, indifferent, or 
 hardened to adversity, saw their characters torn to 
 shreds before their eyes, and grew accustomed 
 to the process, like eels to skinning. And, if occa- 
 sionally a heart was broken or a life blighted by 
 slanderous tongues, nobody was any the wiser, 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 17 
 
 excepting perhaps the unfortunate owner, when it 
 was too late. 
 
 Mrs. Christopher Brown was a well-known figure 
 in the village ; her sweet, sunny smile and confiding 
 blue eyes were to be seen wherever Uppington was 
 gathered together. On the morning promenade 
 she was there, with a chubby mite on either side, 
 Dolly with golden curls and pink ribbons, and Dick, 
 sturdy and solemn of countenance, in a well-made 
 overcoat and good boots. 
 
 Mrs. Kit, as she was called, was such a good 
 mother, such a devoted wife, such a capital little 
 hostess, and so equally charming to men and women 
 alike, that no breath of scandal or censure had so 
 far dimmed the lustre of her popularity, and even 
 gossip had passed her by unheeding. 
 
 However, she was only human, and her turn was 
 coming. 
 
 In the afternoon Dolly and Dick were relegated to 
 Nurse, and Mrs. Kit, after consulting a cryptic book, 
 sallied forth in a suitable and becoming toilet to 
 call on Mrs. A. or Mrs. B., according to whether 
 it was the first Thursday or the second Wednesday, 
 
 To-day, as it happened, was the third Tuesday, 
 and we find Mrs. Kit in her own drawing-room, pre- 
 paring, as she did every third Tuesday, to dispense 
 tea and cakes to the community. She pulled the 
 blinds down half-way, partly to prevent the sun 
 from fading the carpet, and partly because a shaded 
 light suited every one better than the full glare of 
 daylight, and she liked people to be comfortable. 
 She opened the piano, and placed on it a piece of 
 
i8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 music by Chaminade, the intricacies of which she 
 had never been able to master ; this not with any 
 intent to deceive, but because it was nice and clean, 
 and seemed to give the piano an air of invitation 
 to anyone who might wish to play on it during 
 the afternoon. She moved sundry chairs, patted 
 various cushions into a more seductive softness, 
 and eventually, when everything satisfied her 
 fastidious eye, curled herself up on the sofa and 
 prepared to read till her callers arrived. 
 
 She had not long to wait. Punctually on the 
 stroke of four came Mrs. Glynn-Evans, with her 
 ferret's eyes and her pinned-on smile ; her double 
 chin resting in her expensive furs — sixty 
 guineas, so she said, but nobody believed her. After 
 her came the two Miss Pratts, gaunt and evangelical ; 
 Amber Martin, with a bitter smile and a vicious wit, 
 which was forgiven her because she had such a pig 
 of a husband ; several unassuming females who 
 sat on inconspicuous chairs like poor relations ; 
 and eventually that very kind-hearted and garrulous 
 Mrs. Todhunter, without whom no party in 
 Uppington was complete. 
 
 The small room was soon crowded, and a soft 
 babel of tongues filled the warm, muffin-scented 
 air. Everybody talked in a low and refined tone of 
 voice, and listened politely to what her neighbour 
 had to say before beginning her own remarks. Mrs. 
 Glynn-Evans, who always had a bother with her 
 servants, could be heard, a little shriller than anyone 
 else in the room, discoursing eloquently on the 
 delinquencies of the latest housemaid. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 19 
 
 " Well, my dear, she was perfect for the first few 
 days. I hadn't a thing to do. I helped with our 
 bed in the morning, the others are all single ones 
 and I let her do those alone. Then I wrote the 
 orders on the kitchen slate, and there I was, free 
 for the daj' — such a relief after the last few weeks ! 
 But on the Thursday, no, it was the Friday morn- 
 ing, she came down in, my dear, lavender stockings ! 
 ' Lily,' I said, ' where are your black stockings ? ' 
 'Oh,' she said, 'I haven't had time to mend them.' 
 * Then,' I said, ' sit down at once and do so. You 
 seem to have no idea of what is fitting in a gentle- 
 man's house.' That was the beginning." 
 
 After this episode Lily apparently went from bad 
 to worse, but we will not harrow our feelings by 
 following her. 
 
 " And how's your husband ? " asked Mrs. Tod- 
 hunter of her hostess. " He wasn't at church on 
 Sunday, Not seedy, I hope, though with the 
 weather we've had one can't be surprised if he was. 
 I felt far from well myself, but I always say Church 
 is a duty one should not neglect." 
 
 " I know," replied Mrs. Kit, pouring out endless 
 cups of tea, " and Kit's very good about going as a 
 rule, but last Sunday he was feeling so tired and 
 unwell that I persuaded him to take a rest and 
 stay at home. No, it's not his liver ... I think 
 perhaps he needs a change ; we were away all the 
 summer in Folkestone and he could only occasionally 
 run down to us, he was so busy. . . . Yes, perhaps 
 you are right, I think husbands do ... a change 
 of food too. I'm sure Kit works too hard." 
 
20 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Does he have to work late in town ? " 
 asked Mrs. Todhunter sympathetically. " I heard, 
 I think it was Thursday, he came down by the last 
 train." 
 
 " Oh no," said Mrs. Kit, " at least sometimes 
 lately he has been obliged to. He's not sleeping 
 very well. I think he's a little run down ; 
 nothing upsets one like the loss of one's sleep, 
 one's nerves get so out of order, don't they ? " 
 
 A tiny cloud rested for a moment on Mrs. Kit's 
 clear brow, just long enough for the observant Mrs. 
 Todhunter to wonder what it was doing there. 
 
 And, because she was a kindly soul and a curious 
 one withal, it weighed upon her mind as she walked 
 with Amber Martin to the house where the next 
 instalment of tea and gossip was to be found. 
 
 " I think Amy Brown is one of the sweetest little 
 women I know," she remarked. 
 
 " Yes, isn't she nauseating? " said Amber with 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 " Naughty girl," reproved Mrs. Todhunter in- 
 dulgently, " you know quite well you like her as 
 much as I do." 
 
 " So I do, but the stuffy domesticity of that house- 
 hold always makes me ill," said Amber viciously. 
 
 Mrs. Todhunter allowed this to pass, it was so 
 obviously a case of sour grapes. 
 
 " I wonder what's the matter with poor Chris- 
 topher," she observed ; "'his wife seems very anxious 
 about him — suffering from nerves, so she tells me." 
 
 " Not really ! " laughed Amber, " Kit, of all 
 people ! " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 21 
 
 " Apparently he can't sleep. She seemed rather 
 reticent, I thought — a little something behind it no 
 doubt." 
 
 " Kit eats too much and doesn't take enough 
 exercise," said Amber ; " it's probably indigestion." 
 
 " I only hope it's nothing worse," panted Mrs 
 Todhunter, Amber took such long steps and her 
 own legs were short. " So many young people have 
 these nervous breakdowns, and for a man with a 
 wife and family it would be a serious thing." 
 
 She pointed out to several of her friends that 
 afternoon what a serious thing it would be, and they 
 all agreed that it would be particularly disastrous, 
 because these healthy-looking people always felt 
 everything a great deal more than those who were 
 accustomed to being ill, and Mr. Brown, as they all 
 knew, had never spent a day in bed in his life. 
 
 Before the week was out everybody knew that 
 Kit was not nearly so well as he appeared, and Amy 
 Brown was answering interested inquiries on all 
 sides as to the state of her husband's health. 
 
 For if there was one thing Uppington loved, it 
 was a " sad case," something that called for 
 womanly sympathy, which was the strong suit of 
 every woman in the place. Wrong-doers might be 
 interesting, but were seldom wildly so, the limita- 
 tions of society there being arbitrary, and oppor- 
 tunities for doing anything of an exciting or desperate 
 nature being few and far between. A case of 
 illness, however, had many excellent possibilities, 
 and not the least entertaining of these, though one 
 hesitates to say so, was the chance that it gave 
 
22 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 the local doctor of making a bigger fool of himself 
 than he had ever done before. 
 
 What it was exactly about Dr. Bennett, it is diffi- 
 cult to say. He was a conscientious, hard-working 
 young man, with a long string of letters after his 
 name, shedding lustre on his past career ; but 
 somehow he could never do right in Uppington. 
 Every one nevertheless went to him, because he 
 was the recognized village doctor, and because it 
 would have been awkward meeting his wife at tea 
 parties if they called in anyone else. But nobody 
 believed a word he said, and most of his medicines 
 went down the scullery sink. If his patient grew 
 worse and died, heads were shaken sadly over his 
 incompetence. When, on the other hand, they 
 recovered, which the^^ generally did, Uppington 
 being a most salubrious spot, their delivery was 
 attributed to their own common sense, to their 
 unquenchable spirit, to the valuable prescriptions 
 of their maiden aunts — but never by any chance 
 to the skill of the doctor. Some natures would 
 perhaps have been soured by this lack of apprecia- 
 tion, but not Dr. Bennett's. A genial smile always 
 adorned his jolly roimd face, and his honest blue 
 eyes were very kind and merry. Perhaps because 
 he knew that, although every one thought him a 
 fool, they liked him none the less for it ; more 
 probably because he did not care a row of pins what 
 they thought so long as they paid his bills regularly. 
 
 There was one branch of his profession, however, 
 in which he undoubtedly excelled : he was just 
 the right man to introduce a new baby to its family ; 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 23 
 
 patient and sympathetic till the worst was over, 
 and relapsing easily into the role of a friendly caller 
 by the time its mother was able to sit up and look 
 pretty again. If he had confined his energies 
 to these simple and always lucrative occasions he 
 would perhaps have had a successful career, and 
 earned the respect of his neighbours. But Dr. 
 Bennett was unhappily convinced in his inmost 
 heart that such matters were beneath him, and that 
 only a perverse and unkind fate prevented him 
 from blossoming into a celebrated specialist for 
 obscure nervous and mental diseases. This weak- 
 ness of his was well known in Uppington, as were all 
 others that he possessed — and many that he did not 
 — and it was therefore almost with a sense of excite- 
 ment that the prospect of Christopher Brown's 
 breakdown was discussed in certain circles ; for of 
 course it had grown in a very short time into a much 
 more serious affair than it was when it left his 
 wife's drawing-room on the third Tuesday. 
 
 Speculation, however, had so far little to feed on. 
 Kit was to be seen about as usual, showing no out- 
 ward and visible signs of his supposed ailment. 
 There were, of course, not wanting those whose 
 incandescent eyes discerned that his manner was 
 constrained and restless, that his clothes hung more 
 loosely than they used to do on his figure ; and, 
 what was more important, that pretty Mrs. Kit 
 had lost something of her spontaneous gaiety, and 
 was smiling with a sad little shadow in her blue 
 eyes. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SUNDAY at Elm Villa was a happy day. We 
 wore our best frock and went downstairs to 
 dinner. Father, instead of rushing off im- 
 portantly to catch a train, made jokes and played 
 on the gramophone. Nurse went out in the after- 
 noon, and Mummy put us to bed. Sometimes Father 
 helped too. But particularly we liked Sunday 
 morning, because, as there was no hurry about 
 breakfast, we could sit on the bed and talk to Mummy 
 and Father, and get lumps of sugar from their tea 
 tray. It was therefore rather a blow to be told to 
 run away directly we arrived, because Father was 
 getting up to catch a train. Mummy too seemed 
 rather strange and quiet. Altogether it wasn't 
 like Sunday at all. 
 
 Kit had tried several times during the week to 
 break the news gently to his wife that he proposed 
 spending Sunday away from home, but without 
 success. It seemed an easy thing to say, off-hand, 
 casually : "I think a sea-breeze would do me 
 good — rather have an idea of running down to 
 Brighton on Sunday." But somehow it would 
 not get itself said. Amy quite unconsciously 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 25 
 
 headed him off every time he thought he saw a 
 suitable opening. She had an ingenuous and 
 terribly annoying way of putting a spoke in a 
 fellow's wheel, especially lately ; one might almost 
 imagine that she did it on purpose, but that would 
 be to admit that she had a good and sufficient 
 reason for doing so, which Kit felt very sure she had 
 not. 
 
 When therefore he awoke on Sunday morning 
 the words had not been spoken ; and every one who 
 knows that woolly lethargic frame of mind that 
 precedes the early morning cup of tea will realize 
 his predicament. It is perhaps the worst hour of 
 the day in which to prevaricate, to put up a bluff, 
 even to invent excuses. He decided to wait until 
 tea was over. 
 
 Amy, lying beside him in her white frills and pink 
 ribbons, looked very sweet and rosy, her golden 
 plaits tossed on the pillow. He felt himself a 
 perfidious monster to deceive such dear innocence, 
 and hated the necessity. Bed, also, was very 
 warm and comfortable, and Brighton cold, and far 
 off . . . yet Lebah waiting alone on the platform 
 at Victoria ... it was unthinkable. The horrid 
 thing had to be done. 
 
 " By the way," he began, in a voice which did 
 not sound nearly so casual as he had expected it to — 
 Amy was all attention, her blue eyes turned limpidly 
 upon him — " I think I shall ... I believe, do you 
 know ... a sea-breeze would do me good." 
 
 "I know it would, darling," said Amy; "I've 
 been thinking for some time past that you needed 
 
26 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 a change. Could you manage it, do you think, at 
 the office ? " 
 
 " Oh ... I only meant a . . . er . . . mm . . . 
 run down to Brighton or somewhere for the day." 
 
 " Rather a rush," said Amy, " but still, if you 
 think." 
 
 Kit sat up in bed, rejoiced that the worst was 
 over. All was plain sailing now. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I feel like it. I shall run 
 down and have a nice quiet day by the sea and 
 come back to-night — it will do me a world of 
 good." 
 
 " To-day ! " exclaimed Amy, " Sunday ? " 
 
 " Why not ? it's the only free day I have." 
 
 "Yes, of course," replied Amy thoughtfully, "I 
 daresay I could arrange. Nurse wouldn't mind 
 for once, I could explain that you had only just 
 decided to go." 
 
 Kit felt a strange cold silence growing over him. 
 
 " What train should we have to catch ? " asked 
 Amy, now thoroughly interested. 
 
 " I ... er ... as a matter of fact . . ." 
 stammered Kit, " I . , . thought ... I'd just 
 run down by myself ... do you see ? 
 
 Amy stared at him in amazement. 
 
 " Alone ! don't you want me to go with you ? " 
 
 " Did you particularly want to go ? " inquired 
 Kit uneasily. 
 
 " No," said Amy, still looking at him, " not if 
 you don't want me to." 
 
 " It isn't that I don't want you," explained Kit 
 effusively. " What I mean ... if it weren't 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 27 
 
 Sunday ... I mean Brighton's not much of a 
 place on Sunday." 
 
 He became unhappily aware that Amy's eyes 
 were riveted on his right cheek and that if he 
 turned a fraction of an inch he would meet them and 
 be utterly undone. The thought of Lebah wait- 
 ing disconsolately at the station, perhaps even 
 indignantly, gave him courage, and he sprang 
 resolutely out of bed. 
 
 " Look here, Amy," he said, " if you don't mind 
 I'd rather go alone," he began gathering up some 
 of his clothes to take into the bathroom ; "I shall 
 be all right, don't you worry about me." 
 
 " Kit," said Amy in a hard little voice, " you 
 aren't going to meet anyone there are you ? " 
 
 " No, Silly, of course not," replied Kit, pleased 
 to be able to tell the truth, 
 
 " It seems so odd to me," said Amy, " going down 
 there alone all day, where you don't know a 
 soul to speak to. It looks as though . . . you . , . 
 wanted to get away from us all . . . from me 
 perhaps." She was sitting up in bed, gazing at 
 him with troubled eyes. " Is that it ? " she asked 
 pathetically. 
 
 " Oh Lord ! " sighed Kit impatiently, " what a 
 fuss you make about every little thing. Amy. Just 
 because I feel I want a breath of sea air, you argue, 
 and bother and fuss. Why can't you leave me 
 alone ? " he asked irritably. " You don't seem to 
 realize that a fellow can't always be tied to your 
 apron strings — you do make me so wild ! " 
 
 Tears in the blue eyes. Amy huddled down under 
 
28 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 the clothes without a word. She too had looked 
 forward to Sunday : chickens were ordered for 
 dinner, and the sort of cream pudding he loved ; 
 and now he was going away to Brighton, to get 
 away from it all ! 
 
 No wonder Dolly and Dick felt that something 
 was wrong as they stood there on the threshold in 
 their clean pinafores. 
 
 Even Kit, as he shaved hastily in the bathroom, 
 felt that the day had not started auspiciously. 
 He tried to picture himself strolling along the 
 promenade, all eyes turning for a second glance at 
 the striking girl beside him — his girl. Tried to 
 imagine a gay little lunch, tete-d-tete in the bay 
 window of the Crown Hotel ; the long, lazy after- 
 noon ; the cosy, intimate dinner together. But it 
 was hard work at that time of the morning and he 
 soon gave it up. 
 
 When he was dressed he put his head in at the 
 bedroom door : 
 
 " Good-bye, Amy, I shan't be late." 
 
 A muffled good-bye came from under the bed- 
 clothes. 
 
 He hesitated a moment, then turned silently 
 and went downstairs and out into the street. 
 
 As the door slammed behind him, a fugitive and 
 guilty feeling possessed him : a sense of freedom, 
 of escape from bondage, together with a sick remorse 
 that he had left Amy crying under the bed-clothes. 
 He felt that he would like to go back and comfort 
 her, yet at the thought of her in his arms his eyes 
 hardened and he hurried along faster. But not 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 29 
 
 quite fast enough, for just as he reached the station 
 the train steamed out of it without him. 
 
 He found that there was another in half an hour, 
 which if luck favoured him might possibly get 
 him to Victoria by ten o'clock. But there would 
 be no time to snatch breakfast at the refreshment- 
 room as he had intended to do, neither was there 
 time to go back and get some. So he sat down 
 to wait in the chill and empty station, with only 
 his reflections to keep him company, and wondered, 
 as many a man has done before him, whether the 
 game was worth the candle. 
 
 Down at Brighton the sun was out, shedding his 
 most fatherly smile on the cheery cosmopolitan 
 crowd that thronged up and down the promenade. 
 No one could resist his genial influence. Thin, 
 anxious little Jews grew quite affable ; fat ones 
 waxed hilarious, and their luxuriant, overdressed 
 wives expanded visibly. Peppery Anglo-Indians 
 lost something of their yellow irascibility and their 
 livers ceased from troubling. Germans grew more 
 talkative and pompous in their tight, unearthly 
 clothes, and even the robust yet exhausted-looking 
 ladies taking an airing in bath-chairs seemed to 
 lose a little of their hauteur. 
 
 Tucked into a cosy comer of one of the shelters 
 was Lebah, very happy indeed, or her looks belied 
 her. She was talking in her low, seductive voice to 
 a gloomy, taciturn young man, who was seated 
 beside her, and prodding the pavement with his 
 walking-stick with an air of restrained ferocity. 
 
30 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 He was perfectly dressed in quiet, well-cut clothes, 
 and his boots and gloves were expensive and in- 
 conspicuous. He had dark green eyes with yellow 
 specks in them, and his expression was sardonic, 
 almost sinister. He seldom smiled, but occasionally, 
 when something amused him, emitted a short bark, 
 showing his teeth for a moment like a vicious horse. 
 
 " How odd," Lebah was saying, " to find you 
 here ; when did you come down ? " 
 
 " Yesterday," replied Captain Vibart. " I only 
 got home from Nigeria on Monday. What are you 
 doing here — staying with people ? " 
 
 " No, only down for the day," said Lebah. " I 
 didn't mean to come alone . . . but . . . my 
 friend lost the train, and I thought, having got so 
 far, I wouldn't turn back." 
 
 " Strange thing," remarked Jack Vibart, " women 
 never can manage to be in time for anything. " 
 
 " Yes," said Lebah faintly, " they're rather 
 feeble, aren't they ? 
 
 " It must be five years since I saw you last," said 
 Jack; "you were a flapper then, studying in Paris, 
 with your hair tied up in a bow as big as your head." 
 
 Lebah laughed softly. 
 
 " Very serious I was in those days — used to 
 practise by the hour." 
 
 " But I never thought for a moment you'd stick 
 it long," said Jack, " you're far too bright for that 
 sort of school-marm business." 
 
 " After that," continued Lebah, " I tried 
 a pension, but such a lot of old cats you 
 never saw. I couldn't stand it, so I took a 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 31 
 
 studio with Stella Patmore. You remember 
 Stella ? " 
 
 " She did you no good, I'll swear," grinned Jack. 
 
 A cloud crossed the girl's face. 
 
 " I didn't stay with her long," she said briefly. 
 " After that I went to Italy for three months 
 to pick up the accent, I thought at that time 
 I should be able to get into grand opera ; but 
 of course you can't, unless you have influence, or 
 money." 
 
 " And did the young man go to Italy too ? " 
 inquired Jack, after a pause. 
 
 Lebah smiled to herself, " There wasn't a 
 young man," she said serenely. 
 
 " I heard something," continued Jack indiffer- 
 ently, " about a duel between an Italian and a 
 Frenchman." 
 
 Lebah 's mind worked swiftly. 
 
 " That was afterwards," she said. 
 
 " After the three months ? " 
 
 " No . . . while I was there, of course," she 
 replied, wondering how much he knew. 
 
 " To bring two men up to the fighthig stage in 
 three months was a very creditable performance," 
 remarked Jack tentatively. 
 
 Lebah, however, refused to be drawn on the 
 subject and gazed meditatively out to sea. 
 
 " What were you doing in Nigeria ? " she asked 
 presently. 
 
 " Oh," said Jack laconically, " drifting about." 
 
 " The climate is rather awful, isn't it ? " 
 persevered Lebah. 
 
32 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Putrid." 
 
 Another long pause. 
 
 Then Jack bestirred himself to great pronounced 
 conversational effort. 
 
 " At Las Palmas," he began, " I bought one 
 of those," he looked vaguely and resentfully 
 round the horizon, "... silk . . . padded . . . 
 dressing-gowns, do you call 'em, for an old 
 aunt. That's really why I came down here 
 yesterday. I got a cab and took it along, and they 
 said she'd been dead and buried a month ; so I had 
 to take it back again," 
 
 " Haven't you any more aged relations ? " asked 
 Lebah, smiling at his harassed expression. 
 
 " I believe there's another somewhere, with 
 religious mania. I don't know if they keep her 
 chained up. I must find out. Or," he said 
 with sudden inspiration, " would you like to have 
 it ? Do take it, will you ? " 
 
 " No, thank you," chuckled Lebah, "give it to 
 the religious maniac." 
 
 Jack thought how charming she looked when 
 she smiled, and fixed his green eyes upon her with 
 renewed interest. 
 
 " I say," he began, " is there any reason why you 
 shouldn't come and lunch with me at the Royal ? 
 I'm putting up there ? " 
 
 " N . . . no," hesitated Lebah, mentally weigh- 
 ing the absent and devoted Kit, and finding him 
 wanting in the scales with this fascinating new- 
 comer. " I think not." 
 
 Jack's observant eye was upon her. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 33 
 
 " I don't care about fighting duels," he volun- 
 teered softly. 
 
 " To tell the truth," said Lebah in a burst of 
 candour, " there was a man coming down, or said 
 he might." She paused. 
 
 " If he doesn't know his own mind ? " suggested 
 Jack. " I believe they give you quite a good 
 lunch at the Royal," he added. 
 
 "All right," said Lebah recklessly, "I'll 
 come. I don't suppose he'll turn up now, and 
 if he does . . ." 
 
 " Was he the girl who lost the train ? " 
 
 " I didn't say there was a girl," smiled Lebah, 
 " that was your own idea entirely." 
 
 Jack showed his teeth for a moment and barked. 
 
 " I see you haven't changed a bit," he said. 
 
 " Was there any need to ? " asked Lebah, 
 enjoying herself immensely. 
 
 " Not at all," said Jack indifferently. " You were 
 a nice enough kid, if . . . you'd been properly 
 looked after," he added thoughtfully. 
 
 They strolled along towards the Royal Hotel, 
 neither speaking for a few moments. Lebah was 
 trying to remember exactly what he had been doing 
 in Paris five years before ; but excepting for the 
 fact that he was reputed rich, and took practically 
 no notice of her at aU, she could recollect nothing. 
 It was all the more surprising that he had retained 
 in his mind all these years such a vivid picture of 
 her, and she hoped that whatever rumours he had 
 heard meantime had not been of too illuminating 
 a character. 
 
34 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " After lunch," said Jack, internipting her 
 reverie, " we might have a cab and go for a drive, 
 unless it would bore you. Nothing else to do, is 
 there . . . ? " 
 
 " Like to very much," replied Lebah. " I left 
 my coat at the Crown — I generally lunch there 
 when I'm down here." 
 
 " We can call and get it on the way," said Jack. 
 
 And so it happened that when Kit arrived about 
 one o'clock at the Crown Hotel, in some anguish of 
 spirit but with a reasonable hope of finding Lebah 
 there waiting for him, he was informed that the 
 lady had left her coat and would return to lunch. 
 He reflected that if he went to meet her he would 
 probably miss her in the crowd, and so contented 
 himself with a cigarette and a prominent position 
 on the doorstep. 
 
 When the cigarette had burned itself out, he had 
 another, and when that was finished he lighted a 
 third ; by which time the eager anticipation of the 
 first half-hour had considerably abated, and he began 
 to feel a slight but distinct sense of irritability, which 
 the convivial sounds coming from within the hotel 
 dining-room did little to alleviate. Sounds of 
 popping corks and clattering cutlery caught his 
 ear, and a buzz of cheerful conversation, broken 
 occasionally by a merry laugh or a loud guffaw. 
 The smell, too, of baked meats was very alluring 
 to a hungry man, and he looked anxiously up and 
 down the Parade with growing impatience. 
 
 The time passed so slowly, it seemed to him that 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 35 
 
 the sun must be standing still in the heavens, and 
 his thoughts took a gloomy and depressing turn. 
 Could she, he wondered, have been at the station 
 to meet the train, and having missed him gone 
 off somewhere else to lunch, under the impression 
 that he was not coming down at all ? Or was she 
 perchance offended with him for having lost the train, 
 and trying to punish him by her absence ? These 
 and many other horrid speculations filtered through 
 his mind as he paced up and down before the hotel 
 door, for he was by this time past that happy frame 
 of mind when he could stand still and idly watch the 
 passers-by. 
 
 The people began to come out from lunch. Re- 
 plete and self-satisfied they sauntered past him, 
 chatting contentedly together. He felt suddenly 
 very sad and lonely, and with a sigh turned into the 
 hotel and sat down to a belated lunch. 
 
 A miserable one too. The duck and green peas, 
 which figured so attractively on the menu, proved 
 on inquiry to be " off," and the roast beef, which 
 was brought to him as a substitute, was that flabby 
 and colourless sort of meat that his soul particularly 
 loathed. He ate it, however, in disgusted silence, 
 and so downhearted was he at the failure of all his 
 hopes that he ordered himself a glass of beer instead 
 of the festive bottle of wine, which the occasion 
 ought to have demanded. A half-cold slab of 
 gooseberry tart finished a most unsatisfactory meal, 
 and choosing a huge cigar for consolation he 
 strolled out into the vestibule. 
 
 The hall porter, who had taken a sympathetic 
 
36 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 interest in his sufferings, met him there with abject 
 apologies. 
 
 " I'm very sorry, sir, I went orf to my dinner^ 
 and there was a party come and took orf the 
 lady's coat from orf the peg." 
 
 "What, stole it ? " asked Kit anxiously. 
 
 " No, sir, oh no, the young boy was here looking 
 after things. He says the lady was seated in the 
 carriage; it was a gent as called for it." 
 
 " I don't believe that," said Kit. " Where's the 
 boy?" 
 
 The boy was produced and adhered strictly to his 
 veracious tale. The gent had stepped out of the 
 carriage at the door, and demanded a long blue 
 coat from orf of the peg. 
 
 " I give it to 'im," said the truthful boy, " and 'e 
 'olds it up to the lady, and she says ' that's the 
 one,' and he takes it and 'elps 'er on with it in the 
 carriage ; then 'e wraps 'er up with 'is fur rug and 
 sings out to the coachman, and they drives orf." 
 
 He looked somewhat resentfully at Kit, his 
 sympathies being entirely with the other gent, on 
 account of a shilling reposing in his trouser pocket, 
 a rare windfall which he had no intention of dis- 
 closing to the rapacious eye of the hall porter. 
 
 Kit turned gloomily away. It seemed that 
 every one's hand was against him to-day. The 
 flavour had even gone out of the expensive cigar. 
 
 No clue presented itself as to Lebah's extra- 
 ordinary behaviour, but of one thing he was deter- 
 mined. The carriage, according to the page boy, 
 belonged to the Royal Hotel, and had gone in the 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 37 
 
 direction of Rottingdean ; presumably it would 
 eventually return to the hotel, and when it; did so 
 Kit meant to see for himself the unspeakable cad 
 who had enticed Lebah away from him, spoilt 
 his lunch, and who filled him already with a pro- 
 found and bitter animosity. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 TWO weary hours he spent walking up and down 
 before the Royal Hotel, a hundred yards on 
 either side of the entrance. It seemed, he 
 thought, not a dignified proceeding, neither was it 
 at all entertaining, and more than once his pride 
 prompted him to take the next train back to town. 
 But he could not bring himself to go away without 
 having seen, with his own eyes, Lebah driving with 
 the interloper — if indeed it was Lebah, which he 
 more than half doubted. And if it should prove to 
 be that fickle girl, there were things to be said to her : 
 reproachful things, bitterly sarcastic things, yet, 
 his heart warned him, more than all these, im- 
 ploring, beseeching things. Surely, he argued, she 
 could not have deliberately deserted him in such 
 a callous and cruel manner. There would be some 
 satisfactory explanation of her absence forth- 
 coming. See her he must. Wait he did. 
 
 At last, turning suddenly to retrace his steps, he 
 beheld a well-appointed carriage drawn by a pair of 
 high-stepping horses coming towards him. His 
 heart thumped wildly as he saw her, reclining 
 luxuriantly amongst cushions, and talking with 
 
 animation to a dark saturnine man beside her. 
 
 38 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 39 
 
 A fur rug was wrapped round their knees, and 
 they both wore the unmistakable air of mutual 
 contentment that proclaims a successful party of 
 two. 
 
 Kit instinctively slackened his pace, and in a few 
 seconds the carriage pulled up at the hotel entrance. 
 The man jumped oat first, and something in the 
 loose sporting hang of his coat, something in his 
 glistening well-cut boots, struck rage and indigna- 
 tion into Kit's thumping heart. He knew his own 
 coat did not hang like that, nor his boots, so care- 
 fully cleaned by Mabel in the kitchen, shine like 
 those boots shone. Then Lebah, just touching the 
 brute's outstretched fingers, stepped lightly to the 
 ground. Her glance sped for a moment in Kit's 
 direction, but she passed obliviously into the hotel. 
 She had not seen him ! So absorbed was she in the 
 perfidious stranger, that she had eyes for nothing 
 else ! Kit felt a hot tide of anger surge up in his 
 breast. He quickened his steps and walked swiftly 
 past the closed doors of the hotel : inhospitable, 
 inexorable doors, through which he had no right to 
 follow her — or if he had the right, then certainly 
 not the pluck. 
 
 Even now, although he had seen her, and was 
 convinced of her infamy, he could not persuade 
 himself to go back without a word with her. His 
 heart was ready to burst within him. That she 
 should have treated him so ! No rest for him till 
 he heard from her own lips the reason, the excuse, 
 both of which there must be or life was unliveable 
 for Kit. He walked back to the Crown Hotel, 
 
40 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 chewing the cud of bitterness. If only she had 
 seen him, and knew that he was here, waiting 
 and longing for her, surely her heart would be 
 touched ! 
 
 As a matter of fact, she had seen him quite 
 plainly, much to her annoyance ; and was at that 
 moment engaged in bidding a hurried farewell to 
 Jack in the hotel lobby. She had just remem- 
 bered, she explained, a friend recently married, and 
 living in Brighton, on whom she had promised to 
 call without fail. 
 
 "I'd ask you back to dine," said Jack, who had 
 spent a quite entertaining afternoon, " but I have 
 two fellows coming, I don't suppose you'd care 
 to ... or would you ? " he asked. 
 
 " No, thanks," smiled Lebah readily, thankful 
 that he would be engaged and therefore not likely 
 to cross her path again that evening. 
 
 She was just a little nervous as to what Kit 
 might do, having some experience, and a very poor 
 opinion of his self-control, and his manners when he 
 lost it. The last thing she wanted was a meeting 
 between the two men, at any rate to-day, when 
 everything had gone so well. She shook hands with 
 Jack, and tripped down the hotel steps, leaving 
 behind her her town address and a profound im- 
 pression on the usually impassive Captain Vibart. 
 
 She smiled as she went along to think how per- 
 fectly they had got on together. Jack's sardonic, 
 gloomy humour had fascinated her, and his in- 
 different, casual assumption of her as an old friend 
 had put them at once on an easy and famihar 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 41 
 
 footing. He was a welcome change, too, from the 
 men she had known, with his wild inconsequent 
 remarks and his masklike face, out of which his 
 green eyes looked like those of some fierce untamed 
 animal. Whatever had been her experiences she 
 was not easily moved by men, though they were 
 moved frequently enough by her ; and the little, 
 unfamiliar thrill of excitement that fluttered in her 
 heart was an unexpected piece of good luck, which 
 accounted for the secret, half-amused smile that 
 played about her red lips. 
 
 When she thought of Kit, which she did only by 
 a supreme effort, her smile faded, and she almost 
 frowned. Something, she supposed, must be done 
 to propitiate him, but not, she decided, very 
 much : just enough to get him peacefully out of 
 the way. 
 
 She walked along to the Crown, and there, 
 smoking ui the vestibule, she found him, wrapped 
 in gloom. 
 
 " Well, you're a nice one . . ."he began, rising 
 as she entered. 
 
 " Frightfully sorry," she said, not looking it at 
 all. "I thought something had stopped you and 
 you couldn't get down. What happened ? " 
 
 " You must have known I should come," repUed 
 Kit sulkily. " I lost the tram." 
 
 " Been here long ? " she inquired brightly. 
 
 "Only since half -past twelve," he answered 
 resentfully, " and I think I might have saved 
 myself the trouble of coming at all — evidently 
 you've been getting on very well without me." 
 
42 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " How do you know ? " smiled Lebah carelessly. 
 
 " I saw you," said Kit, looking intently at her. 
 " Who's that bounder you were with ? " 
 
 " Don't call him names," said Lebah, her eyes 
 narrowing ; " he's an old friend of mine." 
 
 " Who is he ? " repeated Kit truculently. 
 " What's his name ? " 
 
 " You and I," said Lebah coolly, " will have a 
 row if you don't alter your tone very consider- 
 ably." ' 
 
 " If you only knew," groaned Kit, " the day 
 I've had, hanging about, waiting for you — hour 
 after hour ! And then to see you calmly driving 
 with that chap, you can't wonder if I'm upset. 
 I've never spent such a wretched day in all my 
 life — never." 
 
 " Entirely your own fault," said Lebah not un- 
 kindly. " Why weren't you at the station ? You 
 didn't expect me to sit there all day waiting till you 
 turned up, I suppose ? " 
 
 " I thought you'd wait at the Crown," faltered 
 Kit reproachfully. 
 
 " So I should have, I dare say," admitted Lebah, 
 prepared, now that she had reduced him to a proper 
 frame of mind, to be more amiable, " if I hadn't 
 met Captain Vibart on the front. He asked me 
 to lunch, and afterwards we went for a drive — 
 nice drive too," she added. 
 
 Kit watched her anxiously. 
 
 " Just tell me one thing," he begged, " did you 
 know he was going to be down here when you left 
 town ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 43 
 
 " Gracious no," she laughed. " I haven't seen or 
 heard of him for five years." 
 
 Kit breathed more freely. 
 
 " I've been making myself so miserable," he said, 
 " thinking about you . . . and wondering. ..." 
 
 Lebah glanced up at the hall clock. 
 
 " Never mind," she said practically, " it's nearly 
 seven o'clock ; order up a top-hole dinner, and the 
 fizziest bottle of champagne in the shop, and we'll 
 make up for lost time." 
 
 Kit looked at her doubtfully ; there was something 
 determined, almost defiant in her manner, which 
 struck him as unusual. 
 
 " All right," he replied, trying to conjure up a 
 smile, " you must be extra specially nice to me." 
 
 " Certainly," said Lebah cheerfully. She had no 
 intention of quarrelling with him, and, moreover, 
 being a lady of much philosophy, saw no reason to 
 spoil a good dinner, even though it was to be, as she 
 inwardly resolved, the last one they had together. 
 
 The meal, however, in spite of her convivial 
 efforts, was hardly a success. After the stimulating 
 society of Jack Vibart, she found Kit very poor 
 company indeed. Moreover, as the evening wore 
 on, and copious draughts of iced champagne raised 
 his fallen spirits to an almost reckless pitch of 
 gaiety, his glances of slavish devotion bored her 
 exceedingly, and she was glad when the time arrived 
 for them to set out for the nine-thirty train back to 
 town. 
 
 On the way to the station she was strangely 
 silent. But not so Kit, who had much to say of 
 
44 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 the greatest importance. She must know the exact 
 state of his feelings, and the precise place that she 
 occupied in them. Why he was so entirely devoted 
 to her, and how powerfully she affected him. What 
 he thought and felt when she was not there, and his 
 pitiable inability to^express it all when she was. 
 To all this and much more Lebah listened with a 
 divine patience that inspired Kit to undreamed of 
 heights of poetry and romance. 
 
 It was therefore a tremendous blow to him when, 
 on reaching the train, she calmly entered a com- 
 partment already occupied by two frigid and 
 elderly ladies. Surreptitious beckonings and whis- 
 perings were of no avail, and the train started off 
 with a shriek into the darkness, bearing in one 
 comer of a first-class carriage as ill-used and 
 indignant a young man as ever travelled up to 
 London. 
 
 By the time they reached Victoria, his anger had 
 cooled to a deep resentment, coupled with a fierce 
 resolve to, as he put it, " have it out with Lebah " 
 before parting with her that night. 
 
 So, after helping her into a taxi and giving the 
 driver her address, he nimbly hopped in beside her 
 as the car began to move forward. 
 
 " Why wouldn't you travel up alone with 
 me? " he demanded, laying his hand on her knee, 
 and looking anxiously up into her face in the dim 
 light. 
 
 Lebah's eyes flashed dangerously, but she waited 
 a few seconds before replying. Perhaps, thought 
 she, if it had to be done, the sooner the better. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 45 
 
 " Kit," she said at length, in a curiously detached 
 voice. "I'm deadly tired of you ; I never want 
 to see you again." 
 
 Kit's grip tightened on her knee : the blood rushed 
 to his head and almost blinded him. 
 
 "My God, "he breathed, "don't say that. . . ." 
 
 " I tried to tell you the other day," went on 
 Lebah in level tones, " but you wouldn't take the 
 hint." 
 
 Kit was making a stupendous effort to control 
 himself, but when he attempted to speak the words 
 choked him. 
 
 " No," he gasped, " I can't ... I won't let 
 you go. I've never felt like this about a woman 
 before ... if I lost you I would kill myself. I 
 swear I won't live without you ... I can't, 
 Lebah . . ." he pleaded brokenly, " don't ask me 
 to." 
 
 " I must," said Lebah, not unkindly. " I have to 
 think about myself — what people will say. You 
 get madder and madder every time I see you." 
 
 " I know I do," admitted Kit pathetically. 
 " What's going to be the end of it all I can't 
 think. I'm perfectly crazy about you, I think of 
 nothing else from morning to night . . . but . . . 
 but you won't make it any better by sending me 
 away — I should go clean off my head." 
 
 "I'm sure I don't know what to do about you," 
 sighed Lebah helplessly, " you must see how im- 
 possible it is for me, us to go on like this. I've 
 honestly tried to help you, but I only seem to 
 make you worse," 
 
46 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Her tone inspired Kit with fresh hope ; he leaned 
 forward eagerly. 
 
 " Don't think about me at all," he said un- 
 steadily, " whatever I suffer, I would go through a 
 thousand times more if you were the cause of it. 
 All I want is to be near you, to see you ; I don't 
 ask of you anything you can't give me. If I 
 love you, that's my look out ; you're not re- 
 sponsible for it." 
 
 " I am," said Lebah, " if I encourage you and let 
 you make love to me ; I ought never to have gone 
 down to Brighton to-day." 
 
 " And I wish to God we never had ! " exploded 
 Kit. " I believe that black-eyed brute is at the 
 back of all this — you were all right yesterday." 
 
 " It's nothing at all to do with him," said Lebah 
 firmly. 
 
 But Kit was not convinced. 
 
 " If he comes between us," he said angrily, " I'll 
 shoot him. Already, as it is, I hate him like 
 poison. What right had he to freeze on to you like 
 that all day ? You said yourself he was almost a 
 stranger to you, you hadn't seen him for five years. 
 Where's he been — in gaol ? " 
 
 This, unhappily, was not the way to Lebah 's 
 heart ; indeed, a more disastrous line of argument 
 could never have been conceived. She stiffened 
 visibly. 
 
 " Captain Vibart is one of my oldest friends," 
 she said coldly, stretching a point for Kit's further 
 discomfiture, " there's no need to drag his name 
 into a silly discussion like this. I made up my mind 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 47 
 
 some time ago that things would have to be 
 different. I've tried to be a friend to you, but 
 you won't keep to that ; so now," she concluded 
 resolutely, " there's nothing for it but — good-bye." 
 
 The cab was already slowing down before her 
 door, and she prepared to rise, gathering her coat 
 closely round her. 
 
 Kit took her two hands roughly in his own, 
 
 " Never ! " he cried hoarsely, " never, Lebah. I 
 can't let you go. Rather than that I'd . . . I'd 
 . . . Oh, curse it, here we are," he groaned as the 
 taxi came to a sudden standstill. 
 
 " Yes, thank goodness," said Lebah fervently, 
 opening the door. 
 
 Kit followed her on to the pavement. 
 
 "I'm coming in with you," he said. 
 
 " No," she answered firmly, " stay where you are 
 or you'll lose the last train home — and then the fat 
 will be in the fire." 
 
 Kit dragged out his watch. 
 
 " Good Lord," he muttered, his shackles closing 
 in on him, " I shall only just do it. I'll come and see 
 you to-morrow." 
 
 With a distracted grip of her hand, he jumped 
 back into the taxi and told the driver to take him to 
 Waterloo Station and lose no time about it. 
 
 Amy, lying awake in her large bed, heard his 
 key in the front door, heard the careful shutting 
 and bolting, followed by a few steps on the hall 
 floor. And then silence. She strained her ears 
 to listen, but not a sound came from downstairs. 
 
48 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 A long time she lay and waited — so very long 
 it seemed to her. The street lamp went out 
 suddenly, and left her room in complete darkness. 
 That must be twelve o'clock, she told herself; 
 surely Kit had dropped off to sleep in his chair. 
 She rose quietly, and slipping on a dressing-gown 
 crept softly downstairs in satin slippers, a pale and 
 ghostly little figure. Along the hall she went, 
 making no sound, till she reached the dining-room 
 door, which was standing half-open. The light 
 was turned low, just as she had left it ; the fire had 
 burned down to a few dull embers ; and before it 
 sat her husband, his head bowed between his knees, 
 motionless. 
 
 There was not a soimd in the room, and the 
 deathly silence seemed to accentuate the dim gloom. 
 Amy watched him with a strange fear at her heart. 
 She could hardly believe that this dejected, stricken- 
 looking man was her cheery, easy-going Kit. What, 
 she asked herself, could have brought about such a 
 terrible change in him — with what horrible thing 
 was he wrestling there alone ? She yearned to 
 take him in her arms and comfort him, yet stood 
 there afraid, afraid of some intangible horror, which 
 she could neither see nor express in words, but which 
 gripped her cruelly. 
 
 At length he looked up ; and, seeing her, stared as 
 though she had been an apparition. 
 
 " Kit," she said softly, " why don't you come to 
 bed? " 
 
 He rose uneasUy. 
 
 " I couldn't sleep if I did," he replied. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 49 
 
 " Can't you tell me what's the matter, darling ? " 
 asked Amy. " I can see there's something wrong, 
 and it makes me so unhappy not to be able to help 
 you in any way." 
 
 " There's nothing wrong at all," said Kit im- 
 patiently. " I wish you'd go back to bed, Amy, 
 and not bother." 
 
 " How can I help bothering," cried Amy, tremb- 
 ling, " when I see you looking the picture of misery, 
 and I don't know what's the matter with you ? 
 Do you think I haven't seen, the last few weeks, 
 how wretched you've been, so different ? I don't 
 understand it at all." 
 
 " It's my nerves," temporized Kit. " I'm sorry 
 I'm different. I can't help it," he added wearily. 
 
 Amy went up to him and stood facing him, her 
 hands resting on his arms, her face close to his 
 own. 
 
 " Tell me, Kitty," she said gravely, " what were 
 you thinking of when I came into the room ? " 
 
 Kit moved restlessly. 
 
 " I can't tell you," he said, " all kinds of 
 things — nothing in particular." 
 
 He shook himself free and began to pace up and 
 down the floor. 
 
 Amy watched him anxiously. 
 
 " You're utterly wretched," she said, with hope- 
 less conviction. 
 
 " God knows I am," answered her husband 
 bitterly. 
 
 " But why . . . what for? " cried Amy in per- 
 plexity. " Have you any money bothers ? " 
 4 
 
50 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Anything wrong at the office ? " 
 
 " No, nothing," said Kit stoHdly. 
 
 Amy paused a moment, then looked up sideways 
 at him. 
 
 " I know it's me," she said pathetically, " what 
 it is I can't think ; but I've felt for some time now 
 that I'm not making you happy." 
 
 Kit made no reply ; he had walked to the fire- 
 place and was standing before the almost empty 
 grate, gloomy and taciturn. 
 
 " Do you see," continued Amy thoughtfully, 
 " the way I look at it is this : the house is yours, 
 the money's yours, so are the children — so am 
 I. Although I suppose it's not fashionable to say 
 so, you are the master here, and you can do as 
 you like. If anything is upsetting you, you've 
 only got to say so. I want you to realize that 
 and not to go on putting up with things you 
 don't like, and being unhappy about them. As 
 for me, do you see, Kit, I'm not one of those 
 women who care about outside things at all. 
 I never think about anything but you, and the 
 children, and the house. Some women do, I 
 know, but I never did. All my life, everything 
 I have is given to you; and I like it to be 
 so, it's what I was made for, and I don't want 
 anything else." She paused doubtfully. " But 
 of course," she went on, with a little sigh, " I 
 expect you sometimes think me very ordinary 
 and dull. Perhaps I ought to try and read 
 . . . books or something," she hesitated vaguely. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 51 
 
 " I know I'm not clever, but you once told 
 me you hated clever women, so I've never tried 
 to be." 
 
 Kit turned suddenly upon her. 
 
 " Amy, for God's sake don't talk like that, I 
 can't bear it. It's nothing to do with you at all," 
 he cried desperately, " it's myself. You can't do 
 anything. Just let me alone, go to bed and leave 
 me, I'll come up presently." 
 
 Amy regarded him gravely. 
 
 " There's something very strange about you 
 to-night. Kit, you almost frighten me." 
 
 " I don't wonder at that," said Kit savagely, 
 his endurance strained nearly to breaking point, 
 " I frighten myself. I've got a devil in me to-night. 
 Amy. ... I feel like murder ... I could strangle 
 . . . anyone ... for the pure love of the 
 thing ! " 
 
 Anything more alarming than these sentiments, 
 from the lips of her amiable and peace-loving Kit, 
 Amy had never heard. Her eyelids flickered for a 
 moment and her thoughts flew to her two babies 
 in bed. She darted a furtive glance at his tragic 
 face, then summoning all her courage and common 
 sense she smiled bravely at him. 
 
 " What a terrible person," she said lightly. 
 " Better come along to bed before you do any 
 damage." 
 
 Her changed tone recalled Kit to himself. 
 
 " All right," he replied, " you're a good little 
 soul. Amy ; trot away upstairs, and I'll follow you in 
 a few minutes." 
 
52 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 She went to the door, but looked back for a 
 moment. 
 
 " Dick's not very well to-night," she faltered, 
 " I thought I would sleep in the nursery with him ; 
 do you mind ? " 
 
 No, Kit did not mind in the least. On the 
 contrary, he felt a distinct spasm of relief at the 
 prospect of sleeping alone. 
 
 " Good night," said Amy from the doorway. 
 
 " Good night." 
 
 Slowly she went upstairs, her heart beating 
 against her ribs. She was not afraid, she assured 
 herself, of course not afraid of dear silly old 
 Kit ; but nevertheless rather glad to pop into the 
 nursery, and very quietly to turn the key in the 
 lock. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 WHEN it was asserted in a previous chapter 
 that all the Uppington ladies might be 
 seen in the High Street from eleven to 
 one every morning, a slight deviation was made 
 from the exactitude that it is the aim of this 
 veracious history to achieve. 
 
 They were not quite all there, because ten, or 
 possibly a dozen uplifted and enlightened souls, 
 having perceived the mutability of earthly matters, 
 held themselves rigidly aloof and refused to be 
 dragged or cajoled into any social intercourse 
 outside their own small community. They took no 
 interest in gossip, in the well-being or ill-doing of 
 their neighbours, neither did any current news 
 excite their imagination, because they never read 
 the newspapers. The highest achievements of 
 science left them cold, nor did the affairs of the 
 Church, the Services, or the Law stir any thrills 
 of emotion in their breasts. The only subject 
 that they shared with their less enlightened 
 sisters was the somewhat unsavoury one of disease, 
 and this, paradoxical as it may sound, was because 
 they knew that no such thing existed. Secure like 
 limpets to the rock of their strange convictions, and 
 
 53 
 
54 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 blind, deaf and dumb as that admirable mollusc to 
 all outside interests, they pursued the even tenor of 
 their way, serene in the consciousness of their own 
 infallible rectitude, and touchingly faithful and 
 grateful to their Beloved Founder and Teacher, 
 the defunct Mrs. Baker Eddy of Boston, Mass., 
 First Church of Christ Scientist. 
 
 It must not bethought that, because they eschewed 
 the society of their neighbours, they disliked them 
 in any way. On the contrary, they were filled 
 with Love, a divine, pitying Love, which made 
 them yearn to help and to bless, and more particu- 
 larly to advise on any subject under Heaven. This 
 last was a function for which they were especially 
 well equipped, having received from their Mrs. Eddy, 
 who got it straight from God Himself, the Know- 
 ledge of Good and Evil, and a clear perception of 
 the Truth undimmed by the fog of human intellect. 
 No feeble doubts ever assailed them. They never 
 wondered in a fatuous way like the rest of us, whether 
 God made the Earth in seven days, and if so, why ? 
 Whether the first hen laid the first egg, or the 
 first egg hatched out the first hen. If it were 
 necessary to be good, or merely to be careful. 
 These and similar abstruse questions had no terrors 
 for them, because they knew. Not that they 
 could ever explain them to the limited intelligence 
 of the uninitiated : partly because they talked in 
 cryptic phrases, which conveyed no meaning to 
 the outsider, and partly because they opined that 
 nobody who had not embraced their Faith was 
 ready to penetrate into such profound Mysteries. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 55 
 
 This attitude, coupled with their yearning to love 
 and to bless, rather riled the unregenerate, who 
 unanimously refused to be loved, blessed, or advised ; 
 so that there was seldom much doing outside the 
 confines of their own environment. Of course 
 if people refused to be loved and blessed, if their 
 hearts were hard, and their noses turned up, there 
 was nothing for it but to leave them severely alone 
 to grope in the outer darkness, under the ban of 
 Scientific disapproval. 
 
 In addition to this, there was another excellent 
 reason for the exclusiveness of Christian Scientists, 
 and a more human one. Owing to the wondrous 
 complexity of their ideas, they had a bewildering 
 way of reversing the established order of things. 
 What we call real, such as measle spots, they 
 pronounced unreal, and would argue to any length 
 that the spots were only in one's imagination. 
 That is to say, that if they were not in your mind 
 you could not know that they were on your skin, 
 which is the same thing as their not being there 
 at all, or words to that effect. But, on the 
 other hand, the power of thought was unlimited. 
 While they did not fear measles, they dreaded with 
 an exceeding dread the thought of measles ; and 
 should your mind stray in that direction you were, 
 or might be, almost as infectious as if you were 
 covered with spots. Not infectious in a material 
 sense, but in an ethereal, psychic sense : long, that 
 is, before ordinary people had begun to bother their 
 heads about it. 
 
 That being so, they were naturally extremely 
 
56 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 careful whom they asked to cross their threshold. 
 Nice distinctions had to be drawn. The perfectly 
 healthy individual with a wholesome fear of measles 
 was debarred ; while the spotted and measly one, 
 with a firm belief in the Unreality of Matter, was 
 received with open arms. 
 
 Holding these extraordinary and paradoxical 
 views, it will surprise no one to hear that while 
 they taught, and earnestly believed in, the beauty 
 of love and charity, they were filled with chronic 
 bitterness and discontent. Strange sudden friend- 
 ships, alternating with violent antipathies, heart- 
 burnings, jealousies, and suspicions : all these 
 were unhappily as common to them as to us, with 
 this difference, that, whereas we perhaps repent of 
 our misdeeds and resolve to reform ourselves, 
 all they did was to fervently deny the existence of 
 Evil, and go on doing it. 
 
 There were naturally grades and degrees of 
 proficiency in their ranks, due to the differences 
 of temperament — or Mortal Mind. Some could 
 talk glibly and incomprehensibly about sacred 
 matters : these became readers or pastors. Some 
 had a beguiling manner or a persuasive magnetism : 
 and these healed the sick with great success. Some 
 were madly fanatic, others culpably indifferent, 
 and just a few were quite charming and ordinary. 
 
 All of them, however, with one consent, were 
 perfectly sound on the question of money. They 
 frankly recognized it as the mainspring of everything 
 that was worth having upon earth, and worshipped 
 it accordingly. Mrs. Eddy herself having given 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 57 
 
 them a good lead, it was part of their religion to 
 extract every halfpenny out of believer and un- 
 believer alike, and they did so with a relentless 
 persistence, which any London company promoter 
 might have envied. 
 
 The highest honours that the Branch in Upping- 
 ton could bestow were vested in the person of Mrs. 
 Sutherland, a gifted and strenuous American, who, 
 although she had adopted her English husband's 
 country, could never be persuaded to relinquish 
 her own, and spent most of her time in frequent 
 journeys to and fro across the Atlantic. 
 
 A tall, commanding figure, crowned, although 
 she was barely fifty, with beautiful white hair, 
 her Paris clothes were the envy and admiration of 
 Uppington ; and, together with her genial smile 
 and devastating nasal twang, caused her to be easily 
 the most remarkable figure in the village. She 
 lived with her devoted John in a handsome, well- 
 built house near the river, which had become, in 
 spite of his feeble and half-hearted protests, the 
 headquarters of what was cryptically known 
 as C.S. 
 
 After twenty years of married life, varied by a 
 constant succession of surprises and innovations, 
 John Sutherland had arrived at the conclusion 
 that whatever Sara did was right, or, if not right, 
 was inevitable and unavoidable, and could not 
 therefore be laid to the account of a peace-loving 
 husband. She had enough money of her own to 
 gratify most of her whims, and some also of his ; 
 and he, being a lazy, good-tempered man with a 
 
58 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 mania for golf, occupied himself exclusively with 
 that and lived in contentment. 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland was a very busy woman. Her 
 work in connection with the Church took up a good 
 deal of her time, what with meetings, preparations 
 for meetings, correspondence, etc. She was also 
 known as a healer of great power, especially amongst 
 the poorer brethren, who could generally manage to 
 extract a few shilhngs for temporal necessities from 
 hei: well-filled purse. Being most hospitably in- 
 clined, she was never happier than when enter- 
 taining her friends, who were welcome from all 
 parts of England and America, so long as they held 
 the right Belief. But what she particularly loved 
 was a convert, a wobbler, somebody who could 
 be coaxed, reasoned, or persuaded, into joining the 
 Church. To these she sold every book that was 
 issued by the C.S. Press, at fabulous prices ; put 
 down their names for various subscriptions and 
 donations in spite of their protesting wriggles, and 
 entered the whole of the transactions carefully in 
 her account-book, with a calm and triumphant sense 
 of duty performed. 
 
 It so happened that things were going a trifle 
 slow this autumn in the local branch of the C.S. 
 Church, and that Mrs. Sutherland, ever thirsting 
 for new worlds to conquer, though prohibited by 
 her far-sighted Leader from actual and aggressive 
 proselytism, was casting her eye round surrepti- 
 tiously for something to feed her inexorable appetite 
 for excitement. Guided surely by the finger of 
 Fate, it chanced to alight on Mrs. Christopher 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 59 
 
 Brown, whom she had known, but not in- 
 timately, for some years. Not that Amy was a very 
 promising subject, she was too happy and con- 
 tented to be that ; neither did she show any outward 
 and visible signs of wasting disease, or of any other 
 ailment, which would make her worth while as a 
 convert. But there was something about her that 
 touched Mrs. Sutherland's very human heart, a 
 sort of engaging deference that seemed to indicate 
 a charming tractability. 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland could imagine Amy sitting at the 
 fount of wisdom, eagerly drinking in the inspired 
 waters, once, that is, she could be induced to make a 
 start. Difficult, of course, to administer a spiritual 
 push to a lady one scarcely knew, but Mrs. Suther- 
 land was optimistic, tactful, and an experienced 
 fisher of men and women, so she baited her hook and 
 waited patiently for a chance to cast it. 
 
 It came on the morning after Kit's murderous 
 proclivities had driven his wife into the night 
 nursery to sleep. 
 
 Amy had spent a restless night, due not to 
 Dickie's alleged disorder, but to her own troubled 
 mind. Hour after hour she lay beside her little 
 sleeping son, and listened to his soft and regular 
 breathing, pondering in her heart the meaning or 
 cause of her husband's extraordinary behaviour. 
 They had lived, so far, such simple united lives 
 together that she believed she knew his every 
 thought, as he had certainly known hers. The 
 slightest trouble or difficulty on either side had 
 been invariably confided to the other. He was as 
 
6o CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 equally interested in the shortcomings of the 
 butcher as she was in the perversities of his chief 
 at the office, or the breaking of his bootlace. Nothing 
 had ever been too trivial to be mutually discussed, 
 and she could not persuade herself that Kit's un- 
 happiness was due to any outside cause, or he must 
 have told her. But it was not any easier to 
 determine what inward reason there could be for 
 such a complete change in his manner, his habits, 
 and — what was worse — in his affections. 
 
 The next morning he seemed much better, and 
 no allusion was made on either side to the harrowing 
 affairs of the preceding evening. He kissed them 
 all round before departing for his train, and looked, 
 Amy thought, brighter, and as though resolved to 
 master himself, and throw off the depression which 
 for the last few weeks had made his life and hers a 
 burden. 
 
 After helping Nurse to make the beds, and inter- 
 viewing Cook about the meals for the day. Amy 
 dressed Dolly and Dick and prepared, rather list- 
 lessly, to take them for their morning walk. And, 
 because she was feeling a little down-hearted, she 
 chose the quiet road wherein stood proudly the 
 Sutherland mansion in preference to the more 
 populous High Street, where she would be certain 
 to meet some of her friends. 
 
 As she passed the massive gates Mrs. Sutherland 
 herself, still guided by the hand of Fate, emerged 
 unwittingly from them, and seizing her opportunity 
 stopped, smilmg, with a friendly outstretched 
 hand. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 6i 
 
 " Waal now," she cried, " if I wasn't just that 
 vurry moment thinking about you ! " 
 
 " Were you really ? " replied Amy lamely, 
 somewhat taken aback by this unexpected cordi- 
 ality. 
 
 " And your dariing babies," gushed Mrs. Suther- 
 land, chucking Dolly playfully under the chin, 
 without, however, disturbing by a fraction that 
 small person's sweet gravity. 
 
 " And how's your husband ? " she inquired, 
 knowing that of course he could not be otherwise 
 than well, but always ready to make a concession 
 to popular ignorance, for the good of the Cause. 
 
 " He's not . . . very well," replied Amy, un- 
 consciously taking her cue. " I'm a little bothered 
 about him." 
 
 " But why ? " demanded Mrs. Sutherland, re- 
 garding her with bright eyes of sympathy. " Don't 
 you know that he is well, that he can't be 
 anything else ? " 
 
 Amy looked up surprised, then a faint flush rose 
 to her face as she recalled vague rumours of this 
 strange religion. 
 
 " Of course," she said hurriedly, "I'd for- 
 gotten, you don't believe in illness, do you ? " 
 
 " You can't believe in something you know doesn't 
 exist, can you ? " asked the other, smiling. 
 
 '* No, of course not," rephed Amy politely, " still 
 I don't understand quite . . . how . . ." 
 
 " See here," began Mrs. Sutherland, now 
 thoroughly into her stride. " Card is All ; you 
 believe that, do you not ? " 
 
62 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Y— Yes of course." 
 
 " Gard is all Love, Gard is all Good, do you 
 see that ? " 
 
 " Quite," said Amy intelligently. 
 
 " If Gard is Good and Gard is All," proceeded 
 Mrs. Sutherland glibly, " where is the Evil, where 
 is the 111 ? Why, nowhere ! " and she concluded 
 triumphantly, " There can't be more than All, can 
 there ? " 
 
 This devastating logic conveyed rather less than 
 nothing at all to Amy, who was unused to mental 
 gymnastics. She therefore merely conjured up a 
 polite little smile and said : 
 
 " Oh, I see." 
 
 " No, my dear," chuckled Mrs. Sutherland, 
 " you don't see at all. I don't know whether," 
 she inquired almost anxiously, " you would care 
 to have me tell you any more ? " 
 
 " Thank you," said Amy doubtfully, "it's very 
 kind of you." 
 
 " Perhaps you could drop in this afternoon," 
 persisted Mrs. Sutherland, determined not to let 
 the grass grow under her feet. " I have a few 
 people coming in to tea. Do come ; say yes, right 
 now," she urged with a disarming smile. 
 
 And of course Amy said obediently, " Yes, thank 
 you, I should like to very much." 
 
 So the First Reader shook hands warmly and went 
 her way, well satisfied with her morning's work. 
 
 Amy too, as she walked along, was a trifle up- 
 lifted. She could not help feeling that it was some- 
 thing of an honour to be invited, nay, to be 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 63 
 
 begged, to go to tea with the rich and important 
 Mrs. Sutherland : not to an At Home, to which 
 anybody might be bidden, but to an informal and 
 intimate tea-party. Although practically without 
 any social aspirations, she had a very proper and 
 profound respect for those whose position was 
 better than her own, and Mrs. Sutherland, with her 
 Paris clothes, her large and imposing house, and her 
 frequent journeys to America, had always been 
 regarded from afar with ungrudging admiration. 
 
 That she was a Christian Scientist had hardly 
 counted for anything at all, either for or against 
 her, for Amy had no convictions whatever about 
 religion. In her mind it was another name for 
 Church, where one went on Sunday as a matter of 
 course in one's best hat, and returned with a 
 familiar feeling of elation — whether due to de- 
 votional exercises or to the inspiring effect of the 
 best hat, she did not trouble to inquire. She took 
 religion on Sunday as she took the wash on Mon- 
 day, and Nurse's night out on Tuesday, as part of 
 the general and quite satisfactory scheme of things. 
 Christian Science she regarded, from the little she 
 knew about it, as a slight deviation from the highest 
 standard of conduct, not exactly unladyUke, but 
 detracting a fraction from one's reputation — a sort 
 of moral squint. 
 
 Into the prospect of her visit that afternoon, it 
 hardly entered at all. She wanted to see what the 
 drawing-room was like and what sort of a gown Mrs. 
 Sutherland wore in the house for tea. And perhaps, 
 unconsciously — for she was much too nice to realize 
 
64 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 it — she liked the idea of entering those ex- 
 clusive portals, which were never opened to her 
 friends. 
 
 Four o'clock found Amy, in her new autumn coat 
 and skirt, and spotless white kid gloves, following 
 a neat parlourmaid across the spacious tiled hall of 
 Mrs. Sutherland's house. 
 
 There was a clamour of tongues as the drawing- 
 room door opened, which, however, ceased with 
 startling abruptness as she entered the room. 
 All eyes were turned upon her as she shook hands 
 in her pretty self-possessed way with her hostess, 
 and not until she had discovered a chair, and was 
 discussing the question of sugar and cream with 
 that lady, did a murmur of conversation arise again. 
 
 A dark, eager, little woman then took up the thread 
 of her story, which had evidently been interrupted 
 by the entrance of Amy. 
 
 " Of course," she said in a jerky, excitable voice, 
 " I had not spoken to Nellie for more than two 
 years, after the spiteful way she behaved ; and 
 when I walked into the room, and saw her seated 
 there, it was very awkward — everybody looked 
 so uncomfortable. But I thought, now you shall 
 all see what C.S. can do, knowing how frightfully 
 they all are against it. I just," she continued, 
 raising her head proudly, " went up to her, and," 
 this with dramatic emphasis, " I kissed her ! " 
 
 If she had said " I hit her," the effect on her 
 hearers, and possibly on Nellie also, would have been 
 much the same. No one seemed at all convinced 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 6$ 
 
 by such a marvellous exhibition of magnanimity ; 
 indeed, if the horrid truth may be whispered, Mrs. 
 Van Laun was considered not altogether " sound." 
 Besides which, each lady there was waiting with a 
 great display of Christian resignation for the moment 
 when the others should have finished their boring 
 stories, and she herself might relate her own much 
 more thrilling and remarkable experiences. 
 
 Amy meantime was taking a rapid survey of her 
 surroundings. The massive and unusual furniture, 
 the gleaming Persian rugs on the polished floor, the 
 luxuriant blue silk curtains, all claimed her fervent 
 admiration. Mrs. Sutherland too, her beautiful 
 hair piled high, her regal figure loosely robed in 
 some Eastern dream of green and purple — 
 materialized, however, undoubtedly in Paris — 
 was a picture not to be forgotten, and Christian 
 Science came in a very poor third in her estimation. 
 
 Suddenly her attention was arrested by a skinny, 
 anaemic woman, with scanty red hair, and an ex- 
 pression of milky meekness that would have well 
 become a newborn lamb. 
 
 " I hear," she was saying, " that Mrs. Smith's 
 teeth are all right again." 
 
 Now this, although Amy in her abysmal ignorance 
 did not know it, was great and exceeding glad news. 
 Every one pricked up her ears, maintaining at the 
 same time a look of sublime unconsciousness to 
 indicate that nothing about Mrs. Smith's teeth could 
 surprise them in the least. For Scientists, it must 
 be admitted, are a bit shy of toothache. It is not an 
 easy thing to tackle, like consumption or paralysis, 
 5 
 
66 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 where the patient will lie peacefully by the hour 
 while you cure him, grateful and optimistic to the 
 last moment, when the perverse obstinacy of 
 other people's thought carries him off. An aching 
 tooth is a more urgent, insistent matter — not to be 
 trifled with, raging and impatient, refusing to listen 
 to words of wisdom. Arguments and sophistries 
 avail nothing to restrain the horrid activity of a 
 wildly plunging nerve ; and even advanced Scien- 
 tists will admit that it is a " difficult thing to 
 manage," and generally give it "best," particu- 
 larly if the tooth is their own. 
 
 Amy, missing the real importance of the occasion, 
 yet felt that something was required of her : 
 
 " Did she," she inquired politely, " have tooth- 
 ache ? " 
 
 Mrs. Agar, the aforesaid skinny one, turned on 
 her a limpid and watery eye. 
 
 " Her teeth were very much decayed," she bleated. 
 " She is a charwoman, and people, of course, don't 
 like that sort of thing ; besides, she thought 
 she seemed to feel " — this with a kind of sug- 
 gestive humility — " pain." 
 
 Amy's eyes were fixed on Mrs. Agar's face 
 and the eyes of every one else were fixed on 
 Amy. 
 
 " And what did you do ? " she inquired with 
 interest. 
 
 " Oh I — " said Mrs. Agar deprecatingly, " I 
 did nothing. Mrs. Grobin was able to help her," 
 Mrs. Grobin being indicated by a wave of the bony, 
 kid- covered hand, 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 67 
 
 That lady, a gaunt and ungracious-looking 
 female, wearing preposterous headgear put on 
 crooked, returned Amy's politely inquiring glance 
 with a sort of expectant stolidity. 
 
 " I was able," she said in a rasping voice, " to 
 show the woman the Truth. Once the Error in 
 Mortal Mind was exposed, she knew that her 
 teeth were sound." 
 
 " But were they ? " incautiously demanded 
 Amy. 
 
 Mrs. Grobin fixed her with a stem and glassy eye. 
 
 " Perfectly," she answered incisively. 
 
 Amy pondered this amazing assertion, incredulous 
 yet impressed. 
 
 " How long," she asked, seeking further enlighten- 
 ment, " have you done this sort of thing ? " 
 
 " It's seventeen years since I first saw the Truth," 
 replied Mrs. Grobin acidly, " I am, I think, the oldest 
 Christian Scientist here," she added, looking 
 round with pardonable pride for the admiration 
 that she felt was only her due. But everybody 
 was wearing an expression of phlegmatic indiffer- 
 ence, so she closed her eyes with the patient en- 
 durance of a holy martyr and relapsed into silence, 
 
 " Mrs. Grobin," good-naturedly explained her 
 hostess, turning to Amy, " is one of our most ad- 
 vanced Healers. Vurry successful she's been, in 
 spite of," she hesitated, " family opposition." 
 
 Mrs. Grobin opened her eyes again : 
 
 " My husband is not a Scientist," she snapped. 
 
 " But surely," protested Amy, " if you are able 
 to show him such wonderful cures, he must be 
 
68 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 convinced. I mean, even if he doesn't understand 
 how you do them ? " 
 
 " There are some people you can't convince," 
 said Mrs. Grobin resentfully, " they make up their 
 minds about a thing, and all you can do or say won't 
 alter them." 
 
 " But what is it that he objects to," asked 
 Amy, "if he can see for himself what you do ? " 
 She was rather annoyed with Mr. Grobin. 
 
 " He has no objection whatever," explained Mrs. 
 Grobin, " he knows nothing at all about it and 
 doesn't want to. He just laughs," she added 
 gloomily, " every time the subject is mentioned." 
 
 Amy most injudiciously laughed too. Somehow 
 she liked Mr. Grobin better for his light-hearted and 
 yet blasphemous behaviour. 
 
 There was a distinct pause, chilly with dis- 
 approval. 
 
 " How does Smith, the husband, take it ? " 
 asked Mrs. Sutherland, coming again to the rescue. 
 
 "Ah," said Mrs. Grobin bitterly, " of course he's 
 against it." 
 
 " It's always the husbands," moaned Mrs. Agar 
 feebly. 
 
 " But if her decayed teeth are made whole," said 
 Amy stoutly, sure, this time, of her ground, " what- 
 ever has he to object to ? He ought to be very 
 pleased." 
 
 " Mortal Mind," explamed Mrs. Grobin 
 tersely. 
 
 " And," illuminated the unsound Mrs. Van Laun. 
 " of course the parish were going to give her the 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 69 
 
 money for a new set — that's what really annoyed 
 him." 
 
 Every one looked slightly hurt at this lack of 
 proper feeling on the part of Mrs. Van Laun ; the 
 explanation given by the unappreciated but orthodox 
 Mrs. Grobin was felt to be a more suitable one. 
 
 faking advantage of the pause, Amy rose to go, 
 thanking her hostess politely for an interesting 
 afternoon with that half shy and wholly charming 
 smile which made her so popular wherever she went. 
 
 As the door closed behind her, Mrs. Grobin's 
 aggrieved voice was heard lamenting. 
 
 " I hardly had an opportunity to say a word to 
 her," she complained. 
 
 But Mrs. Sutherland in her superior wisdom smiled 
 with confidence : 
 
 " She will come again," she said comfortably, 
 " I guess Mrs. Brown's not quite ready yet for C.S." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 NOW it must be clearly stated that Lebah was 
 not by any means a bad girl, in spite of her 
 experiences ; even if, because of them, she 
 was unfortunately not a ver\' good one. 
 
 Left an orphan at the romantic age of seventeen, 
 by the death of her mother, she found herself 
 possessed of five hundred pounds insurance money, 
 and an annuity, proceeding from an inscrutable and 
 very uncommunicative firm of solicitors, of one 
 hundred a year. No interfering relations darkened 
 her horizon, and so, packing her small belongings, 
 she quitted the lodgings that were the only home 
 she had ever known, and despite the warnings and 
 mutterings of a few old fogies, who didn't matter at 
 all, flew straight to the Paris of her dreams, there 
 to cultivate her heaven-sent voice, and prepare for 
 a glorious dehut at Covent Garden. Once in that 
 entirely congenial atmosphere, and with only the 
 scantiest of introductions, she soon found herself 
 enrolled in a company of free and joyous spirits, 
 all of them searching with indifferent success, but 
 with unvarying optimism, for the road to Fame. 
 For the first two years she worked hard at her 
 singing, and studied at a dramatic school, where she 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 71 
 
 was voted one of the cleverest and most popular 
 girls of her set. In spite of her freedom and success, 
 a certain fastidiousness, fortunately, for a long time 
 protected her from untoward experiences, a delicacy 
 of feeling, which demanded that vice, accepted as a 
 matter of course, should go decently clad before 
 her — should approach her in beautiful colours and 
 harmonious sounds, rather than in the grosser forms 
 of amorous students. 
 
 At last, however, a young French sculptor fell 
 in love with her, and she with love ; and the 
 inevitable crisis occurred, leaving her a wiser 
 but happily not a sadder girl. It was a brief and 
 painful experience, and taught her a lesson which 
 she found most useful in the succeeding years. 
 Numerous aspirants followed the illuminating 
 Frenchman, and to each she gave just enough of 
 herseh to infatuate them — and no more — till they 
 bored her, which they did with surprising speed 
 and regularity. She discovered that she meant a 
 great deal more to men than they meant to her, 
 and this knowledge equipped her with an amused 
 indifference to the other sex, which became one of 
 her greatest assets for its discomfiture. 
 
 If she had used her powers in the right direction, 
 as for instance for the undoing of certain managers 
 and agents connected with her profession, we should 
 not probably have discovered her in that purple 
 satin kimono, mistress of a tiny and insignificant 
 flat in Shaftesbury Avenue. Nor would she have 
 spent that fateful Sunday at Brighton, for she 
 would have been far beyond the reach of the 
 
72 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 suburban Christopher Brown. But Lebah was 
 never, in spite of many persevering efforts, able to 
 get on at all well with those mighty ones who could 
 have raised her to such giddy heights. Something 
 within her, she knew not what it was, but possibly 
 the uncommunicative solicitor could have en- 
 lightened her, seemed to resent their advances. 
 She found herself suddenly cold and aloof, when 
 by all the rules of the game she should have been 
 engaging and intimate. Consequently she offended 
 one after another of the men whom she longed to 
 propitiate, and at the age of twenty-four had come 
 to the conclusion that she was not of the stuff of 
 which successful opera singers are made, and had 
 relapsed with cheerful philosophy into an incon- 
 spicuous place in the chorus of musical comedy. 
 
 She harboured absolutely no feelings of resent- 
 ment or bitterness against her fate ; experience had 
 taught her not to expect too much, and she accepted 
 Life as she found it, but without enthusiasm. The 
 men amongst whom her lot was cast were, in her 
 opinion, a particularly unsatisfying crowd. They 
 lacked the essential quality of virility, which was 
 practically the only thing she really valued in a 
 man. Women, she realized, had, or might have, 
 brains, capacity, will-power, anything and every- 
 thing except this one compelling element of primeval 
 force : the something that gave any man who 
 possessed it an instant and insistent claim ; which 
 laughed to scorn a woman's brains, paralyzed her 
 will-power, and struck right through the veneer of 
 her acquired civilization to the keynote of her 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 73 
 
 being — her foolish Httle heart. In this divine 
 fire, or brute force — whichever you like — she had 
 found men strangely deficient till that day, when 
 on the Parade at Brighton she looked into the 
 tawny eyes of Jack Vibart. There at a glance 
 she saw something which stirred into activity some 
 hidden sleeping force of her being ; and her soul 
 rose up within her and clamoured for its mate. 
 
 Now Lebah was not the girl to deny her soul any- 
 thing for which it clamoured. Her opinion was that 
 Life is short, and that you are a long time 
 dead. But behind her Sphinx-like eyes and in- 
 scrutable demeanour there was a very alert and 
 active brain. One might, as she knew very well, 
 come a fearful cropper if the soul were allowed the 
 handling of the reins, and she had no intention of 
 riding for a fall. In the days that followed her 
 meeting with Jack she had thought of little else. 
 His dark, saturnine face was constantly before her, 
 his rasping voice rang in her ears, and she was 
 conscious of an uneasy, expectant feeling that at 
 any moment she might hear his knock at her door, 
 for that he would call and see her she had no doubt 
 whatever. 
 
 She had not long to wait. Captain Vibart found 
 Brighton rather dull, with his favourite aunt under 
 the turf, and early in the week betook himself back 
 to town and put up at a good hotel, prepared, as he 
 said, to do himself fat after the lean years spent 
 in the wilds of Nigeria, 
 
 He was a man of few friends, and those of a strange 
 and varied character. Dog-fanciers, prize-fighters. 
 
74 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 an occasional shaggy and unkempt Colonial, " home " 
 on a visit, or some utterly incoherent foreigner with 
 a mission in England : these were his particular 
 choice — anybody, that is, who was unusual and odd. 
 Although himself a public school man, with the 
 usual lofty disdain of anyone who was not, he took a 
 perverse pleasure in the society of those whom he 
 considered outsiders : raw material being more to 
 his taste than the finished product of civilization. 
 Of women, in spite of a varied and exciting experi- 
 ence in all parts of the world, he knew practically 
 nothing. They were divided, in his mind, into two 
 distinct classes : the good and the bad. The first, 
 a small and boring minority, consisting of those 
 who either by temperament or by environment had 
 no opportunity of being otherwise ; marriageable 
 girls of whom he fought furiously shy ; eind the 
 aunt who died. The latter class, with an over- 
 whelming majority, was composed of entertaining 
 and expensive people in whose company you could 
 comfortably relax, keeping, however, your eye 
 skinned the while. 
 
 That Lebah seemed to fit into neither of these 
 categories made her unusually interesting, and gave 
 her a precarious value of her own. Impossible 
 that she should belong, from what he knew of her 
 history, to the minority ; yet some instinct pro- 
 tested against her being relegated definitely to the 
 majority. If she were, he reflected, at the psycho- 
 logical stage when the first merges into the last, 
 that very attractive stage, it was indeed a piece of 
 good luck having met her again. And on the strength 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 75 
 
 of these conclusions he decided to call on her at the 
 first opportunity. 
 
 It took him a very short time to make himself 
 entirely at home in the tiny fiat. There was an 
 air of complete freedom about it, which suited him 
 exactly. No tiresome restrictions as to when he 
 might call or how long he was expected to stay. 
 Lebah took him for granted as an old friend, and he 
 was admitted at any hour of the day he chose to 
 knock three times at her front door, and encouraged 
 to make himself at home, which he did in the 
 frankest way possible. The household staff con- 
 sisted of one disreputable old charwoman, known 
 as Mrs. Doody, who came in at appointed hours to 
 " tidy up." Early in the morning, while Lebah 
 still slept, she tidied up the sitting-room, returning 
 in the afternoon to tidy up the bedroom, make the 
 bed, and cook the dinner, which last she did with 
 such conspicuous success that her many short- 
 comings were overlooked. There was therefore no 
 reason why Jack should not drift in at any hour he 
 pleased, and he soon acquired the habit of doing so 
 every day : sometimes in the morning to take 
 Lebah out to lunch, and sometimes in the afternoon 
 for a cup of tea, which they made together in the 
 tiny kitchen. 
 
 After the theatre they often met again, either to 
 sup with a merry party of Lebah's friends, by whom 
 Jack as a host was appreciated at his full value, or 
 in the little sitting-room of her fiat for an hour's cosy 
 tete-a-tete. 
 
76 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 By the end of the week their intimacy had 
 acquired all the licence of an old-established friend- 
 ship, both in their own eyes and in those of Lebah's 
 set. And if, which is not likely in such uncritical 
 circles, any censorious eyebrow had raised itself, 
 it would have been quite wrong. For Lebah was 
 managing with such consummate skill that, although 
 they both hovered near the precipice over which, 
 sooner or later, they would have to peep — if 
 they did no more — they were still on a perfectly 
 platonic footing : she was determined, it would seem, 
 to show him how very good and proper she could be, 
 in spite of her Bohemian environment. 
 
 And Jack took it all in, or most of it, asking 
 no inconvenient questions, and believing all he was 
 told. But he did rather particularly want to know 
 who else besides himself was in the field ; for he 
 hardly imagined that a girl of Lebah's manifest 
 attractions always lived this life of chaste seclusion, 
 yet there was never a sign of a rival — nor a 
 hint. 
 
 At last, one afternoon, as they sat at tea, very 
 content with each other, on either side of the fire, 
 he approached the subject from afar off, watching 
 her as he spoke with his curiously indifferent air. 
 
 " Where's the cove who was supposed to go to 
 Brighton that day — the one who didn't turn up ? " 
 
 Lebah had been expecting something of this sort, 
 and was not unprepared. 
 
 " Heaven knows," she answered laconically. 
 
 " Don't you ? " he asked. 
 
 " I haven't seen him since," she said. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER ^j 
 
 " Then he did turn up after all ? " 
 
 " Oh yes," said Lebah, who was taking no risks, 
 " we travelled back to town together." 
 
 Here she stopped, and Jack, seeing the subject 
 about to drop into oblivion, bestirred himself to 
 galvanize it into life again. 
 
 " What sort of a cove is 'e — who is 'e at all ? " 
 
 " He's the sort of person," said Lebah, " that 
 bores me stiff, and I told him so on the way up." 
 
 " How'd he take it ? " inquired Jack with 
 interest. 
 
 " Lying down, of course ; he's made that way." 
 
 Jack reflected. 
 
 " It must have been a facer," he said slowly. 
 " I wonder you didn't discover what a bore he was 
 before you let him go down to Brighton." 
 
 Lebah perceived that the time had come for 
 explanations. 
 
 " The fact is," she said glibly, " he's a married 
 man who has been crazy about me for the last few 
 weeks. Nothing I could say or do would induce 
 him to leave me alone ; you know the sort — 
 followed me wherever I went. I couldn't get 
 rid of him. I happened to say that I was going 
 down to Brighton to see the girl I told you about, 
 and of course he wanted to go too, so I stupidly 
 said he might. But at last I got so utterly fed up 
 with him that I told him I should never speak to 
 him again, and I won't either. He's been here 
 several times this week, but I know his knock and 
 I never answer the door. In time, I suppose, he'll 
 tumble to it that I mean what I say." 
 
78 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Lebah heaved a sigh of relief at having un- 
 burdened herself of this unkind prevarication, thank- 
 ful it was over, for she was not by nature a liar, and 
 only when driven thereto by necessity, as on the 
 present occasion, used lying as a means to an end. 
 
 Jack just glanced at her, only half convinced. 
 
 "You've got a heart of stone, Lebah," he said, with 
 a grin. " Do you treat 'em all like that ? " 
 
 Lebah looked away with an enigmatic smile. 
 
 " More or less," she said, "up to the present." 
 
 " Then I may take it," suggested Jack, " that I 
 haven't yet begun to bore you ? " 
 
 To this she made no reply. 
 
 " At any rate," he went on, " you know my knock 
 by now : three raps ; and if you don't open 
 the door I shall take the hint the first time, I 
 promise you." 
 
 " You'll think I'm out, like he does," said 
 Lebah provocatively. 
 
 " Oh no, I shan't, I'm much too intuitive for 
 that ; and besides I shall sit on the mat till you 
 turn up, just to make sure." 
 
 " I can't conceive you going on as he did," 
 said Lebah, " even if ... if you fell in love with 
 me." 
 
 Jack looked at her entirely unmoved. 
 
 " Would that bore you ? " he asked gravely. 
 
 " I don't know," laughed Lebah, " you'd better 
 try, and see." 
 
 " I'm afraid to risk it," said Jack ; " you've spoilt 
 my nerve. I say," he went on without a stop, 
 " you remember the aunt who died before I could 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 79 
 
 give her that dressing-gown ? She's left me some 
 money." 
 
 " Kind soul," said Lebah, readjusting herself at 
 a moment's notice. 
 
 " I make it a rule never to go near my solicitor. 
 What I say is, if you're not there he can't worry 
 you, so I give him a miss in baulk. But 
 some one told him I was home, and this morning 
 I got a letter addressed to my bank, saying that 
 the dear old thing had left me something to go 
 on with. I think I shall buy a motor." 
 
 " What extravagance ! " said Lebah conversa- 
 tionally. 
 
 " It's not really," said Jack earnestly. " I look 
 upon it more in the light of an investment ; it would 
 do to take the dressing-gown to the other aunt. 
 You can't put it in a parcel ; it's too bulgy. She's 
 got a lot of money and no one to leave it to. 
 Do you see the point ? " 
 
 " Quite," said Lebah. " It's a very sound 
 scheme." 
 
 " I've found the address. She lives at Upping- 
 ton ; not far from town; just a nice little run." 
 
 " Is this the religious maniac ? " inquired Lebah. 
 
 " That's it," said Jack ; " she goes in for Christian 
 Science — ever heard of it ? " 
 
 " N . . . yes," said Lebah doubtfully, " they 
 don't believe in doctors." 
 
 " If that's all," said Jack, " she's not so bad as 
 I thought. I think myself they do more harm than 
 good, as a rule ; that's my idea. I haven't seen 
 her for years," he went on, " she's always in 
 
8o CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 America. She goes there once a year to have a 
 scrap with her relations — they all hate Christian 
 Science like poison. That's why she won't leave 
 'em any money. She married my Uncle John and 
 they've no children. I shaU certainly buy the 
 car, and take the thing down ; it might touch her 
 heart, what do you think ? " 
 
 And Lebah, all unwitting of the forces gathering 
 at Uppington, said indifferently : 
 
 "Why not? " 
 
 After he had left her, she wondered idly to herself 
 the reason of the sudden change in their conversation, 
 and whether or not it was intentional. For Jack 
 had a jerky, disconnected way of speaking, and 
 darted from one subject to another with sometimes 
 disconcerting rapidity : he seemed to think in 
 flashes. Lebah often speculated about his feeling 
 towards her. Obviously he was rather attracted, 
 and undoubtedly, if he were the man al-^e took him 
 to be, their relationship would have been a great 
 deal more intimate by this time if she had allowed 
 it. Did he, she wondered, appreciate her reticence, 
 or was her apparent coldness nipping in the bud a 
 possible affection ? His brown, impenetrable face 
 never indicated to her his thoughts ; he seemed to 
 wear always the same expression, and it was only 
 by the movements of his nervous, sinewy hands 
 that she could ever judge his frame of mind. She 
 did not even know if his bored indifference were 
 genuine, or whether he assumed it to hide the cast- 
 iron brake with which he controlled himself. He 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 8i 
 
 was altogether a fascinating enigma. There was 
 one point, however, on which she was perfectly 
 clear. She knew by instinct that behind that calm, 
 imperturbable mask there lay in wait a fierce wild 
 beast, held in check by a masterful will, but ready 
 at any moment to leap out and devour that which 
 should appease its voracious appetite ; and of 
 this she was afraid. She, who had looked unmoved 
 on a hundred raging monsters, shrank with fear at 
 the thought of this one. She hardly yet realized her 
 feeling about it. The nervousness, which she often 
 experienced in Jack's presence, she attributed to 
 her over-anxiety to make a good impression ; for 
 Lebah, it must be admitted, had a great matri- 
 monial scheme in hand, and Jack was cast for the 
 strongest part in it. 
 
 He was exactly the kind of man she had always 
 hoped to meet. A man of the world, a travellerj 
 possessed of a good social position and a large in- 
 come. And when in addition to all these attrac- 
 tions her heart leapt spontaneously at the sight of 
 him, she could no longer doubt that here at last 
 was the hero of her dreams. Whether she was the 
 lady of his, was a rather anxious question, which 
 often exercised her mind. She knew that with her 
 knowledge of men she could have had him at her 
 feet in less than a week, but, as she rightly argued, 
 he was no unfledged stripling to be rushed into a 
 hasty union on the crest of his passions. If she 
 were ever to land so big a fish, she would need all 
 her skill to play him, all her powers to haul him in. 
 And so, while with her brains she was scheming 
 6 
 
82 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 how best to entrap him, the more emotional part 
 of her nature was delighting in him day by day — 
 in his presence, his touch, and in the sardonic, 
 world-worn look of him. And deep down in her 
 heart, hidden almost from her own inner conscious- 
 ness, was a delicious little tremor of fear, more 
 exciting than all the other emotions put together. 
 
 Jack, too, had he been inclined for it, had plenty 
 of food for reflection. But he was not, having set 
 his face resolutely against any kind of brain-work 
 since about the age of twelve. He believed, and 
 rightly, that nearly all bother was manufactured 
 by clever people who couldn't leave things alone ; 
 and that a habit of thinking was responsible for a 
 great deal of misery in this world. He had there- 
 fore sedulously avoided the practice, relegating it, 
 as he often said, to coves who had their living to 
 earn. When, however, a girl behaved in such a 
 bewildering way as did Lebah, a fellow could not 
 help wondering what she was up to, even if it en- 
 dangered his peace of mind. She had started off 
 in great form. No uncertainty about that first 
 day at Brighton. She had the pace too, anyone 
 could see that ; and, if her promising eyes meant 
 what they said, she could see the post as well as 
 anybody. And yet, half-way round the course, 
 or what a fellow believed to be the course, she 
 seemed unaccountably to jib. All the usual devices 
 were of no avail ; it was impossible to get any further 
 with her. There was a certain obtuseness, or 
 perhaps elusiveness, about Lebah that was very 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 83 
 
 difficult'to locate. She was always fascinating, even 
 alluring ; always ready to amuse and be amused ; 
 wildly gay and hauntingly sad by turns ; but never 
 was she affectionate or in the smallest degree coy, 
 and Jack wondered to himself what exactly her 
 little game was, and how long it was going to last. 
 
 Being a man of few words and a very limited num- 
 ber of ideas, he was therefore a simple and straight- 
 forward character, in that he said what he thought, 
 and did what he pleased without reference to the 
 opinions or the convenience of anyone else what- 
 ever. His code of morals was equally lucid and 
 direct, though not fit perhaps to be further en- 
 larged upon in these pages. 
 
 He never pretended to understand women, but 
 as far as his observations and experiences went he 
 found that presents and perseverance generally 
 pulled it off ; or, if not, there was probably some 
 other fellow ahead of you. Having more or less 
 satisfied himself that there was no one else in the 
 field, he had therefore no doubt of his ultimate 
 success, and the fact that you could not, as he said, 
 take it off the shelf, added zest to the proceedings, 
 and raised Lebah in his estimation, even if at the 
 same time it exasperated him a little. 
 
 It will be seen then that, could Lebah have read 
 his thoughts as he wended his way home after his 
 conversation with her, she would have found scant 
 encouragement for her matrimonial schemes. On 
 the other hand, she would have seen no antagonism 
 to contend with, for the idea of marriage had never 
 in the wildest flights of his imagination entered his 
 
84 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 mind. They were in fact both working towards 
 different ends, and the end of each was violently 
 opposed to the wishes of the other — so that, whether 
 they were to marry or not, the conditions were ripe 
 for the experiment. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 KIT was very unhappy indeed. Very gloomy 
 and depressed he was, and filled with dismal 
 speculations as to the reason of Lebah's 
 extraordinary behaviour. For never since parting 
 with her that night on her doorstep had he been 
 able to get a word with her, nor even so much as a 
 glimpse, excepting across the footlights — a fleeting 
 vision that only served to accentuate his misery. 
 Day after day he ascended the flights of dreary 
 stone steps that led to her eyrie amongst the 
 chimney pots, only to find a coldly unresponsive 
 front door. He had waited patiently with inter- 
 mittent knockings, till fear became a horrid cer- 
 tainty and he was obliged sadly to retrace his foot- 
 steps downstairs again. Even when the door was 
 opened, it only disclosed the dirty face of the faith- 
 ful Doody, who greeted him with a knowing and 
 sympathetic grin, and discoursive explanations and 
 apologies, but never with any useful information. 
 Letters and notes received no reply, and even pre- 
 paid telegrams and waiting messenger boys were 
 ignored, or evaded with cruel agility. If he called 
 at the theatre, she had just gone over to Appenrodt's, 
 
 and when he rushed across to the restaurant, she 
 
 85 
 
86 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 was nowhere to be seen. By the time he had 
 got back to the stage door, she had " gone up " 
 and could see nobody ; and on the one occasion 
 when he waited until the play was over she was 
 so long in coming down that he was obliged to 
 dash off to catch the last train home, before she 
 appeared. 
 
 Lebah, it seemed, was firmly determined not 
 to see him. She was acting with a deliberate 
 cruelty of which he could hardly, even now, believe 
 her capable. And yet the more he reflected on 
 the events of the previous few weeks, on his own 
 fatuous and compromising behaviour, the less he 
 was surprised at her decision. So well conducted 
 a girl, so experienced withal, could not be expected 
 to allow her name to be lightly coupled, as un- 
 doubtedly it would be, with that of a married man. 
 It only proved to Kit, how right he had been in 
 his estimate of her : how very different and im- 
 mensely superior she was to other actresses, yet 
 endowed with all their charm — and more. But 
 while he approved of her propriety, he could not 
 help feeling that her methods were unnecessarily 
 drastic. She could not realize, he felt sure, any- 
 thing of the acute misery she was causing him, 
 or she would never inflict such suffering. Hence 
 the long explanatory letters, the frantic notes 
 and telegrams to which no reply was ever vouch- 
 safed. 
 
 He began to wonder uneasily if she were coquet- 
 ting with him, and almost decided — but not quite — 
 to leave her alone for a little while, in the hope that 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 87 
 
 feminine pique would serve him where his own 
 persistence failed. And, amongst all these conflict- 
 ing doubts and fears, a bitter feeling of suspicion 
 and jealousy grew up in his mind, and flourished 
 like some poisonous weed. Try as he might, he 
 could not shut his eyes to the fact that Lebah 
 and he had been the best of friends until the 
 advent of the insidious stranger, that it was 
 immediately after her meeting with him that her 
 feelings changed ; and he felt almost positive 
 that, in some way he could not at present under- 
 stand, Vibart was at the bottom of her refusal 
 to see him. 
 
 He tried to realize what the consequences to 
 himself would be if she adhered to her ruthless 
 determination, if she utterly and entirely cast him 
 off. And instead of welcoming such a denouement 
 as the direct interposition of a beneficent Provi- 
 dence enabling him to return peacefully to the 
 bosom of his family, such was the perverse nature 
 of the man that he was filled only with the gloomi- 
 est forebodings at the prospect. His life without 
 Lebah, he reflected, would be so utterly unbearable, 
 that he would be certainly driven sooner or later 
 to put a desperate end to it : a very effective 
 and quite painless end that would cause her years 
 of haunting remorse. And so he spent anxious 
 days and sleepless nights alternately yearning for 
 his divinity and — what was equally wearing to the 
 system — heaping curses on the oblivious head of 
 Jack Vibart, whom he rightly judged to be keeping 
 him out of his own. 
 
88 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 A fortnight of these harrowing experiences did 
 little to improve the state of Kit's health, for, 
 if " a contented mind is a continual feast," a dis- 
 contented one is chronic starvation. He began to 
 look thin and worried ; his digestion, never very 
 strong, went on strike in a most determined way ; 
 his head ached, his hand shook, and his temper 
 would have disgraced a militant suffragette. 
 
 No wonder Amy watched him day by day with 
 increasing concern. All her tact and sympathy 
 were of no avail to dispel the dark depression that 
 hung over him like a lowering thunder-cloud. 
 She went into the kitchen, and with her own 
 hands prepared his favourite dishes, but no dainties 
 could tempt that fickle appetite. He refused 
 violently to see a doctor, or even to consider a 
 tonic from the chemist. Every suggestion she 
 made for his relief, and they were many and in- 
 genious, was treated with contumely. Every word 
 of wifely counsel and consolation seemed to irritate 
 him beyond endurance ; and Amy, casting about 
 for any means to help him, began to realize with a 
 sadly sinking heart that she could do nothing. 
 
 Once she had arrived at this despondent con- 
 clusion, the outlook became much clearer : there 
 was nothing for it but to send for the doctor. Dr. 
 Bennett had helped her through the terrors of 
 childbirth, and was always, as she said, so sweet 
 and sympathetic that he had completely won her 
 confidence, and she felt that to him alone could she 
 unburden her heart. For, trying as things appeared 
 on the surface, there was a still more serious aspect 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 89 
 
 of her husband's condition which she felt it would 
 be wrong of her to disregard. A secret fear was 
 ^ growing up in her mind, a suspicion so terrible, 
 that she could no longer keep it to herself. 
 
 Scarcely, then, had the door closed behind Kit 
 one morning, than she rang up Dr. Bennett on 
 the telephone and requested him to call at his 
 earliest convenience. He would, it appeared, be 
 passing her house about eleven if that would suit 
 her ; and Amy said that would do nicely, and 
 hastily rang off before he could ask any tiresome 
 questions. 
 
 Nurse, although it was the day for turning out 
 the spare room, was directed to take the children 
 for their morning walk, and their mother, with 
 some trepidation in her heart, and a basket of 
 mending by her side, waited in the comfortably 
 furnished dining-room for the visit of the doctor. 
 To consult with him about her husband, without 
 Kit's knowledge or consent, seemed to her a very 
 underhand and deceitful proceeding and one which 
 required quite a lot of courage on her part ; but her 
 sense of wifely responsibility was roused and she 
 was determined to leave no stone unturned to 
 restore him if possible to health again, whatever 
 the cost to herself might be. 
 
 At the familiar hoot of the motor. Amy jumped 
 up nervously and patted her hair before the glass in 
 the overmantel, and by the time the door opened had 
 subsided again into her arm-chair with a slightly 
 heightened colour. 
 
 " Good morning," said the doctor cheerily, 
 
90 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 pressing her hand with paternal, or perhaps 
 avuncular warmth. " I needn't inquire if you are my 
 patient, you look as fresh as a daisy this morning," 
 he added, lowering himself into a chair on the other 
 side of the hearth. 
 
 His genial tone, and the merry blue eyes twinkling 
 in his round weather-tanned face, gave Amy fresh 
 inspiration, and she looked up at him with a friendly 
 smile. 
 
 " It's about ..." she began nervously, 
 " about . . . Kit. I think he's run down . . . 
 he . . . I'm afraid he's been overworking." 
 
 " Yes ? " said the doctor encouragingly, knowing 
 that whatever Kit's ailment might be it was 
 not due to ovenvork, but realizing, none better, 
 that to hurry and hustle a lady patient, during a 
 recital of symptoms, is often to lose the key of the 
 situation. Let them talk, he used to say, and, out 
 of the profusion of irrelevant detail, the intelligent 
 man can construct his case. Nevertheless there 
 were occasions when a little encouragement was 
 judicious : and here, apparently, was one of them, 
 for Mrs. Brown appeared unable to get any further 
 with her story. 
 
 " A little irritable ? " he suggested with a twinkle. 
 
 " More than that," replied Amy quickly, "he is 
 always moody and miserable." 
 
 " No appetite ? " ventured the doctor. 
 
 " I don't think it's his stomach," said Amy 
 with wifely candour. 
 
 The doctor waited, watching her with a kindly 
 smile. He had almost diagnosed the case as one of 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 91 
 
 slight conjugal fracture, when something in Amy's 
 eyes struck him as unusual and his smile gave place 
 to an expression of grave interest. 
 
 " I must tell you," began Mrs. Brown with an 
 effort, " that ever since we have been back from 
 the seaside I have noticed a difference in Kit. He 
 has grown thinner ; he is unhappy and restless ; he 
 can't sit still, and everything seems to bother him. 
 Whatever I say or do annoys him, and he simply 
 can't bear the sight of the children. In fact, he 
 seems to have changed into an entirely different 
 man," 
 
 She paused, and her eyes clouded a moment with 
 unshed tears. 
 
 " Is he sleeping well ? " asked the doctor. 
 
 " No, very badly," replied Amy, recovering 
 herself. " He never goes to bed till twelve or one 
 o'clock, and if I suggest sitting up with him he 
 gets quite angry. For some weeks he has been 
 like this, ever since we returned ; but about ten 
 days ago, he seemed to suddenly get worse. It 
 began on a Sunday. In the morning, when he woke 
 up, he took it into his head to go down to Brighton 
 for the day. I wanted to go with him, but no, 
 he must go alone. So unnatural, wasn't it ? 
 Well, off he went, and spent the whole day mooning 
 about by himself ; a thing he hates, or used to. 
 When he came back I was in bed, and as he didn't 
 come upstairs I went down to see what was the 
 matter." 
 
 Amy paused, uncertain how to go on, then she 
 sighed deeply. 
 
92 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Well," she continued, " I didn't find out. He 
 was desperately unhappy, with a sort of savage, 
 wicked look I had never seen on his face before. 
 I asked him very kindly to tell me what was 
 troubling him, tried to be as nice and sympathetic 
 as I could. But it was no use ; he got awfully 
 wild and incoherent, and said he felt like murdering 
 people just for the love of strangling them ! " 
 
 " Was he sober ? " asked the doctor. 
 
 " Oh, quite," said Amy, " perfectly. He really 
 meant it too, you could see the hate shining in his 
 eyes. I was terribly frightened ; I didn't know 
 what to do, whether to call out for Nurse, or 
 to dash out of the room. However, I tried to 
 laugh it off and pretend it was a joke, and at last 
 he turned to me in a horrible, unnatural way and 
 told me to go back to bed and he would follow me 
 presently. So I took the opportunity to slip into 
 the nursery, and got into bed beside Dickie. I 
 locked the door too ! " 
 
 " Hum . . . m," said the doctor guardedly. " I 
 think I'd better look in and have a chat with him 
 one evening. Do you know of anyone he's been 
 having a row with ? " 
 
 "No," said Amy shortly. A minute later she 
 looked up and caught the doctor's observant eye 
 upon her. 
 
 " But I can tell you," she added hastily, 
 " who it is he wanted to murder. It's me. I saw 
 it in his eyes. He hates me ! " 
 
 " Oh, nonsense," protested the doctor emphatic- 
 ally. " Come, Mrs. Brown, you mustn't get silly 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 93 
 
 ideas like that into your head. I don't know a man 
 more devoted to his wife than your husband is to 
 you." 
 
 "I know I'm right," she persisted. "Whenever he 
 looks at me now, I can see the same thing — a sort 
 of dislike, he can't bear the sight of me." Her 
 voice shook. " But they always do, don't they, 
 turn against their wives ? " she choked, groping 
 for her handkerchief. 
 
 " Who does ? " demanded the doctor in bewilder- 
 ment. 
 
 " When they . . . Oh, doctor," she sobbed, 
 " don't think me silly, I'm not really ... his 
 mother died in a lunatic asylum, and I believe Kit is 
 going the same way. I've tried and tried not to see 
 it . . . but I can't hide it any longer ... he gets 
 worse every day. Can't you do something for 
 him ? I'm so unhappy." 
 
 Dr. Bennett got up out of his chair and patted her 
 gently on the shoulder. 
 
 " Poor little woman," he said kindly, " that's a 
 very big trouble for you, isn't it ? Don't worry 
 more" than you can help," he continued. " People 
 often get over these things when they're taken in 
 time, and I don't think, from what you tell me, 
 that there's much wrong with him so far." 
 
 " No, I daresay not, but it's the future I'm 
 thinking of," said Amy despondently. " It would 
 be such a terrible thing if he went mad, I'm more 
 frightened of madness than anything." 
 
 " As a matter of fact," said the doctor, " in nine 
 cases out of ten, it's not these people with hereditary 
 
94 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 tendencies who go mad at all : it's those who have 
 to live with them. So try and look on the bright 
 side of things, won't you ? " 
 
 And Amy smiled gratefully up into his twinkling 
 eyes. 
 
 " What a dear kind old thing you are," she said, 
 " such a comfort. I don't know whatever I'd do 
 without you." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AMY'S conversation with the doctor marked the 
 beginning of a new era in the history of the 
 Brown menage. Hitherto she had been con- 
 tent to follow blindly in her husband's wake, guided 
 by his wishes, and sheltered, as she liked to think, 
 by the protection of his love. Now, however, she 
 was face to face with the terrible realization that she 
 could no longer follow in the wake of a person whose 
 sense of direction was uncertain : she could not be 
 guided by wishes whose tendency was towards mur- 
 der, neither could she rely on a love that was rapidly 
 being turned into hate by the ravages of an insidious 
 disease. For there was now no doubt in her mind 
 that her husband was the victim of hereditary in- 
 sanity ; and the fact that Dr. Bennett refused to 
 diagnose it definitely as such only strengthened 
 her opinion of that dear man's tact and con- 
 sideration. 
 
 An apparently chance interview was arranged one 
 evening between the doctor and his unsuspecting 
 patient, without, however, any satisfactory results. 
 The doctor, cautious and observant, found it 
 difficult to come to any conclusion without a proper 
 examination ; and Kit was irritated by what he 
 considered unwarrantable interference, and frankly 
 
96 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 contemptuous of even a suggestion of nervous 
 breakdown. 
 
 " I'm not an hysterical woman," he argued 
 impatiently. " You look after the Missus and the 
 babies, doctor, and leave me alone, like a good 
 chap." 
 
 And for the time being nothing further could be 
 done. The doctor, sitting on the fence in the most 
 approvedmedicalfashion, assured Amyprivately that, 
 while there was for the present no immediate pros- 
 pect of any serious development, there were certain 
 symptoms that should not be overlooked. He 
 warned her against the dangers of sudden excite- 
 ment, of over-fatigue ; laid great stress on the 
 importance of suitable diet, and the proper per- 
 formance of the internal functions. He advised 
 her not to leave her husband much alone, to be 
 bright and cheerful with him, and to prevent, as far 
 as possible, his mind from dwelling upon himself and 
 his infirmities, whatever they might be. 
 
 Amy listened very earnestly to his words of 
 wisdom, and promised faithfully to follow his advice. 
 She watched Kit incessantly, and not a day passed 
 that she did not discover fresh evidence in con- 
 firmation of her fears. Her anxious eyes missed no 
 look or movement, and the fact that her husband 
 was obviously restless under her close scrutiny, and 
 unable to meet her steady gaze, only added to her 
 conviction that his mind was affected. She carried 
 out the doctor's orders with untiring good temper, 
 and a persistent zeal that nearly drove the unhappy 
 patient to distraction, even going so far as to sug- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 97 
 
 gest that perhaps he would sleep better in a room by 
 himself, a proposition which much to her surprise 
 was accepted with alacrity. Another sign, she told 
 herself, of mental aberration. For, if there was one 
 subject upon which Kit felt deeply, it was that of the 
 double bed. Separate beds, she had often heard him 
 affirm, struck at the very foundation of married life. 
 They were the thin end of the wedge, the beginning 
 of the end, and a marked indication of the general 
 decadence of marital relationship. That he should 
 tamely submit to being separated from her, filled 
 her mind with the gravest misgivings ; nothing 
 could show more plainly the deterioration of his will 
 and the entire change in his mental outlook. 
 
 She managed, however, to keep up a brave front, 
 determined that no one should guess the unhappy 
 state of affairs, at any rate while it was possible to 
 hide it from the curious gaze of her neighbours. 
 There was always the chance that Kit would get no 
 worse, that with care and judicious treatment he 
 might even recover altogether ; and she wished 
 passionately to avoid, by any means in her power, 
 the stigma of insanity for him and for her two 
 beloved babies. 
 
 The secret she therefore decided must remain 
 locked within her own breast. And there no doubt 
 it would have stayed secure if it had not been for 
 the perspicuity of Nurse, who being a shrewd and 
 curious young woman was very soon in possession of 
 the most important part of it. What exactly was 
 wrong with her master she did not know, but some- 
 thing fishy certainly, or why the separate bedrooms ? 
 7 
 
98 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Why the constant and anxious care ? Why did her 
 mistress look so sad and harassed when alone, so 
 gay and festive when in the presence of other people ? 
 Why were the children kept out of her master's way, 
 and hushed into silence on his return home every 
 evening ? These and similar searching questions 
 she put to the milkman on her Sunday out, when 
 together they walked back from chapel : for she 
 was a good, religious girl, and led him a fine dance if 
 he tried to skip the evening service. 
 
 The milkman said he did not know what the game 
 was ; but, if it was him, he should give notice and 
 chance it. A girl he knew in The Crescent was 
 leaving shortly to be married, and there would be a 
 good place going in a week or two ; he would take 
 it upon himself to mention Nurse's name in that 
 quarter if so be as she was agreeable. Which in due 
 course he did, and which probably accounted for the 
 rumour that Mrs. Brown's servants were leaving her 
 owing to the extraordinary behaviour of Mr. Brown. 
 
 So that, in spite of Amy's efforts to keep her 
 troubles to herself, all Uppington in a very short 
 time was aware that something was going wrong at 
 Elm Villa ; and, because they could not discover 
 exactly what it was, speculated with their usual wild 
 enthusiasm in all directions save the right one. 
 Amy's reluctance to take anybody into her confidence 
 was regarded as an interesting development of what 
 had at first seemed merely a trifling indisposition. 
 No need, they argued, if nothing were the matter to 
 make such a mystery of it, and the fact that Amy 
 had done so and was persisting, despite the most 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 99 
 
 tactful and persuasive pumping operations, in 
 still doing so, proved beyond doubt that there was 
 something to hide. That the Browns, of all people, 
 should evolve a mystery, was considered at first a 
 capital joke. The little Browns, who never had a 
 secret in their lives, whose comings and goings had 
 always been for all the world to see, so artless and 
 obvious that nobody had taken the trouble to look ! 
 
 It was absurd to imagine that anything out of the 
 common could happen in that blameless household, 
 or that if it should do so there would be any attempt 
 made to cover it up — to keep it dark. 
 
 And so, what with chaffings and jokings, with 
 relentless cross-questionings and insinuating in- 
 quiries, Amy's life was fast becoming a burden to her. 
 She began to avoid her friends, and to refuse 
 invitations where she knew she would have to 
 undergo a bombardment of inquisitive and kindly 
 questions to which she could give no answer. 
 
 But there was one place where no prying eyes and 
 no inquisitive tongues ever penetrated, and she grew 
 to regard the house of Mrs. Sutherland as a refuge, 
 a sanctuary of rest. For that enterprising lady 
 had quickly followed up the tea-party with a call on 
 her own account, and the two women, although so 
 unlike in temperament, had become almost friends. 
 It was a relief to Amy to hear her vague, half- 
 expressed fears cheerfully demolished, to see her 
 sprouting forebodings nipped in the bud by the 
 masterful hand of the redoubtable American. For 
 of course, whatever her troubles or difficulties had 
 been, she could never expect an ounce of sympathy 
 
loo CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 from that quarter. Christian Scientists, having 
 convinced themselves that there is neither pain nor 
 suffering, do not waste their valuable time in sym- 
 pathizing with the non-existent : a lofty pity for 
 human ignorance is the only solace they are 
 able to offer the unfortunate. To the flabby and 
 invertebrate, to all those poor things who live on the 
 sympathy and consideration of others, this attitude 
 is gall and bitterness indeed ; but Amy was not one 
 of these, she had a sturdy little soul of her own, and 
 she found Mrs. Sutherland's confident and sublime 
 disregard of the shady side of life rather exhilar- 
 ating than otherwise. 
 
 She listened almost with enthusiasm to the in- 
 spired writings of Mrs. Eddy, and, if she understood 
 absolutely nothing of their meaning, she was in 
 no worse a plight than many an ardent believer 
 in their infallibility. The constant reiteration of 
 catch-words gave them in her mind a special signifi- 
 cance of their own. When she said " There is no 
 Pain," she really meant " I don't believe Kit is 
 going dotty after all." " Love is All, All is Love," 
 seemed to her a very lofty way of expressing her 
 own attitude towards her husband — how nice she 
 was trying to be, how kind and gentle. She 
 developed a cheery optimism, which, had she known 
 it, was diametrically opposed to the true sentiments 
 of Christian Science. For, if you persistently look 
 on the bright side of things, you are thereby admit- 
 ting that there is a dull side, which, of course, there 
 is not ; and in so doing are committing a sin of 
 Mortal Mind, for which you will have to suffer. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER loi 
 
 unless you are advanced enough to know that you 
 cannot. 
 
 But of these complexities Amy realized nothing. 
 Christian Science, she concluded, was a nice cheery 
 idea if you didn't carry it too far, and it was just on 
 a question of how far to carry it that she had quite a 
 heated argument with her spiritual adviser. 
 
 They were sitting in Mrs. Sutherland's special 
 sanctum, a very workman-like room furnished with 
 an immense escritoire, and numerous bookcases 
 filled with C.S. literature. Several easy chairs 
 were dotted about on the thick Turkey carpet, and 
 the apartment presented an air of solid comfort 
 and unostentatious wealth, which Mrs. Sutherland 
 managed to impart to all her surroundings. 
 
 " See here," she was saying, " you'll never get 
 any further in Science while you pin your faith to 
 that doctor of yours. Just you think of the 
 mortal mind of that man — full of disease, full of 
 fear. Why, he's the most dangerous person you 
 could have in your house ! He brings with him just 
 the vurry things you are paying him to cure, ain't 
 that clear ? " 
 
 " They don't often do that," apologized Amy, 
 " and I've known them perform some wonderful 
 cures." 
 
 " Never," cried Mrs. Sutherland ; " never in 
 your life. The most that doctors can do is to put 
 you in the right frame of mind for curing yourself, 
 and ninety-nine per cent of them can't even do 
 that. They're not only ignorant," she said, waxing 
 eloquent on a subject that was very near her heart. 
 
102 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " of the great and vital truths of our being, but 
 they don't even know the simple tricks of 
 mortal mind that would perform a so-called cure. 
 Hypnotism, personal magnetism, mental suggestion 
 — they haven't touched the fringe of these things, 
 and thank Gard," she added piously, " that they 
 haven't, or they would do ten times more harm than 
 they do at present." 
 
 "All I know is," said Amy, " that Dr. 
 Bennett has helped me in every way, both 
 physically and mentally. He's my stand-by. 
 I couldn't ever give him up — I should be 
 simply lost without him. It's not only that 
 he knows all about illnesses, but he's such a 
 comfort when anything goes wrong with the chil- 
 dren. The fact is, I suppose," she continued 
 helplessly, "I'm not strong enough to do without 
 somebody." 
 
 " You have this Book," replied Mrs. Sutherland 
 reproachfully, giving it a reverent pat, " all the 
 wisdom in the world is contained between these 
 covers. It is the latest revelation of Gard to us, 
 given to our beloved Leader by Divine Inspiration. 
 The price is one guinea, not more than you would 
 pay for one visit to a so-called specialist. And for 
 that she gives you the certain remedy for all ills, 
 physical and mental." 
 
 " I expect I'm quite wrong," sighed Amy, " but 
 somehow I don't care about Mrs. Eddy." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland beamed a smile of ineffable 
 loving-kindness : this confession of Amy seemed for 
 some reason to please her vastly. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 103 
 
 " That is, my dear, because you can't conceive 
 what She is. Even I, advanced as I am, can only 
 faintly discern the beauty of Her holiness. You 
 don't expect a blind earth-worm to understand the 
 nature of the glorious sun, do you ? Very well 
 then," she concluded abruptly, evidently feeling 
 that there was no more to be said. 
 
 " No," persisted Amy mildly, " there's some- 
 thing about her that seems to rile me, I like 
 a great deal of what you say, but I can't," she 
 added with an apologetic smile, " quite believe 
 in Mrs. Eddy." 
 
 " Vurry well then," said Mrs. Sutherland, who had 
 arguments at her finger-tips ready to meet any and 
 every objection, " I'll just say this one thing to you. 
 Supposing you were thinking of paying a visit to 
 America. Supposing you thought that the climate 
 would be good for your health, and that you had 
 kind friends waiting to welcome you on the other 
 side. And supposing I told you of the wonders 
 of that beautiful country, and described to you all 
 the delightful things you would see there. And 
 suppose you were to shake your head at me and 
 tell me : ' Yes, Mrs. Sutherland, aU you say may be 
 true. I don't doubt your word. I know I have kind 
 friends there, and it's a place I've always had a 
 desire to see. But, all the same, I shan't ever 
 go to America, because from what I've heard of 
 Christopher Columbus I don't care about his 
 character' ! " 
 
 She paused and transfixed Amy with her luminous 
 magnetic eyes. 
 
104 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " What sort of a fool do you think you would 
 be then ? " she demanded. 
 
 Amy laughed. " That's very quaint," she said. 
 " I almost think I could be a Christian Scientist, if 
 I didn't have to give up the doctor." 
 
 " Believe me," said Mrs. Sutherland earnestly, 
 " that doctor's going to give you a heap of trouble 
 yet. However, Error destroys itself — through 
 suffering you will learn not to rely on Mortal Mind. 
 We've all got to come to it sooner or later. You 
 think over what I've told you." 
 
 While Amy was thinking it over that night before 
 going to sleep, Kit lay in the spare room, alone in 
 the expensive brass bed with its pink silk hangings, 
 wrestling with very different problems in great 
 anguish of spirit. Nearly a fortnight had elapsed 
 since his last meeting with Lebah : a fortnight of 
 such heart-rending misery, that he told himself 
 he could stand no more of it. His infatuation still 
 possessed him to the exclusion of all other interests, 
 and side by side with it, inseparable now from the 
 thought of it, was a fierce passion of jealousy that 
 seemed to corrode his very soul. Often in the long 
 night-watches Vibart's saturnine face would rise 
 out of the darkness, and mock him with its male- 
 volent green eyes, till, goaded to fury, he would 
 spring out of bed and pace the floor in an agony 
 of impotent desperation. 
 
 Sometimes, when the gods were kinder, he would 
 lose himself in delicious memories of the last three 
 months : the long hours when he had been able 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 105 
 
 to gaze his fill on the sensuous beauty of the girl he 
 adored, or finger gently her soft, dusky tresses. 
 He could hear again her low, vibrant voice, and see 
 the cool, disdainful smile hovering round her red 
 lips, while her eyes beckoned him with seductive 
 promise; those deep mysterious eyes, which 
 never yet yielded their secret to him, nor ever 
 fulfilled their alluring promise. Had she, he 
 wondered, simply been playing with him? But, 
 whether she had or not, he was past caring, 
 as long as he might see her again. Desperate 
 measures chased each other through his brain : 
 wild, impossible schemes that he elaborated with 
 painful detail, till he almost persuaded himself 
 that they were practicable. 
 
 And, as he lay there that night, he swore that, 
 come what might, on the next day he would see 
 her. If he had to stand outside the door all 
 day ; neglect his work ; get the sack ; and watch 
 his wife and family starve before his eyes, — see 
 her he would. 
 
 What exactly he would say to her he hardly 
 knew. There was so much to tell, so very 
 much to ask. But she should hear him out : of 
 that he was determined. And if, driven to despera- 
 tion, he slew her at his feet, or blew his own 
 brains out, on her head would be the blame. 
 He was prepared for any catastrophe, any 
 emergency : if the end were to be grim tragedy, it 
 would not surprise him in the least. 
 
 However, he decided, he would defer buying a 
 revolver until he was quite sure he would want to 
 
lo6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 use it. He would first find out what exactly her 
 views were, and whether it would be possible to 
 reduce her to reason by any less formidable means. 
 He reflected that much could often be achieved by 
 kindness and persuasion ; and, considering carefully 
 in his mind how very kind and persuasive he had it 
 in him to be to Lebah, his distracted feelings grew 
 gradually calmer, and he dropped off into a sound 
 and peaceful sleep. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 FIVE o'clock on the following afternoon found 
 Kit at the front door of the fiat in Shaftes- 
 bury Avenue, having decided, in the colder 
 reason of the morning light, not to skip a day's 
 work. But no luck awaited him there, for Lebah 
 was next door, helping her friend Bertha Putt to 
 transform a second-hand tea-gown into a smart 
 frock suitable for her appearance as a lady of 
 fashion in a forthcoming provincial production. 
 It was a long and tiresome job, and Lebah was very 
 bored, had been so before she began ; but one good 
 turn deserves another, and Bertha had already 
 done her turn in securing Lebah her present engage- 
 ment. Behold, then, Lebah on her knees, her mouth 
 half full of pins, with a fury of impatience in her 
 heart, pulling here, gathering there ; while Bertha, 
 arrayed in the anathematized garment, handed out 
 helpful instructions with an apologetic air. 
 
 "A bit tighter, I think," she said, " round the 
 feet. We might leave it open at the bottom if I 
 can't walk in it." 
 
 " Merciful Heaven ! " sighed Lebah, " I've 
 already taken it in yards. You want it so 
 you can sit down in it, I suppose." 
 
io8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 "Well, don't bother, old dear," said Bertha 
 good-naturedly. " You're tired, I can see. Just 
 pin it up round the bottom for me and I daresay 
 I can do the rest." 
 
 " No, I'll do it now I've begun," said Lebah 
 with resignation. " Only first you droop on one 
 side and then on the other, I can't see what's 
 straight and what isn't." 
 
 " Sorry," said Bertha, bracing herself to a 
 more rigid perpendicular. " How's that ? 
 
 " That's better. Look here, I shall have to be off 
 soon, my old freak isn't coming to-night, for some 
 occult reason connected with somebody's funeral, 
 and I've got to cook the grub myself unless I go 
 out somewhere and get it." 
 
 " Why not stop here ? " asked the hospitable 
 Bertha, " there's some cold ham in the house, if 
 that'll do you ? " 
 
 " Any old thing," replied Lebah, her head buried 
 in recalcitrant draperies on the ground. 
 
 So that, after repeated knockings and a tedious 
 wait of half an hour. Kit decided to go down- 
 stairs and wait outside in the hope of catching 
 Lebah on her return to dinner ; unless, he reflected, 
 she was really in the flat all the time, in which case 
 he must catch her going out. His determination 
 had in no way abated and he was resolved to take 
 no risks. 
 
 When half-past seven struck on a neighbouring 
 clock, it began to dawn on him that she was dining 
 elsewhere. 
 
 At eight o'clock he was sitting dinnerless in the 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 109 
 
 pit of the theatre at which she nightly appeared, 
 not having the courage to venture into the stalls in 
 his city suit of blue serge. 
 
 She looked as beautiful as ever, trailing about 
 luxuriantly in her Eastern robes of scarlet and gold. 
 But her expression, Kit thought, was a trifle sad ; 
 she seemed to wear an air of almost wistful mel- 
 ancholy, which appealed immensely to him. He 
 wondered if it could be possible that their separation 
 had affected her as deeply as it had done himself : 
 if she were suffering secretly but acutely from the 
 rigid enforcement of her high principles, and the 
 thought uplifted him exceedingly. He could not, of 
 course, know that she had dined off a slice of very 
 indifferent ham and a cup of tea, nor that Jack 
 Vibart was fulfilling an engagement in Bayswater 
 and not expected to put in an appearance that 
 evening. 
 
 When the performance was over, Kit hurried 
 round to the stage door, but deciding to risk no 
 possibility of a public snub, which would make it 
 difficult for him to carry out his plan of seeing her 
 alone at the fiat, he stood in the shadow of a door- 
 way till she came out of the theatre. He watched her 
 as she strolled along with another girl, then cautiously 
 leaving his shelter he stalked her anxiously through 
 the brilliantly hghted streets, through the hurrying 
 crowds that wended their ways homewards, till at 
 last he saw her disappear with a careless nod to her 
 companion within the portals of the street door 
 that led to her flat. 
 
 " Now," thought Kit, " the coast is clear. I will 
 
no CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 wait till she gets upstairs, so that she won't know 
 I followed her, which might perhaps annoy her 
 unnecessarily . . . and then . . . then. ..." 
 
 His heart thumped in violent agitation against 
 his ribs, for he had come to a desperate decision 
 -—of which more anon. 
 
 Ten minutes later he made his way upstairs 
 and stood again outside the closed door. Fate 
 this time guided his hand so that, instead of 
 giving his usual rat-a-tat, he took the knocker 
 firmly by the claw and planted it down three 
 times in succession, three distinct and decisive 
 blows, each one pregnant with his determination 
 to get inside the door. 
 
 To his joy they acted like a charm. The door 
 flew open, and there stood Lebah herself, a vivid 
 smile of welcome on her face, which, however, 
 vanished with startling rapidity before Kit could 
 respond to it, 
 
 " Well I never ! " she exclaimed, distinctly 
 taken aback at perceiving the wrong man on the 
 door-mat, and one, too, whom she had consigned 
 to oblivion. 
 
 Kit slipped inside hastily, in case of accidents. 
 
 " Found you in at last," he began with a 
 hopeful smile. 
 
 " I'm generally in at bedtime," replied Lebah 
 pointedly. " However," she added, " now you're 
 here you'd better come in and sit down a few 
 minutes." 
 
 She followed him into the little sitting-room, 
 revolving in her mind how best to get rid of him 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER iii 
 
 ill the most speedy and peaceable manner. Kit, 
 however, had naturally no intention of the interview 
 being either short or particularly peaceful, and, 
 seating himself in the familiar wicker-chair, he 
 transfixed her with a prolonged and reproachful 
 gaze, which formed a very fitting preface to the 
 indignant remarks he was about to unload from 
 his overburdened chest. 
 
 Lebah smiled faintly, but said nothing, as she 
 balanced herself on the edge of the table facing 
 him. A newly lighted fire was blazing cheerfully 
 on the hearth and lent a spurious air of comfort 
 to the little room, as it flickered on the polished 
 wood of the piano and threw provoking shadows 
 over the girl's face. She was wearing a loosely 
 made frock of Indian red silk, low at the neck and 
 cut short at the elbows to show her slim, well-shaped 
 arms. Her smooth, almost sleek black hair was 
 coiled carelessly round her head, and as she sat there, 
 serenely swinging one well-shod foot with its silver 
 buckle, Kit felt his righteous indignation fade and 
 dwindle ; his fiery reproaches grew cold and died, 
 and he was seized with an ardent desire to take 
 her in his arms and kiss her without stopping till 
 the end of time. 
 
 Something, however, in the impertinent way she 
 met his eye, warned him to be wary. Somehow 
 she looked remote, almost practical : not the 
 purple-clad, mysterious beauty of his dreams, 
 but a woman of real flesh and blood, to live with, 
 to work for ; but first of all and at any cost to 
 be secured. 
 
112 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Lebah herself broke the silence, which was be- 
 coming almost oppressive. 
 
 " Trot it out," she said lightly, " I suppose 
 you're furious with me ? 
 
 " No, no, not exactly," said Kit, " I was hurt, 
 you know. Why wouldn't you see me ? " 
 
 Lebah glanced speculatively at him, uncertain how 
 to handle him. He might, and probably would, if 
 not judiciously managed, entirely upset her apple- 
 cart, the vehicle in which she had determined to 
 wheel Jack Vibart to the altar. On the other 
 hand, she had a very poor opinion of his fighting 
 powers, and on the strength of this she decided to 
 take the bull by the horns, reckoning, as one so 
 often does, without the bull. 
 
 " For about fifteen good and sufficient reasons," 
 she replied lightly, " the chief one being that I 
 didn't wish to." 
 
 Kit looked very steadily at her. 
 
 " You've treated me very badly, do you know 
 that ? " he demanded. 
 
 " Not my fault," she replied. " I told you 
 the other day what I felt about your coming here so 
 much ; it's only looking for trouble to hang on after 
 that. I shan't change my mind, if that's what 
 you want to know." 
 
 She slipped from the table and threw herself 
 back with a sigh into her long chair by the fire. 
 
 Kit looked at her, his eyes, after their long fast, 
 feasting on her slim lines and graceful curves. A 
 sudden change had passed over her face : all the 
 impertinence had vanished, and the look of brooding 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 113 
 
 mystery that always fascinated him lay in her 
 dark eyes. 
 
 " Tell me," he said abruptly, " is it because you 
 are afraid of what people wiU say about us," 
 he moved nearer to her side, " or because you 
 don't care ? " 
 
 " Both," said Lebah with calm indifference, 
 but she softened her reply with a provoking upward 
 glance at him. 
 
 Kit found this rather encouraging ; and, kneeling 
 down carefully by her side, he looked earnestly at 
 her as if trying to read her thoughts. 
 
 " Lebah," he began appealingly, " can you look 
 me in the face and honestly tell me you don't 
 care, after the way I've loved you . , . after the 
 way you've let me love you ? Can you accept 
 all that and give me nothing ? " 
 
 Lebah's eyelids flickered for a moment. Kit had 
 at last pierced through her defence of indifference. 
 She felt, almost for the first time in the history of 
 their relationship, that something might be due to 
 him. However, it was too late now. 
 
 " Yes," she sighed, " that's me exactly." 
 
 Her smile was almost shamefaced. 
 
 " No, it's not," said Kit. " Do you see, I 
 know you better than you know yourself. I know 
 exactly why you are trying to send me out of your 
 life and I honour you for it — I respect you. 
 Yes," he protested vehemently, as Lebah was 
 about to speak, " I do respect you. You are too 
 good for the sort of life you lead, unsheltered, and 
 at the mercy of any blackguard who can manage 
 8 
 
114 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 to get an introduction to you. What you need is 
 the protection of a good man's love, and that, 
 Lebah," he added with hushed solemnity, " is 
 what I have come to-night to offer you." 
 
 He took her hand in his own and looked ardently 
 at her, so carried away by the portentous gravity 
 of the occasion that he hardly noticed when she 
 gently withdrew it. 
 
 " I want you," he continued, " to come away 
 with me for good. We will go to a new country 
 and make a fresh start together, to some place 
 where we are not known. Think of it, a little 
 home of our own, always together, just you 
 and I ! " 
 
 Lebah looked at him curiously. 
 
 " And what about Amy ? " she asked, " and the 
 children ? " 
 
 A look of pain passed over Kit's face, and he 
 gazed with a troubled air into the fire. 
 
 " I haven't forgotten about her," he said heavily. 
 " She'll be very upset, poor girl. It will be a terrible 
 blow to her ; I don't know, I'm sure, how she'll take 
 it. There'll be a divorce, I suppose," he sighed 
 deeply, "a lot of bother and fuss. However," 
 he added philosophically, " I shouldn't be there." 
 He turned again to Lebah. " The fact is," said he 
 recklessly, " I don't care what happens, so long 
 as I don't lose you. I can't bear the thought of 
 living without you. If you send me away, 
 I shall ... I don't know what I shall do." 
 
 " I can tell you," said Lebah coolly, " you'll 
 go back and live happily with Amy again." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 115 
 
 " Never," said Kit with conviction, " it would 
 belike . . . like eating cake after caviare." 
 
 " Cake's better for you," smiled Lebah. 
 
 " Ah, Lebah, don't try and tease me ! " he cried 
 earnestly. " Why won't you take me seriously ? 
 Do you think I'm not a man, with a man's 
 feelings and . . . and , . . passions ? " 
 
 " I know you are," said Lebah, " and that's why 
 it's time to stop fooling. ..." 
 
 " Fooling ! " he cried passionately, " there you 
 are again ! I'm not fooling. I'm in deadly 
 earnest. I love you. I worship you. Say 
 you'll do as I ask you. When shall we go ? " 
 
 Lebah regarded him patiently. 
 
 " Dear Kit, I'm sure you mean well, but you 
 don't seem to understand. I would never go 
 away with you, simply because I don't care 
 enough about you. I don't love you and I never 
 have done so." 
 
 " But you soon will," persisted Kit, " you don't 
 yet realize what a big thing I'm doing for you, 
 what I'm giving you. I'm offering you all 
 my life, my love, my — my everything. What 
 more can you want ? " 
 
 " I don't want anything, dear boy," said 
 Lebah with resignation, " except . . . it's getting 
 very late and I really think you must go home 
 now." 
 
 " Yes," said Kit uneasily, " I know it is, but 
 I can't leave you like this. You've thoroughly 
 upset me. I thought ..." he started up 
 nervously as three decided taps sounded on the outer 
 
Il6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 door. " Now who on earth can that be ? " he 
 asked anxiously. 
 
 Lebah rose with a sudden fear at her heart. Only 
 too well she knew who it was. She stared at the 
 door and then back to the man before her with the 
 hunted look of a trapped animal. 
 
 " Who can it be ? " asked Kit again in a 
 whisper. 
 
 " It's Jack Vibart," said Lebah tensely. 
 
 She met his eyes squarely, hiding nothing of her 
 anxiety. 
 
 Kit stared hard at her, and read his fate in 
 their troubled depths. Then an ugly look swept 
 over his face, and he turned away from her with an 
 oath. 
 
 " I knew it ! " he groaned. " I was certain 
 that swine was at the bottom of all this." 
 
 The blood surged up into his head and he began to 
 breathe heavily. 
 
 Now this was not at all what Lebah had expected, 
 and so unhinged was she at the disastrous turn 
 events had taken that she stood for a moment, 
 unable to speak. A meeting between the two 
 men was what she had tried most desperately to 
 avoid, and she realized almost with panic that, 
 unless she could prevent it now, she was done for in 
 Jack's estimation : for Kit was in no mood to pick 
 his words, and heaven alone knew what he would 
 have to say about her. Suddenly an inspiration 
 seized her, and quick as thought she turned and 
 caught him by the arm. 
 
 "If he finds you here with me at this time of 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 117 
 
 night, I'm done for ! " she breathed. " Don't 
 you see, it would ruin me ; he mustn't see you." 
 
 " Don't let him in, then," said Kit, pulling 
 himself together and considerably helped by the 
 thought of his rival standing outside fuming on 
 the doormat, where he himself had stood so often 
 and so patiently. 
 
 " I must," said Lebah, seeing a mental vision of 
 Jack, true to his word, waiting on the mat till dawn. 
 " He may have heard us talking," she explained for 
 Kit's benefit. " Look here," she whispered in agita- 
 tion, " I know I've been rather a rotter to you. Kit, 
 but will you do just one thing for me now ? Will 
 you," she pleaded, " go in that cupboard till I send 
 him away ? " 
 
 She pointed urgently to a door set in the wall. 
 
 " Oh Lord, no," said Kit uncertainly. " No, 
 I can't do that." 
 
 " And afterwards I will do any mortal thing 
 you ask me," persisted Lebah frantically, for the 
 raps were repeated on the door with increased em- 
 phasis. " He shan't come in ; I'll get him off 
 somehow. Do, Kit, if you love me ! " she 
 begged, pushing him gently toward the wall, " just 
 in case he catches sight of you." 
 
 Protesting, he allowed himself to be propelled 
 over to the corner by the fireside, and before he had 
 decided in his own mind on a course which would 
 combine dignity with discretion he found himself 
 squeezed in between a yellow silk petticoat — for 
 this was where Lebah kept her best clothes — and 
 a swiftly closing door. 
 
ii8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 He heard Lebah's soft rush across the room : 
 heard the cHck of the opening door and a confused 
 murmur of voices in the hall. 
 
 Jack, quite sure of his welcome, walked straight 
 into the sitting-room, put his hat on the table, 
 and began to take off his overcoat. He was in 
 evening dress, and looked very smart and almost 
 cheery. 
 
 " Thought you'd gone to bed," he remarked 
 without looking round. 
 
 " I . . . believe I've been asleep ..." said 
 Lebah nervously. " I haven't been in long. ... I 
 was tired ... I had a headache. ..." 
 
 " Poor old thing," said Jack genially. 
 
 Lebah remained standing, uncertain what to do : 
 in her panic she had not prepared for this contin- 
 gency. She racked her brains for an idea, and after 
 a frenzied search secured a very brilliant one. 
 
 " Oh, I say ... do you know ... I really 
 must go round and see how Bertha is . . . she was 
 so seedy this afternoon. ..." 
 
 As she spoke the idea grew in subtlety, and re- 
 source, for she reflected that Bertha was going out 
 to supper with a pal, and would not be home till 
 midnight, if then. Her confidence returned to 
 her with this comforting remembrance, and she 
 turned to Jack with almost her usual nonchalance. 
 
 " I wish you'd go round for me, will you ? 
 Only the next door upstairs, the top flat, would 
 you ? " 
 
 Jack relapsed lazily into an arm-chair by the fire- 
 side. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 119 
 
 " Your kind heart does you credit," he said. 
 " I'll let you go if you don't stay longer than five 
 minutes." 
 
 Lebah hesitated a moment. She was wondering 
 if Kit would have the sense to let himself out if she 
 very casually unhooked the cupboard door before 
 leaving the room. 
 
 " You come too ? " she suggested tentatively. 
 
 " No," said Jack, proceeding to light a cigarette, 
 " I don't care about the lady. Give her my love." 
 
 Lebah promptly relinquished the brilliant idea, 
 and cast about anxiously in her mind for another. 
 She sat down, meantime, uncomfortably on a small 
 chair and looked nervously towards the cupboard 
 in the wall. 
 
 " After all," she said, " perhaps I could run in 
 after you go. You won't be long." 
 
 There was silence for a few seconds, and presently 
 Jack looked up at her with a critical stare. 
 
 " I'm beginning to feel that you've had enough of 
 me already," he said. " What's up ? " 
 
 " Nothing," replied Lebah carelessly. " I've 
 got a headache. I shall be all right to-morrow. 
 I'm afraid I'm very dull to-night." 
 
 Jack looked uncertainly at her. 
 
 " You don't look quite at the top of your form," 
 he said. " Are you sure there's nothing the matter 
 . . . nothing upset you ? ' ' 
 
 " Absolutely no," she insisted. " I know I'm 
 not fit to talk to. Suppose you go away and 
 leave me, I feel an utter bore." 
 
 Jack rose with a brief smile. 
 
I20 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Suppose I don't do anything of the sort," he 
 said, advancing towards her. " Suppose you sit 
 down comfortably in that long chair of yours and 
 tell me what you're in such a fluster about." 
 
 Lebah rose also, and stood facing him, but 
 taking care to avoid his eyes: her breath came a 
 little faster. 
 
 Jack watched her with secret delight. Lebah 
 without her usual cool insouciance was diverting — 
 more, she was wonderfully alluring. He laid his 
 hands on her shoulders and tried to look into her 
 face, and the expression in his agate eyes carried 
 a conviction that would have made Lebah's heart 
 leap for joy, if, because of Kit in the cupboard, it had 
 not quaked horribly with fright. 
 
 Jack, she discerned, was dangerously on the point 
 of making love to her ; perhaps even of a proposal, 
 which might or might not require a little delicate 
 manipulation on her part to convert it into the sort 
 of proposition she could accept. At all events, he 
 must be postponed to a more convenient season. 
 But how ? Her eyes drooped before his, not 
 so much from maidenly modesty as to hide the 
 anxious conflict that was taking place behind them. 
 
 But Jack, being a very experienced person, knew 
 that drooping eyes tell their own tale, even if it 
 is a chestnut ; and without more ado he folded her 
 silently in his long, sinewy arms. 
 
 " I won't kiss you," he whispered softly, " till 
 you want me to." 
 
 Inside the cupboard it was getting hot. A 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 121 
 
 delicate and disturbing aroma hung in the filmy 
 folds of Lebah's best clothes, and strain his ears as 
 he might Kit could not hear a sound. The sUence 
 became oppressive. How curious, thought he, 
 that a conversation should collapse so suddenly, 
 for until that moment he had been able to hear 
 every word distinctly. An uneasy feeling grew on 
 him that things were not as they should be, a 
 feeling that was strengthened by a murmur from 
 Lebah, so low that he only just caught the words. 
 
 " Not to-day," she said pleadingly. " Please 
 don't ! " 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 Silence again in the tiny room. Kit with eyes 
 and mouth wide open pressed himself up against 
 the crack of the door, and listened with all his 
 might. 
 
 " You're a long time dead, you know," said 
 Jack persuasively, unconsciously using her favourite 
 argument. 
 
 Lebah, freeing herself gently from his embrace, 
 looked up at him with an enigmatic smile, and their 
 eyes met : hers smouldering, fathomless, full of 
 meaning ; his passionate, vicious, compelling. 
 
 It seemed to Lebah that her whole soul rose at 
 his demand, and a wUd longing seized her to fling 
 herself again into his arms. She had, moreover, 
 sufficient confidence in her own blandishments to 
 feel sure that, once there, she could dictate her own 
 terms of surrender. And perhaps she was right, 
 but with another lover in the cupboard the poor girl 
 was heavily handicapped. Her silence, thought 
 
122 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Jack, was adorable. That hint of mystery in her 
 eyes, together with the delicate reluctance she 
 showed, roused him to a pitch of enthusiasm of 
 which he had hardly believed himself capable. His 
 pulse quickened and a curious dark flush spread 
 over his saturnine face, his long bony hand trembled 
 as he held it out to her. 
 
 " Look at me ! " he said, with a quick, hoarse 
 laugh. " See what a pitiable state I'm in ! Aren't 
 you going to . . . Good God ! . . . what's 
 that ? " 
 
 And indeed a mighty crash resounded through 
 the air, for Kit had, as he put it, " had enough," 
 and throwing his whole weight against the flimsy 
 door burst open his prison and stood before 
 them, scarlet in the face and panting with rage and 
 exertion. 
 
 " Damn you, leave her alone ! " he cried, 
 thrusting himself roughly between the two. 
 
 After that first startled exclamation, Jack quickly 
 resumed his wonted imperturbability, and fixing his 
 monocle carefully in his eye he regarded the 
 infuriated Kit as if he had been some rare and 
 interesting insect. 
 
 Lebah's hysterical gasp resolved itself into a 
 frank chuckle of amusement, as she subsided into 
 the nearest chair. The situation had become quite 
 impossible, and with her usual philosophy she was 
 prepared to make the most of the dramatic turn 
 events had taken. 
 
 " Why do you keep him in the cupboard, Le- 
 bah ? " inquired Jack suavely. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 123 
 
 " I ought never to have gone there," spluttered 
 Kit with heat. 
 
 " Quite," agreed Jack coldly, " but having gone 
 I think I should have stayed there." 
 
 " And listened calmly while you made love to 
 her ! " exploded Kit wrathfully. " No thank you, 
 not much, not if I know it." 
 
 Jack's eyes glinted dangerously, but not a muscle 
 of his face moved as he turned to the girl who a 
 moment before had been in his arms. Lebah met 
 his gaze unflinchingly. With all her faults she never 
 lacked courage in a tight comer, and the situation 
 was one, moreover, entirely after her own heart, 
 whatever the result might be. 
 
 " Do you see," she began expansively, " I put 
 him in there, because I heard you coming and 
 he's so wildly jealous of you. I knew he'd make a 
 fool of himself." 
 
 " No," said Jack savagely, " I'm the fool. I'm 
 a pathetic spectacle, I quite see that." 
 
 Lebah looked a trifle apprehensive. Matrimony 
 or not, she had no intention of losing Jack, and her 
 anger rose at the sight of Kit standing there between 
 them ; for that valiant lover, perceiving that his 
 inopportune appearance was likely to cause a 
 quarrel, and possibly a rupture of their relations 
 with one another, made no effort to hide his satis- 
 faction. 
 
 " I told you about him," she said nervously, " the 
 other day, don't you remember ? this is him." 
 
 " Yes," supplemented Kit, " I've known Lebah 
 a long time," he looked Jack boldly in the face; 
 
124 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " she belongs to me and I don't care who 
 knows it." 
 
 " What ? " almost screamed Lebah, her eyes 
 blazing with sudden passion. " How dare you 
 tell such a wicked lie ? " she turned swiftly to 
 Jack. " He came here to-night," she said reck- 
 lessly, " to try and persuade me to go away with 
 him ; didn't you ? " she asked angrily of Kit. 
 
 " That's right," said Kit. 
 
 " And I refused flatly, didn't I ? " pursued 
 Lebah, eyeing him with active hostility. 
 
 " Well," temporized Kit, " you didn't exactly 
 say yes." 
 
 Lebah faced him with stormy eyes. 
 
 " Didn't I say most distinctly that I never 
 would ? Didn't I tell you that I cared nothing 
 about you and would have nothing at all to do with 
 you ? " she demanded angrily. " How dare you 
 say I belong to you ? What do you mean by your 
 infernal lies ? Get out of my house and never 
 set foot inside my door again, you poisonous 
 little toad ! " 
 
 Her breast was heaving with almost uncontrol- 
 lable excitement, her eyes were black with fury as 
 she pointed to the door with a long, slim forefinger. 
 
 To say that Kit was astounded, in no way ex- 
 presses his utter amazement at her complete change 
 of front. A slow thinker himself, he found it im- 
 possible to readjust his position at such short 
 notice, and this inability stood him in good stead, 
 for he held his ground, and a look of stolid resolve 
 crept into his face. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 125 
 
 " I shan't go," he said sullenly. " If anyone 
 is to go, let him." 
 
 " Perhaps he's right," said Jack cordially, taking 
 up his hat. 
 
 But Lebah flew to him. 
 
 " No, Jack," she cried, " put him out for me ; 
 pitch him down the stairs. I won't have him 
 here." 
 
 Jack laid his hat down again carefully on the 
 table. 
 
 " It's nothing to do with me," he said in- 
 differently, " but if you want him put out, of 
 course he must go." 
 
 He eyed Kit with cool speculation, as if considering 
 which end to take hold of him. 
 
 " Must he, indeed ? " snarled Kit, nettled 
 equally by the words as by the tone in which they 
 were spoken. " You'd better try and do it, 
 then." 
 
 Quick as thought Jack sprang forward, and 
 catching the other's arm in his steel-like fingers he 
 twisted it deftly behind him ; but before he could 
 get the leverage, which would have rendered his 
 opponent helpless. Kit slipped on a comer of the 
 hearth-rug and fell heavily sideways, his head crash- 
 ing with a sickening thud against the edge of the 
 fender. 
 
 For a full minute he lay there like a felled ox, 
 while Jack recovered his balance, and Lebah stood 
 over him with horrified eyes. 
 
 " He's bleeding ! " she exclaimed, all her anger 
 evaporating at this new catastrophe. 
 
126 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Jack knelt down on the carpet and examined him 
 carefully. 
 
 " Yes," he said shortly, " he's cut his head a 
 little, it's nothing much." 
 
 " But why doesn't he come round ? " she asked 
 fearfully. " I hope to goodness he's not hurt." 
 
 " No fear," replied Jack, without looking at 
 her, " only a slight concussion, I think. Better 
 get some brandy, if you have any." 
 
 Lebah hurried to the sideboard and returned 
 a moment later with a decanter of spirit and a 
 tumbler. 
 
 " Do you want some water ? " she asked 
 meekly. 
 
 " No," said Jack. " Pass it here, and a spoon." 
 
 He took the bottle and poured out half a tumbler 
 of brandy with a careless hand, then with a spoon 
 he forced a few drops between the teeth of the un- 
 conscious Kit. 
 
 Lebah watched him anxiously, and in a few 
 minutes saw, to her intense relief, that the spirit 
 was having the desired effect. Kit opened his eyes 
 and moaned feebly. 
 
 " Drink some of this," said Jack, slipping an 
 arm under his head to raise it slightly. 
 
 Kit closed his eyes again with a groan and made 
 no reply. 
 
 " Come along," said Jack impatiently ; " once you 
 get this down, you'll be all right ; you're not much 
 hurt." 
 
 " Yes I am," groaned Kit, " my head's frightful ; 
 it's a wonder I wasn't killed." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 127 
 
 Jack stopped further lamentation by summarily 
 raising the glass to his lips, and despite the vigorous 
 protests of his victim pouring some of the liquid 
 into his mouth. 
 
 " Wait a minute," spluttered Kit. " I'll sit up." 
 
 He raised himself with difficulty and, taking the 
 tumbler in his own hands, drained the contents to 
 the last drop. 
 
 " It tastes very strong," he choked. " I hope 
 you haven't given me too much ? " 
 
 The spirit revived him ; he struggled to his 
 feet and lurched over to the divan, on to which he 
 carefully lowered himself and lay back with an 
 exhausted sigh. 
 
 Lebah stood watching him for a few minutes. 
 
 " Are you feeling better ? " she inquired 
 presently, crossing over to the sofa and bending 
 down to him. 
 
 " No," said Kit faintly, " not much, my head 
 aches." 
 
 He raised his hand to feel the bruised place, 
 and withdrew it sharply. 
 
 " It's wet ! " he cried in alarm. " Blood ! " he 
 exclaimed, looking with dismay at his fingers, 
 which showed traces of a slight abrasion. 
 
 Lebah took a tiny handkerchief out of the bosom 
 of her dress, a fine and delicately scented trifle, and 
 gently wiped the place. 
 
 "It's really nothing," she assured him. "See, 
 very little blood, only a mark." 
 
 Kit took the handkerchief from her and tried 
 again, to make quite sure. Perceiving no signs of 
 
128 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 haemorrhage, he fell back on to the cushions and 
 closed his eyes again. 
 
 Jack meanwhile had been standing with his 
 back to the couple, gazing into the fire, his 
 reflections being, to judge by his expression 
 of restrained ferocity, not of a very pleasing 
 character. 
 
 As Lebah left the couch, he turned and faced 
 her. Anger was in his eyes, but his tone was cold 
 and even. 
 
 " There's nothing much the matter with him, 
 he'd better have a cab and go home. Where does 
 he live ? " 
 
 " Somewhere in Uppington, I don't know 
 exactly," replied Lebah, in a matter-of-fact tone to 
 match his indifference. " He goes from Waterloo 
 Station, would you mind looking up to see what 
 time there is a train ? There's a time-table on 
 that shelf there." 
 
 Kit showed not the faintest interest in this con- 
 versation. He lay perfectly still, taking long deep 
 breaths, and emitting occasionally a faint moan. 
 He had eaten nothing since his luncheon at one 
 o'clock and the brandy was mounting to his brain 
 in the most comforting way. He was already long 
 past caring in the least what time the train left 
 Waterloo. 
 
 " Eleven-fifty," said Jack, looking at the time- 
 table. " That's the last train to-night. It's now 
 eleven-thirty," he added, after a glance at his 
 watch, " if he's going to catch it he must go at 
 once." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 129 
 
 Lebah went back to the sofa and touched him 
 on the shoulder. 
 
 " Kit, you'll have to go now, or you'll lose 
 the last train home." 
 
 " I can't move," said Kit faintly. " I feel too 
 iU toget up." 
 
 " There's nothing the matter with you," said 
 Jack roughly, "you can get up all right if you 
 want to." 
 
 No fitting retort occurred to Kit's benumbed 
 brain, so he maintained a dignified silence. 
 
 " Come along," urged Lebah. "I'll help you 
 on to your feet." 
 
 Kit looked at her with dull, uncomprehending 
 eyes. 
 
 " I'm not going home," he muttered. " I'm 
 all right here ; leave me alone." 
 
 Lebah watched him with growing concern. 
 
 " You've given him too much brandy, Jack," 
 she said. " I believe he's going to sleep." 
 
 " Very likely," replied Jack indifferently, reaching 
 for his coat in order to hide a flicker of a smUe 
 that played about his grim features. 
 
 Lebah stared at him in amazement. 
 
 " Good gracious. Jack ! " she cried, " you're surely 
 not going to leave him here with me alone ? " 
 
 " He's your guest, not mine," said Jack coolly, 
 putting on his coat. 
 
 " I think it's unkind of you," retorted Lebah 
 
 with some heat. " You know I had nothing to do 
 
 with him coming here. It just happened that 
 
 he knocked three times on the door, and I 
 
 9 
 
130 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 thought it was you, or I should never have let 
 him in." 
 
 But Jack was in no mood to listen to explanations, 
 
 " My fault entirely," he said pleasantly, " it 
 was an unearthly hour to call." 
 
 Lebah caught the savage glint in his eye, and her 
 heart failed her as she looked in despair at the 
 form of the now soundly sleeping Kit on the sofa. 
 
 " He can't stay here all night," she said 
 helplessly, " and he's lost the last train home. 
 What are you going to do about him ? " she 
 asked, looking him full in the face, 
 
 " Just whatever you like," said Jack obligingly, 
 " if I can help you in any way ? " 
 
 Lebah's eyes flashed. 
 
 " For heaven's sake," she cried furiously, " get 
 him out of this. I don't care what you do with 
 him. Hand him to the nearest policeman ; pitch 
 him out of the window ; do anything you like. 
 I wish I'd never set eyes on the fool ! " 
 
 Jack smiled grimly to himself as he crossed over to 
 the sofa and began prodding the unconscious Kit, 
 
 " Come along," he said curtly. " Up you get. 
 You're going home now." 
 
 Remonstrance was of no avail this time, and so 
 with many groans and grunts Kit struggled to his 
 feet, and into his overcoat and hat. 
 
 It was a tedious job for an impatient man getting 
 him downstairs, but eventually, with one hand on the 
 banisters and propped up on the other side by Jack 
 Vibart, Kit managed to stagger to the bottom and 
 out into the street. Still dizzy from the effects of 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 131 
 
 his fall, and drugged with the half-tumblerful of 
 raw spirit, he felt the pavement reel under his feet, 
 and saw all the lamp-posts lurching in opposite 
 directions. Clinging for safety to Jack's arm, he 
 was dimly aware of a taxi panting in front of him ; 
 and a moment later had relapsed thankfully and 
 without question into its cushioned depths. 
 
 " Look here," said Jack to the driver, " I 
 haven't time to go home with him myself. Do 
 you know Roseberry Gardens, Bayswater ? " 
 
 " Yessir." 
 
 " Number eight." 
 
 " Yessir." 
 
 " That's right," said Jack, pulling out half a 
 crown, " but in case he's any trouble, here." 
 
 The man took the coin with a grin, he had taken 
 home many a fare of this sort, and the car glided 
 easily off, down the almost empty street. 
 
 The housemaid at number eight Roseberry Gardens, 
 dragged out of her warm bed to answer the door, 
 proved too indignant even to argue with — and 
 ten minutes later the car drew up before the nearest 
 police station. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE shock of hearing himself addressed in 
 stentorian tones by a burly policeman 
 effectually aroused Kit from his peaceful 
 slumbers. 
 
 He found it difficult for the moment quite to 
 remember the train of events, which had reduced 
 him to his present position, and for one panic-struck 
 instant he wondered wildly if he had done any- 
 thing for which he could be locked up. This 
 reflection had a very sobering effect on him, and 
 with a determined effort he pulled himself together 
 and sat up straight in his seat. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " he demanded with 
 some dignity of the interrogative police officer. 
 " I am on my way home and I missed the last 
 train from Waterloo." 
 
 " Where do you live ? " asked the constable, 
 without much respect. 
 
 " In Uppington," replied Kit, hoping no further 
 details would be required. 
 
 " First I've heard of it," interpolated the 
 chauffeur. " The gent says to me ' take 'im 
 to Roseberry Gardens, that's where 'e lives,' he 
 says, clear as mud." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 133 
 
 The policeman pulled out a notebook. 
 
 " What gent ? " he asked. 
 
 " The gent as put 'im in the car ; *e couldn't 
 get in by himself, not then 'e couldn't ; he was 
 too drunk." 
 
 " I was nothing of the kind," said Kit angrily. 
 " I ... I had a fall ... an accident. . . ." 
 
 " Where ? " inquired the constable, writing 
 busily, " in the street ? " 
 
 "No," replied Kit laconically, " not in the 
 street." 
 
 " Do you wish to make any charge ? " inquired 
 the officer with a judicial air, 
 
 "Not . . . no . . ." said Kit uneasily, " that 
 is . . . don't trouble yourself, constable. I feel 
 quite all right now. I think I'll go straight 
 home." He addressed himself to the chauffeur. 
 " Can you drive me to Uppington to-night ? " 
 he demanded. 
 
 " I could," demurred the man, " if I was 
 to go and fill up with petrol. But do you 
 see, gov'nor, it's after twelve o'clock, and I 
 shouldn't care to do it, not unless you was to 
 offer me something substantial. It's a long way, 
 and I should have to come all the way back 
 again." 
 
 " All right," said Kit, whose head ached 
 violently, and who felt that a fiver would be well 
 spent if it deposited him safely back at his own 
 fireside again. 
 
 So the driver climbed up into his seat and started 
 off on another attempt to take his fare home, 
 
134 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 chuckling to himself at his piece of good luck, for 
 fivers did not often come his way. 
 
 Lying back in the dim gloom of the car, Kit tried 
 to think : tried desperately to realize his position. 
 That Lebah should have refused his offer to elope 
 with her, hardly concerned him at all ; indeed so 
 deeply was he impressed with the consequent pro- 
 ceedings that he had almost forgotten that any such 
 offer had been made. Moreover, her conduct had 
 been so abominable, so lacking in all womanly 
 delicacy and feeling, that even when he recalled her 
 rejection of him it was with a lively sense of 
 thankfulness and relief. " Poisonous little toad " 
 indeed ! That somehow lingered in his mind. 
 What an escape from such a virago ! He wondered 
 how on earth he could have imagined that he loved 
 her. He told himself that from now and henceforth 
 he hated her with an abiding hatred. He cursed 
 himself for a blind fool not to have seen through 
 her long ago. Vibart was a fitting mate for such as 
 she, and he wished them joy of each other. 
 
 He had only a hazy idea of what had happened in 
 the flat. Jack, he imagined, had not only knocked 
 him down and rendered him senseless, but evidently 
 had given him with malicious intent far too much 
 brandy while he was still unconscious. Not content 
 with this miserable revenge, he had further been 
 such a vindictive devil as to furnish the chauffeur 
 with a wrong address at the other end of London, 
 for the express purpose of putting him in an absurd, 
 and possibly dangerous predicament. For Kit had 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 135 
 
 no doubt that if he had not been able to 
 explain himself satisfactorily, he would have, by 
 this time, been locked up in a police cell for the 
 night. 
 
 The longer he reflected on the scandalous behaviour 
 of those two and the disgraceful way in which he 
 had been treated by everybody all round, the more 
 angry he grew, till his blood literally boiled in his 
 veins with indignation. 
 
 And then, like an icy cold little douche, came 
 the thought of Amy. What would Amy say? 
 
 That simple question seemed to reduce the 
 temperature of his blood wonderfully. It put it 
 quite off the boiling-point. It cooled it down so 
 suddenly, and with such startling efficiency, that he 
 was conscious of a severe chill ; he almost shivered 
 as he wondered what Amy would say. 
 
 The car seemed to be rushing along at a frightful 
 speed. Every moment was taking him nearer home, 
 nearer Amy and her questioning eyes. Perhaps it 
 would have been better to have gone straight to an 
 hotel and waited until the morning to have it out 
 with Amy. He wished that the idea had occurred 
 to him before. There seemed no doubt now that 
 his deception of her, his unfaithfulness — for that 
 was what Amy would call it — must all be brought 
 to light. He must tumble from that high place in 
 her estimation which he had always, and quite 
 deservedly he felt, up to the present occupied. 
 He would have to grovel ; to ask for forgive- 
 ness ; to humble himself in the dust, to his own 
 wife, to the one person in the world before whom 
 
136 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 he felt he really could not humble himself in 
 the dust. Moreover, it would be so bad for 
 her. It would inevitably put things on a very 
 improper footing between them, if his rightful 
 authority should be diminished. It might even give 
 Amy a trying air of superiority, which he had 
 sometimes noticed, and always disliked exceedingly, 
 in other women. She would never be able to forget 
 it. Women were like that. He felt annoyed with 
 all women for being so tiresome, so inquisitive and 
 censorious, that a man couldn't get himself into 
 a frightful hole without their making things worse 
 by waiting for him on the doorstep to know what 
 it was all about. 
 
 He imagined himself going into the dining- 
 room : she would, of course, be sitting up, terribly 
 alarmed at his absence, pathetically pale and 
 anxious. He tried to think what she would 
 look like when he told her where he had been — 
 and why. A vulgar brawl over an actress living 
 in Shaftesbury Avenue ! No one would blame 
 her if she refused to believe his protestations of 
 innocence ; he was well aware that the whole 
 proceedings looked very much more scandalous 
 than they really were. Suppose Amy was so in- 
 censed against him that she went away and left 
 him ! He knew that with all her soft, appealing 
 ways she had within her an independent spirit, 
 something that he preferred to call obstinacy. 
 Supposing she broke up the home and took the 
 children to live with her parents, and left him 
 homeless, stranded, all for something that he 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 137 
 
 had not done? The fact was, he argued to 
 himself, that women do ; not understand how 
 these things happen to a man. Wives at any 
 rate never do. And after aU he was no worse 
 than many other men, and a great deal better than 
 most. On the whole, perhaps, it would be wiser to 
 say nothing to Amy about it. He had learned a 
 useful lesson. Such a thing could never happen 
 again. Better for the sake of every one to forget 
 the whole episode and make a fresh start. 
 
 But how to account for the damaged head 
 and the extraordinary arrival home in a taxi from 
 town at two o'clock in the morning ? Kit was 
 never inventive in his most inspired moments, 
 and the terrific pace at which the taxi was speeding 
 him along in the direction of Uppington completely 
 unnerved him. They must be, he thought, not 
 very far from home now. Only a few miles perhaps. 
 And he had nothing ready : no convincing story to 
 present to Amy. He already felt almost giddy 
 from the unwonted exertion of thinking so hard, 
 yet the harder he thought, the more perplexing did 
 the problem become, the more difficult of solution. 
 
 An accident of course. But where ? How ? 
 When? 
 
 He racked his brains to try and imagine an accident 
 that should sound quite trivial and ordinary, but 
 would at the same time account for about nine 
 hours of the day : that is, from five p.m. when he 
 left the office, to two a.m. when he arrived home. 
 It would also have to include a cut and badly 
 bruised head. 
 
138 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 He could think of nothing. He doubted if there 
 was such an accident in all the annals of misfortune. 
 
 And despair seized him. 
 
 The car had turned into the road in which he 
 lived. It was whizzing along like a malignant 
 demon dragging him to his doom. His mind 
 became a perfect blank. He could neither think 
 of what to say nor decide what not to say ; and 
 the car was stopping at the gate ! 
 
 His bones, like those of the Psalmist, turned to 
 water at the thought of what lay before him ; he 
 could hardly raise himself to his feet. 
 
 But, as he stepped out of the car, suddenly 
 a most luminous idea flooded his mind, and 
 filled it with an overwhelming joy and peace. It 
 was nothing short of a heaven-sent inspiration. 
 No time, certainly, to consider it, but it was such 
 a beautifully simple idea that it needed no con- 
 sideration. Anybody could work it at a moment's 
 notice. It required no practice, no preparation to 
 use. And it was the most convincing explanation 
 of his adventures that could be devised. 
 
 He walked up the garden path and let himself in 
 with his latchkey, bidding the chauffeur wait because 
 he only had three pounds, ten shillings in his pocket, 
 and proposed to borrow the rest of the fare from 
 Amy. 
 
 Almost as he entered the door, she flew out of 
 the dining-room. 
 
 " Kit, my darling ! " she cried, just as he had 
 expected. " I've been so anxious and worried 
 about you. Where on earth have you been ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 139 
 
 Kit was serene. Calm and full of confidence he 
 was. The great idea upheld him. 
 
 " Can you let me have thirty shillings," he 
 asked, " to pay the man ? " 
 
 She peered into the darkness and saw the glaring 
 headlights in the road. 
 
 " A taxi ! " she exclaimed. " Yes, I'll go and 
 get it for you." 
 
 Upstairs she ran, to the wardrobe, and foraged for 
 a bag, from which she hastily extracted another bag, 
 which in its turn yielded a purse : and from the 
 purse she took thirty shillings, and flew downstairs 
 again. 
 
 Kit went outside and paid the man in silence, 
 came back, closed and carefully bolted the door and 
 returned with his wife to the dining-room. He did 
 not feel quite so buoyantly confident now, but, 
 nevertheless, capable, so he hoped, of carrying out 
 the great idea. 
 
 " Well ? " said Amy, turning to him. " What 
 happened ; where have you been ? " 
 
 " I don't know," replied Kit simply. 
 
 "You don't know!" Amy's eyes were like 
 saucers. 
 
 "No," said Kit ; "I think I must have had a 
 lapse of memory. You've heard of that, haven't 
 you ? " he asked with some anxiety. 
 
 " Y . . . yes," said Amy, " I think so." 
 
 She was looking at him with a puzzled, appre- 
 hensive expression. Was this, she wondered, the 
 beginning of the end ? 
 
 Kit subsided into his huge arm-chair with a sigh 
 
I40 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 of exhaustion ; lie closed his eyes. Very composed 
 and self-possessed he was. 
 
 " When did . . . did it come on ? " asked 
 Amy, not knowing where to begin. 
 
 " When I left the office," replied Kit readily, 
 
 " And when did you wake up ? " 
 
 " When I took the taxi home, finding I had lost 
 the last train." He felt that this very effectually 
 closed all possible avenues of inquiry. There was 
 practically no more to be said. 
 
 Amy, however, was deeply interested. 
 
 " Where were you when you came to ? " she 
 asked. " Where did you find yourself ? " 
 
 " I'm not sure," replied Kit. " I was rather 
 dazed. I saw^ the taxi there, and hailed it. 
 Awful expense," he added, " but there was nothing 
 else for it ; and I knew you'd be anxious, other- 
 wise I might have stayed in town all night." 
 
 " Of course," said Amy vaguely. " Was the 
 taxi on a stand, or going along the road ?" 
 
 " Going along the road, slowly," said Kit, feeling 
 that he was coming through this very well. 
 
 " I wish I'd kept the man," said Amy thought- 
 fully. " I could have asked him what you seemed 
 like when you hailed him and where you were at 
 the time ; that would be a great help." 
 
 Kit thought not, but refrained from saying so. 
 
 Amy could hardly take her eyes off him. Sooner 
 or later he knew she would see the bruise on his 
 head, but no good to meet trouble half-way, 
 
 " Good gracious ! " she exclaimed, as if reading 
 his thoughts. " Whatever have you done to your 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 141 
 
 head ? It's all cut and ... do let me see it." 
 Her soft fingers were lifting the hair from his fore- 
 head in a moment. 
 
 " Oh that," said Kit. " I must have had a 
 fall, or something, I suppose. What's it like — 
 pretty bad, isn't it ? " 
 
 Amy was all concern. 
 
 " My poor darhng," she said. " What a blow you 
 must have had, can't you remember anything 
 about it ? " 
 
 " Not a thing," said Christopher helplessly. 
 
 " It's very strange," muttered Amy. " I can't 
 make it out at all." 
 
 " Don't you bother your head about it. Amy," 
 advised her husband. " People often have a lapse 
 of memory, it's nothing very serious ; you see cases 
 in the papers every day, in fact it's quite 
 common. The memory goes," he waved his 
 hand airily, " sometimes it comes back ; more 
 often not. There's nothing to worry about. I shall 
 be quite all right to-morrow, after a night's rest." 
 
 " I can't help worrying," said Amy. " Doesn't 
 that fearful bruise hurt you ? " 
 
 " Not now," said Kit. " It was awful at first." 
 
 Amy was on to this like a flaish of lightning. 
 
 " At first ? " she asked eagerly. " You remember 
 that ? What were you doing at the time ? " 
 
 " I wasn't doing anything," said Kit, uneasy 
 under her searching gaze. 
 
 " But were you lying down, or standing up, or 
 what ? " 
 " I ... I was, standing up, I think." 
 
142 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Where, in the street ? " 
 
 " That I can't tell you," replied Kit, determined 
 that nothing should induce him to part with any 
 more incriminating particulars. 
 
 " But darling, think. You had just received a 
 nasty blow. Can't you remember whether you were 
 in a hospital, or a shop, or outside in the street 
 when you first felt the pain ? Were there a lot of 
 people about, or were you alone ? " 
 
 Kit made a desperate effort to recollect something 
 of a safe and non-committal character, but on second 
 thoughts gave it up and assumed an injured air. 
 
 " It's no good, Amy. My mind's a perfect blank. 
 And I can't help thinking you might consider my 
 feelings a little. It's not very kind to worry me with 
 questions like this. My head aches badly, and I 
 feel very hungry and not at all well." 
 
 " Oh, you poor darling," cried Amy, " how 
 selfish of me." 
 
 She was all tender anxiety at once. She ran into 
 the kitchen and returned a few moments later with 
 a tray laden with bread and cheese, half of a cold 
 apple tart, and a large plum cake. Carefully she 
 laid it on the table by her husband's side. Then, 
 going to the sideboard, she produced a decanter. 
 
 " Have some brandy," she urged, " it will do you 
 good." 
 
 But Kit eyed the bottle with acute disfavour. 
 
 " I couldn't touch it," he said. " Put it away, 
 for goodness' sake." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 JACK VIBART wended his way back to his 
 hotel with very mixed emotions ; but, being 
 unused to introspection of any kind, he was 
 hardly aware of anything except a savage desire 
 to kick somebody very violently and at once. It 
 was a slight satisfaction to contemplate the indigna- 
 tion of Brown when on recovering his senses he 
 found himself at the other end of London to where 
 he would fain be ; but the feelings of Brown 
 mattered hardly at all, he regarded him only as 
 the outward and visible sign of Lebah's treachery. 
 When he reflected how near he had been to making 
 love to her, how very real his need of her had been 
 at that fatal moment, the person whom he longed 
 to kick most was himself. For he realized that 
 his feelings had not been those of a seeker after 
 the fleshpots ; not those of a worldly and un- 
 sophisticated person such as he knew himself to 
 be. When he folded Lebah in his arms, he had 
 experienced a thrill of genuine emotion, the 
 sort of emotion that drove men to make irre- 
 trievable fools of themselves, the sort that he had 
 for many years most sedulously avoided. Whether 
 
 exactly he would have gone so far as to ask her 
 
 143 
 
144 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 to marry him, he did not know. He fervently 
 hoped he could never be such a fool as to con- 
 template so suicidal a proposal. But undoubtedly 
 it had been a near thing. Angry as he was with 
 Brown, he could almost forgive him for bursting 
 out of the cupboard at that critical moment. 
 
 And yet. . . . 
 
 Something was hurting him inside. Something 
 seemed to burn and sting : an indefinable pain of 
 sorts that was neither wounded pride nor thwarted 
 passion. 
 
 He thought of Lebah as she stood there on the 
 threshold to watch him down the steps. He saw 
 the desperate appeal in her dark eyes, heard 
 her defiant tremulous " good night." He could 
 almost for an instant feel her again in his arms ; 
 but he put the thought roughly from him with a 
 curse. She had fooled him, as all women fool 
 all men ; and he was doubly a fool to have 
 expected anything else. 
 
 He decided he would not go near her again, and 
 turned into bed in a very unchristian frame of 
 mind. 
 
 The next morning he awoke to find his rage and 
 disappointment hardly abated in the least. He 
 cursed savagely at his own visage as he shaved 
 it before the looking-glass, and ardently wished 
 himself back in Nigeria, where the relations between 
 the sexes were on a different footing, and women 
 were kept in the place designed for them by nature ; 
 where, moreover, there were no irksome restric- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 145 
 
 tions inflicted by an effete civilization. He found 
 himself yearning to go round to Lebah's flat and 
 shake her thoroughly, yearning at the same 
 time to pack up his bags and betake himself to 
 a remote part of the earth, where he could by no 
 possibility ever see her again. 
 
 However, true to his philosophy, he tried to 
 banish from his mind these disturbing thoughts, 
 and so far succeeded that he was able to go round 
 directly after breakfast to the garage where dwelt 
 a much-desired motor car, and discuss its advantages 
 with the mechanic in charge without any outward 
 and visible signs of the conflicting emotions that 
 beset him. 
 
 " How'd it suit you, sir," inquired the mechanic, 
 " to take her a trial run this morning ? " 
 
 " Good idea," said Jack, suddenly struck with 
 another. " Could you take me as far as Uppington ? 
 I want to call and see some one there." 
 
 " Certainly, sir ; in about half an hour ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Jack. "Call round at the hotel for me, 
 will you ? I want to take a parcel down with me." 
 
 " Very good, sir, ten o'clock. I'll be there." 
 
 Thus Fate uses these two innocent young men 
 for her own fell purpose ! — one with his car to 
 sell and the other with his ruffled feelings to soothe, 
 both obedient to the same law that makes slaves 
 of us all. 
 
 While the car is running smoothly down to 
 
 Uppington, we will leave the two men discussing 
 
 her points — a subject about which we know nothing 
 
 and which we intend to leave carefully alone — and 
 
 10 
 
146 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 hie ourselves down to Elm ViUa, to see how Mr. 
 and Mrs. Kit Brown are faring after the harrowing 
 events of the preceding evening. Amy was, of 
 course, up early, for there was much to be done, 
 and she was not a lady to let the grass grow under 
 her feet. By eight o'clock she had already written 
 a couple of letters, both of the utmost importance : 
 one to her mother in the Midlands, and one to 
 Kit's father in HuU, each of them containing the 
 history of her husband's unaccountable break- 
 down. She said that while she did not wish to 
 alarm them, she felt it was a duty to let them 
 know what had occurred. That she had every 
 confidence in the doctor who was at present attend- 
 ing him, and would wire if " anything happened " 
 and she needed their assistance. A further note 
 was secretly despatched by Nurse to the doctor, 
 bidding him call as soon as possible, and informing 
 him briefly of what had taken place. So far her 
 work was simple. It was when she tried to induce 
 Kit to breakfast in bed that difficulties arose, which 
 it needed all her tact to overcome. For Kit was 
 inclined to catch the nine-thirty up to town as 
 usual, and could see no reason for staying in bed. 
 Amy, however, had not been married six years 
 for nothing. She did not make the fatal mistake 
 of advising him to stay where he was and take 
 care of himself. Instead, she looked at him with 
 soft pity and remarked what a poor funny old 
 object he was with that lumpy forehead. 
 
 " Does it show much ? " asked Kit, feeling it 
 anxiously. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 147 
 
 " It makes you look rather lop-sided," said 
 Amy. " I ought to have bathed it last night. 
 Perhaps if I did it now you could go up by a 
 later train, or after lunch, or, need you go at 
 all to-day ? " she inquired coaxingly, knowing 
 very well that, whether he need or not, he never 
 would. 
 
 " Of course I must go," said Kit, who believed, 
 like the rest of us, in his own indispensability. 
 
 " Then I'll telephone," said Amy hastily, " and 
 say that you'll be up later, that you're not very 
 well this morning. And if you lie quietly in bed, 
 I'll get some stufif and put a bandage on your head 
 to take the swelling down, and make you pre- 
 sentable." 
 
 So he was persuaded. The fire was lighted to 
 make the room cosy, and by half-past nine he was 
 sitting up in bed with a bandage round his head, 
 absorbing hot buttered toast and strong tea, while 
 Amy read aloud to him the bits he liked best in 
 the morning paper. 
 
 For over an hour she beguiled him with her 
 wifely attentions, carefully avoiding any reference 
 to the events of the previous evening ; and, as her 
 husband was equally anxious to do the same thing, 
 perfect harmony reigned in the sick-room. 
 
 At last her listening ears caught the sound of 
 footsteps coming up the path, and excusing herself 
 she slipped downstairs to meet her friend and 
 counsellor at the front door, so that his professional 
 knock should not arouse any suspicion in the mind 
 of the patient upstairs. There was no nervousness 
 
148 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 this morning in her greeting. Manfully she had 
 taken the helm, and a sense of responsibility lent 
 her confidence and gave her a wistful dignity that 
 sat strangely on her childish little face. Silently 
 she lead Dr. Bennett into the dining-room, and 
 there in earnest tones she told him the story of 
 Kit's arrival at two o'clock that morning, of his 
 bruised and battered condition, and of his strange 
 inability to account for the time that had elapsed 
 since he left his office at five o'clock in the afternoon. 
 The doctor was deeply impressed. He admitted 
 that this development, to the lay mind so inexplic- 
 able, had not been altogether unforeseen on his part. 
 He would, however, commit himself to nothing 
 further until he had seen the patient. 
 
 " Of course," said Amy, " he does not expect 
 you. I thought it better not to excite him, he 
 might have objected to seeing you, and that 
 would have made things more difficult." 
 
 " Quite," agreed the doctor, " very wise of you. 
 I think, if I may, I should like to go up to him alone. 
 I shall be better able to judge his condition if I have 
 half an hour's quiet chat with him. But," he added 
 gravely, " I won't disguise from you, Mrs. Brown, 
 that this is probably a specialist's job, we shall have 
 to get another opinion." 
 
 " Very well," said Amy simply. " Of course 
 everything possible must be done for him ; his 
 father has plenty of money." 
 
 So the doctor went upstairs alone, and Amy into 
 the kitchen to see Cook and arrange about meals for 
 the day. And, having disposed of Cook, she betook 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 149 
 
 herself to the nursery, which the children had not 
 yet been allowed to leave because Father had a 
 headache. 
 
 And meantime Jack Vibart, in his new car — for 
 he had decided by this time to buy it — was himself 
 driving it slowly along the High Street. He did 
 not know exactly the way to the house where his 
 American aunt lived, except that it was beside the 
 river and near to a large and very ugly church. 
 The church obviously loomed up ahead of him, 
 and he was just on the point of stopping to ask the 
 way from a passer-by, when Mrs. Sutherland herself 
 hove in sight, bent, as it transpired later, on a 
 mission of loving-kindness to Mrs. Christopher 
 Brown. 
 
 Jack, although he had not seen his aunt for some 
 years, recognized at once her imposing gait and her 
 elaborate white coiffure, and stopped his car as she 
 approached, leaving it in charge of the chauffeur 
 while he descended to greet her. 
 
 " Waal naow ! " she exclaimed with delight. 
 " An't that jest lovely of you to come all this way 
 to see me. My word, I'd have been reel mad if 
 I'd got back home and found I'd missed you." 
 
 "Aren't you going back now?" inquired 
 Jack. " I've brought a parcel for you, rather a 
 gruesome thing ; I hope you won't hate it too 
 horribly." 
 
 " That's reel nice of you," said his aunt. 
 " I know I'll love to have it whatever it is. Could 
 you run me along in your car to where I have to 
 
150 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 leave these books ? They're for a little friend of 
 mine and I promised them to-day. Then we could 
 go back home together." 
 
 " Right-0," said Jack. " Jump in." 
 
 Five minutes later the new car stood puffing 
 before the gate of Elm Villa, and from it descended 
 Mrs. Sutherland, her holy books under her arm. 
 
 " I shan't stay a minute," she said. " You better 
 jest come along with me. She won't mind me 
 taking you in, I know, and I want you to see her, 
 she's as pretty as a picture." 
 
 " Certainly," said Jack, whose only aim was 
 to be agreeable. " I'm expiring to see her." 
 
 They were shown into the dining-room, and after 
 a few moments Amy appeared, a little flushed from 
 a romp with the children, yet with anxiety lying 
 deep in her wistful blue eyes. 
 
 " Waal naow," began Mrs. Sutherland, with her 
 usual formula, " I hope you're not too busy for 
 visitors. I know what a good little housewife 
 you are." 
 
 " Not a bit," said Amy. " How do you do ? " 
 
 " My nephew. Captain Jack Vibart," proceeded 
 Mrs. Sutherland, introducing him with an airy wave 
 in his direction. 
 
 Amy smiled and held out a friendly hand, which 
 Jack took in his own, thinking to himself that he 
 had never seen such a charming little creature, so 
 simple too, like a lovely wild rose growing in this 
 remote suburban garden. 
 
 " I met him in the High Street, on his way to see 
 me," continued Mrs. Sutherland, " in a beautiful 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 151 
 
 new car, extravagant person. He's only been 
 back from Nigeria three weeks ; he always lives 
 in these outlandish places. Strange taste, isn't 
 it?" 
 
 " But I think people who travel about are always 
 so interesting." said Amy with a polite smile at 
 Jack. 
 
 " Fm glad to hear you say so," replied he with 
 alacrity. " I'll come and see you again if I may." 
 
 Amy blushed slightly at this unexpected reply 
 and looked prettier than ever. 
 
 " You shall take us out for a nice drive in your 
 car, Jack," said his aunt. " I will invite you 
 to stay with me and we'll go every day for a fort- 
 night. But we shall have to take your husband 
 too sometimes," she added, turning to Amy, " or 
 he will be jealous." 
 
 Amy suddenly remembered that much afflicted 
 person, and her expression changed. 
 
 " My dear ! " she said. " You haven't heard 
 what's happened to Kit, a most extraordinary 
 thing — he's lost his memory ! " 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland looked puzzled, 
 
 " Lost it ? " she asked vaguely. 
 
 " Last night," began Amy impressively, " he 
 didn't come home to dinner. I waited and 
 waited, very anxious, of course, the whole evening. 
 At ten o'clock I sent the maids to bed, and 
 what I went through after that I can't tell you. 
 However, at last, about two in the morning, he 
 turned up in a taxi from town with a horrible 
 bruise on his head, and not the slightest idea where 
 
152 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 he had come from, or what he had been doing 
 since he left the office at five in the afternoon." 
 
 " How vurry strange ! " said Mrs. Sutherland, 
 wondering at once if Christian Science would meet 
 the case. 
 
 " Isn't it ? " said Amy anxiously. " But do 
 you know I've been very worried about Kit for 
 some time. He's not been himself for ever so 
 long. I'm afraid this means rather a serious 
 thing for him." 
 
 " Ah, my dear ! " said Mrs. Sutherland, 
 holding up a warning forefinger, " you're afraid. 
 That's just what you must not be. That's not 
 Science, that's an error of Mortal Mind. You'll 
 do your husband no good by holding him in the 
 thought of fear." 
 
 "I know," said Amy, "but what can one 
 think when he goes on like this ? It's not my own 
 idea. I should never have thought of such 
 a thing if I hadn't seen with my own eyes how 
 queer he's been lately. I've tried and tried to 
 hide it even from myself; I've never said a 
 word to anybody ; but he gets worse and worse 
 every day," her voice trembled piteously. " I 
 can't keep it up any longer, my poor Kit is going 
 out of his mind, I know it. I've known it for a long 
 tune." 
 
 Jack, during the recital of this sad story, had 
 maintained an impassive air of polite concern, 
 which successfully hid both his amazement at 
 finding himself where he was, and his amusement 
 at Kit's ingenious device. But when he saw the 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 153 
 
 lovely Mrs. Brown in distress, his spirit was moved 
 within him, and he was about to offer some allevi- 
 ating suggestions, without giving her husband away, 
 when she turned to him, her eyes all dewy with 
 unshed tears. 
 
 " I'm afraid, Captain Vibart, I'm boring you 
 with my family troubles, but I don't seem able 
 to think of anything else just now." 
 
 " Not in the least," said Jack, with a good 
 deal more veracity than is usual in that hackneyed 
 phrase. "I'm deeply interested. I think these 
 lapses of memory are most extraordinary." 
 
 " Do you know anything about them ? " 
 asked Amy. " What one ought to do ? " 
 
 "Not much," admitted Jack, " but I should 
 think," he added helpfuUy, " that you ought 
 to humour him, don't ask him any questions ; 
 he'll soon get over it and be all right again. I 
 know lots of people who . . . who've done that 
 sort of thing ; it soon blows over if you don't 
 worry them." 
 
 " What he wants," said Mrs. Sutherland im- 
 pressively, " is a little dose of Christian Science. 
 I would help him with the greatest of pleasure, 
 if you think he would let me." 
 
 Jack turned with his brief vicious smile to his 
 aunt. 
 
 "I'd like to see you cure him," he said. 
 " How do you start operations ? " 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland regarded him with composure. 
 
 " I don't start operations at all, my dear Jack ; 
 there are no operations in C.S. I simply state 
 
154 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 the Truth. Mr. Brown is not mad. Mind is not 
 mad, and Matter cannot be. When he reahzes that 
 he is perfectly sane, he will be so." 
 
 "But of course," said Amy earnestly, "he 
 does realize it now. He hasn't the least idea he's 
 mad at all. He takes all this as a matter of 
 course, and that alone shows the state his mind 
 is in." 
 
 Overhead, in the spare bedroom. Dr. Bennett was 
 finding his patient a difficult handful to manage. 
 The wound had been dressed, the temperature 
 taken, the pulse counted, and the doctor, after 
 nearly half an hour's conversation, still found the 
 case a most troublesome one to diagnose. The 
 patient appeared to have no sense of the gravity 
 of his condition, and was much more concerned 
 about the bump on his head than about his lapse 
 of memory. 
 
 " Lots of people have 'em," he said lightly. 
 
 " Certainly they do," replied the doctor, " but 
 that's no reason why you shouldn't take every care 
 of yourself. A man doesn't have a lapse like this 
 unless there's a screw loose somewhere ; and 
 what's happened once, may happen again." 
 
 " Oh no," said Kit witJi conviction, " it won't 
 happen again." 
 
 The doctor was almost impatient. 
 
 " No one can say when it may occur again . , ." 
 he persisted. " At any moment you may suddenly 
 lose your control, and who can say what the 
 result might be ? Who knows what you were 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 155 
 
 doing last night ? Supposing it transpired that 
 you had been seized with homicidal mania, and 
 had murdered some one in the street — that's 
 quite possible, you know. I don't say you have 
 done so, but I do say, Brown, that you have been 
 in conflict with some one or something to account 
 for that bruise on your head. It's a perfectly clean 
 wound done by something hard and fairly sharp. 
 You never got it by merely falling down in the 
 street. It's quite possible that unknown to yourself 
 you have been very violent. I must say I should 
 very much like to know exactly what caused it." 
 
 " I don't suppose we shall ever know that," 
 said Kit comfortably. " Don't bother about it. 
 You'll see I shall be all right after this, I feel as 
 fit as possible this morning." 
 
 " Physically I daresay you do, but I must warn 
 you, Brown, that you are not in a fit state to go 
 back to work ; in fact I'm afraid you'll have to 
 stay in bed a few days till I see how you go on. 
 We can't risk any more accidents, you know, you 
 must think of your wife and family, and do what 
 I tell you, like a good chap." 
 
 " Look here," said Kit, " you know this is 
 awful rot, doctor. I feel quite all right, and what's 
 more I mean to get up and go to work as soon as 
 ever my head's better." 
 
 The doctor regarded him gravely. 
 
 " You will make things very difficult both for 
 yourself and for us if you take a tone like that. 
 I only want to do what is best for you and for your 
 family, and if you wiU help me no doubt we shall 
 
156 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 pull you through quite nicely. If not, I'm afraid, 
 old chap, there's a lot of trouble ahead for you. 
 Be a sensible fellow and stay in bed for a few 
 days" 
 
 " No," said Kit doggedly, " I'm not going to 
 do anything of the kind. To tell you the truth, 
 doctor, I never sent for you at all. My wife was 
 anxious, I suppose, and did so without consulting 
 me, or you would never have been here." 
 
 " Of course she was anxious," said the 
 doctor, " she's been nervous about you for some 
 weeks now. Your wife's a plucky little woman 
 and you shouldn't make things harder for her." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Kit, frowning, 
 " nervous for some weeks, what about ? " 
 
 " About your mental condition, it has given her 
 cause for great anxiety. She consulted me a 
 fortnight ago, about you, so you see this 
 development is not altogether unexpected." 
 
 " Good Lord ! " exclaimed Kit, sitting up 
 straight in bed. " What on earth does she mean ? 
 Does she want to try and make out that I'm 
 mad ? I never heard of such a silly idea ! I'm 
 as sane as you are, anybody can see that. 
 Preposterous ! " 
 
 " Nobody," said the doctor mildly, " ever 
 thinks that they are mad. It's a very common 
 symptom of almost any mental case." 
 
 " But I say," demanded Kit, " you don't 
 really think I'm off my nut, do you ? I mean . . . 
 tell me straight." 
 
 " I don't say so by any means," replied the 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 157 
 
 doctor. " What I do say is that you are in a very 
 precarious condition. You may, with proper care 
 and treatment, entirely recover your normal state 
 of mind — I have every reason to think that you 
 will do so — but, on the other hand, over-exer- 
 tion or over-excitement will be very bad for you 
 for some time to come, and only by taking a com- 
 plete rest in every way will you avoid what may 
 prove to be very serious consequences." 
 
 Kit thought this over deeply, and the more he 
 thought about it, the less he liked the look of it. 
 
 " I must see Amy," he said, putting one foot 
 out of bed. 
 
 The doctor laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " Stay where you are. Brown," he said kindly. 
 " There's nothing to get excited about. I will call 
 your wife if you want to see her." 
 
 "No," said Kit firmly, pushing away the 
 restraining hand. "I'll go down myself, thank 
 you." 
 
 " If you take my advice . . ." persevered the 
 doctor. 
 
 But Kit was already getting into his dressing- 
 gown, and a moment later was wending his way 
 downstairs, unwittingly, to his fate. 
 
 He felt annoyed with Amy, and desirous of telling 
 her in no measured terms what he thought of her 
 ridiculous suggestion to the doctor, although he 
 was quite prepared to hear that the idea originated 
 with the doctor himself and not with his wife, who 
 was a silly little thing and believed everything she 
 was told. It was, moreover, very necessary that if 
 
158 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 such an idea, however absurd it might be, had taken 
 root in anybody's mind, it should be removed 
 without further delay. While he was not exactly 
 anxious about his position, it gave him a distinctly 
 uneasy feeling to realize that at least two people 
 had been watching him for the past fortnight, and 
 had concluded from his behaviour that he was not 
 in his right mind. He felt that if his wife were any 
 sort of a wife at all she would be ready to take her 
 husband's part on such a vital question, and it was 
 almost as much with the idea of getting Amy's 
 support as of giving her a scolding that Kit walked 
 downstairs in his dressing-gown. 
 
 No friendly housemaid appeared to warn him of 
 visitors ; no helping hand WcLS held out by his 
 guardian angel, and he opened the dining-room door, 
 all unconscious of what lay before him, and quite 
 unprepared for the horrid shock that greeted him 
 on the threshold. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 TO say that Kit was astonished, in no way 
 describes his sensations when he entered the 
 room and saw his enemy Vibart there before 
 him. He could hardly believe the evidence of his 
 own eyes. It seemed impossible that so remote 
 and unlikely a person should be seated there on 
 one of his saddleback chairs, talking with a hateful, 
 sinister smile to the wife of his bosom. If the 
 intruder had been an inhabitant from Mars, the 
 shock could not have been greater, for, in Kit's 
 mind, Jack belonged to a world as far removed 
 from his own and Amy's as Mars is from the Earth, 
 and one with which there was as little chance of 
 intercourse — or so he had fondly hoped. So that 
 to find that his rival had bridged the abysmal gulf, 
 had hopped nimbly from one world to another at 
 such short notice, was a blow that shattered all his 
 hopes, drove every idea out of his head, and left him 
 stranded, petrified with amazement, in the doorway. 
 And hardly less surprised were the occupants of 
 the dining-room, for Mr. Brown in a dressing-gown, 
 his head bandaged, his mouth open, and his eyes 
 nearly bulging out of their sockets, was a rather 
 alarming spectacle. 
 
 »59 
 
i6o CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Amy rose at once, but Mrs, Sutherland was 
 before her, and almost darted up to Kit in her 
 eagerness to treat him naturally, to show to 
 all concerned how little afraid she was of this 
 so-called insanity : in fact, how she realized that 
 there was nothing of which to be afraid. 
 
 " How do you do, my dear Mr. Brown ? " she 
 gushed effusively, holding her hand high for him 
 to shake. 
 
 But Kit was too agitated to do justice to his best 
 company manners, and merely took it absently, 
 with his eyes fixed in a malignant glare on the man 
 behind her. 
 
 Whereupon Mrs. Sutherland, finding him so 
 unreciprocal and not quite liking the look of him 
 at such close quarters, retreated in good order to a 
 safe distance. 
 
 At last Kit found his voice. 
 
 '.' What are you doing here ? " he demanded 
 angrily of Vibart, knowing that he could be there 
 for one purpose only, and that the detestable one 
 of giving Kit's secrets away to his wife and spoiling 
 his little whitewashing scheme, which up to the 
 present had worked with such marked success. 
 
 Now Jack, although not perhaps quite so surprised 
 as Kit, was equally taken aback by this sudden 
 apparition in the dining-room, but his always 
 impassive face stood him in good stead and he 
 showed no outward and visible signs of perturba- 
 tion. Looking his irate host straight in the eyes 
 as if trying to convey a wireless message of re- 
 assurance, he rose from his chair. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER i6i 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he began politely, 
 " perhaps . . ." 
 
 " Why have you come sneaking down here ? " 
 thundered Kit, who was much too unhinged to 
 receive anything so intangible as a telepathic 
 communication. 
 
 The two women were exchanging nervous glances, 
 Kit's aggressive attitude filled them with alarm : 
 Amy because she read in his behaviour the con- 
 firmation of her worst fears, and Mrs. Sutherland 
 because she had a natural horror of the insane that 
 neither Science nor Christianity could ever eradicate, 
 and the fact that madness was a delusion of Mortal 
 Mind had for the moment escaped her notice. 
 
 " Look here," said Vibart peaceably. " I don't 
 know what you mean. I came here with my aunt, 
 Mrs. Sutherland." 
 
 " I don't care," said Kit angrily, " who you 
 came with ; you'd no business to come at all. 
 I consider it a low-down, despicable trick to play 
 on me." 
 
 Jack's green eyes went a shade deeper under his 
 heavy brows, but his voice was well under control. 
 
 " I don't think you know what you're talking 
 about," he said curtly. " There's nothing despic- 
 able that I am aware of in my coming here. 
 Perhaps," he added with a laudable attempt to save 
 the situation, " you are mistaking me for some one 
 else." 
 
 " Not likely," snorted Kit, who was thoroughly 
 roused and oblivious of everything except a fierce 
 desire to wreak his vengeance upon his hated 
 II 
 
i62 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 rival, now that further concealment was impos- 
 sible. "Not likely," he repeated, " with a face 
 like that ! " 
 
 Jack shut his mouth and made no reply to this 
 invidious remark. 
 
 Amy by this time had somewhat recovered her 
 wits ; and, shocked by her husband's unwarranted 
 attack on the nice Captain Vibart, she approached 
 him, but timidly withal, and laid a gentle hand on 
 his arm. 
 
 " Kitty darling," she said, soft as a cooing dove, 
 " hadn't you better go back to bed ? " 
 
 " Certainly not, Amy," he replied with heat. 
 " I told you before, there's nothing at all the matter 
 with me ; why on earth should I go back to bed ? " 
 
 " Hear, hear ! " exclaimed Mrs. Sutherland, com- 
 ing up with reinforcements. " That's right, Mr. 
 Brown. Deny the claim of Mortal Mind. Cast 
 out Fear ! " 
 
 Kit, who had no idea what she was talking about, 
 and whose rage against Vibart was in no way 
 abated by Amy's suggestion that he should efface 
 himself, turned furiously again to the fray. "You 
 know best why you have taken it upon yourself 
 to come down here with your cock-and-bull 
 story." 
 
 " I say," interrupted Jack hastily, " you know 
 you're under some extraordinary delusion. I 
 haven't come here to do you any harm, believe 
 me." 
 
 " Haven't you ? " said Kit incredulously. " Then 
 what have you come for ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 163 
 
 " I just came, as I told you," said Jack patiently, 
 " to see Mrs. Brown. My aunt happened to . . ." 
 
 " And who asked you to come and see Mrs, 
 Brown ? " demanded Kit with fury. " Why can't 
 you leave Mrs. Brown alone ? When I want you 
 to know my wife I'll invite you here myself." 
 
 He turned somewhat anxiously to Amy. 
 
 " I don't know what he's been telling you about 
 me, Amy, but, whatever it is, don't you believe 
 a word of it. I can explain everything. You 
 wouldn't take the word of an absolute stranger, 
 especially of a vicious-looking bounder like him, 
 against your own husband, would you, dear ? " 
 
 Amy threw a distressed glance at Jack. 
 
 " Oh, Kit dear," she cried, " don't say that ; 
 he's done nothing at all ; it's rather rude to call 
 him names." 
 
 " I don't care if it is rude," persisted Kit 
 vigorously. " I am the best judge of who comes into 
 this house, and I say that I very much object to 
 him being here at all. The sight of him, sitting 
 there, making himself at home with you, is a 
 thing I shall never forget as long as I live." 
 
 " Look here, darling," said Amy, going up 
 to her husband with a brave yet anxious smile, 
 " you mustn't be a silly old goose. You see your 
 accident has upset you, and you imagine all kinds 
 of things that aren't true. When your head gets 
 better you'll see how mistaken you are about Captain 
 Vibart." 
 
 " There's no mistake at all," said Kit firmly. 
 " I know perfectly well what I'm talking about ; 
 
i64 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 much better than you do, I may tell you. The 
 man's a scoundrel, and I won't have him in the 
 house ; and the sooner he understands that the 
 better." 
 
 He turned savagely to Jack, and the recollection 
 of certain indignities that he had suffered the 
 previous evening lent force to his words : 
 
 " Are you going ? " he demanded rudely, " or 
 do you want me to chuck you out ? " 
 
 Amy glanced nervously at the door. Dr. Bennett, 
 she knew, had not left the house, and she had a 
 shrewd suspicion that he was standing behind it in 
 case of emergencies. 
 
 Jack caught the look, and it helped him to con- 
 trol his temper, which was rising considerably. He 
 regarded Kit with composure. " I say," he said, 
 " I wish you'd keep cool, you're frightening Mrs. 
 Brown." 
 
 " You leave Mrs. Brown alone ! " roared Kit. 
 " I've had quite enough of your interference and 
 mischief -making. What damage you've already 
 done I don't know ; but you shan't do any more, 
 I'll take my oath." 
 
 " All right," replied Jack with grim resignation. 
 " I'm evidently doing no good here." He held 
 out his hand to Amy. " Good-bye, Mrs. Brown." 
 Then turning to his aunt he added : " I'll wait for 
 you in the car outside." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland rose with suspicious haste. 
 
 " I'll come too, Jack," she said, casting a 
 doubtful eye on Mr. Brown who still stood in a 
 threatening and pugilistic attitude. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 165 
 
 " Don't leave me," breathed Amy in a nervous 
 aside, " till the doctor comes in. I'll go and fetch 
 him." 
 
 " Ah, my dear," said Mrs. Sutherland re- 
 proachfully, " cast out Fear. Mortal Mind is full 
 of Fear ! " 
 
 Kit strode menacingly up to Jack. 
 
 " Are you going ? " he demanded aggressively. 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland seized Amy's hand in great agi- 
 tation and began to pour out a torrent of incoherent 
 Christian Science, her voice growing louder and more 
 hysterical with every word. 
 
 " All is Infinite Mind. There is no Truth, In- 
 telligence or Substance in Matter. Deny the Error 
 of Mortal Mind." 
 
 Meanwhile it looked as if at any moment the two 
 men might come to blows. Jack, however, seeing 
 the terrified condition of his aunt, and Amy's no 
 less obvious nervous apprehension, began to move 
 out of the room, saying as he did so to Kit, with a 
 grin: 
 
 " All right, old chap, don't get rattled. I'm off 
 now." 
 
 But at the prospect of losing her protector, Mrs. 
 Sutherland suddenly broke off in the midst of her 
 harangue and lunged across the room. 
 
 " Stop, Jack ! " she cried wildly, clutching hold 
 of his arm. " I can't be left alone here with a 
 dangerous lunatic, we must both stay and protect 
 Mrs. Brown." 
 
 Jack looked questioningly to Amy for instruc- 
 tions. 
 
i66 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 "Oh, please wait a minute," she replied in 
 agitated tones, " till I call the doctor ; I think he's 
 just in the next room." Instinctively she placed 
 her hand on his other arm. 
 
 " Amy ! " stormed Kit. " Have you taken 
 leave of your senses ? Did you not distinctly hear 
 me order him out of the house ? What on earth 
 are you holding on to him like that for ? Let go 
 at once ! " 
 
 Angrily he advanced towards his wife, who by 
 this time was clinging with desperation to his 
 hated rival. 
 
 It was enough ! 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland, seeing him approach with death 
 and destruction in his rolling eye, screamed loudly, 
 as if the end of all things had come, as indeed she 
 thought it had. Amy ran over to the bell and 
 began to pull it violently, till its frantic appeal 
 resounded through the house. Suddenly the door 
 was flung wide open and in rushed the doctor, 
 followed by the gardener, whom he had with great 
 presence of mind summoned from the garden at the 
 first signs of trouble in the dining-room, having, 
 as Amy surmised, been watching events from a safe 
 position on the other side of the door. 
 
 Before the bewildered Kit could realize what was 
 about to happen, he was seized from behind by two 
 powerful men, his hands pinioned sharply behind 
 his back, and thrown forcibly into an arm-chair, 
 in which he was held firmly down by Dr. Bennett 
 and the gardener, in spite of his frenzied struggles 
 to free himself. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 167 
 
 " Good heavens ! " he bawled. " Have you all 
 gone suddenly mad ? Let me go, Bennett, you 
 fool. Well, I'm damned," 
 
 But resistance was of no use at all, and realizing 
 the helplessness of his position he subsided with 
 disgusted resignation into the hands of his captors. 
 
 The pealing of the bell had, of course, quickly 
 brought Cook and Mabel from the kitchen, and 
 Nurse from the nursery, and they all stood gaping 
 in the doorway at the horrible sight which met 
 their eyes : their poor master gone clean off his 
 head, and kicking the doctor something cruel. 
 
 Amy relapsed weeping into the nearest chair, 
 and Mrs. Sutherland's ample bosom heaved with 
 excitement. Even the imperturbable Captain 
 Vibart seemed shaken for a moment off his perch, 
 and stood in the middle of the room wearing the 
 dazed and unlovely expression usually attributed to 
 the stuck pig. 
 
 Only Dr. Bennett retained his normal serenity 
 and remained calm, with the deadly confidence of 
 the man who knows his job, and enjoys doing it. 
 
 " I don't think he's going to give us any 
 trouble," he remarked cheerfully. " Still perhaps 
 the ladies had better leave us to manage him 
 alone." 
 
 " I think I'll go too," volunteered Jack. " He 
 doesn't seem to care about the look of me at all." 
 
 " All right," said the doctor. " I say, you 
 might, if you don't mind, nng up No. 17008 
 for me, and ask them to send Watts round as soon 
 as possible." 
 
i68 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Right ! " said Jack. Then turning again to 
 Amy, he held out his hand for the second time. 
 " Good-bye, Mrs. Brown, I expect he'll be all 
 right presently. I shouldn't worry yourself about 
 this little outburst if I were you ; when you talk 
 it over with him you'll find it's all right. I'm 
 afraid it's partly my fault ; but of course I had 
 no idea." 
 
 " Of course not," said Amy, rising and looking 
 at him with bright tear-washed eyes. " It wasn't 
 your fault at all. I think you behaved splendidly, 
 thank you so much. Good-bye." She turned to 
 Mrs. Sutherland, who was also ready to take her 
 leave of this distressed household. " Good-bye, 
 dear Mrs. Sutherland, I do hope you're not feeling 
 too upset, would you like some brandy or 
 something ? " 
 
 " No, my dear," replied that lady, somewhat 
 recovered from her alarming experiences, " brandy 
 won't do a bit of good." 
 
 She took Amy's hand impressively between her 
 own plump and well-gloved ones, and looking 
 earnestly into her face said : 
 
 " It's Fear caused all this, Mrs. Brown. Fear 
 on your husband's side, and Fear on ours. For a 
 moment it mastered me ; I admit it to my shame. 
 But now I am calm, I see the Truth. Gard is All. 
 All is Gard. Perfect Love casteth out Fear ; and 
 don't you," she added, throwing a malicious glance 
 at the doctor, " believe all that man tells you." 
 
 Without waiting for a reply she sailed out of the 
 room, followed by her unregenerate nephew, who 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 169 
 
 was endeavouring with little success to hide a pro- 
 fane grin of delight at his aunt's sudden change of 
 tactics now that all danger was past. 
 
 " And now," said Kit to himself as the door 
 closed behind his visitors, " I suppose I've got to 
 have it out with Amy," and he sighed deeply. 
 
 The doctor seeing him in a more reasonable 
 frame of mind released hold, and Amy, Uke the 
 thrifty girl she was, sent the gardener back about 
 his business, for he only came half a day a week, 
 and time in his case was money. 
 
 The room seemed strangely silent to Kit. Amy 
 was sitting very still, almost as though she were 
 waiting for something else to happen. There was 
 no doubt in her husband's mind what that some- 
 thing was, and he decided that if it must happen 
 then the sooner the better. It was almost a relief 
 to feel that in a few minutes everything would be 
 cleared up between them. Possibly, too. Amy would 
 not cut up very rough about it ; she looked, he 
 thought, rather pensive and forgiving, altogether in 
 a soft and appropriate mood for receiving a con- 
 fession. He wondered how much longer the doctor 
 meant to stay, and what he would say when he 
 knew the truth, or that smaU portion of it, which 
 it might be necessary to tell him. 
 
 " I expect you're busy, doctor," he suggested at 
 length. " You will want to get off to your work. 
 I'm all right now," he added with an effort, " it 
 was only that chap being here that upset me." 
 
 " I'm in no hurry," said Dr. Bennett, taking 
 
I/O CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 up the morning paper. " I'm expecting a man 
 here presently ; I want to wait and see him." 
 
 " What for ? " asked Kit uneasily. " Nothing 
 to do with me, is it ? " 
 
 " Don't you worry, old chap," said the doctor, 
 immersed in the newspaper. " Watts is quite a 
 decent fellow; you won't find him much in your 
 way." 
 
 Kit sat up very straight. 
 
 " Look here," he said resolutely, " I'm not 
 going to have anyone planted here to look after 
 me, if that's the idea." 
 
 The doctor laid down his paper and regarded his 
 patient seriously. 
 
 " My dear Brown, you must surely realize by now 
 that you can't stay here alone with only women in 
 the house. What do you suppose your wife would 
 do if you were to be taken again as you were just 
 now ? You know you're a very curious case, and 
 I'm sure you're quite able to appreciate the gravity 
 of your own condition." 
 
 " Certainly," said Kit practically, " I realize it 
 all right ; I'm about the only person here who 
 does." He turned to his wife, who was gazing 
 wistfully at him. " Amy," he asked, " did you 
 tell the doctor a fortnight ago that I was going off 
 my head ? " 
 
 " Y . . . yes," hesitated Amy, " in a way I did. 
 I had to, I was getting afraid." 
 
 Kit looked puzzled. 
 
 " What were you afraid of ? " he asked curiously. 
 
 " Everything," replied Amy, with more con- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 171 
 
 fidence. " The way you looked, and the things you 
 said ; going down to Brighton ; getting up in the 
 middle of the night to walk about your room. 
 All kinds of things like that. I didn't really, Kit," 
 she said earnestly, '' say a word till it was necessary ; 
 and this last affair only shows how necessary it was." 
 
 "I see," said Kit thoughtfully. " You mean 
 about Vibart." 
 
 " Yes," said Amy, " and losing your memory. 
 It's time something was done, don't you think so 
 yourself ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Kit. " I can't help'^think- 
 ing that every one is making an awful fuss about 
 nothing. If I did lose my memory, that doesn't 
 say I've gone mad. Anybody might think I was a 
 raving lunatic the way I'm treated. As for Vibart, 
 well, I can soon explain all that, when . . . 
 when I have an opportunity." 
 
 He looked pointedly at the doctor. 
 
 " Sorry I'm in the way, old chap," said the 
 doctor cheerfully, making no attempt to remove 
 himself. 
 
 " Never mind him," said Amy ; " he's one of the 
 family by this time." 
 
 " Very well then," said Kit. " I can see he 
 doesn't mean to leave me alone till this is cleared 
 up." He braced himself for the plunge with a deep 
 breath. " Tell me," he said, " what did Vibart say 
 about me ? " 
 
 He leaned forward anxiously, waiting for the 
 worst. 
 
 Amy looked suddenly suspicious. 
 
172 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " He didn't say anything," she answered slowly. 
 
 " Didn't he tell you," demanded Kit, " anything 
 about . . . well, anything ? " 
 
 " No," replied Amy, wondering. " How could 
 he ? He didn't know you from Adam. He'd 
 never seen you or heard about you before. I wish 
 I understood what you've got into your head about 
 him." 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me," persisted Kit, "that 
 he came all the way here for no purpose at all ? 
 What made him come then I should like to 
 know ? " 
 
 " He came," explained Amy patiently, " with 
 his aunt. He was on his way to see her, and 
 she happened to meet him and brought him here 
 before going back to their house. She wanted to 
 leave me some books. Now do you understand ? " 
 
 But Kit could not believe it yet ; he felt certain 
 that, whether Amy knew it or not, Vibart had not 
 visited his house without some dark and sinister 
 motive, 
 
 " Didn't he know that I lived here ? " he asked. 
 " Are you sure of that ? " 
 
 " Of course," said Amy. " How could he 
 know you lived here when he'd never heard of 
 you ? " 
 
 " He never mentioned my name, never said any- 
 thing at all about me ? " 
 
 Amy shook her head. " Not a word." 
 
 " What a most extraordinary thing," said Kit ; 
 " I can't believe it." 
 
 It was beginning to dawn on him that his guilty 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 173 
 
 secret was still intact : the dreaded confession could 
 be postponed, perhaps even dispensed with alto- 
 gether. He felt suddenly almost free and light- 
 hearted, and a look of immense relief spread over 
 his features as he realized that, after all, Amy knew 
 nothing. He wondered how far he had compro- 
 mised himself, but reflected happily that practically 
 nothing had been said which could not with a little 
 ingenuity be explained away. 
 
 The doctor's voice broke in upon his reverie. 
 
 " Where do you think you've met this Captain 
 Vibart ? " he inquired. 
 
 " Well, there you are," began Kit, hedging 
 cautiously now that his role was changed. " I'm 
 not quite sure where I actually met him. That 
 is, of course, I've knoAvn him on and off for a 
 long time. He's a fellow that's always knocking 
 about town, with actresses and all that. In fact, 
 he's not at all the right sort of man for my wife to 
 know. You see what I mean ? " 
 
 " But, Kit dear," interrupted Amy, " he's 
 only been home three weeks from Nigeria, You 
 can't have seen him knocking about town when 
 he was in Africa, can you ? " 
 
 This was rather a facer, and Kit looked very 
 worried. 
 
 " I only know," he persisted, " what I've 
 told you ; the man's a bad lot. I don't say 
 he's never been to Nigeria ; he may have been to the 
 North Pole for all I know — or care. I only wish," 
 he sighed wearily, " that I'd never set eyes on 
 him," 
 
174 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 His weary sigh went straight to Amy's kind heart. 
 She rose quickly and crossed over to her husband's 
 chair. 
 
 " See here, old darling," she said, " I won't 
 let you worry yourself any more. It really doesn't 
 matter a bit, does it ? Don't think any more 
 about it." 
 
 She turned to the doctor. 
 
 " I won't have him bothered, doctor ; no more 
 questions to-day at any rate." 
 
 Kit took her hand gratefully ; he had passed 
 through a very trying time, and her sweet sympathy 
 was balsam to his wounded spirit. 
 
 " Just one more then," urged the doctor, " then 
 I'll leave him in peace. Ever heard," he asked, 
 turning casually to Kit, " of anyone called Lebah ? " 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Kit, dropping his wife's 
 hand as though it had been a piece of live coal. 
 He stared hard at the doctor and a crafty look came 
 into his eyes. 
 
 " I see you know the name," said the doctor 
 cheerfully. " Who is she ? " 
 
 " Who is she ? " echoed Kit vaguely, searching, 
 panic-stricken, in his mind for a suitable reply to this 
 vital question. 
 
 There was absolute silence in the room ; the eyes 
 of both Amy and the doctor were fixed upon the 
 unhappy Kit as he tried in great anguish to think 
 who Lebah was. 
 
 " Can't you remember ? " asked Amy kindly. 
 
 Her husband grasped thankfully at this helpful 
 straw. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 175 
 
 " I . . . no . . . I'm afraid I can't. Amy," he 
 said. 
 
 Amy turned to the doctor. 
 
 " Why do you ask him that ? " she inquired. 
 
 " Because," said the doctor, " I took the liberty of 
 overhauling his clothes just now when I was up- 
 stairs. They were lying on a chair, and I thought 
 possibly they might help us. There was no sign of 
 any struggle, or any fall : no mud or dust upon 
 them, but in one of the pockets I found this. " 
 He held up a tiny, crumpled gauze handkerchief, 
 marked with several small bloodstains. 
 
 Kit stared spellbound at this unexpected object. 
 
 " Any idea who it belongs to ? " asked the 
 doctor. 
 
 There was another long pause, during which Kit 
 was uncomfortably aware of Amy's eyes fixed 
 anxiously upon him. Apparently she had no sus- 
 picion of the incriminating nature of the doctor's 
 find, and as Kit watched her out of the comer of 
 his eye he decided to lie low and say nothing. 
 
 "No," he said simply, " I haven't. I didn't 
 know it was there." 
 
 This at least was true enough, and he looked the 
 doctor frankly in the face as he said it. 
 
 " It's marked Lebah in one comer," said the 
 doctor lightly. " You don't know anyone of 
 that name ? " 
 
 " No," persisted Kit stubbomly, " I don't ; 
 never heard of it." 
 
 " I told you," explained Amy reproachfully 
 to the doctor, " he can't remember a thing. It's 
 
176 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 no use bothering him, you won't make matters 
 any better. Kit darling, wouldn't you like to 
 go upstairs now, or will you lie down on the 
 sofa in here ? " 
 
 Kit looked in helpless despair round the room. 
 The sight of Lebah's handkerchief had thoroughly 
 unnerved him ; it seemed as though everything and 
 everybody conspired against him for his undoing. 
 He longed with a passionate fervour to escape from 
 his tormentors. 
 
 " No," he said despondently, " I believe I'd 
 be better in bed — alone. I'll go upstairs." 
 
 He rose dejectedly, and without another word 
 walked slowly out of the room. 
 
 Amy's eyes filled with tears as she watched him go. 
 
 "Poor darling," she said feelingly, "he's just 
 beginning to realize what it all means to him." 
 
 And she ran after him to help him into bed. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IT was a very long time since Uppington had heard 
 of anything quite so exciting as Christopher 
 Brown's sudden outbreak of insanity, and his 
 violent attack on Mrs. Sutherland's nephew. The 
 struggle with Dr. Bennett and the gardener lost 
 nothing in the telling, and Amy soon foimd herself 
 one of the most important persons in the village. 
 Friends and acquaintances dropped in at all hours 
 to inquire after her afflicted husband : some with 
 sympathy and helpful suggestions to offer, others 
 with frank curiosity, and everyone with a fixed 
 determination to miss nothing that was going on 
 at Elm Villa. For the little Browns were behav- 
 ing in a way that excited the wildest speculation 
 in the minds of their neighbours. They were 
 keeping everything so dark that it was most 
 difficult to say what had really happened and 
 what had not. 
 
 The invalid was never on view, and nobody could 
 say with authority what he looked like. Rumour had 
 it that his appearance was too dreadful for the public 
 gaze, his head having been damaged beyond recog- 
 nition in the mysterious catastrophe, which had 
 overtaken him. Rumour also had it that there was 
 
178 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 nothing at all the matter with him, and that he 
 was hiding from his creditors to postpone as long 
 as possible a financial crisis. Everybody agreed, 
 however, that Amy Brown had developed an as- 
 tonishing aptitude for bluff, and that her childish 
 blue eyes were evidently not so innocent as they 
 looked. She ought, by all the rules of the game, to 
 have wept on the shoulders of at least half a dozen 
 bosom friends, yet, so far as could be ascertained, not 
 a tear had been shed. It almost seemed as though 
 dear Mrs. Brown was a two-faced little cat who kept 
 herself to herself in spite of her engaging manners, 
 and Uppington was pained to think how deceived it 
 had been in her. 
 
 Amber Martin was heard to say, that even if Kit 
 had gone mad — which could surprise no one consider- 
 ing what a fool he had always been — there was no 
 need to make a public exhibition of him ; and that, 
 if the same fate had befallen her own husband, she 
 would have been only too thankful to shut him up in 
 one of the bedrooms and forget all about him. And 
 this was taken to mean that Kit was kept a prisoner, 
 probably in a strait-jacket, because Amber was 
 frequently to be seen at Elm Villa and therefore 
 must know what she was talking about. Often in 
 the mornings she called to take the children for a 
 walk, and if Amy confided in anyone, which was by 
 no means certain, then Amber was undoubtedly the 
 chosen one. Unless — and here was a prolific 
 source of conjecture — Mrs. Sutherland was also 
 involved in the extraordinary secrecy which sur- 
 rounded the whole affair. For it was common know- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 179 
 
 ledge that Amy had for some time professed a lean- 
 ing towards Christian Science. 
 
 Mrs. Glynn-Evans could not bring herself to 
 believe that any woman, even if she were so 
 misguided as to refuse the advice and consolation 
 of her friends, could be so utterly lost as to 
 pin her faith to the absurdities of Christian 
 Science. Experiments of that kind, she said, were 
 all very well when you were in perfect health, and 
 had nothing else to think about. But in the case of 
 Ulness, especially of the brain, and more especially of 
 your husband's brain, on which you relied for your 
 daily bread, it was tempting Providence to meddle 
 with them. As she very shrewdly pointed out, if 
 doctors were not meant to be consulted in such 
 cases, why were there any doctors at all ? Why 
 did the Almighty permit them if not for our 
 help and guidance ? She added that she had no 
 patience with all these newfangled ideas, and that 
 she felt sure that Amy Brown was much too sensible 
 a girl to be led away by Mrs. Sutherland, who, when 
 all was said and done, was an American from good- 
 ness knew where. 
 
 But Uppington was not quite so confident as Mrs. 
 Glynn-Evans. It considered Amy too pretty to 
 have much sense, and far too inexperienced to deal 
 with a difficult problem like the present one, 
 without the counsel and advice of older and wiser 
 people ; and the fact that she had so skilfully evaded 
 them and their good offices seemed to indicate that 
 some alien influence was at work. Mrs. Sutherland 
 therefore was regarded with deep suspicion, and 
 
i8o CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 expressions of sympathy were to be heard on all 
 sides for poor Mr. Brown. 
 
 Several courageous attempts had been made to 
 extract information from Dr. Bennett, but he was 
 much too wary a bird to be caught napping. You 
 could never surprise him into an admission about 
 anybody or anything, and if you asked him a straight- 
 forward and neighbourly question he would merely 
 smile reproachfully and begin to talk about the 
 price of bread, these tactics being, as every one 
 knew, not so much to cover a praiseworthy reticence 
 as to hide the extent of his own ignorance and 
 indecision. It was observed that he paid a visit to 
 Elm Villa every day, but even if you waited till he 
 came out, and popped inside the gate directly 
 afterwards, it was quite as likely as not that you 
 would be told Mrs. Brown was not at home. Or if 
 you were invited inside, it was into a cold and in- 
 hospitable drawing-room when you knew perfectly 
 well there was a fire in the dining-room ; and you 
 had to sit and listen to Amy Brown's gentle plati- 
 tudes about nervous strain, and overwork, and 
 the necessity for complete rest, till you were so 
 exasperated that you couldn't stay any longer. 
 
 Mrs. Todhunter, who was a perfect lady with a 
 crest, and who therefore never listened to the gossip 
 of servants, but whose cook was cousin to the cook 
 at Elm Villa, was recognized as the fountain-head 
 of information. She could, however, not be induced 
 to part with much of it, and gained her reputation 
 more by what she thought it kinder not to say than 
 by what she actually told people. She thus earned 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER i8i 
 
 the double distinction of knowing more than anyone 
 else, and of being too kind-hearted to repeat it, and 
 reaped a full harvest of invitations on the strength 
 of it. 
 
 In short, the whole community was deeply in- 
 terested, and on the tiptoe of expectation for further 
 developments. 
 
 Christopher, however, was blissfully unaware of 
 the solicitude he was exciting in the village, being 
 exclusively concerned with his own immediate 
 prospects, and finding much food for painful 
 reflection therein. It was hardly a week since the 
 fatal evening when he had evolved the brilliant but, 
 as it had transpired, disastrous idea of losing his 
 memory for the occasion. In that short time his 
 circumstances had undergone a complete and 
 almost incredible change : he had been transformed 
 by a series of unavoidable accidents from a perfectly 
 healthy and normal young man, with a banking 
 account and a will of his own, into a mental invalid, 
 guarded day and night with watchful care, never 
 left alone for a single moment, and humoured 
 patiently every time he opened his mouth, in a 
 way that often drove him nearly as mad as every- 
 one believed him to be. 
 
 Despite his most earnest endeavours, he 
 had not so far succeeded in escaping from 
 the network of misfortune that hedged him 
 in on either side : try as he might, every 
 plan was frustrated, every move anticipated by 
 the careful Amy, and by a person named Watts 
 whom Kit loathed with the whole force of his 
 
i82 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 being. For Watts was nothing more or less than 
 a mental nurse, and he had been installed by 
 direction of the doctor, who very properly had 
 refused to leave Amy alone in the house with a 
 husband who might at any moment break out into 
 violence and assassinate her. And so Watts had 
 arrived, with his small brown bag, his furtive eyes, 
 and his stealthy tread ; and Kit, storm, threaten, 
 entreat as he might, could not get rid of him. A 
 small bed was made up in the spare room, and there 
 every night snored Watts, the key under his pillow, 
 and a box of matches by his side to be ready for 
 emergencies. He followed his patient about like an 
 obsequious shadow, sat in the dining-room with him 
 at meal-times, and when on one occasion Kit 
 resolutely put on his hat and left the house. Watts 
 was at his heels like a sleuth-hound, till in despair he 
 retraced his steps and went back home, where at 
 least he could hide his humiliation from the curious 
 eyes of his neighbours. 
 
 He soon discovered that any resistance on his 
 part was treated as a further symptom of insanity, 
 and a new and horrid fear assailed him. What if 
 they should take it into their heads to drug him, 
 put him in a cab, and deposit him in a lunatic 
 asylum ? Such things he knew had been done 
 before now, and he began to reahze that if he showed 
 any signs of violence there was every prospect of 
 his waking up one morning to find his liberty gone 
 for ever. It would no doubt be quite easy to 
 secure another doctor to confirm the diagnosis of 
 Dr. Bennett, a process Kit believed was necessary 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 183 
 
 before he could be legally certified insane. He had 
 to admit to himself that it would be very difficult 
 for him to prove himself a rationally-minded man 
 now that things had gone so far. Even if he made 
 up his mind to confide the whole circumstances to 
 his wife, such was her opinion of his mental con- 
 dition that she would not believe him without 
 the confirmation of outside evidence. She would 
 ask for Lebah's address in order to seek an interview 
 with that lady, and Kit, as he reflected on the 
 sort of conversation that must take place between 
 the two women, felt his soul curl up and 
 shrivel within him. On the whole it seemed that, 
 trying as his present circumstances were, a full 
 confession would not tend to make them much 
 less so. Supposing that he succeeded in establishing 
 his sanity beyond doubt, he realized that he would 
 look such a scoundrel in Amy's eyes and such a fool 
 in those of other people, particularly in those of 
 Lebah and the doctor, that he would almost 
 prefer to be considered a mild sort of lunatic, 
 especially if he were also that sort who got better 
 very quickly and never had a return of his malady. 
 He therefore decided to lie low and say nothing ; 
 to be very amenable and obliging, very sane and 
 ordinary, so that in a short time everybody would 
 see how completely he had recovered. But it was 
 not easy to be sane and ordinary when everything 
 was as exasperating as it could possibly be : when 
 Amy was so kind and forbearing that he longed 
 to box her ears ; when the children were kept 
 away from him lest he should turn and rend them ; 
 
1 84 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 and when he could not move out of the house, nor 
 even move inside it, without the hateful Watts 
 behind him. On one point he was firm. He 
 would see nobody, and nobody was to see him. 
 He knew from long experience of Uppington what 
 to expect if once his neighbours got wind of his 
 condition, and he did not intend to give them a 
 chance to gossip about him. He believed that the 
 whole thing would soon blow over when he was 
 able to get about again, especially if Amy spoke 
 of it, as she had promised him she would, as a 
 temporary nervous breakdown due to overwork. 
 
 And so in noble endeavour to make the best of 
 things, the days passed quickly and not unhappily, 
 for Kit reminded himself that, although his brain 
 was quite sound, his nerves were a good deal shaken 
 by his recent experiences and would be all the 
 better for a complete rest. He also felt that he 
 had a lot to make up for in the way of nourishment, 
 and industriously absorbed four square meals a 
 day, with cups of beef-tea and beaten egg between 
 whiles, to get back his lost strength and vigour. 
 He quite looked forward to the doctor's visits as a 
 pleasant break in the monotony of the day, and 
 began to take an active and intelligent interest in 
 his various symptoms, ably assisted by Watts, who 
 was a man of much experience in mental cases and 
 knew exactly what to expect. 
 
 He soon discovered that, although he had always 
 supposed himself to be fairly healthy and sound, 
 there were many indications of disease in his system; 
 many trifles of which he had previously taken no 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 185 
 
 notice, but which in the light of his newly acquired 
 knowledge became quite weighty straws to show 
 which way the wind was blowing. As, for instance, 
 on a certain occasion when the doctor had startled 
 him by a request that he would take off his shoes 
 and stockings. 
 
 " What for ? " asked Kit bluntly, as the nimble 
 Watts was already unfastening his shoes with the 
 deftness of long practice. 
 
 " Put 'em up," said the doctor. " I want to 
 see whether you're ticklish or not." 
 
 " No, I'm not, " said Kit proudly, " never 
 was." 
 
 The doctor passed his fingers gently over the out- 
 stretched soles, watching anxiously for any signs 
 of twitching or muscular disturbance ; but Kit, 
 who had often played that game at school, main- 
 tained a stoic demeanour and never so much as 
 moved a muscle. 
 
 " Ah," sighed the doctor, when his most subtle 
 and persuasive tickling had produced no effect, 
 " I was afraid so. Put 'em on again. Watts." 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Kit anxiously. 
 " Ought I to be ticklish ? " 
 
 " Course you should," replied the doctor cheer- 
 fully. " However, it's only what I expected." 
 
 " As a matter of fact," explained Kit, " I did 
 feel something, or other. Not much, you know, 
 but still." 
 
 " All right, old chap," said the doctor, " better 
 luck next time." 
 
 And Kit perceived that if he had squirmed 
 
1 86 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 naturally instead of making a boast of his fortitude, 
 he would have come better out of this strange 
 ordeal. But it was too late, for the doctor refused 
 to try again. 
 
 These and similar experiments made Kit some- 
 times wonder whether he was quite as sane as he 
 had hitherto believed. He felt, now that he thought 
 about it, rather woolly and lethargic, especially 
 after meal-times, and it occurred to him that his 
 fall against Lebah's fender, following on a period 
 of mental strain, might easily have damaged some- 
 thing inside his head. It therefore behoved him 
 to take every care of himself, for, although he 
 knew that he was saner than the doctor believed 
 him to be, there was no doubt the worthy man 
 had a good deal of evidence to justify him in his 
 opinion. 
 
 He often wished that he knew the meaning of 
 Vibart's mysterious visit to the house, for he felt 
 sure that it was not unpremeditated, and that, 
 if Mrs. Sutherland was not in the secret, she had 
 been the innocent tool of her nephew. He was 
 convinced that Amy did not know the whole story, 
 but from occasional remarks that she made 
 he often feared that she had a suspicion of 
 his guilt and the thought always made him very 
 uneasy. Sometimes he almost decided to tell 
 her everything, but it was a great deal easier to 
 make the resolution than to carry it out. In the 
 first place. Watts was nearly always with him, and 
 any hint that he should betake himself elsewhere 
 was either ignored or flatly rejected. It seemed, 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 187 
 
 in fact, to make Watts suspicious if Kit tried to 
 manoeuvre a tete-d-tete with his wife, and Amy 
 herself was not in the least helpful. On the few 
 occasions when a brief opportunity had presented 
 itself, Kit had found himself totally unprepared for 
 it, and the auspicious moment had fled before he 
 could make up his mind to grasp it. 
 
 One could not, of course, rush at a confession of 
 that sort. It was necessary to lead up to it with 
 tact in order to present the incident in the most 
 favourable light. It seemed to Kit that what Amy 
 knew or did not know was the crux of the whole 
 question ; for, if she knew anything at all, it would 
 perhaps be better to tell her the rest and put an end 
 to the present unsatisfactory state of affairs ; and 
 if she knew nothing, it seemed a pity, having gone 
 so far, not to try and wriggle through with an 
 untarnished reputation. It was a very difficult 
 problem, and Kit considered it often and anxiously 
 from all points of view, without being able to come 
 to a decision. 
 
 But the days were passing, and he felt it 
 was time to make a move in one direction or 
 another, and so one afternoon when Watts had 
 gone out of the room for a few minutes he took 
 his courage in both hands and approaching the 
 subject with caution he remarked pathetically to 
 his wife : 
 
 " Amy darling, I'm getting so fed up with all 
 this." 
 
 " I know you must be, poor dear," replied 
 Amy sympathetically. 
 
1 88 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " I can't help thinking," said Kit, " that you 
 might help me a little more than you do." 
 
 Amy stared at him. 
 
 " But, Kit ! " she exclaimed, "I do every- 
 thing that I possibly can, I'm always trying to help 
 you, what more can I do ? " 
 
 " It seems to me," said Kit, " that you listen 
 too much to what people say. You must know, 
 as well as I do, that there's not much wrong with 
 me ; nothing at all, in fact, except for that accident, 
 or whatever it was. And yet you have the doctor 
 here every day, and that Watts fellow. Anybody 
 might think that I'd gone clean off my chump. 
 I must say I don't think it's very kind of you, 
 you wouldn't like it if you were in my place." 
 
 Amy looked distressed. 
 
 " You see," she said, " it's rather difficult for 
 me, Kit dear. We can only be guided by what 
 the doctor says, and he thinks that, while there's 
 any chance of your losing your memory again, 
 some one ought to be always with you. I know 
 how awful it must be for you, darling boy. Don't 
 you think it would be better if you were to go out 
 more and see people ? " 
 
 " With Watts in attendance ? No thank you. 
 Not much. But how long do you expect this 
 sort of thing is going to last ? When does the 
 doctor think I shall be all right again ? I shall 
 have to go back to the office, you know, or I shall 
 get the sack." 
 
 " Kit dear," said Amy gravely, " don't think 
 about the office. You won't be able to go back 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 189 
 
 for a long time — if ever. I wrote to them about 
 you the other day." 
 
 " You shouldn't have done that," said Kit 
 anxiously. " What did you say ? " 
 
 " I told them," said Amy, " that you had a sort 
 of nervous breakdown and the doctor insisted on 
 a rest for a time." 
 
 " Well, but, you know," said Kit, " I can't afford 
 to knock off work ; besides there's no reason why 
 I should, that I can see." 
 
 "Just for a Httle while," coaxed Amy, " till 
 we see how you go on. I had a letter from your 
 father this morning ; he says we are not to worry 
 about money, he will see that we have all we want. 
 He's coming up to town as soon as he can get away, 
 and he says if you're not better by then he will take 
 you to a good specialist he knows of, and see if you 
 ought to undergo a proper treatment." 
 
 Amy's words struck a cold chill into her husband's 
 heart. Things were even worse than he had 
 imagined. There was no time to be lost in putting 
 them in order before they went too far. 
 
 " Look here, Amy," he faltered, "I've . . . 
 I've got something to tell you. You see. . . . Well 
 . . . you do believe, don't you, that I'm very fond 
 of you ? " He rose, and in his agitation began 
 to pace up and down the room. " I swear. Amy, 
 I've never loved any woman but you, whatever 
 anybody may say, I've never really cared a straw 
 about anyone else." 
 
 " I know you love me, Kitty darling," said 
 Amy sweetly, " I've never doubted it." 
 
190 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Yes, I do, Amy," cried her husband earnestly. 
 " If you only knew the agony of mind I've been 
 through : the haunting remorse night and day ; the 
 fear that you would misunderstand me — that was 
 the most terrible thought." 
 
 Amy rose too, and laid her hand kindly on her 
 husband's shoulder. 
 
 " I quite understand what you feel, dear boy," 
 she said. " Don't worry about it, duckie ; don't 
 excite yourself, it's so bad for you." 
 
 He seized her hand and pressed it ner^'-ously 
 between his own. 
 
 " No, I won't," he said, " but you do realize, 
 don't you, that it was all a mistake, the whole 
 thing, a huge mistake ? Of course Vibart coming 
 in when he did was really what caused it all." 
 
 " Yes," said Amy patiently, " it was very tire- 
 some for you, but don't bother about it now." 
 
 Kit looked hard at her. 
 
 " I knew he'd told you," he remarked significantly. 
 
 " Told me what ? " asked Amy. • 
 
 "About . . ." it was difficult to say, but he stuck 
 to it courageously, " about . . . Lebah." 
 
 At last it was out. 
 
 Amy looked puzzled. 
 
 " I don't understand what you mean," she 
 said. " What had he to do with the handker- 
 chief, or with the owner of it ? " 
 
 " Well, he was there, of course," said Kit. 
 
 " Where — the night you had the accident ? " 
 
 "Of course," said Kit, "he knocked me down. 
 I suppose he took care not to tell you that ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 191 
 
 Amy could not repress a smile at this absurdity. 
 
 " Don't be silly, darling," she said good- 
 naturedly. " I'm sure Captain Vibart wouldn't 
 knock you down. Besides, anybody could see, 
 when you walked into the room the other morning, 
 that you were a perfect stranger to him. Why on 
 earth should he pretend he didn't know you ? He 
 was quite taken by surprise at the way you went 
 on, poor young man. But I wonder," she 
 continued thoughtfully, " if somebody really did 
 knock you down, somebody perhaps rather like 
 Captain Vibart. Perhaps your memory is beginning 
 to come back to you. Try and think, darling." 
 
 But at this moment Watts entered the room, and 
 Kit did not feel equal to remembering any more. 
 He relapsed into a dejected silence and refused to 
 speak another word. 
 
 It was quite evident to him now that Amy knew 
 nothing, and while on the one hand this was a great 
 relief to his mind, on the other it added considerably 
 to his difficulties. He could see that it would take 
 a great deal to convince her of the truth of his 
 story — nothing less, in fact, than a complete ex- 
 posure of the whole proceedings, and he felt that 
 rather than that should happen he would suffer in 
 silence for the rest of his life. 
 
 He did not, however, think it would ever come to 
 that, something would no doubt turn up before long 
 to deliver him, so he held his peace and waited with 
 all the patience he could muster for further develop- 
 ments. 
 
 But the end was not yet. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WITH so much doing in Uppington, we fear 
 Lebah has been rather neglected. But we 
 cannot be in two places at once, and, more- 
 over, when a girl behaves with such culpable care- 
 lessness as to lose two devoted lovers in the short 
 period of half an hour or so, she is better left alone 
 till the edge wears off her disappointment. Chris- 
 topher Brown she could very well dispense with, 
 and indeed was heartily glad to see the last of him ; 
 but the case of Jack Vibart was a totally different 
 one. She knew, none better, the rage and bitter- 
 ness that filled his heart as he helped his rival 
 down the stone stairs, and her own heart ached 
 with sympathy for his wounded feelings. She 
 waited till the last echo died down in the silent 
 building, and even a little longer, in case he should 
 relent and return to her ; but she did not expect 
 him, and presently she closed the door and went 
 back into the little sitting-room. 
 
 There she stood for quite a long time in the 
 exact spot where she had seen him, with brown 
 eager hands outstretched towards her, and a look in 
 his green eyes that told her everything she wanted 
 
 to know. She could feel again the pressure of 
 
 193 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 193 
 
 his lean arms and the nervous tremor of his 
 breathing as he drew her to him ; and her whole 
 being yearned for him with an intensity which 
 charmed as much as it surprised her. She was 
 in love at last ! So delighted was she with 
 this sweet revelation of her feelings, that she 
 hardly realized the possibility of Jack being offended 
 beyond recall. She felt so strong and so uplifted 
 that she scarcely paused to think of Jack at all. 
 It was enough that she loved him, that her whole 
 nature was flooded with this divine inspiration. For 
 the time being he was only the magic key to unlock 
 the gates of heaven for her, and she was much more 
 concerned with what she found there than with 
 the man who had been the means of transporting 
 her thither. 
 
 It was some hours later, when she lay on her 
 small bed, with sleep afar off, that she began to 
 think of him as a man, her own man, and to make 
 plans for their future. For that they had a future, 
 in spite of the present impasse, she never doubted 
 for a moment. She was more than ever determined 
 to marry him, not, now that she loved him, 
 so much for her own advancement as for his welfare. 
 He needed her, so she told herself, not as a passing 
 amusement, but to complete his life, to give him 
 the love and comfort that only a wife can give. She 
 almost lost sight of his money and his position as 
 she thought of him, lonely and homeless in strange 
 lands, dependent on the careless ministrations of 
 black servants, or wandering about the Promenade 
 at Brighton in search of a congenial spirit to keep 
 13 
 
194 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 him company — either condition in her mind being 
 equally desolate. She began in a woman's extra- 
 ordinary way to be sorry for him, to long to pet and 
 take care of him, oblivious in her enthusiasm of the 
 fact that if any man in the world knew how to 
 take care of himself, it was Jack Vibart. And 
 so she lay all that happy night in a fool's 
 paradise, dreaming the Love Dream, which is so 
 much more satisfying than the Reality, and build- 
 ing castles in the air with the slender fabric of 
 her hopes. 
 
 Jack, as we know, was quite otherwise employed 
 that night. He could not look into the future 
 with Lebah's far-seeing eye, and was in a cold fury 
 at the indignities of the present. Even if he had 
 been blessed with prophetic vision, it is doubtful if 
 the prospect would have pleased him as it pleased 
 her, for the one thing he detested above all others 
 was the thought of marriage. He looked upon it 
 as a calamity of the greatest magnitude, a sort of 
 moral suicide, a living death ; he had no words to 
 express his opinion of an able-bodied young man who 
 allowed himself to be tied up in the bonds of matri- 
 mony. Women might marry and indeed ought to 
 do so, or they were no good to themselves or to 
 anyone else ; and there were plenty of old men, and 
 men with positions to consider and inheritances to 
 hand down to posterity, whose duty it was to marry 
 them. But he often thanked heaven that no such 
 dire necessity confronted him, and that there was 
 no need for him to sacrifice himself either to the 
 past or to the future. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 195 
 
 It was in pursuance of this ideal of single blessed- 
 ness — although he was guided more by instinct 
 than by any process of reasoning — that he 
 decided, on the day following his visit to Uppington, 
 to send a wire to old Mackenzie, to whose house he 
 had a standing invitation, asking if he could put 
 him up for a few days. And when Mackenzie 
 wired back, " Certainly come whenever you like 
 and stay as long as you can," he packed a kit bag 
 without further delay into his new motor-car and 
 set off to do the journey by road. 
 
 He was glad to think that this masterly stroke 
 precluded the possibility of his meeting Lebah 
 again ; but he had to try very hard to be glad, for 
 his heart, in spite of himself, was longing to see her. 
 He could not get her out of his mind. She seemed 
 to linger in its more secret recesses and to pop out 
 when he least expected her to. He was still angry 
 with her, but he could not help feeling sometimes 
 how nice it would be to forgive her ; and, when he 
 reflected on the way she had treated him, he did 
 not think he had very much to forgive. She had 
 undoubtedly admitted Brown by a mistake, and 
 hidden him in a moment of foolish panic. He liked 
 to dwell on her confusion and nervousness : she 
 was very enchanting like that, and he wondered 
 all the things a man does wonder about the 
 woman he wants for his own ; and then pulled 
 himself up with a round turn, and thought resolutely 
 about something else. 
 
 Now Jack knew quite enough to distrust 
 these conflicting emotions profoundly. He realized 
 
196 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 quite plainly, before he had been two days away 
 from London, that, as he expressed it, he had " got 
 it in the neck," and the knowledge made him very 
 restive. He felt very uneasy and insecure. On 
 the one hand, he wanted to fly back to town, and, 
 on the other hand, he was afraid to go because of 
 what might happen when he got there. 
 
 One hears a great deal about the timorous heart- 
 searchings of the maiden who stands hovering on 
 the brink of Love, wondering in her innocent soul 
 if she dare set her foot in those perilous waters ; 
 but her qualms are nothing to the trepidation of 
 the young man who finds himself in the same plight. 
 Indeed, the two can hardly be compared at all. 
 Because, whereas the maiden, from about the age 
 of three years, knows exactly what she wants and 
 how to go about getting it, the man, taught from 
 infancy to use his brains rather than his intuitions, 
 generally finds the ground gone from under his 
 feet before he is aware of any danger. His brains 
 are of no use to him in his sudden dilemma, he 
 quickly loses his balance, and with it his dignity ; 
 and bereft of his two most cherished possessions 
 cuts a sorry figure indeed. But the maiden, if she 
 is a nice girl, will comfort him with soft words. 
 She will talk to him of his strength of character, 
 his virility, and of his superb intellect, and he will 
 believe everything she likes to tell him in that line, 
 and feel all the better for it. 
 
 Jack, however, was still in the floundering and 
 indeterminate stage. He felt the ground giving 
 way beneath his feet, and as yet saw no out- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 197 
 
 stretched hand to save him, heard no comforting 
 words for his consolation. 
 
 And if anybody thinks that an experienced man of 
 thirty-five is not likely to lose his head over such a 
 simple matter, he is quite wrong — we say he, because 
 she knows better — it is a phenomenon to be seen 
 every day of the week by those who have eyes to see. 
 A man can be as big a fool at thirty as he can be 
 at twenty, or for that matter at sixty. With this 
 difference, that at twenty he doesn't know that he is 
 a fool — he thinks he is a god, and enjoys the ex- 
 perience. At sixty he knows well enough what he is, 
 and thanks his stars that he has yet another chance 
 before going down to the grave. But at thirty-five, 
 he has neither the illusions of youth nor the con- 
 solations of age : he is young enough to feel foolish 
 and old enough to know better — which is precisely 
 what Jack Vibart reminded himself when he con- 
 templated the prospect of falling in love. At any 
 rate, he reflected, he knew enough to remain where 
 he was, and not to run the risk of going back to 
 town just yet. 
 
 And so the days passed, and Lebah waited in 
 vain for the sound of his familiar knock at her 
 front door. 
 
 The rapture that she had experienced on finding 
 herself in love soon lost its pristine freshness, ex- 
 pecially when she discovered that Jack had gone 
 away and left her without a word. For two whole 
 days she expected him at any and every moment, 
 and lived in an atmosphere of delicious anticipation. 
 But, when on the third day he had not put in an 
 
198 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 appearance, doubts began to gather in her mind, 
 and she called at his hotel, not to see him — that 
 would have been much too obvious for Lebah — but 
 merely to inquire if he were still there. 
 
 The hotel clerk thought not, and on looking 
 through his books was able to confirm this con- 
 jecture. Captain Vibart had left on Thursday, 
 No, he did not know where he had gone, and his 
 expression denoted that even if he had known he 
 would not have said so. Any letters sent to the 
 hotel would be forwarded to his bank, the address 
 of which he had left behind him. He did not know 
 whether Captain Vibart intended returning to the 
 hotel, if he had gone abroad, or whether he was still 
 in England. He had no information whatever as to 
 Captain Vibart's movements, and apparently only 
 a very poor opinion of ladies who wanted to know too 
 much. 
 
 When Lebah heard this bad news, her spirit groaned 
 within her, and she wended her way home again 
 to commune with herself over a cup of tea. Very 
 incensed she was against Jack ; furious with him 
 for nipping off like that, and smarting under the 
 humiliation that he had laid upon her. She felt 
 that he had practically jilted her ; for, if the question 
 had not been exactly put into words, at any rate his 
 eyes had hidden nothing of their meaning. And 
 yet he had gone off without so much as waiting to 
 hear whether she said yes or no. He had asked for 
 her love and thrown it back carelessly in her face, 
 than which there is no more heinous crime in a 
 woman's calendar. When she thought how ready 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 199 
 
 she had been to give it to him, she ground her teeth 
 in impotent rage and hated him mightily, for in 
 proportion as one loves, so, if the tables are turned, 
 does one hate, and she had loved him very much 
 only the day before. 
 
 But when she had finished her tea, and smoked six 
 cigarettes one after another, the violence of her fury 
 began to abate, and she felt more able to take a calm 
 and dispassionate view of the situation. She was 
 not one of those poor-spirited girls who droop under 
 adversity ; neither did her pride prompt her to cast 
 Jack out of her life and banish him from herthoughts. 
 On the contrary, she girded up her loins and set to 
 work to think how best she could get him back 
 again ; for, if before she had proposed to marry him, 
 she was now fully determined to do so. On careful 
 consideration she perceived that the fact of his 
 having fled so precipitately from town was a good 
 omen. It showed, in the first place, that he had 
 taken her behaviour very seriously to heart ; secondly, 
 that he had been angry enough to wish to hurt her 
 — a sure sign of affection — and thirdly, that he was 
 afraid of her influence. Why, unless he had felt 
 these things, should he have suddenly upset all his 
 plans and arrangements, and gone off, nobody 
 knew where, for no apparent reason at all ? She 
 could almost smile to herself when she pictured his 
 savage satisfaction at the chastisement he had dealt 
 her : his triumph at having cut with his own hands 
 the cords that were binding him. In fact, she did 
 smile, because she knew that he would feel the 
 punishment a great deal more than she intended 
 
200 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 to, and that the cords were still as good and strong 
 as ever. 
 
 So convinced was she of this, that she told herself 
 there was no need for her to be in an unseemly hurry 
 to run after him, a proceeding for which she had the 
 greatest contempt, and one to which she would only 
 resort when everything else had failed. Moreover, 
 she very rightly argued that a man on the end of a 
 piece of string is more likely to return to the girl who 
 holds the other end of it, if she doesn't pull it and 
 annoy him. It is possible that in a tug of war she 
 might get the worst of it, or the string might break ; 
 and Lebah was taking no unnecessary risks. She 
 therefore decided to wait a full week before taking 
 any steps whatever. 
 
 The week, however, was hardly more than half- 
 way through, when her plans received an impetus 
 from a very unexpected quarter. 
 
 She was sitting one afternoon in her long chair by 
 the fire reading a French novel, lurid without and 
 innocuous within as French novels so often are, 
 when the door opened, and Bertha, ushered in by old 
 Doody, entered the room. 
 
 " Hullo, B.," said Lebah, skimming hastily down 
 to the end of the paragraph. " How's things ? " 
 
 Bertha unfolded a newspaper. Her eyes were full 
 of mysterious excitement. 
 
 " I've got something to show you," she said. 
 " What was the name of that feller who used to 
 come here such a lot a few weeks back, was it 
 Brown ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 201 
 
 " He seemed to think it was," replied Lebah 
 lazily, shutting up her book and preparing to take 
 an intelligent interest in Bertha's communication. 
 
 " Very well, then," proceeded Bertha, " listen 
 here. 
 
 "';^2o Reward. — Wanted the owner of a 
 handkerchief marked Lebah, which was found in 
 the pocket of a gentleman who had an accident on 
 the night of October i8th. The above sum will be 
 paid to Owner, or to any person giving a full and 
 reliable account of the aforesaid proceedings. 
 Apply Mrs. Brown, Elm Villa, Uppington.' 
 
 " Queer, ain't it ? " remarked Bertha with a 
 grin. 
 
 Lebah stared for a moment at her friend ; then, 
 taking the paper into her own hands, she read the 
 advertisement over again with a furrowed brow. 
 
 " Good Lord ! " she ejaculated, " found in his 
 pocket. Was he killed, then, I wonder ? " 
 
 " Looks like it," replied Bertha cheerfully. 
 " What was he doing with your handkerchief in 
 his pocket ? " 
 
 " I lent it to him," said Lebah. " I suppose he 
 forgot to give it back." 
 
 " It's not like you to be so careless," said 
 Bertha candidly. " Evidently Mrs. Brown is on 
 your track. I can see you run in for murder 
 if you don't watch it." 
 
 "Oh, dry up ! " said Lebah impatiently. " I 
 want to think. What on earth can have happened 
 to him?" 
 
202 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Was he here on the eighteenth — that would 
 be a week yesterday ? " 
 
 " Tuesday, yes, he came in after the theatre." 
 
 " And was he all right when he left ? " 
 
 " Yes . . . that is, no," hesitated Lebah. " Not 
 exactly. He was . . . well, I don't know if he 
 was drunk, or perhaps he was hurt more than 
 was thought." 
 
 " Bless the girl ! " exclaimed Bertha, look- 
 ing at Lebah with frank curiosity. " What 
 on earth had you been doing to him ? Who's 
 'we' ? " 
 
 " Vibart was here too," admitted Lebah, 
 " and they had a sort of a scrap, and Kit fell and 
 hit his head on the fender. Then Jack gave him 
 too much brandy and he lay down on the sofa and 
 refused to move. So he lost the last train home. 
 And I was so fed up with the whole thing, that I 
 fired 'em both out. What happened after they 
 got outside heaven alone knows. Something 
 evidently." 
 
 " Well, anyhow, it's nothing to do with you, is 
 it ? Nobody can say it's your fault, you've got 
 Vibart as a witness that he left here all right — 
 and after all, twenty pounds is twenty pounds. 
 Only don't forget, old dear, that I saw it first, 
 we'll go halves." 
 
 Lebah frowned. " I don't much fancy going 
 to Uppington and facing Mrs. Brown," she 
 muttered. 
 
 " Do it through a solicitor," suggested Bertha 
 practically. " There's little Tommy Henderson 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 203 
 
 would be glad of a job, and I don't suppose he'd 
 charge you much." 
 
 " I can't do anything," said Lebah firmly, 
 " till I hear what Jack's got to say about it. You 
 see they rather hated each other, perhaps after 
 they left here they fought it out in the street. 
 Jack's a pretty hard case when he's roused, and I 
 shouldn't like to get him into any trouble." 
 
 Bertha's face fell. 
 
 " Blow ! " she said, " that's a pity. I thought 
 I'd struck a gold mine. Ten pounds would have 
 been a godsend on tour next week. However, I 
 suppose it can't be helped. Where is Vibart now ? 
 Can't you get hold of him right away ? " 
 
 " No," said Lebah, " I can't, he's in the country. 
 But I'll tell you what I'll do : I'll write to him 
 to-night. And look here, B., I can lend you a 
 couple of quid if you're hard up. But mind, only 
 if you promise not to say a word to anyone about 
 the ad. Keep it dark, there's a dear ; it might get 
 me into an awful hole if everything came out." 
 
 " Right you are," replied Bertha. " But, if it 
 was me, I'd make a clean breast of the whole thing, 
 whatever it is, before you're found out. It doesn't 
 matter how innocent you are, you won't look it, 
 dear old thing, if you wait till the police come 
 and ferret it all out, to say nothing of being ten 
 pounds out of pocket, and me too." 
 
 To Lebah this was an entirely new aspect of the 
 affair, and not at all a pleasing one. 
 
 " I don't suppose for a minute it's a police court 
 case," she said doubtfully. 
 
204 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " There's evidently some mystery about it," 
 said Bertha, " or they wouldn't be offering twenty 
 pounds to know what happened. If there's been 
 an inquest you may be sure there'll be an inquiry, 
 and sooner or later you'll have the police here. 
 If you take my advice you'll put yourself on the 
 right side of the fence before it's too late." 
 
 " On the other hand," argued Lebah, " it's 
 rather like looking for trouble to show up till I 
 know something more about it. Do you see, 
 if by any chance his brain was injured by 
 that fall and he died on the way home, I don't 
 feel like explaining to anyone that Jack Vibart 
 knocked him down in my flat at twelve o'clock at 
 night. However," she added, " I'll see what 
 Jack's got to say." 
 
 It took Lebah a very long time that evening to 
 write a very short letter. There was so much that 
 she did not want to say. But when after spoiling 
 several sheets of paper she got it at last to her liking, 
 it presented just that appearance of a hastily written 
 scrawl, which she desired it to. 
 
 " Dear Jack " (it ran) 
 
 " Please let me know what I ought to do about 
 the enclosed ad. I suppose the handkerchief is mine, 
 but no need to say so unless you like. What did you 
 do with B. when you took him away from here ? 
 At any rate it looks as though he was past explaining 
 the aforesaid proceedings to anyone. I don't want to • 
 be mixed up in an inquest any more than I expect 
 you do. You'd better come along at once and 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 205 
 
 see what is to be done : Bertha is on the track 
 of the ;^20. 
 
 Yours more or less, 
 
 Lebah." 
 
 Lebah smiled to herself as she slipped this innocent 
 effusion into a pillar-box on her way to the theatre. 
 She wondered how long it would be before it reached 
 Jack and whether it would have the desired effect. 
 To Kit and his adventures she hardly gave a thought. 
 It was annoying perhaps to be involved in them, but 
 she had no doubt that even if he were dead she could 
 quite easily clear herself of any complicity and man- 
 age to escape without much damage to her repu- 
 tation ; and, whatever the inconveniences of her 
 position, she was prepared to suffer gladly anything 
 that gave her such an excellent excuse for writing 
 to Jack. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 WEDNESDAY was Kit's unlucky day. 
 Somehow or other things always went 
 wrong on a Wednesday, just as they 
 always went right on a Thursday. It was a long- 
 established conviction of his that all his troubles, 
 great and small, eventuated on that day, so that he 
 was not at all surprised to be awakened by a 
 clatter of milk-cans at six a.m. But, none the less, 
 it annoyed him very much because he had expressly 
 said, times without number, that no milk-cans were 
 ever to clatter outside his house at that hour of 
 the morning. The milkman had been told more 
 than once that if he did it again the custom of 
 Elm Villa would be taken from him and transferred 
 to his rival farther up the High Street ; and that 
 made him very careful, as a rule, not to bang 
 them furiously together as he did before the houses 
 of less fastidious people. 
 
 Kit, as he heard the noisy little cart being 
 trundled away, determined that Amy should go 
 that very day and put into execution the horrid 
 threat, which had so long been held over the milk- 
 man's head. It was fully an hour before his morning 
 tea could be expected, and he knew perfectly well 
 
 ao6 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 207 
 
 he could not go to sleep again. However, he was 
 wrong, for ten minutes later he was off again as 
 sound as a top into the sort of heavy, unrefreshing 
 sleep that so often follows an early awakening. 
 And, moreover, he dreamed a lurid dream, in which 
 he lay half smothered on the ground with Vibart 
 sitting on his chest and the doctor doing something 
 with a knife, while Amy stood looking on and 
 smiling in a polite and cheerful way, which made 
 everything ever so much worse to bear. 
 
 He was still struggling violently in the throes of 
 this tragedy when somebody said : " Your tea, 
 sir," and he awoke for the second time to find 
 the figure of the faithful Watts standing by his 
 bedside, holding in his hand a steaming and fragrant 
 cup of Ripton's Best. Watts in a cheap and gaudy 
 dressing-gown was a far from inspiring sight the first 
 thing in the morning, and one that never failed to 
 arouse feelings of active dislike in his patient's 
 mind, yet Kit realized that it would be unreasonable 
 to expect the man to sleep in his clothes so that he 
 might present a neat and attractive appearance 
 directly he got out of bed. He therefore suffered 
 him in silence, as indeed he was learning to suffer 
 most things in these distressful days, for he found 
 that almost everything he said was used as evidence 
 against him : his most innocent remarks were 
 twisted somehow to mean something that he had 
 no intention of saying, and he was beginning to 
 realize that the less he said the better. He had 
 now been under supervision for over a week, and he 
 was getting very tired of pitying eyes and kind 
 
2o8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 humouring tones ; and bored, terribly bored, with 
 Watts. He had to admit, however, that poor 
 Watts did his best ; he was an admirable nurse, 
 willing and obliging, and the soul of good temper 
 under conditions which were exceedingly trying for 
 everybody concerned. 
 
 While Kit was drinking his tea Amy came into 
 the room with a bright " Good morning," and seated 
 herself on the edge of the bed. Whereupon Watts 
 very unostentatiously slipped away to another 
 apartment to dress himself and perform his toilet ; 
 and not till he returned did Mrs. Brown cease from 
 her intelligent remarks about the weather, or her 
 endless stream of solicitous inquiry as to how her 
 husband had slept, and what he was feeling like. 
 
 These manoeuvres were not by any means lost on 
 Kit, but protest had long ago proved useless, and 
 he bore them with a sullen resignation till such time 
 as he should see a way clear to assert himself with 
 any chance of success. The doctor had advised 
 that breakfast should be taken in bed in order to 
 give the patient as much rest as possible, and avoid 
 the possibility of his overtiring himself during the 
 day, and this part of the programme met with 
 Kit's full approval, since it had always been, as 
 long as he could remember, an effort to get up 
 in the morning. 
 
 After breakfast he generally read the morning 
 paper for an hour or so, until the process of digestion 
 was sufficiently advanced to allow him to rise and' 
 have his warm bath. By that time the water in 
 the bathroom was nice and hot, a great improve- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 209 
 
 ment on the tepid and scanty allowance with which 
 he often had to be contented under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances. His bath and the operations of shaving 
 and dressing occupied another hour, so that it was 
 always eleven o'clock before he was ready to descend 
 to the dining-room where his mid-momini^ cup of 
 beef-tea awaited him. It will be seen therefore that 
 he was not making any very strenuous demands on 
 his constitution ; and, if sometimes his spirit chafed 
 at the enforced inaction, he comforted himself with 
 the reflection that he was taking a much-needed 
 rest and fortifying himself against the day, which 
 he hoped was not very far distant, when he should 
 be able to return and take his place in the outside 
 world again. 
 
 It was while sipping his beef- tea that, glancing 
 once more at the daily paper, he received a 
 shock, the magnitude of which nearly stunned him, 
 and quite for the moment bereft him of the power 
 of speech. For happening to look casually down 
 the columns of personal advertisements his roving 
 eye caught sight of the fatal word Lebah, in large 
 letters. With a wildly beating heart he read the 
 paragraph from the beginning : 
 
 " £20 Reward. — ^Wanted the owner of a hand- 
 kerchief marked Lebah, which was found in the 
 pocket of a gentleman who had an accident on the 
 night of October i8th. The above sum will be paid 
 to Owner, or to any person giving a full and reliable 
 account of the aforesaid proceedings. Apply Mrs. 
 Brown, Elm Villa, Uppington." 
 14 
 
210 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 The blood rushed to his head, and he bounded 
 out of his chair with the paper clenched in his 
 hand. 
 
 " I say, Watts ! " he cried. " Have you seen 
 this ? Whatever on earth does it mean ? " 
 
 " Beg pardon, sir," said Watts, rising from his 
 humble seat by the window. 
 
 " This advertisement . . . ab . . . b . . . bout 
 that handkerchief," stammered Kit. " Who put 
 it in the paper ? " 
 
 Watts was discretion itself. 
 
 " Could I have a look at it, sir? " he asked with 
 composure. 
 
 Kit handed him the noxious words and watched 
 him with impatience while he read them. 
 
 " Who put it in ? " he demanded again, as 
 Watts laid the paper down on the table. 
 
 " To the best of my belief, sir, " said Watts 
 in measured tones, "it was the doctor's idea, that 
 was." 
 
 " Confound him ! " cried Kit angrily, " why 
 can't he leave me alone ? What on earth has it 
 got to do with him ? Why can't he mind his 
 own business, I should like to know ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Watts respectfully, " but 
 I expect he reckons this is his own business. 
 So far as I understand it, he wanted to find out if 
 possible what caused the bruise on your head ; and 
 whether you lost your memory before you had the 
 blow, or if the blow was what caused the loss of ' 
 memory. You see, sir, if I may say so, you're 
 not what I call an ordinary case : wot I mean — 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 211 
 
 you have your moments when you are as sane as 
 wot I am myself." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said Kit with bitter sarcasm, 
 " you don't say so." 
 
 Watts smiled encouragingly, 
 
 " Oh yes, sir, and the doctor, he says that if he 
 was to know exactly what sort of a blow you had, 
 and how you got it, he should be better able to judge 
 the case ; he says it's a most difficult one to 
 diagnose." 
 
 " I daresay it is," snapped Kit, " it's a great 
 deal more complicated than he knows. Especially 
 now. And I don't mind telling you, Watts, that 
 this puts me in the devil of a fix. I don't know, 
 I'm sure, what's going to be the end of it," he 
 added dejectedly. " I've had about enough of it, 
 I can tell you." 
 
 " I shouldn't let it upset you if I was you, sir," 
 urged Watts soothingly. " If I'd 'a known it was to 
 be in that paper I'd 'a kept it out of your way. 
 The doctor warned me very special that you was 
 not to be excited in any way whatsoever." 
 
 " I can't help being upset," said Kit dismally. 
 " You know this is a very serious thing for me, 
 besides making me look such a fool." 
 
 " Indeed, sir," began Watts again, " but I 
 shouldn't ..." 
 
 " Very serious indeed," repeated Kit. " Do 
 you realize that at any moment the owner of that 
 handkerchief may walk into this room and . . . 
 and . . . compromise me . . . most . . . most ex- 
 traordinarily ? " 
 
212 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Don't you worry about that, sir," Watts 
 assured him, " there won't anyone walk into this 
 room without they're let in, I'll see to that." 
 
 Almost as he spoke voices were heard in the hall ; 
 Amy had gone out to do the morning shopping, and 
 some one was evidently having an argument with 
 Mabel on the doorstep. 
 
 " Who's that ? " asked Kit in alarm. 
 
 " Should I just see, sir ? " 
 
 " No . . . no. Yes . . , you'd better," said 
 Kit distractedly, " and if it's anybody . . , about 
 . . . about that advertisement, show her . . . 
 show them in here. Mrs. Brown's still out, isn't 
 she ? " 
 
 " I believe so, sir," replied Watts, disappearing 
 through the doorway. 
 
 Kit waited anxiously for a few moments while a 
 whispered consultation took place in the hall. 
 
 " It's Mrs. Sutherland, sir," said Watts, 
 putting his head in at the door, " she says would 
 you just see her for a few minutes ? " 
 
 Kit heaved a sudden sigh of relief. 
 
 " Very well," he said faintly, " let her come 
 in." 
 
 A moment later the lady, triumphant at having 
 at last forced her way through portals so stringently 
 denied her, entered the room, her large and expan- 
 sive smile radiating before her. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Brown," she cried joyously, " I've 
 been wanting to see you ever such a long time, but ' 
 your naughty little wife wouldn't let me." 
 
 Kit shook hands with a palpably forced smile and 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 213 
 
 subsided again into his chair as Watts attentively 
 drew up one for his visitor. 
 
 " Waal naow," she began at once, " I don't 
 believe in beating about the bush : when I've got 
 anything to say I jest rip it out right away 
 without wasting any time." 
 
 " Quite," agreed Kit politely, wondering in his 
 own mind what was coming. 
 
 " Vurry well, then. I want to say to you, Mr. 
 Brown, that you're making jest the biggest mistake 
 you ever made in your life. You're no more 
 mad than I am, do you hear that ? " 
 
 Kit looked at her in instant suspicion, his thoughts 
 flew to Vibart. 
 
 " How do you know that ? " he asked darkly. 
 
 " How do I know it ? " repeated Mrs. Sutherland 
 briskly. " Common sense, that's how. C.S. Common 
 Sense. C.S. Christian Science. See that ? Cute, 
 an't it ? " 
 
 Kit smiled uncertainly and said nothing, having 
 no idea at all what to say. 
 
 " Besides," continued Mrs, Sutherland, who 
 much preferred to do the talking herself, " I happen 
 to know that there's no such thing as madness. 
 It's only a delusion, an error of Mortal Mind. You 
 may think you're mad, but once you can get rid of 
 that idea, once you grasp the right belief, why 
 there, you're cured right away." 
 
 " As a matter of fact," replied Kit bluntly, 
 " I don't think I'm mad at all : it's other people 
 who think it. I know perfectly well that I'm 
 all right," 
 
2 14 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 This was not what Mrs, Sutherland had expected, 
 but she was far too experienced an old campaigner 
 to show any signs of discomfiture. 
 
 " Vurry well, then," she said readily, " you 
 must gradually impress your belief on other people, 
 so that they will see how wrong they are in their 
 opinion." 
 
 This seemed to Kit a very sound programme, and 
 he grew almost interested. 
 
 " That's exactly what I have been trying to do all 
 along," he said, " but it's not much good up to 
 the present. Just because I lost my memory for a 
 few hours, they have all got it into their heads that 
 I am going out of my mind ; and, if I try to assert 
 myself, they think I'm getting dangerous. I tell 
 you I'm afraid to say a word, in case they clap me 
 into a lunatic asylum." 
 
 "Now jest you see here," began Mrs, Suther- 
 land with enthusiasm. " You've been going the 
 wrong way to work. You're holding the thought of 
 Fear all the time. First of all Fear about your 
 health. Fear of what the consequences might be, and 
 now Fear of what your friends may do to you. 
 There's only one way to fight Fear, and that is with 
 the Truth. It's Truth, and nothing but Truth 
 that will cure you, and all those around you, because 
 to my way of thinking they're quite as sick as you 
 are yourself," 
 
 Kit's suspicions were up in arms at once. He 
 was rather inclined to like Mrs. Sutherland and 
 her breezy, exhilarating conversation, but evidently 
 there was more than met the eye in her friendly 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 215 
 
 concern about his health . This talk about the Truth 
 made him nervous : 
 
 " Yes, but, you see," he demurred anxiously, 
 " it all depends on what you call the truth. 
 I mean you can't believe all you hear, you 
 know. Supposing a man comes and tells you a 
 story . . . about . . . say about me ... it may 
 be very far from true ; in fact it's quite likely that 
 the whole thing is a pack of lies ; you see what 
 I mean . . . ? " 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland looked puzzled, but not for 
 long ; she was only relieved to find that Kit was 
 no worse, and was enchanted at the undoubted 
 impression that her gospel had already made 
 upon him. 
 
 " See here," she said earnestly. " Truth is 
 Gard, and Gard is All. Sin and suffering are 
 not real, any more than darkness is real. Now 
 darkness is vurry real to a man in a dark room, 
 but you take a Ught into that room and where 
 is the darkness ? Why, nowhere ! It's exactly the 
 same thing with sin and suffering. Once let the 
 light of Truth shine upon them, and they disappear. 
 An't that clear to you ? " 
 
 " Yes . . . s . . ." said Kit doubtfully, " I dare- 
 say. I don't say truth isn't a good thing in its way, 
 but, what I mean, there arc some truths which do 
 more harm than good, if you understand me." 
 
 " Don't you think it, young man," said Mrs. 
 Sutherland brightly, " there's nothing can harm you 
 except yourself, and your own thots. If you 
 see the Truth and you won't admit it, that's what 
 
2i6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 is going to harm you — 3'^oiir own evil thots, not 
 di-vine Truth." 
 
 Kit sighed despondently. 
 
 " I daresay you're right," he said. " I never 
 pretended to be a saint. I know in a way I've 
 only got myself to blame, but that doesn't make 
 it any easier, does it ? I don't fancy Christian 
 Science would do me much good ; not now, that is." 
 
 " Waal, try it and see," urged Mrs. Suther- 
 land. " If I send you a little book, will you read 
 it ? Jest take it quietly by yourself and read 
 carefully the parts I'll mark for you, and in a few 
 days I'll look in again and see you and we'U have 
 another talk about it. Will you do that, dear Mr. 
 Brown, jest to please me ? " 
 
 " Yes . . . s, I will if you like," replied Kit 
 politely, " but I'm afraid I'm not much good at 
 religion, never was." 
 
 " Don't be afraid," said Mrs. Sutherland 
 hopefully,, " remember the harm that Fear has done 
 you already. Why, every time the doctor comes 
 into this house, he brings a fresh dose of Fear with 
 him ! Jest you try and forget all you've been told 
 about yourself, and get your thots on what a 
 lot of good C.S. is going to do you. You mark 
 my words, it won't be long before you're laughing 
 at yourself for ever having been in the state you're 
 now in." 
 
 She rose and, taking Kit earnestly by the hand, 
 looked straight into his eyes with her magnetic, 
 compelling gaze : 
 
 " You're Card's child," she said impressively. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 217 
 
 " No harm can come to you. Seek the Truth, and 
 proclaim it boldly, and you will find all your doubts 
 and fears, all your unhappiness, all yoiu- difficulties, 
 roll away from you like clouds when the sun comes 
 out. Are you going to promise me that you'll give 
 it a trial ? " 
 
 Kit blinked under the powerful searchlight of 
 her penetrating eyes. 
 
 " A ... all right," he said, " I'll see what I 
 can do." 
 
 When she had gone Kit sat a long time and 
 pondered upon her words. It seemed to him that if 
 indeed she knew nothing of his story — and he had 
 found no reason to believe that she did — she was a 
 very wonderful woman, and that if her perspicuity 
 was due to religion, Christian Science partook 
 more of the nature of witchcraft than of anything 
 that he had previously associated with religious 
 teaching. He was bound to admit that when she 
 had told him that his difficulties were due to fear, 
 to his own fears and those of other people, she was 
 perfectly right. What she did not know, however, 
 was, that the Truth in his case would probably 
 land him in far greater difficulties than any from 
 which it would deliver him. There seemed at any 
 rate to be something more in Christian Science 
 than just the usual exhortations about being good 
 and going to church, which had never appealed to 
 him very much, and it suddenly struck him that not 
 only was it an extremely interesting and sensible 
 sort of reUgion, but that it might possibly be 
 
2i8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 applied in a very practical manner to his own case. 
 He did not of course grasp an5d;hing of the teaching 
 of Christian Science : he did not know at all how 
 it managed to cure people, nor did he much want 
 to know ; but it seemed, on the face of it, and 
 without going into boring details, quite a good idea 
 to ally himself with a force which was so obviously 
 helpful, and more especially with a lady of such 
 undoubted ability as Mrs. Sutherland, whose views 
 on the state of his mind were evidently identical 
 with his own. 
 
 In pursuance of this idea he thought it might be 
 as well to hear what Watts had to say about the 
 matter : one must make a start somewhere, and 
 Watts would do to begin with as well as anyone else. 
 
 " I say, Watts," he said presently, " do you 
 know anything about Christian Science — have you 
 ever heard of it before ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, sir," replied Watts, rising from his 
 usual seat by the window. " I've heard a good deal 
 about it one way and another." 
 
 " I believe there's something in it, you know." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Watts, " it's ver} fashionable 
 just now, so I've been told. Sir Austen Temple, 
 the great mental Specialist, what I was with before 
 I come here, he's made a very good thing out of 
 'em this last year or two." 
 
 " But I thought " said Kit, " that they didn't 
 believe in doctors ? " 
 
 " More they don't, sir," replied Watts, " bui* 
 their relations do. I believe Sir Austen's got a 
 private asylum full of 'em, so I've heard." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 219 
 
 " Dear me," said Kit, looking rather bothered, 
 " is that so ? Mind, Watts," he went on after a 
 moment's pause, " I don't say I believe in it — 
 I don't say I do, I don't say I don't. You see, 
 my mind is perfectl}?^ open on the subject. There's 
 no doubt a great deal to be said on both sides. But 
 it would be a very extraordinary state of affairs 
 if a man could be put in a lunatic asylum just 
 because his religious views did not coincide with 
 those of other people." 
 
 " I shouldn't worry about that, sir, if I was 
 you," said Watts peaceably. " You don't want 
 to go and get yourself worked up when there's 
 no occasion. I don't 'old with too much religion 
 meself, I seen it do a sight more 'arm than good. 
 Here's Mrs. Brown coming in. She'll cheer^you 
 up a bit." 
 
 As Amy entered the room, her eyes shining and 
 her cheeks rosy after a walk in the cool autumn 
 air, Kit suddenly bethought himself of the dis- 
 astrous advertisement, which the original ideas of 
 his visitor had almost driven out of his mind, and 
 he returned his wife's bright greeting with a gloomy 
 nod. 
 
 " I hear Mrs. Sutherland has been here," said 
 Amy, "I'm glad you saw her, it does you good to 
 see people. She's a dear old thing, isn't she, so 
 kind and cheery ? " 
 
 " Yes, she is," said Kit, looking at his wife 
 with deep meaning, " very different from other 
 people ! She doesn't ram it down your throat 
 morning, noon, and night that you're a poor silly 
 
220 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 imbecile. And I should like to know, Amy," he 
 added hotly, " what on earth you mean by putting 
 that rotten advertisement in the paper ? " 
 
 Amy looked confused for a moment. 
 
 " Oh dear," she said regretfully, " did you 
 see it ? How stupid of me : I ought to have 
 kept it out of the way. The fact is, the 
 doctor simply insisted upon it. He isn't at all 
 satisfied with the way things are going." 
 
 " And I'm not satisfied either, I can tell you . . ." 
 said Kit crossly, " It makes me look a perfect 
 fool, that's what it does. ' Apply Mrs. 
 Brown ' indeed ! And what's more, I can't 
 afford to have twenty pounds chucked away for 
 nothing." 
 
 " But, darling," said Amy mildly, "if it 
 helps you to get better you can afford it, and it's 
 very important that we should know more about 
 what you did on Thursday night. I daresay," 
 she added consolingly, " that your father will 
 pay it." 
 
 " Well, I know I'm not going to," said Kit. 
 " I shan't pay a penny, not a cent. And 
 what's more. Amy, if you find that it causes a 
 great deal more trouble than you expect, you'll 
 only have yourself to blame. I ... I try to 
 spare you in every way I can . . . and this is the 
 way you treat me. I must say I'm very annoyed 
 about the whole thing." 
 
 " Never mind, old darling," said Amy kindly, • 
 " after all it only says you had an accident, 
 and everybody knows that by now. I was very 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 221 
 
 careful how I worded it. What did Mrs. Sutherland 
 have to talk about ? " 
 
 Watts, perceiving, from the expression of his 
 patient's face, that the tactful Mrs. Brown was 
 coping successfully with an awkward situation, 
 and diverting her husband's attention in the clever 
 way that she invariably did, rose silently and 
 edged himself stealthily out of the room. 
 
 " Well, I suppose it can't be helped now," 
 said Kit ; " I only hope you won't be sorry that 
 you didn't ask my advice before you did such a 
 silly thing." 
 
 He then related to his wife all that Mrs. Sutherland 
 had told him, and the encouraging view that she 
 took of his condition. 
 
 " I can't help thinking," he added, " that 
 she's right ; at any rate there seems to be 
 something more in Christian Science than I thought 
 there was." 
 
 " Of course," agreed Amy at once, " there's 
 a great deal in it that I like immensely. I think 
 the part about Love is simply beautiful." 
 
 " Love ? " repeated Kit vaguely, " she didn't 
 say anything about that. She was very keen 
 on Truth, and in a way, of course, she's not far 
 wrong." 
 
 " Yes," said Amy, " and Love. Truth is all 
 right in a way, but I always think Love is really 
 more important." 
 
 " But you do believe," asked Kit, eyeing his 
 wife dubiously, " that they can really cure people ? " 
 
 " I don't know," repHed Amy with some hesita- 
 
222 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 tion. " Did you think of trying it ? I don't 
 know that it could do you much harm now, as 
 long as you didn't say anything to the doctor 
 about it. Of course, it would offend him awfully 
 if he found out, he can't bear Christian Science." 
 
 " I shouldn't care what the doctor thought," 
 said Kit recklessly, " if it did me any good. That's 
 more than he's done. I blame him for most 
 of this bother." 
 
 "I'm sure he's done his best, poor man," said 
 Amy. 
 
 " I don't believe, mind you," continued Kit, 
 " that there's anything wrong with my brain 
 at all, and I never shall, bar of course losing 
 my memory for an hour or two, which is a thing 
 that might happen to anyone. What she said 
 was, that you people who think me mad are just 
 as mad as I should be if I were. Do you see ? " 
 
 " No," said Amy, " I don't quite. It seems 
 to me that, if madness is unreal, we can't be mad 
 any more than you can be ; but of course I don't 
 understand Christian Science." 
 
 Kit frowned. 
 
 " Well, it didn't sound like that at all when she 
 said it. And, anyhow, I've rather taken a fancy 
 to'^Mrs. Sutherland, she's a nice cheery woman, 
 and she knows what she's talking about. Of 
 course," he added, " we shall all have to be 
 cured or it's not much use ; she made a great 
 point of that." 
 
 " Very well, dear," said Amy good-naturedly, 
 " you get cured first, then we'll see. I certainly 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 223 
 
 have heard of wonderful things they've done — 
 if they're all true. But Kit, darling," she added 
 coaxingly, " you won't offend the doctor, will 
 you ? Where should we be if either of the children 
 were to be taken ill ? " 
 
 " You needn't worry about that," Kit assured 
 her, " I'm not such a fool as to think of trying it 
 on the children." 
 
 " Very well then," said Amy cheerfully, "I'll 
 help you all I can. It will be something for you 
 to think about. You can read the books and Mrs. 
 Sutherland will come in every day and cheer you 
 up. I think it's quite a good idea, I wish I'd 
 thought of it before. I'm sure you must be tired 
 of magazines and things ; Christian Science will be 
 a nice change for you." 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JACK, when Lebah's letter eventually reached 
 him, via the Grand Hotel and his bank, 
 grinned to himself in quite an unusually 
 expressive manner, as he put it in his pocket and 
 strolled off to find old Mackenzie, who was sure to 
 be either feeding the chickens, mowing the lawn, 
 or performing one of those domestic operations 
 that he loved and his guest found so tedious. 
 Although the two had been at school together, and 
 remained close friends ever since, it never occurred 
 to either of them to be in the least confidential ; 
 so that when Jack announced that he had received 
 a letter and was sorry he would have to lurch back 
 to town before lunch, old Mac merely nodded and 
 replied : 
 
 " All right, old chap, come again soon," and both 
 felt that the demands of etiquette had been fully 
 observed. 
 
 It amused Jack extremely, as he raced in his 
 swift and silent car through the country lanes, to 
 think of the hole into which Brown had obviously 
 got himself ; for he had no doubt whatever that the 
 fiction of the lost memory was being successfully 
 kept up and that the inquisitive Mrs. Brown 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 225 
 
 had inserted the advertisement unknown to her 
 husband. He knew that no accident had befallen 
 Lebah's other young man on the night of the 
 eighteenth, and that he had reached home in safety, 
 and the idea of his having to disburse to the extent 
 of ;^20 for the benefit of Bertha rather appealed to 
 his peculiar sense of humour. 
 
 It was not, however, entirely at the vicissitudes 
 of Brown that he smiled to himself as he went 
 along. The thought of Lebah's characteristic 
 summons entertained him greatly. It was so like 
 her to ignore anything for which she might be 
 expected to apologize, to offer no explanations, no 
 excuses to mitigate the enormity of her behaviour. 
 He liked immensely the way she had from the 
 first taken him for granted, and the fact that in an 
 emergency she had so promptly sent for him pleased 
 him quite unexpectedly, not only because it gave him 
 an excuse to go to her as he was longing to do, but 
 also because he particularly admired the resourceful 
 way in which she had gone to work to attain her 
 ends. For he easily read between the Unes of her 
 letter most of what she had been so careful not to 
 say, and his soul rejoiced within him, in spite of 
 himself and whatever the result might be. Evi- 
 dently Lebah had taken him greatly to heart, and 
 he was man enough to forget everything~excepting 
 that one exhilarating fact as he hurried back to her. 
 He did not stop to consider his cherished antipathy 
 to^marriage, nor call upon his experience for help to 
 devise other means towards his end. He did not in 
 fact bother anything about the end nor the way to 
 15 
 
226 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 reach it : he simply recognized with a bounding 
 pulse that Lebah wanted him and that he was 
 going to her as fast as wheels could carry him. If 
 she had called to him from hell, he must have 
 careered down the hill with exactly the same reck- 
 less speed ; or, if she had beckoned him from Above, 
 he would just as earnestly have striven upwards, 
 although that would have been a strenuous and 
 trying undertaking for him, and it is probable 
 that he would have been very disappointed when 
 he got there. 
 
 However, there were no supernatural risks to run, 
 and he reached his hotel in town without hindrance 
 or mishap of any kind whatever, about four o'clock 
 on the same day as he received her summons. After 
 a hasty change, and a long drink to steady his nerves, 
 he sauntered along to Shaftesbury Avenue, and, 
 climbing up the dingy flight of steps, found himself 
 once more at the familiar door. 
 
 Lebah herself opened it, and greeted him with a 
 cool and indifferent smile without offering to shake 
 hands. 
 
 " Come in," she said, leaving him to shut the 
 door after him, "I'm glad you got my letter, I didn't 
 know v/here to send it to." 
 
 " I was down in Norfolk," said Jack, following 
 her into the sitting-room. " I've only been back 
 half an hour." 
 
 " Really ! You went off in a great hurry, didn't 
 you ? I didn't know you intended leaving town." 
 
 " Neither did I," replied Jack, falling in with 
 her mood. " But when I saw that other feller 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 227 
 
 I thought it was time to clear out. I don't like a 
 crowd, you know, Lebah." 
 
 Lebah smiled faintly. 
 
 " Quite," she agreed with composure. " Brown 
 was awfully in the way." 
 
 Jack looked her very hard in the face, his im- 
 passive mask seemed to drop from him as his 
 keen eyes probed into the brown depths of hers : 
 evasive, baffling, guarding her secrets as well as 
 they had ever done. 
 
 " Look here," he said. " Will you tell me 
 straight : is he anything to you at all ? " 
 
 " No," replied Lebah, meeting his gaze quite 
 simply, " nothing whatever." 
 
 " Has he ever been ? " 
 
 " No, never." 
 
 " But he's made love to you, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Of course, that's what he came for." 
 
 " Then why did you let him hang about if you 
 didn't want him ? " asked Jack with some asperity. 
 
 " Heaven knows," said Lebah casually ; " it was 
 too much trouble, I suppose, to clear him out till 
 you came along ; and by that time he'd taken 
 root, and I couldn't move him." 
 
 " But I never saw him about," said Jack 
 suspiciously. " How did you manage to run the 
 brace of us all that time ? " 
 
 " Oh, I didn't," explained Lebah ; " I gave him 
 the frozen mit a fortnight ago, as I told you, and 
 I hadn't seen him since, until that night. If he 
 hadn't happened to knock three times on the door 
 he would never have got inside, I promise you." 
 
228 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Jack paused a minute, and removed his searching 
 eyes from her face. 
 
 " It was an awful jolt for me, you know," he said 
 presently, " seeing him burst out of the cupboard 
 like that." 
 
 " Me too," said Lebah candidly. 
 
 They both laughed at the remembrance, and the 
 ghost of Christopher Brown melted into thin air and 
 disappeared for ever from between them. 
 
 " But tell me," said Lebah, " what do you think's 
 happened to him ? What did you do with him 
 after you left here ? " 
 
 " Put him in a taxi," replied Jack, " and sent him 
 home — or thereabouts ; and, to make sure he'd got 
 there safely, I called the next day on his wife." 
 
 Lebah stared at him in amazement. 
 
 " You didn't ! " she exclaimed incredulously. 
 
 " Fact," affirmed Jack seriously. " I went to 
 Uppington to see the aunt I spoke to you about, 
 and the first place she took me was to a Mrs. Brown's 
 to leave some books — she was on the way there 
 when I met her in the street. Of course I had 
 no earthly idea who Mrs. Brown might be, and we 
 were all getting on Hke a house on fire when in 
 walked her husband, and I recognized our friend of 
 the night before. His head was all bandaged up, 
 and he appeared in his dressing gown ; it seems he 
 was having a day's rest after his adventures, with 
 the family doctor in attendance." 
 
 " Not really," laughed Lebah. " Go on with the 
 story." 
 
 " Fortunately, just before he arrived I'd almost 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 229 
 
 tumbled to things. It appears Brown had gone 
 home with the yarn that he'd entirely lost his 
 memory, and couldn't remember anything that 
 had occurred the day before, or how he came by 
 the bruise on his head, rather a bright idea that, 
 wasn't it ? " 
 
 " How exactly Uke him," said Lebah. " I'm en- 
 joying all this immensely, do go on." 
 
 " So, of course, I was going to lie very low and 
 say nothing. But Brown wouldn't have it that 
 way at aU. He was so bowled over by the sight 
 of me there, that he forgot all about his lapse of 
 memory and accused me right away of giving things 
 away to his wife." 
 
 " Oh dear, so it all came out ? " asked Lebah. 
 
 " No, it didn't," said Jack, " because while I was 
 tryin' to hedge a bit so as to give him time to 
 pull himself together, he got frightfully rattled and 
 abused me like a pick-pocket, and they all thought 
 he'd gone clean off his head, as of course they 
 beUeved he'd never set eyes on me before. The 
 chmax was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my 
 life. Brown got in a perfectly homicidal rage and 
 tried to chuck me out of the house, whereupon the 
 doctor, who apparently was hiding behind the door 
 all the time, rushed in with a gardener chap and 
 they pounced on poor Brown and held him by force 
 in a chair, thinking he'd gone raving mad." 
 
 " Good heavens ! " exclaimed Lebah sym- 
 pathetically. 
 
 " Both the women went off into hysterics, the 
 servants came tearing in to see what all the row 
 
230 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 was about, and Brown foamed at the mouth in his 
 efforts to escape, and looked more like the real thing 
 than anything I've ever seen." 
 
 " Well, I suppose then you had to explain ? " asked 
 Lebah. 
 
 " Not I," said Jack, " I left that for him to 
 do. It was none of my business, and if he liked to 
 spoof his wife into thinking him mad, rather than 
 own up to what he'd been doing, I wasn't going 
 to interfere with him." 
 
 " I suppose," said Lebah, after a moment's 
 thought, " that some one discovered my handker- 
 chief in his pocket." 
 
 " You can bet he didn't find it himself," said 
 Jack, " or it would have gone into the fire, and we 
 should never have heard anything about it." 
 
 " And, of course," continued Lebah, " he 
 knows nothing about the advertisement, or it 
 wouldn't be there. I can't help thinking," she 
 added thoughtfully, " that he's ill, or why should 
 they have put it in ? Bertha says it reads as 
 though he's dead, and that I shaU have the police 
 here making inquiries before long." 
 
 " Oh rats ! " exclaimed Jack. " He's all right, 
 don't you bother about him." 
 
 " I wish," suggested Lebah, " that you would 
 go down to Uppington and find out what's going 
 on. If there's really anything wrong, and his people 
 are on my track, I should Uke to know." 
 
 " I will, if you like," replied Jack dubiously, 
 ** but my own idea is, keep out of it. I never 
 believe in looking for trouble." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 231 
 
 " Yes," urged Lebah, " I want you to go. You 
 needn't, of course, say why you've gone ; just 
 keep your eyes and ears open and find out how the 
 land lies. Then we can see what to do, because 
 Bertha is very keen on getting the money, and you 
 may be sure she won't let it rest unless I can give her 
 a very good reason for holding her peace." 
 
 " All right," said Jack without enthusiasm. 
 " To tell you the truth, I'm getting about fed up 
 with Brown. I didn't come rushing back to town 
 to talk about him, you know." 
 
 Lebah barely glanced at him out of the corner 
 of her eye. 
 
 " Sorry I've bored you," she said lightly. 
 " What did you come to talk about ? " 
 
 " About you — and me." 
 
 " We got all that over first," repUed Lebah, 
 " before we began about Kit." 
 
 " Yes," answered Jack, " but there's a good deal 
 more to be said on the subject. However," he 
 added, rising and looking coolly at her, " you 
 look so business-Uke and wideawake this afternoon, 
 that you completely unnerve me. I'll take myself 
 off now, and come and see you later, after the 
 theatre ; wiU you be more approachable by that 
 time, do you think ? " 
 
 Lebah smiled enigmatically. 
 
 " Perhaps you're right," she said. " Good-bye." 
 
 Jack, although his ardour was considerably 
 damped by Lebah's cool reception of him, realized 
 as he walked back to his hotel that he was rather 
 
232 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 pleased thsm otherwise that it should be so. If she 
 had fallen on his neck and welcomed him with open 
 arms, he told himself that he would have been 
 disappointed in her. And moreover, as he had 
 not in the least decided what he meant to say to 
 her — so taken up with the thought of seeing her 
 again had he been — it was as weU, perhaps, that 
 he should have time fully to consider the situation 
 and make up his mind as to whether he intended 
 to propose marriage to her or not. 
 
 It has been said before that Jack's morals were 
 of an elementary and incongruous description ; 
 but he was not, on that account, an immoral man 
 within the meaning of the word. Rather had he 
 an innate disrespect for existing conventions and 
 arbitrary distinctions of right and wrong. His 
 hatred of the marriage tie was not so much due to a 
 desire for promiscuous lo've-making, as to a rabid 
 horror of any sort of restriction upon his freedom. 
 It was the same feeUng which, a few years previously, 
 had induced him to resign his commission in the 
 army before, as he expressed it, he was kicked out. 
 He possessed that roving and restless spirit of 
 adventure, which has been responsible for a great 
 deal more iniquity than Original Sin ; and he 
 knew, no one better, that he was not of the stuff of 
 which good husbands are made His soul positively 
 writhed within him at the thought of a discontented 
 wife — a wronged wife, with a grievance, however 
 legitimate it might be ; and, although he felt that 
 Lebah understood him better than any other 
 woman, he yet hesitated to give into her hands 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 233 
 
 the power that he knew his wife would have over 
 him. 
 
 He did not, however, in the least want to hurt her 
 feelings, or to say anything to her, which she could 
 by any possibility consider insulting. It was his 
 honest conviction that they stood a much better 
 chance of happiness together if they were not bound 
 by any legal tie ; and the question of how to induce 
 Lebah to see the matter in the same light was 
 one that caused him much anxious deliberation 
 during the few hours that elapsed before he saw her 
 again. For he had quite decided not to shirk the 
 vital issue any longer. It must be settled one way 
 or another before he slept that night. He felt that 
 he loved her as deeply as it was possible for him to 
 love any woman, and he meant by hook or by 
 crook to secure her for his own before he was much 
 older. Whether he would have to give up his 
 beloved liberty remained to be seen ; he determined 
 at any rate to make a fight for it, and he wished, as 
 many a man has wished before him, that he could 
 see into the mind of his Divinity and learn exactly 
 what she thought about it all before committing 
 himself irretrievably on the subject. 
 
 After the play was over, Lebah changed hastily into 
 her little red silk frock again, and hurried from the 
 warm, human scented dressing-room of the theatre, 
 out into the cold night air. Swiftly she sped along 
 the crowded, brilliantly - lighted streets, back to 
 her own cosy flat up amongst the stars and the 
 chimney pots. 
 
234 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 The sitting-room looked much more inviting 
 under the softening influence of shaded lights 
 than it did on that day, over a month before, 
 when Kit waited there in the full glare of the 
 afternoon sun. A bright fire was burning on the 
 hearth, and curtains were drawn to hide the 
 ugly windows. An air of peace and comfortable 
 homeliness pervaded the little apartment ; and, 
 in the dim light, even the colours of the cheap 
 and gaudy carpet ceased from their perpetual 
 wrangle with one another, and blended softly 
 into one harmonious whole. 
 
 Lebah herself also seemed to have changed in some 
 subtle, indefinable way. Her eyes had lost some- 
 thing of their mournful brooding look, and her scarlet 
 lips most of their bitterness. The red silk frock was 
 infinitely more becoming than the purple satin 
 kimono had been, and Lebah, as she lay back in 
 her favourite chair, a little pensive after her 
 evening's work, was a very alluring sight for any 
 man to gaze upon. 
 
 As the tiny clock on the mantelpiece struck 
 eleven, she caught the sound of familiar foot- 
 steps in the stone passage outside, and rose to 
 open the door without giving Jack time to knock 
 for admittance. 
 
 He entered silently, and followed her into the 
 sitting-room without saying a word. 
 
 Lebah, watching him out of the comer of her eyes, 
 perceived that her hour had come, and sat down 
 again before the fire with a tiny sigh of nervous 
 anticipation. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 235 
 
 " You look particularly merry and bright this 
 evening," she observed presently, when Jack's 
 silence was growing oppressive. 
 
 Jack took the arm-chair on the other side of the 
 hearth and began to search for the inevitable 
 cigarette in his pockets. 
 
 " I'm anything but that," he remarked shortly. 
 "I'm in the most pitiable funk, Lebah, if 
 you only knew it. I daresay, though," he 
 added bitterly, " it's perfectly obvious — it must 
 be." 
 
 Lebah looked at him with interest. 
 
 " What are you in a funk about ? " she inquired 
 gently. 
 
 " The whole thing," replied Jack dejectedly. " I 
 don't like the look of it at all. You know as well 
 as I do that I'd never make a married man. I 
 should only spoil your life, Lebah, and I don't 
 want to do that." 
 
 Lebah smiled curiously at him. 
 
 " What are you talking about ? " she asked. 
 " Is this a proposal of marriage ? " 
 
 " No, no, hold on," cried Jack nervously, raising 
 his skinny hand. " Don't be in such a hurry, that's 
 the one thing it's not." 
 
 " Sorry," laughed Lebah. "Start again then, 
 and let's hear what it's all about." 
 
 " It's like this," began Jack anxiously. " You 
 see, I'm expiring to marry you, but, on the other 
 hand, I don't mind telling you the woman's 
 not born that I could stick to for ever and 
 ever. What I feel is : I have no right to ask 
 
236 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 you to be my wife ; it would be a dog's life for 
 you." 
 
 Lebah paused a fraction of a second before reply- 
 ing. 
 
 " That's all right, then," she said lightly, " you 
 haven't done so up to the present." 
 
 Jack's green eyes sought hers eagerly. 
 
 " Aren't you going to help me out ? " he asked 
 plaintively. " I'm not much of a hand at ex- 
 planations and arguments, and all that sort of 
 tosh ; but when it comes to lovin' you, I'm all 
 over it. I'm very bad to beat in that line, I can 
 tell you." 
 
 He paused, but Lebah was looking straight into 
 the fire and made no reply. 
 
 " I've been crazy about you ever since I 
 first set eyes on you at Brighton," he urged. 
 " Look here, Lebah, do you care anything about 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes," said Lebah shortly, without looking at 
 him. 
 
 " But you don't like the way I'm going to work, 
 is that it ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Lebah again, still gazing obstinately 
 into the fire. "/ hate it." 
 
 Jack was suddenly seized with compunction. 
 Something in the pensive droop of her lips appealed 
 violently to him. He dropped easily on to one knee 
 beside her chair and placed his hand over hers as it 
 lay in her lap. 
 
 " All right then," he said. " Look here, marry 
 me, then, if you want to, will you ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 237 
 
 Lebah turned and looked at him. 
 
 " You aren't eloquent enough about it to 
 please me," she said slowly. " What's wrong 
 with marrying me, aren't I good enough for 
 you?" 
 
 " Much too good," replied Jack, pressing her 
 hand. " Don't be silly." 
 
 " I suppose you think," she went on steadily, 
 " that I'm not quite the sort of girl you ought to 
 marry. Your idea is something very young and 
 downy, who doesn't know the kind of devil you are, 
 and whose tender heart you would break in a month, 
 isn't that it ? " 
 
 " You're quite wrong," said Jack evenly. 
 " That sort of girl would bore me stiff before we got 
 out of the church. I'd far sooner shoot myself 
 right away than tackle a proposition like that. I 
 don't mind telling you that if I have to have a wife 
 at all, I want just the opposite of all that. I want a 
 girl who knows how to look after herself, and me too 
 if necessary, not a tame little domestic animal I'd 
 have to lead about on a piece of string in case she 
 got lost." 
 
 He rose impatiently to his feet, and began to pace 
 up and down the room. 
 
 " You don't know," he said, " what a horror I've 
 always had of marriage. It makes a man look such 
 a confounded fool, that's my idea. Always hanging 
 about waiting on a woman ; or, if she's not that 
 sort, she toddles after him, which I'd loathe even 
 more. You've only got to look in any married 
 man's face to see what a miserable beast he is ; 
 
238 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 and if he's not, then he's one of those despicable 
 fools who enjoy that sort of thing. I don't believe 
 there's such a thing as a love that would stand the 
 strain of matrimony for long. After the first year 
 it becomes simply a case of endurance on both 
 sides : who can hold out the longest, and the 
 honours generally go to the wife, from all I've 
 seen. It's a woman's game : it's not a man's game 
 at all. Marriage ought to be frankly recognized 
 as a profession for females ; it ought not to be bind- 
 ing on men in any way, except of course financially 
 in some degree for the sake of the children. It's an 
 insult to a man's intelligence to expect him to choose, 
 at one period of his life, a woman who'll suit him all 
 his days. The man isn't born who could do it ; 
 and, if he is, he ought to be shot — before he 
 bores his wife to death ! " 
 
 He stopped, looking savagely at Lebah as though 
 she were responsible for this unsatisfactory state of 
 the relations between the sexes. 
 
 Lebah regarded him with shining eyes. 
 
 " I love all that," she said simply. " I think 
 you'll do nicely for me." 
 
 Jack grinned. 
 
 " But don't you agree with me ? " he de- 
 manded. 
 
 " Certainly, with a great deal of it," replied 
 Lebah. " I think it's utterly absurd to expect a 
 man, or a woman either for that matter, to choose 
 a person who will satisfy them all their lives. 
 One changes so rapidly : what you like at twenty, 
 you detest at thirty." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 239 
 
 " Quite," said Jack dubiously ; " but, of course, 
 I was speaking more of men than women." 
 
 " It applies to both," said Lebah calmly. 
 
 " It does nothing of the kind," said Jack. 
 " Women are more faithful by nature than men 
 are — it's their business to be — and, if I see 
 you so much as look at another fellow once 
 you belong to me, I warn you there'll be hell to 
 pay ! " 
 
 " I don't mind that a bit," laughed Lebah. 
 "I'm accustomed to it." 
 
 " For heaven's sake," exclaimed Jack, striding 
 across the room to where she sat, " don't make 
 me jealous ! That's the one thing I utterly 
 bar. I can stand anything but that, do you 
 hear ? " 
 
 Lebah rose and faced him. 
 
 " Look here, old fireworks," she said affec- 
 tionately, " don't get in such a stew about no- 
 thing. I always thought you were one of these 
 calm and self-possessed individs. ..." 
 
 " Well, I'm not," said Jack, catching her 
 suddenly in his arms, " not by any manner of means. 
 You've got a lot to learn yet. Here, give me a 
 kiss. Yes, come on." 
 
 " When will you be ready — to-morrow ? " 
 " No, bless the boy ! " 
 " Monday, then, not a day later." 
 " What about the theatre ? I can't leave at a 
 moment's notice." 
 " Anyhow, we'll get married on Monday," said 
 
240 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Jack decisively, " and square up everything after- 
 wards." 
 
 " Monday then," murmured Lebah, with a happy 
 sigh of pure content, " and I can get my things 
 in Paris when we go on our honeymoon ; we'll 
 choose them together ! " 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CHRISTOPHER was getting along nicely with 
 C.S., and Mrs. Sutherland was delighted 
 with him. Seldom had she known a more 
 enthusiastic disciple, nor one who so eagerly gulped 
 down everything he was told. There was nothing 
 too abstract or too difficult for him to swallow. 
 He not only appeared to grasp the subject with a 
 rare and refreshing earnestness of purpose, but 
 he seemed absolutely undaunted by any of those 
 problems that beset the path of the average be- 
 giimer. His mind and all his hopes were set upon 
 recovery, and he was both willing and anxious to 
 adopt any tenets that were necessary to achieve 
 that end. There was also a pleasing humility 
 about his attitude towards her teaching ; he did 
 not, like so many converts, in the pride of their 
 intellect, argue and question the truth of her state- 
 ments. He realized quite frankly that it was im- 
 possible for his mortal mind fully to comprehend 
 the intricacies of so stupendous an idea, and appeared 
 contented with his limitations. 
 
 Indeed, if it had not been for Mrs. Sutherland's 
 indefatigable industry, it is doubtful whether he 
 would have gained any benefit whatever from his 
 i6 
 
242 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 conversion. She, however, having once taken him 
 in hand, was determined that the thing should be 
 thoroughly well done : and, whether he liked it or 
 not, he was obliged to listen to elaborate explana- 
 tions of a doctrine that he was quite prepared to 
 accept as it stood. She made him read and read 
 again her magic Book — Science and Health, with Key 
 to the Scriptures — till his brain reeled and his be- 
 wildered mind groped in vain for the meaning of it 
 all. However, he persevered nobly under her cheer- 
 ful encouragement, and after a time managed to 
 extract from its chaotic redundancy a few simple 
 rules, which he found very useful in helping him 
 to understand her complicated creed. 
 
 Perhaps of these, the easiest was this : that if 
 you could say a thing back side foremost, the fact 
 of your being able to do so proved it to be true — as in 
 arithmetic, figures added up together in any order 
 produce the same result. As thus : 
 
 There is no Pain in Truth ; 
 There is no Truth in Pain : 
 or, 
 
 There is no Matter in Good ; 
 There is no Good in Matter. 
 
 By means of this rule he soon learned easily to 
 distinguish the True from the False, the Real from 
 the Unreal, always a stumbling-block for the am- 
 bitious amateur. 
 
 He also discovered a few maxims, which seemed to 
 shed a particular light on his own case, and to which 
 he clung with desperate tenacity. It appeared that 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 243 
 
 anything that was bad, painful, or objectionable in 
 any way was to be regarded as Unreal, You were 
 not allowed to talk about it, nor even to think about 
 it ; and this seemed to Kit a very sensible idea. By 
 this process you eliminated the troubles and ills of 
 other people as well as all your own mistakes and 
 misdeeds, and were thus enabled to start again on a 
 new and peaceful career of rectitude, unhampered by 
 the consequences of your own past. It was com- 
 forting to reflect that what you supposed to have 
 been a sin was not a sin at all, but the ignorant 
 delusion of a person whom you once supposed your- 
 self to be, or, as Mrs. Sutherland put it, an error of 
 Mortal Mind, It seemed to Kit very evident that 
 no responsibility could possibly attach itself to him 
 for the actions of that mythical Kit, that com- 
 promising entity whom he now so gladly and so 
 earnestly repudiated. 
 
 He also found it quite easy to realize that 
 Mortal Mind, or what he had previously 
 called " thought," was responsible for all the 
 trouble, all the sin and suffering in the world, 
 Obviously,if you didn't think about a thingitcouldn't 
 bother you ; also, if you had no mind with which to 
 know you had a pain, you could not feel it, at any 
 rate you would not know you felt it, which was good 
 enough for anybody. And so he tried very hard to 
 banish from his own mind all thoughts of his diffi- 
 culties, and often rebuked Amy quite seriously when 
 she inadvertently reminded him of them. He was 
 convinced that in a very short time he would have so 
 far progressed in Science as to be able to announce 
 
244 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 himself cured, and he felt that, with Mrs. Sutherland's 
 assistance and influence, it would not be difficult to 
 overcome the objections of his family and the doctor, 
 so that he might be able so resume his proper place 
 in the world again. 
 
 Already a marked change had taken place in 
 his demeanour. The gloom and dejection of the 
 previous few weeks had entirely disappeared, his 
 spirits had risen astonishingly, and a bright and hope- 
 ful smile illuminated his countenance, especially 
 when Amy was there to see it. 
 
 It must not be imagined that Kit was at all in- 
 sincere in his conversion to Christian Science ; for, 
 although he knew himself to be perfectly sane, he 
 yet realized that he badly needed assistance to extri- 
 cate himself from the predicament into which his 
 own foolishness had led him ; and he honestly and 
 ardently desired to rid himself of that Sin, which 
 he had proved, without doubt, was indeed, as Mrs. 
 Sutherland said, the Cause of all Suffering, both 
 mental and physical. The adoption of C.S. seemed 
 to him an easy and practical way out of a difficult 
 situation, and if he appeared grateful for its help, and 
 hopeful as to the future, it was no more than he 
 actually felt. 
 
 In spite of Mrs. Sutherland's protestations. Watts 
 still remained in the house, but Kit, now that he 
 saw there was a reasonable prospect of getting rid of 
 him, no longer disliked him as furiously as before. 
 In fact. Watts made himself useful in so many ways 
 that he was becoming quite an acquisition, and 
 there were times when Kit felt that he should miss 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 245 
 
 him when he went away. It was a relief, for in- 
 stance, never to have to brush one's own clothes, or 
 do up one's boots ; pleasant to have someone al- 
 ways handy to pop out and get an evening paper, or 
 to run upstairs and get things you had forgotten. 
 Certainly Watts was a very obliging fellow, and quite 
 a decent chap to go for a walk with. For Kit no 
 longer stayed bashfully in the house. Every day 
 he might be seen, accompanied by his nurse, strolling 
 by the riverside or into the park to watch the deer, 
 much to the delight of all Uppington ; and, so far 
 from shrinking from the curious gaze of the public, it 
 often entertained him hugely to think how surprised 
 everybody would be when in a week or two they 
 learned that C.S. had cured him. 
 
 Often the two went as far as Mrs. Sutherland's 
 house, where Watts would wait in the hall or in the 
 kitchen while his master received instruction in the 
 lady's own sanctum. 
 
 It was just a fortnight after his accident that, 
 sitting one morning in one of her comfortable leather 
 arm-chairs, he ventured to put a question which 
 had been troubling his mind for a considerable 
 time. 
 
 " How shall I know," he inquired, " when 
 I'm . . . er . . . cured ? " 
 
 " The vurry minute," said Mrs. Sutherland, 
 " that you realize that there's nothing the matter 
 with you." 
 
 " Well, do you know then," said Kit with a 
 most engaging smile, " I beHeve I'm all right 
 now. My head feels perfectly clear, perfectly 
 
246 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 normal. I don't know that I've felt better in 
 my life than I do now, taking it all round." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland regarded him earnestly. 
 
 " I don't want you to feel you're better," 
 she said in her deep, vibrant voice. " I want you 
 to know that you were never sick. I want you to 
 see the unreality of all pain and of all sin. Turn up 
 page 489. Mrs. Eddy says here, ' The less mind 
 there is in matter the better. When the un- 
 thinking lobster loses its claw, it grows again ; if 
 the Science of Life were understood, the human limb 
 would grow as readily as the lobster's claw.' 
 But it doesn't grow, Mr. Brown, by wondering when 
 it's going to ; it grows only by the consciousness 
 that it was never lost." 
 
 This was a little out of Kit's depth, and, moreover, 
 being of a practical turn of mind, he saw no reason 
 for troubling himself about the loss of a limb that 
 he still possessed. 
 
 " I see what you mean," he said amiably. 
 " Of course, all along I've kept steadily to my idea 
 that there's nothing the matter with me, and I 
 suppose that's how I've got better so quickly. The 
 only thing is," he asked anxiously, " how am 
 I going to make Amy believe it ? How am I 
 going to get rid of Watts and get back to my 
 work ? " 
 
 " When you're ready to do without the crutch of 
 material sense, you will find you can walk alone with- 
 out any assistance from me, and you will see your 
 path clearly. You must wait patiently till that time 
 comes. Don't harbour any feelings of antagonism 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 247 
 
 to your present surroundings. Fill your mind with 
 Love, and Love will find out a way. Above all, 
 read Mrs. Eddy's Book and follow her instructions 
 exactly as far as you can understand them, and you 
 will soon discover for yourself what is the right course 
 for you to take." 
 
 " Her instructions aren't always very clear," 
 said Kit doubtfully. " I was going to ask you, 
 what about smoking ? She says here," he 
 began turning over the leaves rapidly, ' Puffing 
 the noxious fumes of tobacco, or chewing a leaf 
 naturally attractive to no animal except a loathsome 
 worm, is at least disgusting.' That sounds to 
 me," said Kit, " as though she doesn't approve of 
 it." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland paused a moment before replying. 
 
 " Do you smoke much ? " she inquired. 
 
 " I do," replied Kit. "I'm very fond of my pipe. 
 I don't really believe I could exist without a smoke 
 now and again." 
 
 " Vurry well then," said Mrs. Sutherland. " As 
 long as you feel like that it's no use your giving 
 up the tobacco habit. The hankering after it, your 
 misery without it, will only confirm you in your 
 opinion that it is necessary to you. You must wait 
 till you know it isn't." 
 
 Kit heaved a sigh of relief. 
 
 " And what about drinks ? " he ventured hope- 
 fully. 
 
 " There again, you must wait till you realize 
 the unreality of the pleasure that alcohol pro- 
 duces." 
 
248 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " That's all right, then," said Kit comfortably. 
 " I just wanted to ask you about them because 
 I know that most religions are down on tobacco and 
 drinks. However, what you say only proves to me 
 that Mrs. Eddy knows what she's talking about. She 
 doesn't expect a chap to be a saint all at once, like 
 some of these parsons. I can't see, myself, any 
 harm in a glass of wine or a pipe of tobacco as 
 long as you can afford them." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland smiled indulgently at him. 
 
 " You will, some day," she said kindly, " when 
 you are more advanced." 
 
 As she spoke, the loud hoot of a motor horn was 
 heard outside in the carriage drive, and she rose 
 and went over to the window to see who her visitor 
 might be. After one cursory glance, she turned 
 again, and faced Kit with a commanding eye. 
 
 " Now see here, Mr. Brown," she began firmly ; 
 "I'm going to treat you like a puffickly well 
 man ; you come and look out of this window — 
 nothing to be afraid of, I'm holding the right thot 
 for you." 
 
 Kit crossed over to her side, and his heart gave a 
 violent thump within him, for there, before his eyes, 
 was Jack Vibart, and seated beside him was a lady 
 gorgeously attired in a profusion of motor veils, 
 whom he recognized only too well. 
 
 " Oh I say," he gasped nervously, " this is 
 just what I was afraid of. I ... I think I'd 
 better go." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland laid a plump hand firmly on his 
 arm. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 249 
 
 " You stay right here," she insisted, " and 
 don't you be afraid. Remember, Fear is your worst 
 enemy. Cast it out, and fill your mind with thots 
 of Love. Here's the vurry chance you've been seek- 
 ing to make a proper start in C.S." 
 
 Kit met her gaze with a wavering and very 
 anxious eye. 
 
 " I daresay you're right," he said uncertainly. 
 " But I wish I could have started on something 
 easier." 
 
 " Remember Love is All," continued Mrs. Suther- 
 land confidently. " Put away your unkind thots 
 of Jack, and you will see how wonderfully Love 
 smoothes the way to perfect peace. I reckon 
 you're going to be a reel credit to C.S." 
 
 " All right," said Kit desperately, " I . . . I'll 
 try. Will they be shown in here ? " 
 
 " No, I never have anyone brot in here when I'm 
 engaged," replied Mrs. Sutherland. " Annie will take 
 them into the drawing-room. I don't know who it 
 is he's got with him ; however, I will go in first, 
 and you stay here quietly by yourself and think over 
 what I've told you. Then when you feel good and 
 strong, come in and join us ; just try and meet Jack 
 like an ordinary acquaintance, and you'll be surprised 
 how easy everything is going to be for you. What 
 a triumph, Mr. Brown, if you could go back and tell 
 your wife that, thanks to C.S., you had got over 
 your delusions about my nephew ! " 
 
 " Yes," agreed Kit, " it would be, I only 
 wish I could. I ... I think perhaps I'd better see 
 him, under the circumstances, but ..." 
 
250 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " No, no buts, no more doubts and fears," 
 interrupted Mrs. Sutherland, as a discreet tapping 
 was heard at the door. 
 
 When she had left the room, dark and lowering 
 clouds of gloom and foreboding descended on her 
 convert, and he sank into the very depths of despair. 
 For he knew only too well that Lebah had come in 
 answer to Amy's advertisement, and the fact that 
 Mrs. Sutherland was to be consulted before the 
 news was broken to his wife increased tremendously 
 the ghastliness of the situation. There was evidently 
 now not the slightest possibility of concealment. 
 Not only would his original unfaithfulness be re- 
 vealed to Amy, but the whole of his subsequent 
 deception. How from the first he had misled her 
 and deluded every one around him. He dreaded 
 to think what the effect on Amy would be when she 
 learned that all her loving sympathy and com- 
 miseration had been obtained under false pretences : 
 that he had allowed her to suffer all this time under 
 the dreadful fear that his mind was diseased, when 
 by a word he could have proved to her that it 
 was not, and saved her all the terrible anxiety of 
 the last ten days. 
 
 He thought also of kind Mrs. Sutherland and 
 all the trouble she had taken — of the hours spent 
 in exhortation and explanation to try and cure 
 him, and he felt miserably that he could never 
 look her in the face again once she knew the 
 truth. Perhaps even now she might be listening 
 to the story of his perfidy ! At any moment she 
 might return and abase him to the earth with her 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 251 
 
 eloquent and penetrating grey eyes — those eyes into 
 which he had hitherto looked for encouragement 
 and approbation, but which would from henceforth 
 be filled with scorn and upbraiding. He felt he 
 could never stand such a ghastly ordeal. Amy, 
 whatever she might say or look, at any rate had 
 not gimlet eyes with which to pierce his very soul : 
 her eyes were soft and blue ; at their worst they 
 would only be reproachful — perhaps a tiny bit 
 resentful. 
 
 He stood still, staring out of the window, lost in 
 thought. 
 
 After all, he reflected, Amy was his wife ; he had a 
 sort of right to look to her for help and protection 
 in the hour of trial ; and, though he realized with deep 
 regret that he had wronged her both in his disloyalty 
 and in his subsequent deception, it was now too late 
 to undo what had been done, and it behoved both of 
 them to make the best of things as they were. No 
 doubt Amy would be able to see it in that light. 
 
 His eye travelled to the huge, grey car, and beyond 
 it, down the well-kept drive to the heavy iron gates 
 standing ajar, and a stealthy resolve formed itself 
 in his mind. Not a soul was in sight, not a sound to 
 be heard. Very gently he slid back the window 
 catch and cautiously raised the window a few inches. 
 As this daring feat produced no untoward result, his 
 courage somewhat returned to him and he opened it 
 a little wider. Then with a wildly beating heart he 
 climbed through it and dropped softly on to the 
 flower beds a few feet beneath it. 
 '"Jt was the work of a moment to tiptoe across 
 
252 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 the gravel path and over the grass to the shelter 
 of the trees, which bordered the drive. There, 
 secure from prying eyes, he gradually made his 
 way to the gates and out into the road. He wore 
 no hat, but he hardly gave his appearance a passing 
 thought, so eager was he to get back to Amy. His 
 one anxiety was to reach her before anyone else had 
 time to pour his — or her — incriminating stories into 
 her ear, to give her his own version of what had 
 occurred, and if possible to enlist her sympathy 
 and help, to carry him through the forthcoming 
 crisis. He felt that if she were on his side it would 
 be much easier to face everything, and he was 
 confident that he could put things before her in 
 such a light that she would realize he had been 
 more sinned against than sinning. He would tell 
 her of Lebah's designing nature, and the fatal 
 attraction that she possessed for all men ; of 
 his frantic and ineffectual struggles to free himself 
 from her spells ; of Vibart's ruffianly assault upon 
 him in a passion of utterly unfounded jealousy ; 
 and, finally, of his own well-meant but misguided 
 attempt to spare her the unhappiness of knowing 
 anything about his difficulties. 
 
 He would dweU on his sufferings, on his agony of 
 remorse and his constant endeavour to reassure her 
 that there was nothing the matter with him ; and he 
 felt that, on the whole, it would make a convincing 
 and pathetic story, which would move the heart of 
 any woman, especially of so kind and sympathetic a 
 girl as his Amy. It also struck him, as he went along, 
 that by thus taking the bull boldly by the horns 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 253 
 
 he would probably save himself twenty pounds : 
 because the money being offered to the first person 
 who could throw light on " the aforesaid pro- 
 ceedings," and he undoubtedly being that person, 
 he had every right to claim the reward himself, 
 and every intention of doing so. 
 
 This idea pleased him very much, and he smiled 
 to himself to think how furious both Lebah and 
 Jack would be when they discovered that he had 
 forestalled them and frustrated their malignant 
 designs. For Amy would certainly see him through ; 
 he was sure that, when she saw his distress and 
 the desperate plight he was in, her kind heart 
 would melt with sympathy. The actual moment 
 of confession might, in fact would, be very terrible, 
 very harrowing ; and, as Kit tried to frame the 
 exact phrases in which he would break it to her, 
 he reaUzed that it was going to be a most painful 
 proceeding. He wished it had been possible to 
 write instead of explaining in person — much 
 easier to write. He saw a bus coming along the 
 road ; and on the bus was written in large 
 letters the word Hammersmith. Strange ideas 
 began to float in his mind, breaking the sequence 
 of his reflections and scattering his thoughts in 
 all directions. Impossible, incredible ideas, yet 
 somehow wonderfully alluring on the spur of the 
 moment. Before he could crystallize them into 
 a conscious resolve, he had stopped the bus and 
 was climbing hastily up the steep and narrow iron 
 staircase on to the top. And the bus proceeded 
 on its reckless and dislocating career to London, 
 
254 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 with Kit sitting on the front seat, minus a hat, and 
 with a full and thankful heart beating violently 
 under his waistcoat. 
 
 He felt as though he had been looking over a 
 terrible precipice, expecting at any minute to be 
 dashed to pieces on the cruel rocks below, and that 
 somehow the bus had come along in the very nick 
 of time and saved him. And he heaved frequent 
 and fervent sighs of relief, as he watched the familiar 
 houses disappearing one by one and reaUzed that 
 in less than an hour, with any luck at all, he would 
 be quite out of danger. He kept an anxious look- 
 out all along the road for the sight of any acquaint- 
 ances, but Fate so far favoured him that he saw 
 no one he knew. Every time that the bus stopped 
 his heart seemed to stop with it, till he could assure 
 himself that the new-comer was not a friend of 
 Amy's. He turned up his coat collar and looked 
 steadily in front of him, in case he should meet 
 the eye of anyone walking in the street below, 
 and whenever the bus passed another, going in 
 the opposite direction, he anxiously scanned the 
 faces of the people outside it for fear there should 
 be one who could take back to Uppington the news 
 of his escape. 
 
 At last, however. Hammersmith was reached in 
 safety ; and Kit, having on the way very seriously 
 considered his position and made certain plans as 
 to his immediate future, got off the bus into the 
 busy Broadway He found that he only had five 
 shillings and a few coppers in his pocket, but 
 as he was well known at his bank in the City he 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 255 
 
 did not anticipate any difficulties in procuring 
 further supplies, and at once expended one shilling 
 and sixpence on a new tweed cap. It was not 
 exactly a smart cap, indeed it was made chiefly 
 of brown cotton, and Kit hated himself in it when 
 he looked in the mirror of the hatter's shop. But 
 the man assured him that it was the latest thing, 
 and exactly what was being worn in the best 
 society, and as there seemed to be nothing between 
 that and a black bowler at four and elevenpence, 
 which was more than he could afford. Kit felt 
 that he must put up with it, as it was obviously 
 impossible to travel hatless about London. He 
 therefore paid the one and sixpence and proceeded 
 to the Underground Railway where he took a 
 ticket to Cannon Street, which was the nearest 
 station to his bank. 
 
 It was pleasant to mingle again with his fellow- 
 men, to rub shoulders with Tom, Dick and Harry, 
 and to pass unnoticed in the hurrying crowds, 
 which thronged the streets and the carriages, and 
 his spirits rose by leaps and boimds as he realized 
 that at last he had regained his freedom. 
 
 He was so light-hearted by the time he reached 
 the bank that the clerk who usually served 
 him congratulated him on his fit and jovial 
 appearance. 
 
 " Some one told me you were ill," he remarked. 
 " I can't say you look as though there was much 
 the matter with you, Mr. Brown." 
 
 " I'm quite all right again, thanks," said Kit. 
 " I had a few days at home, nothing much." 
 
256 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 He was busily engaged in filling in the cheque, 
 which the cashier had handed him on demand. 
 
 " There you are," he said cheerfully, " ten 
 pounds, I think that'll do me." 
 
 " Take it in gold, sir ? " 
 
 " Please," said Kit. 
 
 " Been a bit foggy lately," remarked the cashier 
 conversationally. 
 
 " Has it ? I've been out of town." 
 
 " Uppington, isn't it, where you live ? Nice place, 
 I was down the other Sunday." 
 
 " Not bad," said Kit, " but I'm staying in town 
 just at present. At least, I've just come up. Do 
 you happen to know of a decent little hotel ? I 
 don't want a noisy or expensive place, and not 
 a boarding-house either. I generally stay at my 
 club whenever I'm up for the night, but I think 
 perhaps . . . that is, I wouldn't mind an hotel for 
 a change." 
 
 The cashier pondered for a moment. 
 
 " Do you know the Robin Hood in Archer Street ? 
 It's a nice quiet little place, and I know they do you 
 pretty well and don't charge too much for it." 
 
 " Thank you," said Kit as he slipped the gold 
 into his hip pocket. " That sounds all right, I'll 
 try it. Good morning." 
 
 It was almost an exciting experience to lunch 
 again in the old familiar haunts, and Kit enj oyed his 
 meal immensely. After it was over, he crossed the 
 street to a tiny underground rendezvous of City 
 men, and there in a cosy and pink-shaded tea-room 
 he drank a delicious cup of coffee and flirted en- 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 257 
 
 thusiastically with the red-haired girl who served it. 
 It was so exhilarating to be free once more that he 
 felt on the best of terms with everything and every- 
 body. He had hardly noticed, although he had been 
 there many a time before, how pretty and amusing 
 she was, nor what excellent coffee she served, and 
 he was so grateful that he left a shilling secreted 
 under the plate as a thank-offering. 
 
 The whole afternoon loomed before him, but there 
 was much to be done. He must have some pyjamas 
 and a bag to put them in before he could present 
 himself at the hotel where he intended to spend the 
 night. A telegram must be despatched to Amy, 
 for he knew that his sudden disappearance would 
 cause her considerable alarm, and he did not want 
 to give her any more anxiety than was absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 After conununing with himself for a long time at 
 the post office counter, he eventually wrote one, 
 which seemed to him to meet the case to a nicety : 
 
 " Mrs. Brown, Elm Villa, Uppington. 
 Quite safe and happy don't worry writing 
 best love C." 
 
 This, he felt, was exactly what was needed. It 
 would give him time to concoct the letter, which 
 sooner or later must be written, and it would re- 
 assure Amy without giving her a hint of his plans 
 or his whereabouts. If after receiving it she still 
 persisted in worrying, she had only herself to blame. 
 
 After despatching the wire, he paid a visit to an 
 outfitter's shop and purchased a suit of pyjamas 
 17 
 
258 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 and one collar to put on thenext morning; and these, 
 wrapped up in a piece of brown paper, he carried 
 as far as the nearest chemist, where he further in- 
 vested in a sponge, a toothbrush, and a small hair- 
 brush. Laden with his luggage he walked along 
 tiU he saw in a shop window a beautiful brown 
 leather bag for eight and sixpence. This he ac- 
 quired without delay ; and, putting inside it the 
 two paper parcels containing his toilet accessories 
 he was ready to claim admittance into the Robin 
 Hood Hotel. 
 
 It proved to be a nice little place, just what he had 
 wanted to find, and he was not long in choosing a 
 room and unpacking his bag. The brushes looked 
 very clean and fresh, so did the gay pink pyjamas 
 lying on his pillow, and displacing, for all the world 
 to see, a paper ticket marked in plain figures los. 6d. 
 
 It was his intention to give himself a really good 
 dinner, and afterwards to spend the rest of the 
 evening in the cheeriest Music Hall in London. 
 But before he carried out this programme he resolved 
 to write the inevitable letter to Amy, so that he 
 would be free to enjoy himself without the thought 
 of it hanging over his head. 
 
 He therefore went down into the hotel writing- 
 room, and, carefully tearing off the front sheet of the 
 notepaper so that no illuminating address might 
 give anybody a chance to pay him a visit, sat 
 down and began industriously to think. It was a 
 letter that required a good deal of earnest delibera- 
 tion, but eventually he decided what to say, and 
 taking up a pen he began to write rapidly. In a very 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 259 
 
 few minutes the letter was finished ; and, glancing 
 hastily through it, a satisfied smile stole over his 
 features. It was, he knew, just the sort of letter 
 to fetch Amy : he felt he had taken exactly the 
 right tone and said neither too much nor too little. 
 
 He posted it with a light heart and proceeded 
 cheerfully to carry out the programme he had 
 arranged for himself. This he did with such 
 marked success that, when about twelve o'clock 
 that night he donned the pink pyjamas and turned 
 in to bed, he felt that he had never spent a happier 
 day in his life. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 LEBAH had been Mrs. Vibart for only two days, 
 when she decided to go with Jack to call on 
 his aunt. She wanted, in the first place, to 
 hear for herself all that Mrs. Sutherland had to say 
 about Kit ; secondly, it seemed a good opportunity 
 to make the acquaintance of one of her husband's 
 relations ; and, thirdly. Jack refused to go without 
 her. It occurred to both of them that there 
 was a possibility of running up against Kit, and, 
 wishing to avoid such an encounter equally for their 
 own sakes and for his, the}' had timed their visit in 
 the morning because there was less chance of meeting 
 him then than during the afternoon. So that when, 
 after the first introductions and explanations were 
 over, and Mrs. Sutherland had somewhat recovered 
 from the shock of having to accept a new relation 
 at such short notice, the subject of Mr. Brown 
 was launched with much tact and delicacy, it 
 was a little disconcerting to learn that he was 
 in the next room and would join them in a few 
 minutes. 
 
 This was the last thing Lebah had expected, 
 and she felt quite annoyed with Kit for always 
 being in the way when he was not wanted. It was 
 
 a6o 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 261 
 
 very important in her opinion that she should make 
 a good impression on Jack's reHgious aunt ; and, if 
 she were to be confronted with an indignant and 
 accusatory Kit, she realized that it would be very 
 difficult to do so. The story, as Kit might quite 
 possibly tell it, would reflect little credit on her, and 
 would, in fact, make her out exactly the sort of girl 
 she did not wish to be, the sort who would not be 
 received with open arms by any family. 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland told Jack, in answer to his kind 
 inquiry, that Mr. Brown had practically recovered, 
 having more or less adopted the teaching of Christian 
 Science, and that she had every reason to believe 
 that in another week or so he would be able to return 
 to his business. 
 
 " Naturally," she added, " surrounded as he is by 
 the adverse thots of his family, and with the doctor 
 in the house every day, his recovery is not as fast as 
 I could wish ; but he's a vurry painstaking young 
 man ; and, as he's never believed himself to be 
 insane, it's not so difficult as it might be." 
 
 " But was he really ever mad ? " inquired 
 Lebah incautiously. 
 
 "To Mortal Mind, yes," replied Mrs. Suther- 
 land. " In Science, no, except in the sense that all 
 sinners are insane. Mrs. Eddy says All Sin is 
 Insanity. Every one who mistakes fable for fact is 
 insane." 
 
 " What a mad world," laughed Lebah. 
 
 "Look here," said Jack, "I don't think I 
 ought to upset Brown again if he's nearly better. 
 We just looked in to see you as we happened to be 
 
262 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 passing. As a matterTof fact, we'are on our way to 
 lunch with some people at Surbiton." 
 
 " Yes," said Lebah, rising with alacrity. " I'm 
 afraid we must be going, or we shall be late." 
 
 " You wait here just one moment," said Mrs. 
 Sutherland hurriedly. " I'll go and fetch him. I 
 vurry particularly want him to see you, Jack — it 
 would be such a real triumph if he's lost that 
 extraordinary delusion about you. I won't keep 
 you a minute." 
 
 Jack and Lebah exchanged glances of helpless re- 
 signation as Mrs. Sutherland swept out of the room : 
 evidently there was to be no escaping from the 
 ubiquitous Kit. 
 
 " What a bore ! " exclaimed Lebah in an anxious 
 undertone. " What shall I say to him ? " 
 
 "Wait till you see what tack he's on," 
 advised Jack, " perhaps when he knows we're 
 here he won't put in an appearance, I shouldn't 
 be surprised." 
 
 Hardly were the words out of his mouth when his 
 aunt came rushing back into the room. 
 
 " He's gone ! " she cried in great excite- 
 ment. " The window's wide open ; he must 
 have escaped into the garden and got away. 
 Land Sakes, I wouldn't have had this happen 
 for worlds ! " 
 
 Jack and Lebah received this astounding an- 
 nouncement with exactly the same expression of 
 polite concern. 
 
 " Did he know we were here ? " asked Jack, after 
 a moment's pause. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 263 
 
 " Certainly he did," replied Mrs. Sutherland, 
 with a worried look. " He saw you in the car 
 when you came up to the door." 
 
 " That's done it," said Jack with conviction. 
 " He never liked the look of me. I expect he's 
 cut off home." 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland sighed deeply. 
 
 "Waal," she said, "it's vurry discouraging, 
 after all the trouble I've taken over that young 
 man, I was beginning to hope great things about 
 him. I suppose I must send his servant to look for 
 him. I only hope," she added earnestly, as she left 
 the room again, " that he's not hiding anywhere in 
 the grounds. I'll be scared to go outside the house 
 if he's got another of those attacks on him again." 
 
 Jack laughed impatiently. 
 
 " I wish we were well out of this," he said to 
 his wife when they were left alone together. ' ' Either 
 we never ought to have come at all or else we should 
 have explained the whole thing to my aunt. I've 
 a good mind to do it when she comes back — 
 what ? " 
 
 " I don't think I should," advised Lebah. " After 
 all, it's his business, not ours, and no doubt he'll 
 wriggle through all right if we leave him alone. It 
 would be rather low down to give him away at this 
 stage, don't you think so ? " 
 
 " But look at the position we're in," objected 
 Jack, " a nice pair we shall look when it all comes 
 out, as it's bound to do, for Brown's no stayer, 
 I can see that. I tell you, I don't like the way things 
 are going a little bit." 
 
264 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Still," urged Lebah, who had her own 
 reasons for exercising caution, " I don't think you 
 will improve matters by giving him away. After 
 all, you're keeping it dark for his sake, not your 
 own ; and, if anything does come out, people will 
 quite understand that in a way your hands were 
 tied by feelings of honour, and all that." 
 
 "Well, let's get out of this," said Jack 
 irritably. "I'm absolutely fed up with Brown. I 
 swear I'll never set foot in Uppington again. I've 
 always hated the suburbs, and why I ever came 
 here at all I don't know — ghastly hole ! " 
 
 " Now that he's all right," said Lebah peace- 
 ably, " I shan't worry any more about him ; it was 
 only because I was afraid there might be inquiries on 
 foot, and it's just as well to know where you are in 
 cases of this kind." 
 
 " Thank heaven, we shall be in Paris this time 
 next week," grunted Jack, as Mrs. Sutherland 
 was heard outside in the hall talking in strident 
 tones to Watts, " Come on," he added, " let's 
 make a bolt for it." 
 
 You could have knocked Watts down with a 
 feather when he learned that Mr. Brown had given 
 him the slip. He had always, from the first, been 
 strongly opposed to the idea of Christian Science, 
 and this development only proved to him how well 
 founded had been his objections. He had even gone 
 so far as to consult with Dr. Bennett as to whether 
 these visits could be permitted, but the doctor had 
 only grinned good-naturedly and advised him to 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 265 
 
 keep an eye on them both ; so that, no support 
 being forthcoming from that quarter, he had been 
 powerless to interfere. 
 
 As soon as Mrs. Sutherland told him the alarming 
 news, he sped with all haste round to the outside 
 of the library window, where he had no difficulty 
 in recognizing his master's footmarks in the damp 
 soil of the flower-beds. 
 
 " That's them right enough," he remarked to 
 Annie the housemaid, who accompanied him ; 
 " but which way 'e's gorne, 'eaven only knows. 
 Well, I suppose I must go and see if 'e's made 
 for 'is own 'ome, but I don't expect for a moment 'e 
 'as, that's the larst place 'e'd make for. Wot's 
 'appened is this. 'E been took with another of 
 these 'ere lapses o' memory and 'e's probably made 
 back to the same place as where 'e 'ad the larst one. 
 I can see my work is cut out over this job. How- 
 ever, they can't blame me, I told 'em all along that 
 these 'ere goings on wouldn't lead to no good : I 
 seen too much o' religion in my time." 
 
 " Oh well, it's kept 'im amused," said the 
 housemaid, who was supposed to belong to the same 
 church herself, or she would never have been there. 
 " I don't see no 'arm in it meself, and I'm sure 
 Mrs. Sutherland's as nice a lady as ever I worked 
 for." 
 
 " I'm not saying anything against 'er," replied 
 Watts. "All I say is, that there's a place for 
 everything and a time for everything, and when a 
 man's gorne orf 'is 'ead, and lorst 'is reason, 'e isn't 
 in no fit state to argue about religion. Let 'er cure 
 
266 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 'im if she likes ; an' let 'er stuff 'im up with all the 
 religion 'e can swaller, but she ought to 'a known 
 better than to leave 'im in a room by 'imself with 
 the window open." 
 
 " I don't suppose," persisted Annie loyally, 
 " that she ever gave it a thought. What should 
 he want to escape for, anyway ? " 
 
 " Why ? Because that's the natural instinct 
 of the lunatic," explained Watts, " it's the first 
 thing 'e thinks about. You've always got to be 
 on the look out for that — it's either that or suicide. 
 I only 'ope 'e's come to no 'arm. Go and fetch 
 me 'is 'at, there's a good girl; I must be.orf, 
 and lose no time about it." 
 
 On the way back to Elm Villa, Watts met two 
 policemen, the baker's man, and the cook from 
 next door who had been sent out on an errand, and 
 each of them he interrogated as to whether they 
 had seen his gentleman walking about without his 
 hat. But nobody had seen him, and they all 
 went their ways, in divers directions, with a new 
 and exciting story to teU of the escaped lunatic 
 at large in their midst. 
 
 When he reached Elm Villa no better luck 
 awaited him. Mr. Brown had not returned 
 home, and Mrs. Brown, when she heard the terrible 
 story of her husband's disappearance, was almost 
 distracted, and heaped reproaches on the head of 
 the innocent Watts, which he considered both unjust 
 and illogical. 
 
 " Of coiirse, if I'd a known," he protested, 
 " what he was up to I should never 'ave let 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 267 
 
 'im out of my sight. But I was told to sit 
 in the kitchen, and there I sat, never thinking 
 nothing but what he was with the lady in the 
 hbrary." 
 
 " Where can he have gone ? " sighed Amy. 
 " There's been plenty of time for him to return 
 home, if he meant to come." 
 
 " You can take it from me," said Watts, 
 " 'e won't come back here, not till 'e's brought. 
 They never do. Wot 'e's done is to go up to 
 town to the same place as wot he was at when 
 he was took like this before. Do you happen 
 to know how much money 'e 'ad in 'is pocket ? " 
 
 " Only a few shillings, I beUeve," replied Mrs. 
 Brown. " He asked me for some the other day, 
 and I gave him what I had in my purse." 
 
 " Well then," said Watts hopefully, " 'e can't 
 'ave gorne far. I think I'd better step along to 
 the police station and tell them to keep a look out 
 for 'im ; and should I call in at the doctor's, he'll 
 be just home for lunch, and he might be able to 
 suggest something? " 
 
 " Yes, do," agreed Amy. " I'd better stay 
 here in case my husband returns. I feel so worried 
 I don't know which way to turn. It's terrible 
 waiting here not able to do anything, but if he 
 should come back some one ought to be here in 
 case he goes off again." 
 
 " We shall 'ave 'm safe 'ome by nightfall, never 
 fear," said Watts sympathetically. " The sooner 
 the police knows the better. Wot set 'im orf," 
 he added confidently, " was the sight of that 
 
268 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Captain Vibart : you recollect the effect 'e 'ad on 
 'im larst time. From what Mrs. Sutherland told 
 me, I take it that 'e saw 'im out of the window and 
 it brought it all back to 'im again." 
 
 " I suppose so," sighed Amy, " it's most 
 extraordinary. But go now, Watts ; you can have 
 your dinner when you come back. Ask the doctor 
 what is the best thing for us to do, and do be as quick 
 as you can ; I shall be so anxious till the police 
 know about him. Poor dear fellow, tell them to 
 be very careful with him and to let me know at 
 once if there is any news of him." 
 
 Watts put on his black bowler hat again, and 
 hurried off full of zeal on the track of his 
 absconding patient. 
 
 Poor Amy felt very downhearted about her 
 husband's disappearance, not only on account of 
 any danger which might befall him, although the 
 thought of that was alarming enough, but because 
 it seemed to her that this latest escapade proved 
 how very unreliable he was, and how necessary it 
 had become to put him under proper control. 
 Her heart ached to think what his feelings would be 
 when he realized that he must go into a home, for 
 she knew that, in spite of his other eccentricities, 
 he was quite capable of appreciating the indignity 
 of such a proceeding, and of suffering acutely under 
 the enforced restraint. It was obviously impossible 
 to guard him so carefully at home that he could 
 never find an opportunity of escape, and the con- 
 sequences of his being at large while his mind was 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 269 
 
 in such an unstable and dangerous condition 
 might be very serious, not only to himself, but to 
 other people. For if he were liable to take these 
 sudden and violent antipathies to strangers, as in 
 the case of Captain Vibart, there was no knowing 
 what he might do, and it was clearly unsafe for 
 him to be about by himself. 
 
 These and other harrowing aspects of the case 
 did poor Mrs. Brown consider, while her husband, 
 in the shady recesses of the city tea-shop, flirted 
 diligently with the red-haired girl, and rejoiced 
 mightily in his new-found freedom. 
 
 After a vain search amongst his clothes, lest 
 perchance he had left any clues behind him. 
 Amy made a poor luncheon alone in the 
 dining-room, rather than face the merry chatter 
 of the children in the nursery, and betook herself 
 with her sewing to the drawing-room, to sit in 
 the bay window overlooking the road, so that 
 she might catch the first glimpse of her husband 
 on his return. It seemed to her an eternity since 
 the morning, when he had left his home so full 
 of hope and enthusiasm over the cure that Mrs. 
 Sutherland was performing, and she wondered if 
 this tragedy was a visitation of divine providence, 
 outraged at her desertion of the true religion. At 
 any rate, she determined that she would return at 
 once to the fold, where, with the doctor on one 
 side and the clergyman on the other, you at least 
 knew where you were in times of trouble. It was 
 all very well, she reflected, to deny the reality of 
 pain and suffering when you were perfectly free 
 
270 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 from either, but when you found yourself plunged 
 headlong into both of them, surrounded on all 
 sides with difficulty and perplexity, then Christian 
 Science was no use at all, and she decided that 
 from henceforth she would give Mrs. Sutherland 
 and her doctrines a wide berth lest further evil 
 befell her and her family. 
 
 Suddenly she heard the click of the garden gate, 
 and, -looking up, saw the well-known figure of a 
 telegraph boy striding up the path to the front 
 door. She dropped her work and flew to answer 
 his double knock. 
 
 Pale and trembling she snatched the orange 
 envelope from his hand, and tore it open : 
 
 " Quite safe and happy don't worry writing 
 best love C." 
 
 " No answer," she said faintly to the waiting 
 boy, still staring at the words before her. 
 
 Then slowly she closed the door and returned 
 to the drawing-room, to her seat in the 
 window. 
 
 So he was in London. He had been at Cannon 
 Street Post Office at 2.45. He had evidently not 
 lost his memory, unless it had forsaken him for a 
 short time when he left Mrs. Sutherland's house, 
 and returned to him on his arrival in town. But 
 if that were so, and if he were sufficiently recovered 
 to know where he lived, why on earth did he not 
 come himself instead of sending a telegram ? He 
 did not even say what he was doing in town, nor 
 when he intended to return, and Amy, as she read 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 271 
 
 the paper over and over again, could make neither 
 head nor tail of it. At any rate it was a clue, 
 something to go on with, and she hoped that the 
 fact of Kit sending no address indicated that he 
 meant to stay at his club, which was the only place 
 she had ever known him to stay at when in town. 
 Obviously there was some reason, or he thought 
 there was, for remaining away over night, but what 
 it could be was impossible to guess. Perhaps his 
 letter would throw some light on the mystery, 
 and until it arrived she decided to wait with what 
 patience she could muster. 
 
 All at once she remembered the telephone, and 
 quick as thought she rose and rang up her husband's 
 club number. 
 
 No, Mr. Brown had not been seen there that 
 day, and they regretted that if he should put 
 in an appearance they could not undertake 
 to retain him in custody till his wife called for 
 him. 
 
 With a helpless sigh Amy rang up the bank 
 and inquired whether her husband had called 
 there. 
 
 The bank was more encouraging. Mr. Brown 
 had been there about one o'clock and appeared to 
 be, so far as they were able to judge, in excellent 
 health and spirits. 
 
 As Amy hung up the receiver. Watts entered the 
 house with a full and detailed account of his pro- 
 ceedings at the police station and of his interview 
 with the doctor. He was not at all surprised at 
 the telegram ; it only went to confirm his already 
 
272 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 fixed opinion that Mr. Brown had returned to his 
 former haunts. 
 
 " The best thing I can do," he advised, " is 
 to nip orf up to town and wait outside the club 
 till I see 'im. Becos he's bound to go there sooner 
 or later, 'e 'as no luggage and they won't let 'im 
 in no 'otel without it." 
 
 " Perhaps you'd better," said Amy. " Go and 
 have your dinner first — you must be hungry — 
 and I will write a letter to the club secretary 
 explaining things a little, or they won't help you, I 
 know. You must try and get hold of him before 
 he enters the club, then call a taxi and bring him 
 straight home. But, if he reaches the club before 
 you do, ask to see the secretary and give him my 
 note, and if they still won't do anything send me 
 a wire at once and I'll go up myself and perhaps 
 take the doctor with me. At any rate, don't 
 lose sight of him for an instant, and do all you 
 possibly can to get him back, for I shan't sleep a 
 wink unless I know he's safe." 
 
 " All right, 'm," said Watts, " you may rely upon 
 me ; I'll do my best. The doctor told me to tell 
 you that you was not to upset yourself ; he says 
 Mr. Brown is quite able to take care of himself, 
 and he's bound to come home again before long. 
 But 'e says once you've got 'im here we must 
 keep a sharper look out on him, in the future, 
 if you take my meaning ? " 
 
 " Quite," said Amy hopelessly. " I've thought 
 of that myself." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 273 
 
 So Watts went up to town ; but, as we know, 
 it was not such an easy matter to catch the run- 
 away. While his keeper was watching away the 
 weary hours outside the club door, Kit was dining 
 in peace and comfort in the grill-room of one of 
 the best hotels, and later was disporting himself 
 joyously on the promenade of a most entertaining 
 music hall not more than a few hundred yards 
 from where his would-be captor awaited him. 
 
 The club secretary had not received Amy's note 
 with any great show of cordiality, and Watts felt 
 that if once his victim managed to get inside the 
 portals of the club-house there would be small 
 chance of getting him out again that night. He 
 therefore criticized very carefully every one who 
 passed up the steps and kept an anxious look out 
 up and down the street in both directions, while 
 at the same time effacing himself as far as possible 
 in case the sight of him should frighten his quarry 
 away. 
 
 It was rather disheartening after the exercise of 
 so much zeal and such drastic precautions that he 
 was obliged to go back to Uppington by the last 
 train empty-handed, and he reflected, as he lay 
 back half asleep in the comer of his third-class 
 carriage, that if there was going to be much more of 
 it, he would seek another billet where the gent 
 needed less exacting supervision and he could get 
 to bed at a reasonable hour of the night. 
 
 He did not see reason to change his mind 
 when he returned to Elm Villa, for Mrs. Brown was, 
 if anything, more depressed than he was himself. 
 18 
 
274 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 She could not restrain a few tears when she saw him 
 return alone and heard his account of the evening's 
 work. It seemed certain that her husband was not 
 at the club, and if he were not there she trembled to 
 think where he might be. 
 
 At last, however, observing the hardly suppressed 
 yawns of the weary Watts, she went off to her room, 
 leaving him to have his supper and retire to the 
 dining-room sofa where he proposed to spend the 
 night, so that he might be at hand should Kit 
 take it into his head to return home during 
 the night. 
 
 The next morning when Amy awoke, after a fitful 
 night's rest, her first thought was for the postman. 
 She could hardly wait till she heard his knock, and 
 was just on the point of getting out of bed to fetch 
 the longed-for letter herself, when Mabel, from whom 
 nothing was hid, rushed up the stairs with it, 
 two at a time. 
 
 In silent sympathy she stood by the bed while 
 her mistress took it from her hands and tore open 
 the seal. It was a long letter, written on several 
 half-sheets of paper, and a perplexed furrow grew 
 in Amy's brow as she mastered its contents. 
 
 This is what she read : 
 
 " My dear Amy, I suppose by the time you 
 receive this you will know all. I thought it better 
 under the circumstances to come up to town till 
 things calm down a little, because in the heat of 
 the moment we might both say things which we 
 should afterwards regret, and perhaps wreck both 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 275 
 
 our lives over this unhappy affair. I do not of 
 course know what version those two have given you, 
 but please remember, Amy, there are two sides 
 to every question, and you have not yet heard 
 mine. I am not as you know a man to make 
 accusations against a woman, however much she 
 may deserve them, so I will pass over Lebah's 
 conduct without a word. The less said about her 
 the better, women of that sort are a public danger, 
 and I am only thankful that I managed to escape 
 out of her clutches before it was too late. But I 
 must seriously warn you against Captain Vibart : 
 he is utterly unscrupulous and untrustworthy in 
 every way ; don't believe a word he tells you, as 
 he hates me like poison, but not more than I hate 
 him. 
 
 " Perhaps I have been wrong in keeping the facts 
 of the case so long from you, but I can only say that 
 I have acted throughout entirely in your interests. 
 In order to spare you anxiety, I have allowed 
 myself to be cruelly misunderstood and misjudged. 
 You will never know what I have suffered the last 
 fortnight, or what my feelings have been under your 
 treatment of me. I know. Amy dear, you have done 
 it all for the best, and I do not blame you in the 
 least, but it is only fair to remind you that if you 
 had listened to what I kept on telling you, we should 
 have had none of this bother, or very little. How- 
 ever, what is done cannot be undone, and I am quite 
 ready to forgive and forget the past if you are. 
 I hope, darling, now that you have heard my side of 
 the story, you will not judge me too harshly, and 
 
276 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 that you will at once write me a nice letter saying 
 that you still love your — foolish perhaps, but always 
 devoted. Kit. 
 
 " Better wire me to the club, and I will go back 
 home when I know everything is all right. I hope 
 you didn't give them the £20. C. B." 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 CHRISTOPHER'S letter, although it shed very 
 little light upon the reason of his sudden 
 departure or his present whereabouts, had a 
 very decided effect upon his wife. As she read it 
 over again to herself after Mabel had left the room, 
 some instinct seemed to tell her that here at last 
 was the truth, or at any rate part of it. She could 
 only dimly conjecture what lay behind it all, but she 
 recognized the unmistakable touch of Kit as she 
 knew him best, in every line of this characteristic 
 letter. Whether it was the ravings of a disordered 
 mind, or whether it half revealed a deep-laid and 
 abominable plot in which the fascinating Captain 
 Vibart was incredibly implicated, she could not 
 determine ; but, whatever the real meaning of it 
 might be, she resolved to make a desperate effort 
 to get to the bottom of the whole affair without any 
 further delay. It was almost too much to hope that 
 she would be able to discover anything, which would 
 entirely account for her husband's extraordinary 
 behaviour of the last few weeks, and yet Kit's de- 
 nunciation of Vibart and Lebah was so emphatic that 
 it was impossible to ignore it, even if his grievances 
 against them turned out to be purely imaginary. 
 
 877 
 
 A 
 
278 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland had informed her over the tele- 
 phone on the previous afternoon of the circum- 
 stances of Kit's flight, of his evident perturbation at 
 the sight of Captain Vibart, who had called in 
 passing to introduce his newly married wife, and 
 of her own distress at being the means of allowing 
 him to escape. But Mrs. Vibart's Christian name 
 had naturally not been mentioned, and Amy found 
 it difficult to believe that Captain Vibart's new 
 wife and the Lebah of the discovered handkerchief 
 were one and the same person. 
 
 She decided, however, that she would, by some 
 means or another, see the lady for herself and 
 form her own opinion of her complicity in Kit's 
 affairs before saying anything to Mrs. Sutherland, 
 which might cause a family disagreement, or 
 involve the asking of awkward questions on either 
 side. 
 
 Her active little mind worked more rapidly than 
 usual as she lay in her big bed trying to think what 
 would be the best thing for her to do ; and eventu- 
 ally she decided to let Mabel ask on the telephone 
 for Captain Vibart's address. It was most unlikely 
 that Mrs. Sutherland would be up at that early hour, 
 and if a maid answered the call there would be 
 no possibility of entering into any explanation as 
 to why it was wanted. 
 
 This seemed to clear the way a little, and Amy 
 sprang out of bed and began to dress hastily. 
 
 By the time she was ready to go downstairs, 
 Mabel came up to her with the message that Captain 
 Vibart was staying at the Grand Hotel in Coventry 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 279 
 
 Street, but that lie proposed leaving for Paris very 
 shortly. 
 
 " Thank you, Mabel," said Amy. " I am going 
 up to town this morning. Will you see about 
 lunch for me ? The cold mutton will do for the 
 kitchen, and please get a little fish for the children's 
 dinner." 
 
 " Yes, 'm, and shall you be back for dinner ? " 
 
 " I expect so," replied Amy. " You'd better 
 order a small joint of beef, probably the master 
 will return with me." 
 
 " Have they got 'im, then ? " inquired Mabel, 
 unable to restrain her very human curiosity any 
 longer. 
 
 " I had a letter from him this morning," 
 answered Amy cautiously. " I think he >\ill be 
 home to dinner — at any rate order the beef. 
 And, Mabel, you have that address, if any 
 wires or messages come for me, or if the master 
 should return while I am gone, telephone to me 
 to the Grand Hotel ; you'll find the number in the 
 book." 
 
 " Yes, 'm," replied Mabel, who would dearly 
 have loved to ask a few questions, but who 
 was a properly conducted girl and knew her 
 place. 
 
 After breakfast, Watts was instructed to go up 
 again to town and take his stand outside the club 
 premises. 
 
 " I shall send my husband a wire this morn- 
 ing," said Mrs. Brown, " and some time during 
 the day he will call and get it. Don't let him see 
 
280 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 you, but wait till he comes out of the door, and then 
 just follow him quietly. I expect he will come 
 straight home ; but, if he should not, be careful 
 not to let him out of your sight, and let me 
 know as soon as you can where he is. I shall be 
 back here by lunch-time, or soon after, and you 
 can either 'phone or wire me, whichever is most 
 convenient." 
 
 " Very good, 'm," replied Watts without much 
 enthusiasm. " I'll do my best, but supposin' 
 'e don't seem like coming 'ome, wouldn't you like 
 me to try and 'tice 'im back ? 'E's very easily 
 managed is Mr. Brown, if you go the right way 
 to work." 
 
 " Well, use your own judgment, Watts," said 
 Amy. " I am almost certain that after he receives 
 my telegram he will return of his own accord. The 
 great thing is to know where he is staying and not 
 to arouse his suspicions, because if he doesn't come 
 home we shall have to take some means to make 
 him, and you could do nothing with him alone. If 
 he thinks you are watching him, he may dodge you 
 and go off somewhere else, and we should lose him 
 again." 
 
 " You may depend upon me," said Watts. 
 " I'll manage 'im, never fear, once I get a hold of 
 'im." 
 
 Having made all arrangements at home, 
 kissed the babies, and instructed Nurse where they 
 were to be taken for their walk. Amy set off to 
 catch the five minutes past nine train. Very 
 fresh and pretty she looked in her neat tailor-made 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 281 
 
 suit with a hat and feather-boa of periwinkle blue to 
 match her eyes. All the doubts and forebodings of 
 the previous night had disappeared, and she walked 
 briskly along with her head held high and an ex- 
 pression of courage and resolve on her little pink 
 face. 
 
 At a quarter-past ten o'clock, Jack and Lebah 
 were just finishing breakfast in their private sitting- 
 room at the Grand Hotel. The morning sun 
 glistened on the silver appointments of the table and 
 a warm fragrance pervaded the room. Huge 
 bowls of flowers lent a festive air to the occasion, 
 and Lebah herself in a shell-pink neglig6, with 
 her hair tied carelessly by a bow of the same 
 colour, was quite in keeping with the luxuriousness 
 of her surroundings. 
 
 After a discreet knock at the door, a man-servant 
 entered and handed a card on a tray to Captain 
 Vibart. 
 
 Jack took it from him and scrutinized it care- 
 fully. 
 
 " Mrs. Christopher Brown," he read out, " Elm 
 Villa, Uppington. Third Tuesday." 
 
 " Now we're in for it, Lebah." 
 
 Lebah shrugged her shoulders, in a way she 
 had learned in Paris, and smiled lazily at her 
 husband. 
 
 " I daresay the hall porter will help you out if you 
 give him a nice tip," she suggested. 
 
 " No. I shan't do that," said Jack. " She'd 
 only catch me on the way out and make a scene in 
 
282 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 the hall." Then turning to the man, standing 
 impassively by his side, he added : ' Show the 
 lady up here, please, in about five minutes." 
 
 " Very good, sir. Shall I take away the breakfast 
 things ? " 
 
 " No, don't bother," said Jack. 
 
 As the door closed he turned again to his wife. 
 
 " It's you she wants to see," he said. " She 
 has heard of your goings on with her husband and 
 she means to have your back hair off. You had 
 better get dressed, unless you are going to see her in 
 that thing." 
 
 " I don't intend to see her at all," replied 
 Lebah carelessly. " What on earth could I say to 
 her if I did ? I could only tell her that her husband 
 had been crazy about me, and tried to make me elope 
 with him, and I don't suppose she'd thank me for 
 that. I'd better keep out of it altogether, and you 
 must let me down as easily as you can. Heaven 
 only knows what he's said about me." 
 
 Jack stared at his wife in amazement. 
 
 " Haven't you got any conscience at all ? " he 
 asked. " I'll blot Brown out for you any time 
 you like, but for goodness' sake don't ask me 
 to tackle his wife ! " 
 
 " Evidently," continued Lebah serenely, " the 
 sight of us yesterday upset the apple cart. 
 I suppose he thought I'd turned up to claim my 
 handkerchief, and got in a blue funk and shot 
 off home to get his own story in first. I can just 
 see him ! " she laughed softly, showing all her 
 glistening white teeth. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 283 
 
 " The only thing is," she added, "how much has 
 he told her ? I expect he's said a good deal more 
 about your cowardly and brutal attack upon him 
 than about his own feelings for me. Anyhow, the 
 card was brought up to you, not to me. I'll bet 
 you it's you she's after." 
 
 " Even if she is," returned Jack, " I always 
 understood that the first duty of a good wife is to 
 interview the people whom her husband doesn't 
 wish to see. I shouldn't like you to neglect 
 your duties so early in the proceedings as this, Lebah, 
 — I believe in making a good start, anyhow." 
 
 " No use, old dear," laughed Lebah, rising 
 from the table. " I'm going back to bed till it's all 
 over. Be careful what you say, everything will go 
 straight back to your aunt, and I don't want your 
 family to think me worse than I really am." 
 
 " Oh, blow the family ! " said Jack crossly, 
 " and curse that infernal dressing-gown. If I 
 hadn't bought that, I should never have gone to 
 Uppington at all." 
 
 " Nor to Brighton either," Lebah reminded him. 
 
 " No," growled Jack pessimistically, " I 
 should still be a bachelor without a care in the 
 world. I warned you what marriage was, and here 
 you are : we haven't been married a week before we 
 are up to our necks in it ! " 
 
 "Poor lamb," said Lebah lightly. "Anyhow, 
 just see this through for me, and if there's 
 going to be any more bother about it, we'll 
 skip off to Paris to-morrow and let 'em all dry 
 up and bust." 
 
284 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Well, I suppose if you won't see her," said 
 Jack dejectedly, " I must. Thank the Lord 
 she's not an ugly woman or I should be no use 
 at all." 
 
 As he spoke a gentle tap was heard at the door ; 
 and, Lebah quickly snatching up the morning paper, 
 fled with a soft silken rush into the adjoining 
 bedroom, silently closing the door after her. 
 
 " Come in;" called out Jack, hastily lighting a 
 cigarette to make himself feel more at home. 
 
 The door opened and Amy Brown stood on the 
 threshold, hesitating a moment as she saw that 
 Captain Vibart was still at the breakfast-table. 
 
 " How do you do ? " said Jack, rising hospitably. 
 " Have you had breakfast ? " 
 
 " Yes, thank you." 
 
 " Have some more ? " 
 
 " No, thank you." 
 
 " Well, do sit down, won't you ? " 
 
 " Thank you," said Amy, taking the most un- 
 comfortable chair in the room and seating herself 
 remotely on the extreme edge of it. "I hope I'm not 
 too early. I ... I wanted to catch you before 
 you left the hotel." 
 
 " Quite," said Jack, " not at all." 
 
 He intended to be very wary till he saw how the 
 land lay and just how much it would be necessary 
 to say. 
 
 Amy looked up into his face with a pathetic and 
 trustful little smile. 
 
 " I suppose you know that Kit ran away yes- 
 terday ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 285 
 
 "No, I didn't," said Jack. "I thought he'd 
 gone home." 
 
 "No," said Amy, " he went up to town, 
 and I had a wire from him telling me not to 
 worry, and . . . and this morning he wrote me a 
 letter." 
 
 She paused and rested her eyes limply on Jack in 
 a way that made him feel almost uncomfortable, 
 but he maintained a pleasant air of imconcem and 
 met her gaze with composure. 
 
 " You see;" began Mrs. Brown, " I don't 
 want to hurt your feelings, but it is so tre- 
 mendously important to me. I must try and 
 find out if what he says is true, or whether 
 it's all his imagination." 
 
 " Quite," said Jack evasively. 
 
 " Do you mind telling me," asked Amy, " what 
 your wife's Christian name is ? " 
 
 " Not in the least," answered Jack readily. " Her 
 name is Lebah." 
 
 Amy regarded him steadily. 
 
 " I thought so," she remarked with deep 
 meaning in her voice. " May I see her, I think she 
 can tell me a great deal I want to know ? " 
 
 Jack thought this was quite possible, but re- 
 frained from saying so. 
 
 " I'm afraid she's not up yet," he replied 
 genially. " Is there anything I can do for you ? " 
 
 " Well, I daresay you could tell me," began 
 Amy doubtfully. 
 
 " You see," said Jack hastily, " my position 
 is this : I should like immensely to help you in 
 
286 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 any way that I can, but don't you know, I 
 can't very well give away other people's secrets 
 without their permission. You quite see that, 
 don't you ? " 
 
 " I don't want you to;" said Amy simply, 
 "all I want to ask you is : Did you know my 
 husband before the day you saw him at our 
 house ? " 
 
 " There you are, you see," said Jack helplessly. 
 " However, I can't be expected to perjure my 
 immortal soul. Yes, I did. At least, I had just 
 met him once." 
 
 Amy stared reproachfully at him. 
 
 " Why did you pretend you didn't know 
 him? " 
 
 " The fact is," said Jack, somewhat uneasy 
 under her direct gaze, " I though he'd rather I 
 didn't recognize him." 
 
 " But why should you think that ? " de- 
 manded Amy incredulously. " He made no secret 
 about knowing you, he recognized you the minute 
 he saw you ! " 
 
 Jack jerked himself impatiently out of his chair 
 and stood with his back to the fire facing her, 
 heartily wishing himself somewhere else. 
 
 " Very well, then," he said, " if you will 
 have it : Brown and I had a bit of a scrap the 
 night before ; and, as you had just been telling 
 us that he had lost his memory and remembered 
 nothing about it, I thought the best thing I 
 could do was to back him up. Of course I had 
 no idea it was his house, or I never would have 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 287 
 
 gone in with my aunt ; the whole thing was most 
 unfortunate." 
 
 Amy's mind was working rapidly. 
 
 " Then it was you who knocked him down and 
 cut his head open ? " she said at length, her 
 blue eyes growing harder every minute. " He told 
 me you had, but I wouldn't believe him." 
 
 " Not intentionally," said Jack, " he fell down 
 as I was going to catch hold of him and hit his 
 head on the fender." 
 
 " What fender ? " asked Amy in bewilderment. 
 " Where did all this happen ? " 
 
 " In ... in my wife's flat in Shaftesbury 
 Avenue," replied Jack patiently, looking a good 
 deal more bored than he felt. 
 
 " What time was it ? " pursued Amy relentlessly. 
 
 " About eleven-thirty, I suppose." 
 
 " But whatever was Kit doing there at that time 
 of night ? Did he know your wife too ? " 
 
 " Oh yes," said Jack easily, " he just looked 
 in after the theatre ; she was on the stage, you 
 know." 
 
 " I see," breathed Amy slowly, " that's why 
 he didn't tell me — he knows I can't bear 
 actresses." 
 
 Her eyes wore a troubled and anxious expression 
 as she turned them again on Jack. 
 
 " What . . . what did you quarrel about ? " 
 she inquired with nervous hesitation. She looked 
 exactly like a child in distress over a broken doll, 
 and Vibart felt suddenly quite sorry for her. 
 
 " You see," he began with an air of extreme 
 
288 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 candour, " I suppose I'm the most jealous brute 
 under the sun. I mean, when I'm roused, 
 there's positively no stopping me." 
 
 " And were you jealous of Kit ? " asked Amy 
 in amazement. 
 
 " Furiously," said Jack, " that's the way I'm 
 made. I don't mind telling you this is not the 
 first time my hideous jealousy has got me into 
 trouble." 
 
 " Oh, but he didn't mean anything," said 
 Amy earnestly, " he never does. You don't under- 
 stand Kit ; he always goes on like that." 
 
 " Then he'll get his head punched one of these 
 days," remarked Jack bitterly, "it's a wonder I 
 didn't do it for him that night, I was in a homicidal 
 rage." 
 
 " Even if you were," said Amy resentfully, 
 " you had no business to strike my husband : 
 you must have given him a fearful blow to knock 
 him down like that." 
 
 " I couldn't help him falling down," said Jack 
 impatiently, " it was all his own fault. Anyhow, 
 I helped him downstairs and put him into a 
 taxi ... I mean I did all I possibly could for 
 him." 
 
 " But why couldn't he look after himself ? " 
 demanded Amy with a puzzled frown. " What 
 was the matter with him ? Was he unconscious ? " 
 
 " Oh no," said Jack. " Do you see by that time 
 he was half-drunk ; he didn't have much, but his 
 head isn't any too strong." 
 
 Amy flared up in an instant. 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 289 
 
 " I don't believe it ! " she cried. "Kit has 
 never been drunk in his life. I don't believe a word 
 you say. Evidently you're trying to hush up 
 something you're ashamed of. From the very first 
 you've deceived me and told me lies ; I think your 
 conduct is simply disgraceful ! " 
 
 " I say . . . you know . . ." began Jack. 
 
 But he was not allowed to get any further. 
 Amy was now thoroughly roused. Her usually 
 tender blue eyes were hard as flints, ready to 
 drill holes in the man who had dared toTmalign 
 her husband. 
 
 "I see now that Kit was perfectly right," she 
 stormed. " He said you were an unscrupulous man, 
 and so you are ; I never thought anyone could be 
 so heartless and wicked ! You stood there and 
 allowed us all to think Kit mad, and not a word 
 would you say in case your own miserable story 
 leaked out. He might have been put in a lunatic 
 asylum for the rest of his Ufe, and you would not 
 have lifted a finger to save him ! " 
 
 Jack looked steadily at her little flushed face, and 
 a whimsical smile played round the corners of his 
 thin lips. 
 
 " I say;" he protested, " you know you thoroughly 
 unnerve me when you get in such a temper. If 
 you go for Kit like this, I don't wonder he's run 
 away." 
 
 " I don't think it's at all a laughing matter. Captain 
 
 Vibart;" repUed Amy with dignity. " My husband 
 
 has been put in a very serious position, and 
 
 it's due in a great measure to you. I know Kit 
 
 19 
 
290 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 is sometimes foolish, and easily led away — he's too 
 trusting and good-natured — but he's the soul of 
 honour, and you must have had some very extra- 
 ordinary hold over him to make him behave as he 
 has done lately." 
 
 " Not at all," said Jack, " it was entirely his 
 own idea." 
 
 " But why should he be so anxious to hush up 
 everything ? " asked Amy. " Had he been doing 
 anything disgraceful ? " 
 
 " No . . . not so far as I know ... in fact," 
 added Jack hastily, " I'm quite sure he hadn't. 
 I'll take my oath of that." 
 
 " Then it must have been to shield you," 
 said Amy with instant conviction. " As soon 
 as he saw that you didn't want him to recognize 
 you, he allowed us all to think he was mad 
 rather than denounce you before your aunt. 
 The poor noble darhng ! How foolish of him ! 
 and when he tried to tell me about it afterwards 
 I wouldn't listen." Her eyes filled with ready 
 tears. " I can't think how I have been so blind ; 
 and it's all your fault. I shall never forgive you 
 — never ! " 
 
 " For heaven's sake, don't cry," said Jack in 
 agitation. 
 
 " I'm not going to," returned Amy with spirit ; 
 " it was just the thought of all my poor Kit has 
 suffered that upset me for the moment." 
 
 She rose and prepared to take her departure. 
 
 " Look here," said Jack, " you know I'm so 
 sorry. I don't want you to go away feeling I've 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 291 
 
 treated your husband badly. On my honour I 
 haven't in the least." 
 
 " Opinions differ about honour, perhaps," re- 
 plied Amy stiffly. " I don't know whether you call 
 it honourable to beguile an innocent man into your 
 house and knock him senseless on the floor, and 
 afterwards to let every one think him mad rather 
 than confess what you had done." 
 
 " No," admitted Jack gloomily, " it certainly 
 does sound a bit ofi, doesn't it ? " 
 
 " As for his being drunk," continued Amy 
 severely, " I think that was a perfectly odious 
 thing to say — so spiteful and so utterly untrue. 
 It's much more likely you were drunk yourself, and 
 didn't know what you were doing." 
 
 Jack regarded her solemnly for several seconds 
 in silence. 
 
 " You know, Mrs. Brown," he said at length with 
 profound conviction, " you really are the absolute 
 limit. You've got me done to a frazzle. I only 
 hope I don't look such a pathetic worm as I 
 feel." 
 
 " I dare say you can't help yourself," said 
 Amy, relenting a little. " Kit is quite as much to 
 blame as you are, for getting mixed up with such 
 a fast set. I suppose it was because I wasn't there 
 to look after him." 
 
 " I shouldn't be too down on him if I were 
 you," said Jack. " He's an awful ass, but I 
 don't think there's much vice in him." 
 
 " I know there isn't," said Amy confidently. 
 " It's his kind heart that's got him into this fix. 
 
292 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 I can see now," she added, after a pause, " why 
 he wanted to be a Christian Scientist. Poor 
 old darling ! " 
 
 " That's another thing;" said Jack, sud- 
 denly remembering the instructions, which Lebah 
 had given him. " I can see I shall look rather a 
 lurid sort of fool if you're going to tell my aunt 
 all about it. Considering the way you've had me 
 on the mat for the last half-hour, you might let 
 it go at that, don't you think ? " 
 
 " Of course," agreed Amy readily, " I don't 
 want your aunt to know anything about it ; 
 it would soon be all over Uppington, and I'd 
 sooner people thought Kit had suffered from 
 nervous breakdown than that he had left me 
 to ... to flirt with an actress." 
 
 *' I shouldn't take that part of it too seriously 
 if I were you," advised Jack tactfully. " After 
 all, there's not much harm in flirting is there ? " 
 
 " N . . . no . . ." said Amy reluctantly. " I 
 suppose men drift into it without meaning to." 
 
 " Nothing easier," said Jack with conviction. 
 " One glance from you would set me off at any 
 moment." 
 
 Amy involuntarily raised her eyes with a 
 sudden smile at this unexpected and audacious 
 remark. 
 
 " Yes, that's the way," laughed Jack. " I see 
 you know all about it." 
 
 Amy made a heroic and quite visible effort to 
 control her features into a more sedate expression, 
 But Jack's smile was very infectious and she found 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 393 
 
 it a difficult matter to look as severe as she felt 
 she ought to do. 
 
 " I really think I must go now," she said, rising 
 with a great show of determination. 
 
 " Must you really ? " said Jack, holding out 
 with some ostentation a lean, brown hand. 
 
 Amy looked at it, and after a sUght pause laid 
 her own small white gloved hand within it. 
 
 Whereupon Jack, taking a mean and quite inde- 
 fensible advantage of his superior strength, clasped 
 it firmly in his own and fixed his green eyes upon 
 her in an ardent and compelling glance. 
 
 " Do you hate me very much ? " he inquired 
 impressively. 
 
 " Yes, I do," returned Amy promptly, but 
 the comers of her mouth curved into dehciou3 
 little dimples. 
 
 " The feeling is not at all reciprocal," murmured 
 Jack suggestively, looking down at the little 
 captive hand, and back again into her face. 
 
 There was a tiny pause, and then Amy did a 
 most extraordinary thing. What possessed her 
 she could never afterwards made out, for, as Jack 
 gazed at her hand, she raised it ever so slightly 
 towards him and rested her limpid blue eyes for 
 one provocative moment on his. 
 
 And Jack, seizing with alacrity on her friendly 
 impulse, lifted her fingers to his lips and impressed 
 a kiss upon them with an enthusiasm that gave 
 her a most unexpected thrill and caused a vivid 
 blush to mount to her cheeks. Never had such 
 a romantic thing happened to her before. 
 
294 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " So now, we're friends," said Jack, releasing her 
 hand. And Amy smiled half shyly up into his face. 
 
 " All the same," she said, " I don't approve of 
 you in the least." 
 
 " Never mind," repHed Jack, with cheerful 
 philosophy. " You're a little brick, and you've 
 got your head screwed on the right way." 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 WHEN Kit awoke on the morning after his 
 escapade, he stretched himself luxuriously 
 and looked round his little bare bedroom 
 with a smile of intense satisfaction. It was so 
 good to be free and unfettered again, to be rid of 
 the haunting presence of Watts, and away from 
 the anxious solicitation of his wife. He felt so 
 buoyant and fit that it was for once a distinct 
 pleasure to get out of bed, and he hummed cheer- 
 fully to himself as he padded across the room in 
 the now crumpled pink pyjamas, to pull up the 
 blinds and have a look at the weather. 
 
 It was a bright autumn morning, with just enough 
 crispness in the air to make it invigorating, and 
 Kit, as he opened the window a little way, heaved 
 a deep and thankful sigh from the bottom of his 
 heart. 
 
 He wondered what Amy would say when she 
 read his letter, and how long it would be before 
 she replied to it ; not, probably, before eleven 
 o'clock, which would give him ample time to go 
 into the city and carry out a certain scheme, which 
 he had in view. 
 
 He dressed quickly, and descending to the hotel 
 
 >9S 
 
296 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 dining-room made an excellent breakfast of grilled 
 herrings, followed by kidneys and bacon. After 
 which he read the morning paper and chatted 
 pleasantly with the head waiter on the topics of 
 the day, then, feeling thoroughly contented with 
 himself and with life generally, he betook himself 
 to the city to pay a call on the head of his firm. 
 
 Brown Senior was a shipping merchant in the 
 North of England, and Brown Junior held a good 
 position in a similar business in London by reason of 
 his father's influence ; he had therefore never had 
 any great anxiety about the possibility of losing his 
 billet, but he felt that certain explanations would 
 naturally be expected from him to account for his 
 long absence from work. He conned over in his 
 mind what form these should take, and wished that 
 he knew exactly what Amy had said about him in 
 her letter to the office the day after his accident. 
 It was foolish of her to send it without first showing 
 it to him, but he knew how clever and discreet she 
 had always been in the few business matters with 
 which she had been connected, and he felt quite 
 confident that she would be careful to say nothing 
 which might prejudice his position in any way. It 
 was therefore with a light heart that he entered the 
 building where he was accustomed to spend the 
 greater part of his time, and sent up a request for 
 an interview with Mr. Blair, the head of the 
 business. 
 
 But when after a wait of nearly half an hour he 
 was shown into the chilly and severely furnished 
 apartment sacred to the use of Mr. Blair, and he saw 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 297 
 
 before him that very precise and dignified httle 
 gentleman, his spirits miaccountably dropped much 
 lower, and he felt creeping over him a sort of guilty 
 abasement, which reminded him of the days when 
 he had shivered in the study of the headmaster at 
 school. 
 
 Mr. Blair eyed him with some curiosity. 
 
 " Ha, Brown," he began patronizingly, " you've 
 come back, have you . . . you've returned ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," rephed Kit, with engaging polite- 
 ness. " I hope to return to work to-morrow morn- 
 ing, but I thought I should first like to see you 
 personally, and explain the reason of my absence. I 
 was very sorry to have to leave so suddenly ; I hope 
 it didn't inconvenience you at all ? " 
 
 " No, thank you, Brown, not much," said 
 Mr. Blair precisely. " I imderstand from your 
 wife that you had ... er ... an accident ? " 
 
 " Only a slight one," Kit assured him, " in 
 fact, nothing at all really. I shouldn't have stayed 
 away from the office for that. But I've been 
 suffering a good deal from nerves lately, in- 
 somnia, and so on, and my doctor prac- 
 tically insisted on a complete rest for a week 
 or two. He said that imless I took care of 
 myself I might become very seriously ill, and I felt 
 it was better to take a short rest now, than perhaps 
 to be laid up later on for two or three months, 
 that was my idea." 
 
 " Quite so," said Mr. Blair doubtfully. Then, 
 looking suddenly at Kit through his gold-rimmed 
 spectacles, he added : 
 
298 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " I suppose you know that I have been in com- 
 munication with your doctor ? " 
 
 " No, have you really ? " said Kit, rather 
 taken aback by this totally unexpected announce- 
 ment. 
 
 " I have," replied Mr. Blair drily, " he said 
 nothing about an accident, nothing about nerves or 
 insomnia." 
 
 " Indeed ? " said Kit uneasily. " May I ask 
 you what he told you ? " 
 
 " Quite frankly. Brown, he told me that . . . 
 er . . . that your mind was affected. I am 
 sure it must be a very painful subject for you. 
 I must admit that I was very surprised to 
 hear it." 
 
 Kit stared straight in front of him and said 
 nothing. 
 
 "When I received Mrs. Brown's letter," con- 
 tinued Mr. Blair smoothly, " I thought it would be 
 more satisfactory to hear what the doctor had to 
 say about your condition, and I therefore asked 
 your wife's permission to write and consult him 
 about you." 
 
 "I'm sorry you did that," said Kit truth- 
 fully. " I consider Bennett is an absolute fool ; 
 he doesn't know in the least what he's talking 
 about." 
 
 " He appears to stand well in his profession," 
 remarked Mr. Blair; " he wrote me a very intelligent 
 letter, a very kind letter, I thought." 
 
 " Well, sir, I can assure you," said Kit earnestly, 
 " that he was quite wrong about me, absolutely." 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 299 
 
 "Is it a fact," pursued Mr. Blair, "that you 
 were obliged to be put under the control of . . . er 
 ... a keeper ? " 
 
 " Certainly not," retorted Kit indignantly, 
 " that is, I did have a manservant in the house, 
 because the doctor so alarmed my wife that I 
 thought it only right to do so." 
 
 " I see," said Mr. Blair. " And when did 
 the servant leave you ? " 
 
 "Actually," said Kit, "he hasn't left me yet 
 ... I mean ... he's a useful sort of chap and 
 I'm keeping him on." 
 
 Mr. Blair regarded him thoughtfully. 
 
 " Does your doctor know that you intend returning 
 to work ? " he inquired. 
 
 " Not yet, he doesn't," said Kit. " I shall 
 probably write him a note this evening." 
 
 " Did you tell your wife you were coming here 
 this morning ? " 
 
 " No," said Kit uncomfortably, " I didn't. I 
 shall tell her when I go home of course." 
 
 " In fact," proceeded Mr. Blair kindly, " you 
 came here entirely on your own account without 
 consulting anyone as to whether you were in a fit 
 condition to return or not, — is that it ? " 
 
 " I think," protested Kit mildly, " that I'm 
 the best judge of whether I feel able to do my work 
 or not." 
 
 " M . . . M . . . yes." Mr. Blair appeared to 
 be thinking deeply. 
 
 " Just stay here. Brown, a few minutes, will 
 you ? I should like to continue this conversa- 
 
300 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 tion, but there is a small matter of business to 
 which I must attend for the moment. I shall 
 not keep you long. You will find the morning 
 paper on that table if you care to look at it 
 while I am away." 
 
 He slipped out of the room, closing the door after 
 him, and very gently and silently turning the key in 
 the lock as he did so. 
 
 It took him quite a short time to ring up Dr. 
 Bennett on the telephone and ascertain that Brown 
 had escaped from custody only the day before, 
 and that an anxious search was being prosecuted in 
 all directions for his recovery. 
 
 " Exactly what I suspected," said Mr. Blair, 
 " he has a most extraordinarily shifty and peculiar 
 appearance. What do you advise me to do about 
 him ? He is at present locked in my room. I 
 should be very much obliged if you could make it 
 convenient to come up to town and look after 
 him." 
 
 Dr. Bennett thought he might manage it, and 
 advised Mr. Blair to keep the captive under control, 
 and to avoid if possible exciting his suspicions in 
 case he should prove troublesome. His motor was 
 waiting at the door to take him on his rounds, and 
 he promised to be at the oifice in about an hour. 
 
 So Mr. Blair, albeit with some trepidation at his 
 heart, returned to his private room, not, however, 
 without having first summoned a reliable clerk and 
 confided to him the sad story of poor Brown. 
 
 " I want you to take him," he said, " to 
 his accustomed seat and give him something to 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 301 
 
 do ; anything so long as he is kept employed. 
 Don't on any account let him out of your sight ; 
 and, if any sort of difficulty arises, send for me at 
 once." 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied the clerk, looking forward 
 with pleasurable anticipation to a more interesting 
 morning's work than usually fell to his lot. 
 
 It was explained to Kit that, there being a great 
 deal of work in hand that day, Mr. Blair would 
 consider it a favour if he would take his place at 
 once and do his share of it : a proposal to which 
 Kit, all unconscious of his fate, assented with 
 alacrity. 
 
 Meanwhile Amy, having said good-bye to Captain 
 Vibart, hiuried off across the road to the post 
 office to send the following wire to her husband : 
 
 " Seen Vibart everything explained come home 
 longing to see you best love Amy." 
 
 It came, with the address, to a little more than 
 sixpence, but Amy was so delighted to be able to 
 send it at all that she hardly minded exceeding 
 her usual limit. Nor could she quite see how to 
 reduce it to twelve words without leaving out 
 something important. She was very anxious to 
 be as cordial as possible in order that Kit might 
 feel entirely reassured about his reception, and 
 she reflected that any strictures which she might 
 feel called upon to make about his behaviour could 
 be very well postponed until she got him safely 
 home again. She was convinced that directly 
 
302 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 Kit received her message he would go straight 
 back to her, and that before long they would be 
 as happy and united a family as they had been 
 before the summer holidays. 
 
 As she left the post office she remembered her 
 instructions to Mabel, and, although she thought 
 there had been no time for either Watts to com- 
 municate with her or for her husband to return 
 home, to make quite sure, she crossed again 
 to the hotel and inquired from the hall porter if 
 any message had been received for Mrs. Brown. 
 And the porter, who had his living to earn like 
 everybody else, made an ostentatiously laborious 
 pilgrimage to the cashier's office and returned with 
 a neat slip of paper on which was written a rather 
 incoherent message from Mabel. Unfortunately 
 Amy was so disturbed by what she read there 
 that she quite forgot to tip the man for his 
 trouble in walking all the way across the hall, and 
 she rushed out of the hotel door followed by a look 
 of such ineffable disdain that it would have cut 
 her to the heart had she been able to see it. 
 
 Mabel said that Dr. Bennett had just called with 
 news of her master, and was on his way to the 
 office to see Mr. Blair, and would be obliged if Mrs. 
 Brown would meet him there as soon as possible. 
 
 Wondering anxiously what new development 
 had brought the doctor hurrying up to town on 
 such short notice, Amy hailed a taxi, and in less 
 than a quarter of an hour was deposited at the 
 door of the city office, and had sent up her card 
 to Mr. Blair. She was aware of curious and furtive 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 303 
 
 glances as she waited for a few minutes in the 
 outer office, and the clerk who asked her to kindly 
 step this way did so in hushed and commiserating 
 tones, which roused a distinct tremor of appre- 
 hension in her breast. But she had little time to 
 indulge in speculation as she followed him quickly 
 through the building, to the room at the back, which 
 the head of the firm used as his particular sanctum. 
 
 As she entered the room the doctor and Mr. 
 Blair rose at once to greet her, one with an air of 
 portentous gravity befitting a funeral, and the 
 other with the same familiar and kindly smile 
 that had so often brought comfort to her heart. 
 Not till she had shaken hands with each of them 
 did she catch sight of her husband sitting on a 
 chair by the wall, his face a study of conflicting 
 emotions of apparently a very unpleasing nature. 
 
 Amy turned to him with a glad and welcome 
 smile. 
 
 " Oh, here you are ! " she exclaimed delightedly. 
 
 " Yes," repUed Kit, with profound melancholy, 
 " here I am, worse luck." 
 
 " He came to see me this morning," explained 
 Mr. Blair, " and I took the liberty of ringing up 
 your family physician." 
 
 " I called on you," said Dr. Bennett to 
 Amy, " on my way. I should hke to have had 
 a little chat with you before. However, 
 I was just explaining to your husband that we 
 can't allow you to be put to all this anxiety any 
 longer, we shall have you laid up next. I was 
 going to suggest, that instead of his returning 
 
304 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 home to-day, he should go with me to an extremely 
 nice nursing home, kept by a man I know rather 
 well. I really don't think it's wise for him to go 
 back to Uppington under the circumstances ; you 
 see Watts has practically no control over him as 
 things are at present." 
 
 Amy looked troubled. 
 
 " I don't think I quite like that idea," she 
 began. 
 
 "Neither do I," added Kit hastily. "I 
 think it's a loathsome idea. In fact I absolutely 
 refuse to go into any kind of a nursing home 
 at all, it's only another name for a lunatic 
 asylum, and once I got inside I don't suppose I 
 should ever get out again." 
 
 " I certainly think," suggested Mr. Blair, 
 " that before any such drastic step is taken Mr. 
 Brown should consult a good mental specialist. 
 I understand," he added, turning politely to the 
 doctor, " that is also your opinion ? " 
 
 "Quite," replied Dr. Bennett. "I've all 
 along been trying to persuade him to see a good 
 man. I've not specialized in mental cases myself, 
 although I've done a great deal in that line one 
 way and another. Personally I think, and I've 
 said so from the first, that with proper care and 
 treatment any serious development may be averted. 
 There are undoubtedly symptoms of mental dis- 
 order, but exactly how far the mind is affected I 
 should not care to say. I'll tell you what, Brown, 
 suppose you go with me this morning and see 
 Austen Temple — he's about the best authority on 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 305 
 
 the brain of the present day — and, as I know him 
 fairly well, he will perhaps see us without an 
 appointment." 
 
 Kit cast a furtive and anxious glance at his 
 wife, as if to see what help might be expected 
 in that direction. But it was not easy to judge 
 from Amy's face what she was thinking about, and 
 in truth her thoughts were of a very perplexed 
 and confused description. She must, she readized, 
 save her husband by hook or by crook from being 
 committed to a lunatic asylum, but just on the 
 spur of the moment it was difficult to see how 
 this could be done without explaining the whole 
 circumstances to the two other men, which for 
 Kit's sake she wished to avoid if possible. 
 
 However, something must certainly be said to 
 clear up the situation, and she undoubtedly was 
 the right person to say it. The knowledge that 
 so much depended upon her inspired her with 
 a feeling of courage and responsibility, and she 
 turned to the doctor with quite a httle cdr of 
 authority : 
 
 " I don't think we shall need to consult a 
 specialist. I've found out the owner of that 
 handkerchief." 
 
 " Really ! " exclaimed the doctor eagerly," that's 
 capital. Who is she ? " 
 
 " You remember," continued Amy, with 
 composure, " that Captain Vibart who called with 
 Mrs. Sutherland at our house ? " 
 
 " Perfectly ; yes ? " 
 
 " She's his wife 1 " 
 
 30 
 
3o6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " No ! " exclaimed the doctor in amazement. 
 
 Kit was also amazed, a good deal more so 
 than the doctor, but he was learning discretion 
 and had the sense to hold his tongue, reflecting 
 that Amy was getting on very well without his 
 assistance. 
 
 " Yes," pursued^ Amy. " I found out the 
 whole thing, '"and it's perfectly true all that Kit 
 said.. Captain Vibart knocked him down on the 
 night before, and cut his head open, and then 
 when he was still unconscious he put him in a taxi 
 and sent him home. Did you ever hear of any- 
 thing more scandalous and heartless ? And to 
 stand there and let us all think Kit was mad rather 
 than admit what he had done. I think it's the 
 most heartless thing I ever heard of ! " 
 
 The doctor looked very puzzled. " What made 
 him go to the house, then, if he knew your husband 
 and didn't want to be recognized ? " 
 
 " Of course," said Amy, " that was the 
 extraordinary part of it. He didn't know that 
 Kit lived here, he just happened to call with his 
 aunt and he was awfully surprised to see Kit walk 
 into the dining-room." 
 
 " But Great Scotland Yard ! " exclaimed the 
 doctor, turning to Kit, " if that was so, why on 
 earth didn't you say so at the time ? " 
 
 " I did say so," replied Kit, his spirits some- 
 what revived at Amy's masterly interpretation 
 of his story, " Didn't I call him a scoundrel the 
 moment I saw him sitting there, and ordered him 
 to clear out of the house ? " 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 307 
 
 " Yes, that's so," admitted the doctor, " but I'd 
 have punched the fellow's head if I'd been in 
 your place." 
 
 " Just what I was going to do," said Kit, 
 " when you came along with the gardener and 
 stopped me." 
 
 But the doctor was not satisfied by any means. 
 He wanted to know a great deal more, 
 
 " And about the loss of memory, then ? " 
 he asked. " When did it all come back to you 
 — this is the first I've heard of it." 
 
 " Do you see," interposed Amy hastily and 
 with an engaging air of simplicity, " he didn't 
 exactly lose his memory, not in the way we thought 
 he had : he just wanted to try and forget all about 
 it. Although they had treated him so badly, he 
 wouldn't give them away or make a fuss like most 
 men would have done. That's Kit's greatest 
 fault : he's too easy-going and good-natured." 
 
 " It's all very well to be good-natured," 
 replied the doctor, " but I can't understand why, 
 when he saw the hole it was getting him into, he 
 didn't explain what had happened — at any rate 
 he might have told you, there would have been 
 no need for it to have gone any farther." 
 
 " He did tell me," said Amy earnestly, " he 
 kept on telling me all the time, over and over 
 again, and I wouldn't believe him. You see, we 
 were so certain that his mind was affected that I 
 simply thought he was raving and took no 
 notice," 
 
 " Most extraordinary," said the doctor dryly. 
 
3o8 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " I should like to see Vibart for myself and hear 
 what he's got to say about it." 
 
 " They're just off to Paris," said Amy 
 glibly, " I don't suppose you could see him now ; 
 but there's not the slightest doubt of what I've 
 told you. He admitted everything. He said I 
 made him feel like a worm. I was so angry 
 that I don't know what I said to him." 
 
 The doctor turned again to Kit. 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you knew all the time 
 who that handkerchief belonged to?" he demanded, 
 fixing him with a critical stare. 
 
 " Certainly I did," replied Kit, with a great 
 show of indifference. 
 
 "Then why, in the name of common sense, couldn't 
 you say so ? " 
 
 " Because I didn't wish to," replied Kit with 
 dignity. " It was entirely a matter between 
 Vibart and myself, and I didn't want to drag a 
 lady's name into it." 
 
 " Why didn't you come straight to me and tell 
 me the whole thing calmly from beginning to 
 end, and so save yourself and everybody else all 
 this bother and fuss ? " demanded the doctor. 
 
 " Why should I ? " demanded Kit reason- 
 ably. " It had nothing at all to do with you. I 
 told you everything that there was any need for 
 you to know, and you didn't believe me. You 
 made up your mind that I was mad, and every 
 word I spoke you twisted round somehow or other 
 to prove yourself right. I told you till I was tired 
 that there was nothing at all the matter with my 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 309 
 
 brain, and hang it all, if a chap likes to try and 
 forget an unpleasant experience, surely he's at 
 liberty to do so without every one hunting him into 
 a lunatic asylum ! " 
 
 The doctor regarded him with a pecuUar and 
 significant smile. 
 
 ' ' Very specious argument, ' ' he remarked. ' ' You're 
 a queer bird, Brown. However, thanks to your 
 wife you've escaped being locked up this time. Of 
 course, if it hadn't been for your family history I 
 don't suppose the idea would have occurred to 
 anyone. But that sort of thing is so often heredi- 
 tary that one is naturally on the look out for 
 symptoms, which in ordinary people would perhaps 
 pass unnoticed. ..." 
 
 " What sort of thing ? " demanded Kit, 
 staring hard at him. " I don't know what you're 
 talking about." 
 
 " I understand your mother died in a lunatic 
 asylum ? " 
 
 "Certainly she did," replied Kit, "but that 
 isn't to say that she was a lunatic. Where did you 
 get that useful piece of information from ? " he 
 inquired with mild irony. 
 
 " I told him," said Amy quietly, " I thought 
 he ought to know." 
 
 " But, Amy\" said Kit indignantly, " you know 
 perfectly well that my mother was on a visit to the 
 place, she and the doctor's wife were school pals ; 
 and she got typhoid and died before they could 
 take her home. You've heard that story often 
 enough." 
 
310 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 " Yes," said Amy meekly, " but I didn't 
 believe it ; I thought you made it up so that people 
 wouldn't know your mother had gone mad." 
 
 The doctor burst into a loud and boisterous peal 
 of laughter, and Mr. Blair joined him with his 
 thin, dry cackle. But Amy and Kit were staring 
 solemnly into each other's eyes. 
 
 "I'm sorry, dear," said Amy humbly, gazing 
 upward at her husband with pathetic appeal. 
 " It's my fault, I'm really to blame for the whole 
 thing — me and Captain Vibart." 
 
 " No, don't say that," replied Kit with magna- 
 nimity, laying his hand kindly on her shoulder. 
 " We've all made mistakes, I think; we must forgive 
 each other and forget all about them." 
 
 " Well, Brown, I congratulate you," said 
 Mr. Blair, coming up with a cordial outstretched 
 hand, "I'm sure you've behaved with exemplary 
 patience and forbearance under very trying circum- 
 stances. From what I can learn, you have been 
 most extraordinarily quixotic in your endeavour 
 to shield this . . . er . . . gentleman from the 
 consequences of his actions : but I like you none the 
 less for that. There is far too little nowadays of 
 that feeling of chivalry and honour between gentle- 
 men which there was in my young days, and I am 
 glad to see that it still exists, even if on this occasion 
 it has given rise to certain unfortunate mis- 
 understandings.' ' 
 
 " Thank you, sir," replied Kit modestly, 
 returning the friendly grip of his chief's hand ; " it 
 is very kind of you to say so, but I don't feel that 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 311 
 
 I ought to take any credit for having behaved as I 
 did." 
 
 Dr. Bennett was regarding him with an amused 
 twinkle in his eye. 
 
 " You take all you can get, old chap," he 
 said dryly, " you deserve it. I consider you've dis- 
 played a good deal more acumen over this affair 
 than I have. I only wish I had half your 
 intellect." 
 
 Kit beamed with gratification. 
 
 " Never mind, doctor," he said affably. " I 
 daresay you'll get your own back when you send in 
 your bill." 
 
 " You bet I shall," laughed the doctor. " Well, 
 I must be off home ; can I offer you a lift ? " 
 
 " No, thank you," replied Kit cheerfully. 
 " Amy and I are going to celebrate the occasion 
 with a bottle of fizz at Romano's. Isn't that so. 
 Amy ? " 
 
 And Amy dimpled aU over her face in the sweetest 
 way as she met her husband's eye in a look of 
 mutual understanding such as had not passed 
 between them for a very long time. 
 
 " Just tell me, Kitty darling," cooed Amy, 
 when the bottle stood empty on the table, and the 
 grateful odour of coffee mingled with the more 
 subtle aroma of Benedictine, " did you really flirt 
 with her ? " 
 
 "It all depends on what you call flirting," 
 answered Kit judicially, cutting off the end of a 
 large and expensive cigar. " I mean, a woman Qf 
 
312 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 that type simply lives on admiration and compli- 
 ments and all that sort of thing — it's the breath 
 of life to her." 
 " But . . . but . . . did you kiss her ? " 
 " No," said Kit firmly, " I didn't," he paused a 
 moment. " Well, when I say I didn't . . . what 
 I mean is ... I only kissed her hand. Do you 
 think that matters ? " he asked, with a trace 
 of anxiety in his voice. 
 
 " N . . . no," replied Amy thoughtfully, " I 
 don't think hands ought to count, do you ? " 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 UPPINGTON never quite succeeded in solv- 
 ing the mystery of the little Christopher 
 Browns. 
 
 Undoubtedly he had been mad : liable to sudden 
 paroxysms of insanity, to violent and unprovoked 
 attacks on his fellow-men. Most certainly he had 
 been seen about with a keeper from whom he had 
 escaped in a sensational and exciting manner. But 
 exactly how he had been recovered — whether of 
 his own free will he had returned home, or whether 
 through the efforts of the police or the assiduity of 
 Watts he had been restored to the bosom of his 
 family — could never be determined. For Watts had 
 been dismissed in a very cursory and most suspicious 
 manner on the very day that Mr. Brown was rein- 
 stated at Elm Villa. According to Cook, he had 
 merely returned to collect his luggage and to shrug 
 his shoulders evasively. All the information that 
 could be got out of him was to the effect that Mr. 
 Brown was a fair corf-drop and no error. 
 
 It was suggested that Dr. Bennett had made 
 another of his egregious mistakes, but Mrs. Brown, 
 when approached on the subject, had nothing but 
 honeyed words to speak of the doctor, who had 
 
314 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 been, it appeared, everything that was kind, clever, 
 and helpful : she had hinted, moreover, that she 
 valued his discretion almost as much as his pro- 
 fessional advice. 
 
 There remained only one other explanation of the 
 mystery, and that one so extraordinary and in- 
 credible that for a long time no one at all would 
 consider it seriously. 
 
 However, Mrs. Sutherland, having worked so 
 hard, and having achieved so much, was not likely 
 to allow the fruits of her labours to go unrecognized, 
 nor her beloved religion to lose any kudos, which was 
 due to it. It was soon known to all the members of 
 her Church that she had performed one of the most 
 marvellous cures in the annals of C.S. history ; 
 and it was also whispered that, as usual, Mortal Mind 
 was putting in its oar, and refusing to give honour 
 where honour was due. It was a well-known and 
 regrettable fact that most people who were cured by 
 C.S. generally tried to pretend that their recovery 
 was due to something else, and the fact that Christo- 
 pher Brown had not openly joined the Church and 
 made a public confession of the benefits which he 
 had received from it was only another instance of 
 the ingratitude of the unregenerate. 
 
 But they did their best to advertise the miracle 
 that Mrs. Sutherland had been able to accomplish. 
 They related the whole story with much elaborate 
 detail to any and everybody who would listen to it. 
 And whereas, when Kit was considered mad, they 
 had strenuously denied the existence of madness, 
 now that he was cured they insisted with equal 
 
CURING CHRISTOPHER 315 
 
 vehemence on how very mad he had been. They 
 enlarged on his terrible fits of mania, his uncontrol- 
 lable violence and his murderous propensities : no 
 one had ever been so fatally and dangerously mad 
 as Mr. Brown was before C.S. took him in hand 
 and saved him from being committed to a lunatic 
 asylum for the rest of his days. 
 
 It was indeed a great and glorious triumph for C.S. 
 
 And the attitude of Mr. Brown himself did nothing 
 to detract from it. He had been heard to say that 
 in his opinion Christian Science was a very sound 
 idea, and that as a matter of fact it was what he had 
 always, more or less, believed himself. There was 
 too much fuss made about sin, so he said. It was 
 absurd to talk about it as though it were a solid 
 thing like a heavy weight, hanging round a man's 
 neck. Sin, in itself, was merely a mistake of judg- 
 ment, which should be forgotten as soon as possible 
 and banished from the mind. Truth and Love, 
 on which the Scientists set such store, were, he 
 believed, very excellent things, which certainly made 
 for the happiness of the human race, if exploited 
 with discretion : that is to say, if you took care to 
 love the right people, and to tell the right amount 
 of truth at the proper time. 
 
 Although he did not, he said, feel that he was 
 inclined actually to adopt C.S. himself, there could 
 be no doubt that it was a splendid thing for other 
 people ; and, if at any time Amy wished to join that 
 Church, he should not raise the slightest objection 
 to her doing so. 
 
 Amy, however, never took advantage of this broad- 
 
3i6 CURING CHRISTOPHER 
 
 minded and tolerant view on her husband's part. 
 With admirable tact she succeeded in keeping on 
 the best of terms with both Mrs. Sutherland and her 
 dear doctor. She knew that both of them, whatever 
 their failings or their idiosyncrasies might be, had 
 tried their utmost to help her in a time of trouble. 
 And she believed, in her little simple, foolish way, 
 that all love comes straight from the same Heaven 
 above, even if it is labelled differently when it gets 
 to the earth below, and that provided you have 
 the Real Thing it doesn't much matter what you 
 call it — which, in our opinion, is to arrive by a short 
 cut at a very sound conclusion. 
 
 THE END 
 
A 000 127 638 5