'
"Her face was in shadow, but as she turned it away, and the faint light
from one of the turned-down gas-jets fell across it, I fancied I saw a
smile upon it, and I disliked her more than ever.
"'I'll come back with you,' she said, rising and putting her books away,
and we left the church together.
"She asked me many questions on the way: Did patients, when they were
delirious, know the people about them? Did they remember actual facts,
or was their talk mere incoherent rambling? Could one guide their
thoughts in any way?
"The moment we were inside the door, she flung off her bonnet and cloak,
and came upstairs quickly and softly.
"She walked to the bedside, and stood looking down at him, but he was
quite unconscious of her presence, and continued muttering. I suggested
that she should speak to him, but she said she was sure it would be
useless, and drawing a chair back into the shadow, sat down beside him.
"Seeing she was no good to him, I tried to persuade her to go to bed, but
she said she would rather stop, and I, being little more than a girl
then, and without much authority, let her. All night long he tossed and
raved, the one name on his lips being ever Louise--Louise--and all night
long that woman sat there in the shadow, never moving, never speaking,
with a set smile on her lips that made me long to take her by the
shoulders and shake her.
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