"Jem," said the other, hoa.r.s.ely, "it's murder not to--"

"Silence!" said the first speaker, sternly. "Dr Chester will save him if he is to be saved."

"Oh, Jem, Jem!" moaned the lady.

"Be quiet, Marion. He is in the right hands. No, doctor, we will have no one else called in."

A low moan from the wounded man took Chester's attention, and he knelt down again to bathe his face and lips with brandy, while the two gentlemen went to a door at the other end, pa.s.sed out, and a low, hurried dispute arose, all in whispers.

Chester heard a word or two--angry words--and grasped the fact that there must have been some desperate quarrel, ending in the unfortunate man before him being shot down. A chair was overturned, and gla.s.ses and decanters upset, as if from a struggle. But the patient was apparently slipping away, and for hour after hour through that night Chester fought the grim Spectre, striving to tear the victim from his hands, seeing nothing, nothing, nothing, forgetting everything--home, Isabel, the anxious woman at his side. His every nerve was strung to the fight, and at last he felt that he had won.

His face showed it as he rose, uttering a sigh of relief, and his fellow-watcher at the other side of the couch sprang from her knees, caught his hands in hers, and kissed them pa.s.sionately, while the rest of the company came slowly back into the room.

"Then he'll live, doctor?" whispered the gentleman the others had addressed as Jem.

"I hope so. He is sleeping easily now. I will come back about nine.

There is not likely to be any change. If there is, of course I must be fetched."

"Have some refreshment, doctor," said the gentleman he addressed. "You must not leave him."

Wearied out as he was, this was enough to irritate Chester.

"I am the best judge of that, sir," he said coldly. "Of course the patient must not be left."

"That is what we all feel, doctor. Ask what fee you please, but you must stay."

"Yes, yes; pray, pray stay, doctor," cried the lady in a pleading voice which went to his heart.

"It is impossible, madam. I have others to think of as well as your-- friend."

He could not for the life of him say husband.

"I will be back about nine."

"Sir, we beg of you to stay," said the gentleman who took the lead, earnestly.

"I have told you, sir, that I cannot. I must leave you now."

"No, no, doctor!" whispered the lady.

"Madam, it is not necessary for me to stay now. Silence, I beg. The patient must be kept quiet."

"Yes--quiet," said the chief speaker. "Doctor, we have asked you not to leave us; now we must insist."

"What! Why?"

"Because we decline to let you go till your patient is quite out of danger."

"What!" cried Chester, sharply, over-excited by what he had gone through. "Am I to be kept a prisoner?"

"If you like to call it so. Everything you desire you can have, but you cannot leave here yet."

"Absurd!" said Chester, angrily, and as he spoke he saw that two of the gentlemen present moved to the door by which he had entered. "I insist upon going at once."

"You cannot, sir."

"Stand aside, sir, and let me pa.s.s!" cried Chester, sternly, as his opponent moved between him and the door.

"Jem, for pity's sake"--whispered the lady. "Doctor, I beg, I pray you to stay."

"It is impossible, madam, now. Let me pa.s.s, sir." There was a fierce motion made towards the patient, but Chester did not heed it. He saw that the other occupants of the room were closing him in, in answer to a gesture made by the gentleman in front.

The spirit within him was roused now, and in his resentment he stepped fiercely forward with extended hand, when his opponent thrust his hand into his breast with a menacing gesture.

Quick as thought, Chester stepped back and caught up the revolver he had seen lying upon the table.

There was a faint cry, and two white hands were laid upon his breast.

"Stand aside, Marion!" and there was a click from the lock of another pistol.

"Doctor! for his sake!--pray!"

Chester turned from her sharply, as if to avoid her eyes. Then flashed his own upon the man who barred his way.

"Is this the rehearsal of some drama, sir?" he said scoffingly. "I refuse all part in it. Now have the goodness to let me pa.s.s, for pa.s.s I will."

He threw the pistol he held upon the carpet, and once more advanced toward the door, braving the weapon pointed at his head.

"Bah!" he cried; "do you think to frighten me with that theatrical nonsense?"

"Keep back, sir, or I fire."

At that moment a white hand pressed the electric b.u.t.ton by the side of the heavy mantelpiece, the room was suddenly darkened, and a sharp crack and rattling sound announced the locking of the door and withdrawing of the key.

"Then there has been foul play," muttered Chester. "Into what trap have I fallen here?"

CHAPTER THREE.

TWO HUNDRED GUINEAS.

Chester took a couple of steps to his right, for there was a faint sound in the pitchy darkness which he interpreted to mean the advance of an enemy. Then in the perturbation of spirit and nervousness of the moment, he moved a step or two cautiously in what he believed to be the direction of the other door, and stopped short, half-dazed by the feeling of confusion which comes upon one in a dense fog.

"Who did that?" said the voice he recognised. "You, Marion, of course.

Here, you go to your room."

There was no reply.