She pealed the bell furiously, then, with a remembrance of father, looked on the little table beside him.

Yes, sure enough, there was the bottle with, “Five drops to be taken in water when the pain is acute.”

The water was there all ready. She held it to her cousin’s lips, raising his head carefully. “It is the stuff in the blue bottle, Cousin St. Quentin. Dickson said you took it when the pain was bad.”

When Dickson came hurrying in, breathless with his run from the distant servants’ quarters,[75] he found his master lying still with closed eyes, while Sydney dabbed his forehead with cologne and water.

[75]

“Bless me, miss, that ain’t no good!” gasped the servant, forgetting manners in the exigency of the moment. “That blue bottle, please, miss, and the water!”

The strained look was passing from St. Quentin’s face, and he opened his eyes again. “It’s all right, Dickson, Miss Lisle has already given me the dose, as well as any doctor. Don’t stay now, child; Dickson will look after me.”

Sydney did not see her cousin again that evening, but Dr. Lorry looked in and reported him a little better.

And the next afternoon, as Sydney was driving through the village by Lady Frederica’s side in the great landau, Mr. Seaton came up, and Lady Frederica stopped the carriage to speak to him.

Sydney, remembering the note she had so unwillingly written him, grew scarlet and shrank back into a corner of the carriage, but he greeted her and Lady Frederica as though nothing disagreeable had occurred.

Presently he asked, turning to the girl, “How is Lord St. Quentin to-day? I thought[76] it so good of him to write himself and explain why you cannot help us in the Sunday School at present.”

[76]

“Did Cousin St. Quentin write to you?” Sydney cried, finding it hard to believe her ears.

“Yes, I heard from him late last night, explaining what great things you are going to do in the way of education, Miss Lisle. Naturally he does not wish you to undertake anything more just now.”

“Yes, Miss Lisle will be presented in March, and till that time we are going to educate her,” broke in Lady Frederica. “I wish we were 

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