In the blanks from the time they had last met until suddenly Sean

returned to reality. Good God, Candy, we've been talking for ages.

Katrina will be back at any moment. You had better run. At the door

she turned, buried her fingers in his beard and tugged his head from

side to side. If she ever throws you out, you magnificent brute, here's

somebody who'll have a place for you. She stood up on her toes and

kissed him. Be happy, she commanded and the door closed softly behind

her.

Sean rubbed his chin, then he pulled off his nightshirt, screwed it into

a ball, tossed it through the open door of the bedroom and went to the

bathroom. He was towelling himself and whistling the waltz that the

band had played the night before, sweating a little in the steamy warmth

of the bathroom when he heard the front door open. Is that you, Fancy?

Daddy! Daddy! Mummy got sweets for me. Dirk hammered on the bathroom

door, and Sean wrapped the towel round his waist before opening it.

Look! Look at all my sweets, gloated Dirk. Do you want one, Pa? Thank

you, Dirk, Sean put one of the huge striped humbugs in his mouth, moved

It to one side and spoke around it.

where's your Mummy? There. Dirk pointed at the bedroom. He closed the

sweet packet carefully. I'll keep some for Bejaan, he announced. He'll

like that, Sean said and went across to the bedroom. Katrina lay on the

bed, as soon as he saw her he knew something was desperately wrong. She

lay staring up at the ceiling, her eyes unseeing, her face as yellow and

set as that of a corpse. Two quick strides carried him to her. He

touched her cheek with his fingers and the sense of dread settled on him

again, heavily, darkly. Katrina? There was no response. She lay still

without a flicker of life in her eyes. Sean swung round and ran out of

the suite, down the corridor to the head of the stairs.

There were people in the lobby below him and he yelled over their heads

to the clerk behind the desk. Get a doctor! run! an as fast as you

can . . . my wife, is dying The man stared UP at him blankly. He had

a neck too thin for his high stiff collar and his black hair was parted

down the centre and polished with grease.

Hurry, you stupid bastard, get moving, roared Sean.

Everybody in the lobby was looking at him. He still wore only a small

towel around his waist and, heavy with water, his hair hung down over

his forehead.

Move, man! Move! Sean was dancing with impatience.

There was a heavy stone vase on the banister at Sean's side, he picked

it up threateningly and the clerk jerked out of his trance and scuttled

for the front door. Sean ran back to the suite.

Dirk was standing by Katrina's bed, his face distorted by the humbug it

contained and his eyes large with curiosity.

Sean snatched him up, carried him through to the other bedroom and

locked the door on his outraged howls. Dirk was unused to being handled

in that manner. Sean went back to Katrina and knelt beside her bed. He

was still kneeling there when the doctor arrived. Tersely Sean

explained about the blackwater, and the doctor listened then sent him to

wait in the sitting-room. It was a long wait before the doctor came

through to him and Sean sensed that behind his professional poker face

the man was puzzled.

Is it a relapse? Sean demanded. No, I don't think so. I've given her

a sedativeWhat's wrong with her?

What is it? - Sean pursued him and the doctor hedged. Has your wife

had some sort of shock . . . some bad news, something that could have

alarmed her? Has she been under nervous strain? No . . . she's just

come back from church. Why? What's wrong? Sean caught the doctor's

lapels and shook him in his agitation. It appears to be some sort of

paralytic hysteria. I've given her laudanum. She'll sleep now and I'll

come back to see her this evening. The doctor was trying to loosen

Sean's hands from his jacket. Sean let him go and pushed past him to

the bedroom.

The doctor called again just before dark, Sean had undressed Katrina and

put her into the bed, but apart from that she had not moved. Her

breathing was shallow and fast despite the drug she had been given. The

doctor was baffled.