she considered was a simple question of endurance; but all at once her
head swam, and she sank down at the feet of the hollyhocks like a broken
flower herself. She had completely lost consciousness.

When she came to herself she was lying on the back porch of the old Ware
house and a pile of pillows was under her head, and she had a confused
impression of vanishing woman draperies, which later on she thought she
must have been mistaken about, as she knew, of course, that there was no
woman there. Hyacinthus Ware himself was bending over her and fanning
her with a great fan of peacock feathers, and the old caretaker had a
little glass of wine on a tray. The first thing Sarah heard was
Hyacinthus's voice, evenly modulated, with a curious stillness about it.

"I think if you can drink a little of this wine," he said, "you will
feel better."

Sarah looked up at the face looking down at her, and all at once a
conviction seized upon her that he had not been asleep at all; that he
had pretended to be so, and had been enjoying himself at her expense,
simply waiting to see how long she would stand there. He probably
thought that she--she, Sarah Lynn--had come into his garden at midnight
to see him. A sudden fury seized upon her, but when she tried to raise
herself she found that she could not. Then she reached out her hand for
the wine, and drank it with a fierce gulp, spilling some of it over her
dress. It affected her almost instantly. She raised herself, the wine
giving her strength, and she looked with a haughty anger at the man,
whose expression seemed something between compassion and mocking.

"You saw me all the time," she said. "You did, I know you did, and you
let me think you were asleep to see how long I would stand still there,