Faye was still sleeping peacefully on her side. Kate opened the door to the hall. She carried the glass of water to the bed and poured cold water in Faye’s ear.

Faye screamed, and screamed again. Ethel’s frightened face looked out of her room in time to see Kate in robe and slippers at Faye’s door. The cook was right behind Kate, and he put out his hand to stop her.

“Now don’t go in there, Miss Kate. You don’t know what’s in there.”

“Nonsense, Faye’s in trouble.” Kate burst in and ran to the bed.

Faye’s eyes were wild and she was crying and moaning.

“What is it? What is it, dear?”

The cook was in the middle of the room, and three sleep-haggard girls stood in the doorway.

“Tell me, what is it?” Kate cried.

“Oh, darling—the dreams, the dreams! I can’t stand them!”

Kate turned to the door. “She’s had a nightmare—she’ll be all night. You go back to bed. I’ll stay with her a while. Alex, bring a pot of tea.”

Kate was tireless. The other girls remarked on it. She put cold towels on Faye’s aching head and held her shoulders and the cup of tea for her. She petted and babied her, but the look of horror would not go out of Faye’s eyes. At ten o’clock Alex brought in a can of beer and without a word put it on the bureau top. Kate held a glass of it to Faye’s lips.

“It will help, darling. Drink it down.”

“I never want another drink.”

“Nonsense! Drink it down like medicine. That’s a good girl. Now just lie back and go to sleep.”

“I’m afraid to sleep.”

“Were the dreams so bad?”

“Horrible, horrible!”

“Tell me about them, Mother. Maybe that will help.”

Faye shrank back. “I wouldn’t tell anyone. How I could have dreamed them! They weren’t like my dreams.”

“Poor little Mother! I love you,” Kate said. “You go to sleep. I’ll keep the dreams away.”

Gradually Faye did slip off to sleep. Kate sat beside the bed, studying her.

Chapter 21

[1]

IN HUMANS AFFAIRS OF DANGER and delicacy successful conclusion is sharply limited by hurry. So often men trip by being in a rush. If one were properly to perform a difficult and subtle act, he should first inspect the end to be achieved and then, once he had accepted the end as desirable, he should forget it completely and concentrate solely on the means. By this method he would not be moved to false action by anxiety or hurry or fear. Very few people learn this.

What made Kate so effective was the fact that she had either learned it or had been born with the knowledge. Kate never hurried. If a barrier arose, she waited until it had disappeared before continuing. She was capable of complete relaxation between the times for action. Also, she was mistress of a technique which is the basis of good wrestling—that of letting your opponent do the heavy work toward his own defeat, or of guiding his strength toward his weaknesses.