Matthew bounded up the stairs and joined William in the bedroom.

'Help me get my mother down to the car,' he said.

Matthew knelt down. The two boys picked Anne up and carried her gently downstairs and out to the car. She was panting and groaning, and obviously still in immense pain. William ran back to the house and grabbed the phone from the maid while Matthew waited in the car.

'Doctor MacKenzie.'

'Yes, whos this?'

'My name is William Kane; you woet know me, sir.'

'Don't know you, young man? I delivered you. What can I do for you now?'

'I think my mother is in labour. I'll bring her to the hospital immediately. I should be there in a few minutes' time.'

Doctor MacKenzie's tone changed. 'All right, William, doet worry. I'll be here waiting for you and everything will be under control by the time you arrive!

qbank you, sir.' William hesitated. 'She seemed to have some sort of a fit. Is that normal?'

William's words chilled the doctor. He too hesitated.

'Well, not quite normal. But she'll be all right once she has had the baby. Get here as quickly as you can.'

William put down the phone~ ran out of the house and jumped into the Rolls Royce.

He drove the car in fits and starts, never once getting out of first gear and never stopping for anything until they had reached the doctor at the hospital - The two boys carried Anne, and a nurse with a stretcher guided them through to the maternity section. Doctor MacKenzie was standing at the entrance of an operating room, waiting. He took over and asked them both to remain outside.

The two boys sat in silence on the small bench and waited. Frightening cries and screams, unlike any sound they had ever heard anyone make, came from the delivery room; to be succeeded by an even more frightening silence. For the first time in his life William felt totally helpless. The two of them sat there for over an hour, without a word passing between them. Eventually a tired Doctor MacKenzie emerged.

The two boys rose, and the doctor looked at Matthew Lester.

'William?'he asked.

'No, sir, I am Matthew Lester; this is William.'

The doctor turned to William and put a hand on his shoulder. 'William, I'm so sorry, your mother died a few minutes ago ... and the child, a littl ' e girl, was stillborn.'

William's legs gave way and he sank on to the bench. 'We did everything in our power to save them, but it was hope less.' He shook his head wearily. 'She wouldn't listen to me, she insisted on having the baby. It should never have hap pened.'

William sat silently, stunned by the whiplash sound of the doctor's words.

'How could she die?' he whispered. 'How could you let her dieT The doctor sat down on the bench between the boys. 'She wouldn't listen,'he repeated slowly. 'I warned her repeatedly after her miscarriage not to have another child, but when she married again, she and your step - father never took my warnings seriously. She had high blood pressure during her last pregnancy. It was worrying me during this one, although it was never near danger level. But when you brought her in today, for no apparent reason it had soared up to the level where eclampsia ensues.'

'Eclampsia?'

'Convulsions. Sometimes patients can survive several attacks. Sometimes they simply - stop breatl - ,Ling.'

William drew a shuddering breath and placed his head in his hands.

Matthew Lester guided his friend gently along the corridor. The doctor followed them. When they reached the door, he looked at William.

'Her blood pressure went up so suddenly. It's very unusual, and she didn't put up a real fight, almost as if she didn't care. Strange, had something been troubling her lately?'

William raised his tear - streaked face. 'Not something,' he said with hatred. 'Someone.'

Alan Lloyd was sitting in a comer of the drawing room when the two boys arrived back at the Red House. He rose as they entered.

'William,' he said immediately. 'I blame myself for allowing the loan.'

William stared at him, not taking in what he was saying.

Matthew Lester stepped into the silence. 'I don't think that's important any longer., sir,' he said quietly. 'William's mother has just died in childbirth.'

Alan Lloyd turned ashen, steadied himself by grasping the mantelpiece, and turned away. It was the first time that either of them had seen a grown man weep.

'It's my fault,' said the banker. 'I'll never forgive myself. I didn't tell her everything I knew. I loved her so much that I never wanted tier to be distressed!