Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER THE SECOND The Sister's Story A Strange sensation crept over me, for I suddenly felt that my brain, dazed by that subtle odour of pot-pourri, was slowly unclouding—ever so slowly—until, to my amazement, I found myself seated upon a garden chair on a long veranda which overlooked a sloping garden, with the blue-green sunlit sea beyond. Of the lapse of time I have no idea to this day; nor have I any knowledge of what happened to me. All I am able to relate is the fact that I found myself in overcoat and hat seated upon a long terrace in the noon sunlight of winter. I gazed around, utterly astonished. The clothes I wore seemed coarse and unfamiliar. My hand went to my chin, when I found that I had grown a beard! My surroundings were strange and mysterious. The houses on either side were white and inartistic, with sloping roofs and square windows. They were foreign—evidently French! The shrill siren of a factory sounded somewhere, releasing the workers. Far away before me a steamer away on the horizon left a long trail of smoke behind, while here and there showed the brown sails of fishing boats. I rose from my seat, filled with curiosity, and glanced at the house before which I stood. It was a big square building of red brick with many square windows. It seemed like a hospital or institution. That it was the former was quickly revealed, for a few moments after I had risen, a nursing-sister in a tri- winged linen head-dress appeared and spoke kindly to me, asking in French how I felt on that glorious morning. " I am quite all right," was my reply in French. " But where am I?" I inquired, utterly dazed. " Never mind, m'sieur, where you are," replied the stout, middle-aged woman in blue uniform and broad collar. " You have only to get better." " Bu...