put her arm around the woman
protectingly. "If it isn't any worse than that," she said hesitatingly,
"don't you think you could do as she asks? Setting a simple fracture
isn't a very complicated operation, is it?"

Earl smiled. "Oh, no," he said, "it can be done in a comparatively few
minutes."

"Then why not do it," she said, "and spare the mother all this
protracted agony, and get the child home?"

"Because there are no appliances here to administer an anaesthetic or do
anything else properly," answered Morris impatiently, "and no one can
tell from a cursory examination whether or not there are other injuries,
to say nothing of the danger from septicaemia if the work is done in a
clumsy, slipshod manner."

Earl colored, and Miss Holland replied with some spirit that even the
absence of the usual accessories need not imply clumsiness of method,
and again asked Earl if he could not manage where they were. He turned
to the mother.

"If you insist upon it, I have no doubt that I can do all that is
necessary without bad results. As to the anaesthetic, we can dispense
with that."

"I will have nothing to do with the case under these circumstances,"
Morris said angrily.

The woman hesitated, and then said firmly, "I should prefer the other
gentleman to take charge. I won't have her taken to the hospital."

"Very well," said Earl, and taking a notebook from his pocket he wrote
out a list of necessary appliances, bandages, alcohol, antiseptic
solutions, surgeon's scissors, needles, silk and thread, and giving it
to Frank bade him hurry to the drug-store around the corner which
carried surgical supplies and procure them, and also to bring a box that
would do for splints.

"I must have an assistant," he said, and without a word, Miss Holland
improvised an apron from some of the bunting that was in evidence
everywhere, and put herself at his disposal. He sent all the others out
of the room, and bent over the child for a few minutes. What did he do?
Miss Holland watched, but could not tell. The moaning ceased, the little
limbs relaxed, and the child fell into a quiet sleep.

The mother stood just outside the door, listening with strained
attention, and after two or three impatient turns about the foyer,
Morris joined her.

"You can do as you please so far as I am concerned," he said in a low
tone, "but I warn you that you are taking big risks. Allie is nervous
and excitable at any time, and to-night she is close to