the silk, please. Now let me have
it." He took it from her, and in a moment the cuts on the head were
sewed, and he was pulling the leg into place, applying the cotton, the
splints and bandages, working deftly and silently. "The other needle
with the thread, please," he said, not looking up, and Miss Holland
handed it to him. Presently he raised his head and threw back his
shoulders.
"It is all done," he said simply, and called the mother. "I shall return
in a quarter of an hour," he said, "and bring her out of this sleep. Do
not try to rouse her, for you cannot. Do you not think, Miss Holland,
that it would be well for me to get a nurse to assist in taking the
little one home? I can 'phone when I return these instruments."
"Your machine is coming back, isn't it?" Miss Holland answered. "It
seems to me that with what help her mother and I can render that we
shall manage."
"Excellently," he said. "Then you will be on guard until my return; see
that the child is not disturbed. I shall be gone but a few minutes."
He readjusted his attire, and taking up his hat strode out of the
building, unconscious until he reached the door that half a dozen
energetic reporters were eagerly asking particulars. Finding him
unwilling to tell them anything more than the vaguest generalities, the
more resourceful returned to the improvised operating-room, and before
Silvia Holland knew it they had the story from her enthusiastic lips,
supplemented by a few facts gathered from the woman. For thus are
first-page sensations secured and created.
Silvia noticed that the woman spoke with visible reluctance, and she
herself passed over the controversy between Dr. Morris and Dr. Earl,
anxious to spare her friend any unnecessary annoyance.
"I am sorry, Mrs. Bell," she said contritely. "I didn't realize at first
that we were being interviewed."
"Oh, there is no harm done," the woman said quietly. "I hope the doctor
will not mind; won't he be back pretty soon?"
Almost as she spoke, his tall form was seen making its way through the
besieging ranks of the Fourth Estate. He waved them aside good
humoredly, but refusing to be interviewed, he took the child in his
strong arms and, followed by her mother and Miss Holland, made his way
to the auto. While she was in a profound sleep when he returned, she
wakened instantly when he commanded her to do so, and the cool night air
evidently refreshed her greatly as they drove to Mrs. Bell's home. Dr
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