"Oh, what you say is possible! Quick! burst open the door!"

The constable placed his shoulder to the door, but drew back with an
angry gesture.

"Of course!" he muttered, and thrusting his arm through, he reached the
lock, turned the key, and the door swung open with a dismal creak.

"Now, Miss, I'll see first, and come back and tell you."

"Man! do you think I am a child?" was the sharp reply; and rushing by
him, the speaker passed into the room, and went down upon her knees
directly beside a figure in a shabby old dressing-gown, lying face
downward on the floor.

"Is he--"

"Quick! turn on that gas."

The constable took a step to obey, and kicked against something which
rattled as it flew forward, and struck the wainscot board, while the
next moment a dim, blue spark of light in a ground-glass burst into a
flame, and lit up a dingy-looking, old-fashioned surgery just as the
kneeling girl uttered a piteous cry.

"That's enough," muttered the constable, stooping and picking up the
object he had kicked against--a short whalebone-handled life-preserver,
and slipping it into his pocket. "Tells tales. Now, Miss," he
continued aloud, bending over the prostrate figure. "Hah! yes! I
thought as much."

It was plain enough. A slight thread of blood was trickling slowly from
a spot on the smooth glistening bald head of the prostrate man, while
as, with a moan of anguish, the girl thrust her arm softly beneath his
neck, and raised the head, the mark of another blow was visible above
the temple.

"Now, Miss, I can't leave you like this. Let me stay while you go for
help. We must have some one here."

These words seemed to rouse the girl into fierce action, and she gently
supported the wounded head, her hand sought the injured man's wrist, and
seized it in a professional way.

"Man," she cried with angry energy, "while we are seeking help he may--
Yes; still beating. Quick! Open that door. No, no; that's the way
into the street! The other door--the consulting-room. Prop it open
with a chair. We must get him on to the sofa, and do something at
once."

"Yes, Miss; but a doctor."

"I am a doctor's daughter, man, and know what to do. Quick!"

"Well, of all--" muttered the constable, as he proceeded to the door in
question; and then, without finishing the sentence, "Well, she is a
plucked one!"

He stepped into a shabbily furnished room, in whose grate a fire was
just aglow; and as the door swung t