ght her lacking in affection for her child. "Dr. Willows
was most kind--he stayed half the night with us and Cherry slept for
some hours after he left. But now she is awake, as you see, and I'm
afraid she is suffering horribly."

"Let me see what I can do for her, will you?"

He approached the bed and sat down quietly by it, while Cherry ceased
for a second to moan, and her brown eyes besought him, more eloquently
than speech, to give her relief from this quite unusual state of
affairs. At first he was not certain that the child recognized him; but
presently her uninjured hand came gropingly towards him; and as he took
the tiny fingers in his own Anstice felt a sudden revival of the
energies which had seemed so dead, so burnt-out within him on this
beautiful September morning.

"Well, Cherry, this is bad luck, isn't it?" He spoke very gently,
studying her little face the while. "But don't lose heart--this pain
won't last long, it will soon run away. Is it _very_ bad?"

"It's _rather_ bad, thank you, my dear." Even in the midst of her
tribulation Cherry strove heroically for her own gracious tone, and the
familiar term of endearment sounded strangely pathetic to-day. "But
you'll send it quite 'way, won't you?"

"Yes. I send away all pains," returned Anstice, lying nobly. "But first
of all you must let me see just what sort of pain this one is, and then
I shall know how to get rid of it. You don't mind me touching you, do
you?"

"N-not much, my dear." Cherry's lips quivered, and Chloe Carstairs
turned away as though unable to bear the sight of her little daughter's
suffering any longer.

Quickly and tenderly Anstice made his examination without disturbing
more of the dressings than was absolutely necessary; and by dint of
questioning Mrs. Carstairs found that the child's brow had been badly
scorched where her brown curls had caught fire, and that one little arm
had suffered a grievous burn. These were the only outward signs of the
accident, but the child had undergone a severe shock; and Anstice felt a
sudden misgiving as he looked at the pinched little face, and noted the
renewal of the pitiful moans which even Cherry's fortitude could not
altogether repress.

The woman Tochatti had hovered in the background while he bent over the
bed; and now, at a sign from him, she came forward silently.

"Just look after the child a moment or two, will you?" he said. "Mrs.
Carstairs, may I have a word with you? Oh, don't b