e
caller's knock, and showing her into a chamber furnished like a parlor
which had started out to be a reception room and then had tried--too
late--to change back again into a parlor, bade her wait. She did not
have long to wait. Almost immediately an inner door opened and in the
opening appeared the short and blocky figure of a somewhat elderly,
old-fashioned-looking man with a square homely face--a face which
instantly she classified as belonging to a rather stupid, very dogmatic
and utterly honest man. He had outjutting, belligerent eyebrows and a
stubborn underjaw that was badly undershot. He spoke as he entered and
his tone was noticeably not cordial.

"The girl tells me your name is Smith. I suppose from that you're the
young person that the district attorney telephoned me about an hour or
so ago. Well, how can I serve you?"

"Perhaps, doctor, the district attorney told you I had interested myself
in the case of the Vinsolving girl--Margaret Vinsolving," she began. "I
had intended to call also upon your associate, Doctor Malt, over at
Wincorah, but I learn he is away."

"Yes, yes," he said with a sort of hurried petulance. "Know all about
that. Malt's like a lot of these young new physicians--always running
off on vacations. Mustn't hold me responsible for his absences. Got no
time to think about the other fellow. Own affairs are enough--keep me
busy. Well, go on, why don't you? You were speaking of the Vinsolving
girl. Well, what of her?"

"I was saying that I had interested myself in her case and--"

He snapped in: "One moment. Let's get this all straightened out before
we start. May I inquire if you are closely related to the young person
in question?"

"I am not. I never saw her but once."

"Are you by any chance a close friend of the young woman?"

He towered over her, for she was seated and he had not offered to sit
down. Indeed throughout the interview he remained standing.

Looking up at him, where he glowered above her, she answered back
promptly:

"As I was saying, I never saw her but once--that was on the day she
was carried away to be placed in confinement. So I cannot call myself
her friend exactly, though I would like to be her friend. It was
because of the sympathy which her position--and I might add, her
personality--roused in me that I have taken the liberty of coming here
to see you about her."

Under his breath he growled and grunted and puffed certain sounds. She
caught the purpo