ognised the familiar outline of the brougham drawn up beside the
pavement, but for once the coachman sat stiffly on his box, while the
master stepped forward to meet her.

"Miss Ruth, it is a shocking evening! I have a call to pay in this
neighbourhood. Do let George drive you home before you are wet
through."

Ruth stood still and looked at him. The drops of moisture were thick
upon hat and coat, her soft cheeks were damp with rain, but her eyes
danced with a spice of mischief which was more like Mollie than the
grave, elder sister of the family.

"I'll drive with pleasure on one condition--that you will first allow
yourself to be taken to your patient's house," she replied demurely,
adding when the doctor hesitated in embarrassment: "It is such a very
odd neighbourhood for a patient to live in, in the midst of these great
blocks of offices! I think we may perhaps have to drive you a long,
long way."

For a moment Dr Maclure did not reply; he merely held open the door of
the carriage, waiting until Ruth should have taken her seat; then he
leant towards her, the light from the lamps showing the nervous tremor
of his lips.

"I will come in too, on one condition--that you are willing to drive
beside me all the way, Ruth!"

What did he mean? Ruth started and flushed, for the tone of voice was
even more eloquent than the words themselves. The moment which she had
vaguely expected, dreaded, and hoped for, had come suddenly upon her,
provoked by her own jesting words. She did not know what to say, or how
to say it, only one definite thought stood out distinctly in the
confusion of her mind, namely, that Dr Maclure was standing unprotected
in the damp and cold. She held out her hand towards him, and cried
tremulously--

"Don't stand out in the rain! Oh, please come in! We will go where you
like?"

Dr Maclure leapt lightly to his seat, and the coachman whipped up his
horses without waiting for instructions. A coachman is only an ordinary
man after all, and George had seen how the wind blew for many a long
day. He took care not to drive too quickly, nor to choose the shortest
routes, satisfied that for once his master was not in a hurry.

Inside the brougham Dr Maclure held Ruth's shabbily gloved little hand
in his, and asked earnestly--

"Can you give me a different answer this time, Ruth? It has been a
weary waiting, and I seem to have grown worse instead of better. I fear
it is an incurable complai