s."

"It won't do, Ray. He would send you to bed and walk away and leave
you."

Ray groaned.

"Tell him your room is undergoing repairs, and throw yourself on his
mercy; then feign low spirits, and make him think it is his duty to
entertain and cheer you up."

"Capital, Conny! we can make that work I know; your wit is worth more
than my wisdom. For three days then, I am your watch dog."

"And your friend's guardian."

"Precisely. I begin to swell with importance. But seriously, Conny, let
me have your confidence at the earliest moment. For, whoever does battle
with Heath, will find me arrayed against him, and--it's difficult
fighting in the dark."

"You shall know all, as soon as possible, Ray, and now--"

"And now," repeated he, rising with alacrity. "Heath's horse stands
outside, and Heath himself waits my return; so, lest he should grow
impatient, and go where mischief awaits him, I will go now and begin my
task."

"Thank you, Ray, I know I can depend upon you. All this seems like a
scene out of a melodrama, but it's wretchedly real for all that. Ray, I
am just waking up to a knowledge of how much plotting and wickedness
there is in this world; even in our little world of W----."

"We all wake to that knowledge," he said, a spasm of pain crossing his
face. "You know how the lesson came to me, Conny."

"Yes, poor Ray! and I know that another suffers, even more than you,
because of it."

"And the cause of it all is another mystery. But no more of this; unless
something noteworthy occurs, you will not see me again for three days."

She gave him her hand, and a look of gratitude, and trust; and, in a few
moments more, the red roan steed was speeding back townward.

Francis Lamotte had found the doctor dull company; and, as he scarcely
ever remained in the office to read now-a-days, he had taken himself and
his dissatisfaction elsewhere, long before Ray returned to the office
ready to begin his new _role_.

He found the doctor sitting in a despondent attitude, almost where he
had left him, holding in his hand a crumpled letter.

Without appearing to notice his abstraction, Ray came at once to the
point at issue.

"Heath," he said, "your red roan is returned to you, and the loan of him
encourages me to ask another favor."

"Well!" said the doctor, without looking up or changing his attitude.

"The fact is," said Ray, with splendid ingenuousness, "I am a sort of
outcast. My quarters are undergoing t