all the trouble besides! I hope you'll think of
that while you're laying here like a lady and your poor old aunt is
slavin' for you, workin' her fingers to the bone."

"If I can ever get the four dollars and a half," cried Araminta, with
tears in her voice, "I will give it back to you--oh, indeed I will!"

At this point, Doctor Ralph Dexter entered the room, his eyes snapping
dangerously.

"Miss Mehitable," he said with forced calmness, "will you kindly come
downstairs a moment? I wish to speak to you."

Dazed and startled, Miss Mehitable rose from her chair and followed
him. There was in Ralph's voice a quality which literally compelled
obedience. He drew her into the dusty parlour and closed all the doors
carefully. Miss Evelina was nowhere to be seen.

"I was standing in the hall," said Ralph, coolly, "and I heard every
word you said to that poor, helpless child. You ought to know, if you
know anything at all, that nobody ever fell off a step-ladder on
purpose. She's hurt, and she's badly hurt, and she's not in any way to
blame for it, and I positively forbid you ever to enter that room
again."

"Forbid!" bristled Aunt Hitty. "Who are you?" she demanded
sarcastically, "to 'forbid' me from nursing my own niece!"

"I am the attending physician," returned Ralph, calmly. "It is my
case, and nobody else is going to manage it. I have already arranged
with--the lady who lives here--to take care of Araminta, and----"

"Arrange no such thing," interrupted Miss Hitty, violently. Her temper
was getting away from her.

"One moment," interrupted Ralph. "If I hear of your entering that room
again before I say Araminta is cured, I will charge you just exactly
one hundred dollars for my services, and collect it by law."

Miss Hitty's lower jaw dropped, her strong, body shook. She gazed at
Ralph as one might look at an intimate friend gone suddenly daft. She
had heard of people who lost their reason without warning. Was it
possible that she was in the room with a lunatic?

She edged toward the door, keeping her eyes on Ralph.

He anticipated her, and opened it with a polite flourish. "Remember,"
he warned her. "One step into Araminta's room, one word addressed to
her, and it costs you just exactly one hundred dollars." He opened the
other door and pointed suggestively down the hill, She lost no time in
obeying the gesture, but scudded down the road as though His Satanic
Majesty himself was in her wake