en
suffering terribly. Time and again she had wiped the red spume from
his lips, until at last he ceased to gasp and cough and lay back
exhausted. And Doris could never forget how he had tried to smile as
he told her, whispering hoarsely, "that he was plumb ashamed of makin'
such a doggone fuss." Then day after day his suffering had grown less
as his vitality ebbed. Following, came the operation, an almost
hopeless experiment . . . and that strange creature, The Spider . . .
who had paid for the operation and for this private room . . . Doris
thought of the thousand dollars in bills that she had found and
returned to Andover; and while admiring his skill as a surgeon, she
experienced a sudden dislike for him as a man. It seemed to her that
he had been actually bribed to save Pete's life, and had pocketed the
bribe . . . again it was The Spider . . . What a name for a human
being--yet how well it fitted! The thin bow-legs, the quick, sidling
walk, the furtive manner, the black, blinking eyes . . . Doris yawned
and shivered. Dawn was battling its slow way into the room. A nurse
stepped in softly. Doris rose and made a notation on the chart, told
the nurse that her patient had been sleeping since two o'clock, and
nodding pleasantly left the room.

The new nurse sniffed audibly. Miss Gray was one of Dr. Andover's
pets! She knew! She had seen them talking together, often enough.
And Andover knew better than to try to flirt with her. What a fuss
they were making about "Miss Gray's cowboy," as Pete had come to be
known among some of the nurses who were not "pets." Her pleasant
soliloquy was interrupted by a movement of Pete's hand. "Kin I have a
drink?" he asked faintly.

"Yes, dearie," said the nurse, and smiled a large, and toothful smile
as she turned and stepped out into the hall. Pete's listless, dark
eyes followed her. "Fer Gawd's sake!" he muttered. His eyes closed.
He wondered what had become of his honest-to-Gosh nurse, Miss Gray.

CHAPTER XXXVI

WHITE-EYE

The third time that The Spider called at the hospital, and, as usual,
in the evening, he was told by the young house-doctor, temporarily in
charge, that he could not see the patient in room 218 without
permission from the physician in charge of the case, as it was after
visiting hours, and, moreover, there had been altogether too much
freedom allowed visitors as it was. This young doctor knew nothing of
The Spider's connection wit