n't," replied a decided voice just behind them, and the quartette
jumped nervously at the unexpected sound, for not one of them was aware
of the hidden listener.

"You don't what?" they gasped, as the curly brown head came into view
from the deep recess.

"I don't think she ought to patternize the justice of the p'lice,"
replied Peace, limping over to the long table where they were all at
work, "I'd just be married here at the hospital and fool 'em all."

"At the hospital!" echoed Miss Keith.

"What utter nonsense!" flashed Miss Swift.

"I think it is a novel idea," put in the new nurse decidedly.

"And why not?" asked Miss Gerald, after her first gasp of surprise. "Who
would have a better right? Helen Wayne graduated from this institution,
and Harvey Race was house doctor for a long time."

"But whoever heard of a _wedding_ in a _hospital_?" exclaimed Miss Swift
sarcastically. "It is utterly ridiculous."

"The ceremony could take place in that bay window at the end of the
hall," planned Miss Kellogg, ignoring the attitude of her sister nurse.
"It would make a lovely archway."

"And the roses are just at their best now," added Miss Gerald. "That is
her favorite flower."

"Miss Foster is a musician, isn't she?" asked Miss Keith, entering into
their plans with spirit. "We could get her to play the wedding march."

"On what?" inquired the dissenting member of the party. "Our lovely
little baby organ which has an incurable case of asthma? Or the grand
piano which we don't possess?"

"The grand piano, by all means," replied Miss Keith, nettled by her
companion's words.

"Perhaps the hospital's fairy godmother will turn up with a piano for
the occasion," suggested the gentle little peacemaker nurse. "We
certainly need a decent instrument badly enough."

"Maybe we could hire one for just that night," Peace excitedly proposed.
"We did that in Parker. Our school didn't own a piano, so we hired one
when we needed it."

"You make me laugh," jeered Miss Swift. "You talk as if it were all
settled. Do you suppose for one moment that the Hospital Board would
listen to such a thing?"

"They meet today,--we'll ask them," quietly answered Miss Gerald.

"And supposing they _should_ consent to such a preposterous scheme, do
you think the doctors would allow their patients to be excited and
disturbed over having such an event in this building?"

"It would be the best kind of a tonic for every soul under this roof.
'Al