r o' thinkin', it's the rale truth, so it is. What is
that rhyme I hear the young ones say, 'Somethin' borrowed, somethin'
blue, somethin' old and somethin' new'? May I be somethin' old at yer
weddin'?" Nancy asked, tenderly.

Miss Sophia drew the old woman's hand to her cheek and kissed it
affectionately.

'Twas after the above conversation that Sophia Piper began to evince a
determined desire to recover her health.

"Will the doctor be here this afternoon?" she asked.

"Ye couldn't kape him away. He's bringin' a friend wi' him, too,"
Nancy vouchsafed.

"Then you'll please tidy my hair, and have the curtains drawn back from
the windows so that the sun can shine in the room," she ordered,
sweetly.

"An' I'll put some fresh flowers on yer table," Nancy agreed.

The specialist came in the afternoon. He was a portly man, with
iron-grey hair, clean-shaven face and a habit of emphasizing his
remarks by beating time to them with his spectacles. He examined the
patient thoroughly, whilst Dr. Dodona stood by deferentially, though
impatiently, awaiting his opinion. Then they adjourned to another
apartment, and the great man carefully diagnosed the case to his
_confrere_. "She has been very ill," he admitted, summing up the loose
ends of his notations, "but I see no necessity for a change in your
remedies.

"Do you not see a recent improvement?" he asked, shortly.

Dr. Dodona shrugged his shoulders. "Since last night, yes."

"Continue as you have been doing. I will give you a few written
suggestions as to diet and tonic," the specialist explained, and then
he dropped his professional air and slapped his fellow-practitioner
familiarly on the shoulder.

"You were afraid because you have lost your heart as well as your
nerve. Is that a correct diagnosis?" he asked jovially.

"Evidently you have diagnosed symptoms in the wrong party," Dr. Dodona
answered, drily.

"You had better settle it while I am here," advised the city medical
man, who showed much aptitude for other things than cases of perverse
illness.

"By Jove, I will!" the doctor burst out, and in he went with a rash
disregard of the noise he was making. He did not heed the warning
"Sh-h!" of the widow McVeigh, so engrossed was he in his mission.

Sophia Piper's face lit up with a glad welcome, and she held her hands
towards her lover in perfect understanding.

"Hivin bless them! In all me experience I have niver met with such a
love-sick pa