ely attending him?"

"Certainly--or I shouldn't be here." The eyes of the Chesters' guest
sparkled. Something about the cool tone of this question displeased her
still more.

"Tell him to get up and go out and walk a mile, breathing deep all the
way."

"No medicine?"

"Not a grain. He ought to know better than to ask."

"He does, I think. He suggested that possibly if I asked--But I see for
myself how that wouldn't make the slightest difference."

"I'm glad your perceptions are so acute," replied Burns gravely.

"Are the three minutes up?" asked the caller.

He looked at his watch. "I think not quite. Is there anything of
importance to fill the one remaining?"

"Nothing whatever--except to mention your fee." The guest receded
gracefully from the door.

"If the patient will follow directions I'll ask no fee. If he doesn't
I'll exact one when I see him again. Forgive my haste, Miss--Halstead?"

"Hempstead," corrected the caller crisply. "Don't mention it,
Doctor--Brown. Good night."

The Chesters' guest lingered on the porch before going in to report the
failure of her mission. She was still lingering there when the
Green Imp, carrying no open-shirted mechanic, but a properly clothed
professional gentleman and a severely dressed professional lady, whirled
away down the drive.

"He really was going somewhere in a hurry, then," admitted the guest.
"In which case I can't be quite so offended. I wonder if that nurse
enjoys her trips with him--when his mouth doesn't happen to be shut like
a steel trap."

If she could have seen the pair on the train which presently bore them
flying away across the state, she would hardly have envied either of
them. Between abstraction on the one side and reserve an the other, they
exchanged less conversation than two strangers might have done. When
Miss Mathewson's eyes drooped with weariness her companion made her as
comfortable as he could and bade her rest. His own eyes were untouched
by slumber: he stared straight before him or out into the night, seeing
nothing but a white farmhouse far ahead, where his anxious thoughts were
waiting for his body to catch up.

"Are they much sick, Zeke?"

"Wal, I dunno hardly, Red.--You goin' to drive? They're pretty lively,
them blacks. Ain't used to comin' to the station at two o'clock in the
mornin'. Your ma's been worryin' about your pa for a consid'able spell,
and now that she's took down so severe herself he's gone to pieces some.