hat?" exclaimed Mandy. "Oh!" she cried, her eyes following the
doctor's and lighting upon two figures that stood at the side of the
poplar bluff in an attitude sufficiently compromising to justify the
doctor's exclamation.

"What? It's Moira--and--and--it's Smith! What does it mean?" The
doctor's language appeared unequal to his emotions. "Mean?" he cried,
after an exhausting interlude of expletives. "Mean? Oh, I don't
know--and I don't care. It's pretty plain what it means. It makes no
difference to me. I gave her up to that other fellow who saved her life
and then picturesquely got himself killed. There now, forgive me, Mrs.
Cameron. I know I am a brute. I should not have said that. Don't look
at me so. Raven was a fine chap and I don't mind her losing her heart to
him--but really this is too much. Smith! Of all men under heaven--Smith!
Why, look at his legs!"

"His legs? Dr. Martin, I am ashamed of you. I don't care what kind of
legs he has. Smith is an honorable fellow and--and--so good he was to
us. Why, when Allan and the rest of you were all away he was like a
brother through all those terrible days. I can never forget his splendid
kindness--but--"

"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Cameron, I beg your pardon. Undoubtedly he is
a fine fellow. I am an ass, a jealous ass--might as well own it. But,
really, I cannot quite stand seeing her throw herself at Smith--Smith!
Oh, I know, I know, he is all right. But oh--well--at any rate thank
God I saw him at it. It will keep me from openly and uselessly abasing
myself to her and making a fool of myself generally. But Smith! Great
God! Smith! Well, it will help to cure me."

Mrs. Cameron stood by in miserable silence.

"Oh, Dr. Martin," at length she groaned tearfully, "I am
so disappointed. I was so hoping, and I was sure it was all
right--and--and--oh, what does it mean? Dear Dr. Martin, I cannot tell
you how I feel."

"Oh, hang it, Mrs. Cameron, don't pity me. I'll get over it. A little
surgical operation in the region of the pericardium is all, that is
required."

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Mrs. Cameron, vaguely listening
to him and busy with her own thoughts the while.

"Talking about, madam? Talking about? I am talking about that organ,
the central organ of the vascular system of animals, a hollow muscular
structure that propels the blood by alternate contractions and
dilatations, which in the mammalian embryo first appears as two tubes
lying under th