onth for your benefit."

She controlled her temper with visible effort.

"But there will be dangerous work," she urged. "I've been over the
ground and I know. There'll be a tunnel, lots of rock-work, blasting,
and, in consequence, accidents."

"That would be my chief objection to giving you the contract."

"What do you mean?"

His smile was ironical as he answered--

"You are not a surgeon."

"Hell! I can plaster 'em up somehow."

Symes stared. His expression quickly brought her to a realization of the
mistake into which her angry vehemence had led her and she colored to
the roots of her hair.

"Your confidence is reassuring," he said dryly at the end of an
uncomfortable pause. "But tell me,"--her callousness aroused his
curiosity--"would you, admittedly without experience or practical
surgical knowledge, be willing to shoulder the responsibilities which
would come to you in such a position?"

"I told you," she answered obstinately, "I can fix 'em up somehow; I can
do the trick and get away with it. You needn't be afraid of _me_."

"What _I'm_ afraid of isn't the question; but haven't you any feeling of
moral responsibility when it comes to tinkering and experimenting with
the lives and limbs of workingmen who have families dependent upon
them?"

"What's the use of worryin' over what hasn't happened?" she asked
evasively. "I'll do the best I can."

"But supposing 'the best you can' isn't enough? Supposing through
inexperience or ignorance you blunder, unmistakably, palpably blunder,
what then?"

"Well," she shrugged her shoulder, "I wouldn't be the first."

"But," he suggested ironically, "a victim has redress."

She snorted.

"Not a doctor's victim. Did you ever hear of a patient winnin' a case
against a doctor? Did you ever hear of a successful malpractice suit?"

He considered.

"I can't say that I've known the sort of doctors who figure in
malpractice suits, but since I think of it I don't believe I ever read
or heard of one who ever did."

"And you won't," she said tersely.

"Why not? The rest of the world must pay for the mistakes of
incompetency."

"'The ethics of the profession,'" she quoted mockingly. "We protect each
other. The last thing a doctor wants to do, or will do, is to testify
against a fellow practitioner. He may despise him in his heart but he'll
protect him on the witness stand. Besides, we're allowed a certain
percentage of mistakes; the best are not infallible."

"