dances. Hesitatingly, Mrs. Quirk
accepted his advice to try them; but, having once found pleasure in the
evident enjoyment they gave Kathleen, she willingly went wherever Denis
advised her. In this way the household at "Layton" received the
necessary readjustment, with excellent results to all the inmates.

CHAPTER VII.

"THE OBSERVER" DIES.

Dr. Marsh was in his surgery, skimming the contents of a medical journal
in search of the newer methods of treatment. Now and again he glanced
from the printed pages out of his window at the asphalt path leading
from the gate to his front door, not so much because he expected a
patient as from mere habit. It was an off day in Grey Town, and his
surprise was keen when he chanced to see, not one, but three men
approaching the house.

It had become a custom with him to scan a patient and diagnose a
complaint at long range, and to subsequently confirm or disprove his
first opinion more intimately at closer quarters. Being a shrewd and
observant man, he not infrequently hit a bull's-eye at the first shot.
Scrutinising the three who were coming up the path, he muttered:

"Cairns, Desmond O'Connor, and the ugliest beggar I ever saw! But which
is the patient? Cairns has dyspepsia, I swear; Desmond could not be sick
if he tried; the ugly beggar suffers from nothing worse than his face,
and that is a chronic condition."

Commenting half-audibly in this manner, he hastened to the door and
cried:

"Are you all patients?"

Cairns shook his head sorrowfully. "No such luck, doctor! Beyond a
little discomfort after meals, we are hopelessly sound."

"Are you a deputation, then, come to ask me to represent you in the
Federal Parliament?" asked the doctor.

"It may come to that," said Cairns. "If Burrows does not speedily do
something for Grey Town, we shall need a new member. May I introduce Mr.
Quirk, a new resident and a live citizen?"

Denis Quirk and the doctor shook hands, each regarding the other
curiously the while.

"An insurance agent," said the doctor in the half-audible tone he
sometimes adopted.

To this the others replied with a laugh.

"No fear, doctor!" cried Cairns. "Am I the man to take a mean advantage
of you? We have come here to consult you--not professionally, but as one
who knows this district, alive and dead."

"None better," said Dr. Marsh.

They followed him into a cosy and orderly surgery, and sat down at his
bidding. For his part, the doctor