is way." He caught her by both elbows. "Now jump!"

Taken by surprise she gave a little spring, and he lifted her like a
feather, and seated her in her saddle.

As she rode away, he stood aside and lifted his hat with an air that
surprised her. Also, as she rode away, he remarked that she sat her
horse very well and had a very straight, slim figure; but the picture of
her kneeling in the dust, with her arm around the little sobbing child,
was what he dwelt on.

Just as she disappeared, a redbird in its gorgeous uniform flitted
dipping across the road, and, taking his place in a bush, began to sing
imperiously for his mate.

"Ah, you lucky rascal," thought Keith, "you don't get caught by a pretty
girl, in a ragged coat. You have your best clothes on every day."

Next second, as the bird's rich notes rang out, a deeper feeling came to
him, and a wave of dissatisfaction with his life swept over him. He
suddenly seemed lonelier than he had been. Then the picture of the girl
on her knees came back to him, and his heart softened toward her. He
determined to see her again. Perhaps, Dr. Balsam knew her?

As the young girl rode back to the hotel she had her reward in a
pleasant sensation. She had done a good deed in helping to console a
little child, and no kindness ever goes without this reward. Besides,
she had met a young, strange man, a country boy, it was true, and very
plainly dressed, but with the manner and tone of a gentleman, quite
good-looking, and very strong. Strength, mere physical strength, appeals
to all girls at certain ages, and Miss Alice Yorke's thoughts quite
softened toward the stranger. Why, he as good as picked her up! He must
be as strong as Norman Wentworth, who stroked his crew. She recalled
with approval his good shoulders.

She would ask the old Doctor who he was. He was a pleasant old man, and
though her mother and Mrs. Nailor, another New York lady, did not like
the idea of his being the only doctor at the Springs, he had been very
nice to her. He had seen her sitting on the ground the day before and
had given her his buggy-robe to sit on, saying, with a smile, "You must
not sit on the wet ground, or you may fall into my hands."

"I might do worse," she had said. And he had looked at her with his deep
eyes twinkling.

"Ah, you young minx! When do you begin flattering? And at what age do
you let men off?"

When Miss Alice Yorke arrived at the hotel she found her mother and Mrs.
Nailor en