MRS. YORKE FINDS A GENTLEMAN

When Mrs. Yorke arrived at the hotel, Dr. Balsam was nowhere to be
found. She was just sending off a messenger to despatch a telegram to
the nearest city for a surgeon, when she saw the Doctor coming up the
hill toward the hotel at a rapid pace.

He tied his horse, and, with his saddle-pockets over his arm, came
striding up the walk. There was something reassuring in the quick, firm
step with which he came toward her. She had not given him credit for so
much energy.

Mrs. Yorke led the way toward her rooms, giving a somewhat highly
colored description of the accident, the Doctor following without a
word, taking off his gloves as he walked. They reached the door, and
Mrs. Yorke flung it open with a flurry.

"Here he is at last, my poor child!" she exclaimed.

The sight of Alice lying on a lounge quite effaced Mrs. Yorke from the
Doctor's mind. The next second he had taken the girl's hand, and holding
it with a touch that would not have crumpled a butterfly's wings, he was
taking a flitting gauge of her pulse. Mrs. Yorke continued to talk
volubly, but the Doctor took no heed of her.

"A little rest with fixation, madam, is all that is necessary," he said
quietly, at length, when he had made an examination. "But it must be
rest, entire rest of limb and body--and mind," he added after a pause.
"Will you ask Mrs. Gates to send me a kettle of hot water as soon as
possible?"

Mrs. Yorke had never been so completely ignored by any physician. She
tossed her head, but she went to get the water.

"So my young man Keith found you and brought you down the Ridge?" said
the Doctor presently to the girl.

"Yes; how do you know?" she asked, her blue eyes wide open with
surprise.

"Never mind; I may tell you next time I come, if you get well quickly,"
he said smiling.

"Who is he?" she asked.

"He is the teacher of the school over the Ridge--what is known as the
Ridge College," said the Doctor, with a smile.

Just at this moment Mrs. Yorke bustled in.

"Alice, I thought the Doctor said you were not to talk."

The Doctor's face wore an amused expression.

"Well, just one more question," said the girl to him. "How much does a
sack of salt weigh?"

"About two hundred pounds. To be accurate,--"

"No wonder he said I was light," laughed the girl.

"Who is a young man named Keith--a school-boy, who lives about here?"
inquired Mrs. Yorke, suddenly.

"The Keiths do not live about here,"