persisted, with a frown of perplexity,
"is, where am I?"

"You are all right," she soothed. "You are here."

"But why am I here?"

"Because. Now go to sleep like a good boy. The doctor will be here
before long and he will hold me responsible for your condition."

Oddly enough her answers seemed eminently sufficient and satisfactory,
and he closed his eyes and slept contentedly.

Hours later he was awakened by the opening of a door.

A tall, dark man, with a brown beard neatly trimmed to a point, entered
closely followed by an elderly man who carried his arm in a sling, and
whom young Carmody recognized as his fellow-passenger of the smoker.

At once the whole train of recent events flashed through his brain: the
wild escapade on Broadway, the scene with his father, his parting with
Ethel Manton, the wreck, and his fight in the dark--each in its proper
sequence.

He was very wide awake now and watched the brown-bearded man eagerly as
he picked up a chart from the table and scrutinized it minutely.

"How is the head?" the man asked, with his fingers on the pulse.

"Fine, doctor. Wouldn't know I had one if it were not for these
bandages. And your arm, sir?" he added, with a smile of recognition
toward the elderly man.

"Doing fairly, thank you. It is broken, but our friend here thinks it
will come along all right."

The doctor, with a nod of approval returned the watch to his pocket and
was preparing to leave when his patient detained him with a question.

"I have not been able to locate myself. This is not a hospital, is it?"

"Hardly," smiled the other, "although it answers the purpose admirably.
This is the Brownstone Hotel."

"With rooms at twenty per!" gasped the invalid. "Doctor, some one has
blundered. After buying my railroad ticket I had just four dollars
left, and no chance in the world of getting hold of any more until I
connect with a job."

The men laughed.

"I must be going," said the doctor. "You two can chat for a while.
Don't tire yourself out, young man, and in a day or two you will be fit
as a fiddle. Wish I had your physique! That system of yours is a
natural shock absorber. We run across them once in a long
while--half-killed one day and back the next hunting for more on the
rebound."

At the door he paused: "Take care of yourself, eat anything that looks
good to you, smoke if you want to, talk, read, sleep, and in the
morning we will let you get up and stretch your legs. Good by