Now, look you, Saphira, prospective wife of Ananias, she didn't say
that, of course. Still, it doesn't matter, does it? The point is,
suppose he opens that letter now."

"If he does, he'll probably not go with her. It was a letter that would
send a man out with a scalping-knife. Still, if Mr. Crozier had his
land-deal through he might not read the letter as it really is. His
brain wouldn't then be grasping what his eyes saw."

"He hasn't got his land-deal through. He told me so just now before he
saw her."

"Then it's ora pro nobis--it's pray for us hard," rejoined Kitty
sorrowfully. "Poor man from Kerry!" At that moment Mrs. Tynan came from
the house, her face flushed, her manner slightly agitated. "John Sibley
is here, Kitty--with two saddle-horses.... He says you promised to ride
with him to-day."

"I probably did," responded Kitty calmly. "It's a good day for riding
too. But John will have to wait. Please tell him to come back at six
o'clock. There'll be plenty of time for an hour's ride before sundown."

"Are you lame, dear child?" asked her mother ironically. "Because if
you're not, perhaps you'll be your own messenger. It's no way to treat a
friend--or whatever you like to call him."

Kitty smiled tenderly at her mother. "Then would you mind telling him
to come here, mother darling? I'm giving this doctor-man a prescription.
Ah, please do what I ask you, mother! It is true about the prescription.
It's not for himself; it's for the foreign people quarantined inside."
She nodded towards the room where Shiel Crozier and his wife were
shaping their fate.

As her mother disappeared with a gesture of impatience and the remark
that she washed her hands of the whole Sibley business, the Young Doctor
said to Kitty, "What is your prescription, Ma'm'selle Saphira? Suppose
they come out of quarantine with a clean bill of health?"

"If they do that you needn't make up the prescription. But if Aspen Vale
hasn't given him what he wanted, then Mr. Shiel Crozier will still be an
exile from home and the angel in the house."

"What is the prescription? Out with your Sibylline leaves!"

"It's in that unopened letter. When the letter is opened you'll see it
effervesce like a seidlitz powder."

"But suppose I am not here when the letter is opened?"

"You must be here-you must. You'll stay now, if you please."

"I'm afraid I can't. I have patients waiting." Kitty made an impetuous
gesture of command. "There are two patie