look at the queen,'" he had remarked
mischievously.

"It's a blessing, however, that one may choose one's friends!" she had
finally stated; and her husband allowed the subject to drop, not
displeased at her repugnance to the doctor whom he marked dangerous to
feminine susceptibility and an unknown quantity.

Captain Dalton had called the following Sunday at noon, and was received
by both husband and wife for the conventional few minutes. Being the
official holiday, it was recognised as the correct day for men to pay
formal visits, and by an unwritten law, at the warmest hour in the
twenty-four.

Another time they had driven past each other in a lane, when Dalton
gravely raised his hat in acknowledgment of her bow. Lastly, he had sat
beside her at a Hindu dramatic performance held in the grounds of a
local landowner, in celebration of a religious festival, and he had
barely noticed her existence, being engaged with his host on the other
side.

On the whole, he had not made a favourable impression on Joyce Meredith.
But what did it matter, now? He had come out to their camp, many miles
away from the Station, post-haste to save her child, and for that she
was thankful. All memory of the doctor's bad manners was forgotten when
she saw him enter the tent with her husband, a strong virile being, from
his keen eyes and locked lips to his brisk tread;--God's own agent to
cure her babe; a blessed healer of the sick, to whom the mysteries of
the human frame were revealed; who could fight even death!

"Oh, Doctor," she cried piteously, the tears like great dewdrops on her
lashes: "Baby has been so bad--I thought, once, I had lost him!"

Without formal greetings, Dalton passed to the cot, and stooping over
it, began his examination of the case.

Appreciating the reproof conveyed by his silence, the little mother sat
still while the examination proceeded, answering in tremulous tones the
crisp, short questions hurled at her from time to time.

By and by, when a certain drug had been administered and there was
nothing to be done but wait for its effects to be apparent, he abruptly
turned his attention to herself. Had she eaten anything? What had she
fed on for the past twenty-four hours? He covered her wrist with his
hand, studied her highly nervous face for a full minute, and then
ordered her away to bed.

"Take her out of this, Meredith, if you wish to avoid having two
invalids on your hands. Is there another bed anywhe