medicine case. Jamming the hat
on his head till it almost rested on his ears, he grabbed his case, then
swung around and gazed keenly at the new doctor.

"Are you married?" he demanded, abruptly, and in a manner which in
anyone else would have been highly impertinent.

"No," was the answer, given quite gravely.

A meaningless snort greeted this inoffensive monosyllable. Then Doctor
Kale began to parade the room, thumping and storming.

"Why in hell ain't you? A doctor ought to be married--adds to his
respectability. And here you come sneakin' into Macon not married!"

He stopped about three feet in front of the figure in the chair.

"I may be a rascal, as some people say, but I'm no fool. You're not
married, and you went into a fiery furnace to save Julia Dudley's horse.
Now I've got this to say. The man who gets her has me to reckon with as
well as the old Major. Damned if he don't have to _prove_ himself, and
be as clean as a white-washed wall! Good morning, sir!"

He stamped to the door, went out, slammed it furiously behind him, and
was gone.

CHAPTER IV

The predominant feeling in Glenning's breast when Doctor Kale left him
was one of resentment. The old fellow had presumed far beyond his
rights, had gone into the future in an entirely unwarrantable way, and
had given advice for which there was no thanks in the young man's heart.
His resentment was heightened by the fact that Julia Dudley's face had
been haunting him all morning. Certainly he did not love her. He had
never exchanged a word with her; he had only seen her once, a vision of
white beauty with brown, braided hair, standing like a Niobe in that
night of stress and peril. He had never been of a susceptible
temperament. He had work to do in the world, and love must wait. That
had been his motto of renunciation, for he had a deep, strong, tender
heart, charged with that priceless heritage God gives to each of his
children. But when the girl with the braided hair had stepped forward in
the presence of half the town and had singled him out for her cavalier
in the adventure of that hour, he had felt a strange and unaccountable
thrill pass through him. Her presence had been with him in the burning,
blinding heat of his subsequent struggle, and the knowledge that she was
waiting without for him to appear again a victor had nerved his arm and
his smoke-numbed brain to success. He did not try to hide these facts
from himself, but it was galling t