"I
wouldn't come till I was sure I might bid you draw a long breath and
ease up on this strain of waiting."

They came around him, Aunt Olivia's lips trembling, her hand fast in
Georgiana's. Young Chester Crofton gave a subdued whoop of joy, and
pretty Rosalie, scarcely out of emotional girlhood, burst into
hysterical crying which she struggled vainly to keep soundless.

"Mind you," warned Doctor Westfall, wiping his own eyes though he
continued to smile, "I don't say all danger is past. Doctor Craig would
be the last man to countenance such a statement. We must hold steady for
several days before we can speak with absolute assurance. But every sign
points to safety, and certainly--certainly--well,"--he paused as if he
could not readily find words for that which he wished to say,--"if it
had been anybody but our Jeannette I should have congratulated myself on
the chance to see such a piece of work as that. I've never seen
Jefferson Craig operate, though I've been a fascinated follower of his
research and have read every word he has written. And he's astonishingly
young. I expected to see a man of my own age."

"We must see him, Doctor," murmured Mrs. Crofton, striving to regain her
composure which, as is often the case, was more shaken by the assurance
of good news than by the fear of bad. "We must thank him for ourselves.
He will come in to see us?"

"As soon as he is out of his gown. I'm going back for him in a minute,
for I knew you would want the words from his own lips. You will like
him--you will like him immensely."

He went away again presently on this errand, an imposing figure of a man
of fifty, accustomed to responsibility and able to carry it, a typical
city physician of the class employed by the prosperous, but with certain
clearly defined lines about his eyes and lips which proclaimed him a
lover of human nature and a sympathizer with its sufferings, in whatever
class he might find his patients.

"He's such a dear," declared Rosalie, wiping away her tears and smiling
at James Stuart. "He's adored Jeannette ever since she was born, and I
know he's been just as anxious as we were. Do cheer up, Jimmy. I'm just
as sure she's going to get well now as I was sure she wasn't before."

"I don't dare to be sure," he answered in a low tone.

Georgiana looked at him and saw how shaken he still was, notwithstanding
the reassuring news. In spite of her anxiety she had been observant,
ever since she entered the