trembling. "I know there is
danger now, this minute. Oh, what can I do, what can I do?" With this
cry all her strength seemed to give way; she sobbed and laughed with the
hysteria of long ago; when Ruth strove to put her arms around her, she
shook her off convulsively.

"Don't touch me!" she breathed; "it is all your fault--he wants
me--needs me--and, oh, look at me here! Why do you stand there like a
ghost? Go away. No, come here--I want Dr. Kemp; now, at once, he said to
have him; send for him, Ruth."

"On Thursday morning," she managed to answer.

"No, now--I must, must, must have him! You won't go? Then I shall; move
aside."

Ruth, summoning all her strength, strove to hold her in her arms, all to
no avail.

"Lie still," she said sternly; "I shall go for Dr. Kemp."

"You can't; it is night and raining. Oh," she continued, half
deliriously, "I know I am acting strangely, and he will calm me. Ruth, I
want to be calm; don't you understand?"

The two maids, frightened by the noise, stood in the doorway. Both had
their heads covered with shawls; both were suffering with heavy colds.

"Come in, girls. Stay here with my mother; I am going for the doctor."

"Oh, Miss Ruth, ain't you afraid? It's a awful night, and black as
pitch, and you all alone?" asked one, with wide, frightened eyes.

"I am not afraid," said the girl, a great calmness in her voice as she
spoke above her mother's sobbing; "stay and try to quiet her. I shall
not be gone long."

She flew into her room, drew on her overshoes and mackintosh, grasped a
sealskin hood, which she tied securely under her chin, and went out into
the howling, raging night.

She had but a few blocks to go, but under ordinary circumstances the
undertaking would have been disagreeable enough. The rain came down in
heavy, wild torrents; the wind roared madly, wrapping her skirts around
her limbs and making walking almost an impossibility; the darkness
was impenetrable save for the sickly, quavering light shed by the few
street-lamps, as far apart as angel visitants. Lowering her head and
keeping her figure as erect as possible, she struggled bravely on.
She met scarcely any one, and those she did meet occasioned her little
uneasiness in the flood of unusual emotions that overwhelmed her soul.
At any other time the thought of her destination would have blotted out
every other perception; now this was but one of many shuddering visions.
Trouble was making her hard; life c