r several nights; and he was what Patsy Kernaghan had called "brittle"; for when Patsy was in a vexed condition, he used to say, "I'm so brittle I'll

nt. He sighed as he looked at the marrow bones which, as a rule, gave him joy when their turn came in the weekly menu; h

with me," and yet many a one has been stimulated out of it,

as Patsy Kernaghan many a time said: "Aw, Doctor dear, what's the good of a tongue to a wagon if there's only wan horse to draw it! Shure, you'll think a lot

on the knuckle of a goat if he hasn't got a beefbone, and every real man knows-though to know anything at all he must have been married-that any marriage is be

most cursed the salad as it crinkled in the dish just slightly rubbed with garlic. He was turning away in apathy from it-from the bones with the marrow oozing out of the ends, from the bursting baked potatoes, from the beautiful crusts of brown bread, when he heard the door-bell ring. At the sound h

loud, and turned towar

pened wide, and Louise Mazarine stepped into the room. Her face was pale and distraught; her blue eyes, with their long, m

said. It had the finality o

all, he was a very sane Young Doctor, and he had the faculty of keeping his head, and his

is hands to her, for she was shrinking away, as though he had repulsed her. He pre

come, but tell me wh

or that. I haven't done anything wrong, and I won't be treated so. I won't! When he made me kneel down by him in the trail and tried to make me pray to be f

ething had called him out of himself, and this human need had do

friendly smile. "You aren't ten. You are only

eld those for whom they care. It means protection and defence. Somehow she seemed to him like a small bird on its

y from him, and come to me!" the other remarked with a sorry smile,

the glass to her lips. "Drink it every drop. As I said, you've only run away from one master to

er meditatively, fastening her eyes with his own. More than her eyes were fastened, h

icked girl," he

usband in his doorway, and her defiance had moved him from her path. Then she had been inspired by the fact that the man she loved was near her, that she had been wrongfully accused and was ready

irie alone with Orlando had been her undoing? Had not the brother of Rigby the chemist borne witness wi

, her lips all white again. She got to her fee

ference to me. Fate, or God Almighty, or whatever it was, had stacked the cards against you. When I said it was wicked, I meant you did wro

inite common sense. He wanted to break this spell of tens

utation to lose, and there are lots of mothers and daughters hereabouts. Besides, a medical practice is hard to get and not easy to keep. What do you mean

nterjected. "Please don't. Don't scol

d eased the terrible tension; he was slowly reduc

ou run away? Come now, didn't you first make up

t of you, because I knew you could help me as no one el

fly to Orlando, eh? Well, that's what he would do. But

lando's room; how Li Choo had saved the situation by falling down the staircase with the pr

her Chinky meets Li Choo carrying a basket on his shoulders, or a package in his hand, he kow-tows, and takes it away from him, and carries it himself. . . . No, I don't know why Li Choo is here in Askatoon, or why he's such a slave to Mrs. Mazarine; but I do know that he's a different

've come to you-Patsy

se u

u've stayed about long enough for me to feel your pulse and diagnose you

eed, of a few moments ago! The same passionate determination which seized her when she faced Mazarine with Orlando, possess

g Doctor answered quietly. Seeing that the new thing in her was not

child. I'll take you over to Nolan Doyle's ranch, to Mrs. Doyle. You'll spend the night there, and we'

either so young nor

stand? We don't walk or ride together. I'm taking care of you. Your life is too good to be ruined by rashness. You're in a 'state,' as my old housekeeper would say, but you'll be all right presently. As soon as I've made a salad, and had a marrowbone, you and I and

otest. "I can't eat," sh

e this house alive unless you have a pint of milk with

might watch for the return of a friendly jailer. He had a curious influence o

You never saw me make a salad," he added, smiling. "I've done some successful operations in my day; I've played about with bones and sinews, proud of my work sometimes, but the making of a perfe

gone. For all that, he knew he had saved the situation, and that another chapter of the life-history of Orlando a