much difference. I am due in London in September for the
Schultz Medical Conference. I'll run over then and see if you've made up
your mind."

"Will you, doctor? That's real kind of you." Lucas's eyes brightened. He
stretched out a hand which Capper grasped and laid gently down. "And if
you undertake the job--"

"If you are fit to go through it," Capper broke in, "I'll do it right
away before I leave. You'll spend the winter on your back. And in the
spring I'll come again and finish the business. That second operation is
a more delicate affair than the first, but I don't consider it more
dangerous. By this time next year, or soon after, you'll be walking like
an ordinary human being. I'll have you as lissom as an Indian."

He cracked his fingers one after the other in quick succession and rose.
A moment he stood looking down at the smooth face that had flushed
unwontedly at his words; then bending, he lightly tapped his patient's
chest. "Meanwhile, my friend," he said, "you keep a stiff upper lip, and
_cherchez la femme--cherchez la femme toujours_! You'll be a sound man
some day and she won't mind waiting if she's the right sort."

"Ah!" Lucas said. "You will have to forego that condition, doctor. I am
no ladies' man. Shall I tell you what a woman said to me the other day?"

"Well?"

"That I was like a mother to her." Again without much mirth he smiled.
His lips were steady enough now.

"I should like to meet that woman," said Capper.

"Why?"

The doctor's hand sought his beard. "P'r'aps she'd tell me I was like a
father. Who knows?"

Lucas looked at him curiously. "Are you fond of women?"

"I adore them," said Capper without enthusiasm. He never satisfied
curiosity.

Lucas's eyes fell away baffled. "I'll take you to see her this afternoon
if you can spare the time," he said.

"Oh, I can spend the afternoon philandering so long as I catch the night
train to Liverpool," Capper answered promptly. "Meanwhile you must get a
rest while I go and take a dose of air and sunshine in the yard."

His straight, gaunt figure passed to the door, opened it, and disappeared
with a directness wholly at variance with his lack of repose when seated.

As for Lucas, he lay quite still for a long while, steadily watching the
motes that danced and swam giddily in the sunshine.

Nearly half an hour went by before he stirred at all. And then a heavy
sigh burst suddenly from him, shaking his whole body, sending a flicker
of