, gently.

She turned at once, and issued brief, rapid and explicit orders to the
waiting John, and in less than five minutes they were in the car. On the
way down Theodore gave her what meager knowledge he possessed
concerning the accident, withholding the bitter cause of it all, which,
however, he saw she too readily guessed. As they passed Dr. Armitage's
house he said: "Dr. Armitage is not at home." And she answered
emphatically: "I am glad of it." Then he wondered if she were glad for
the same reason he was. At noon Mr. and Mrs. Hastings arrived, and
before the day was done the other anxious watchers had reason heartily
to wish that their coming had been longer delayed. Evidently Dora had
not inherited her self-control from her mother, or if she had Mrs.
Hastings had not a tithe of it remaining, and her nervousness added not
a little to the wildness of the suffering patient. Mr. Hastings on his
part seemed anxious and angry, both in one. He said to Dora savagely
that he hoped it would teach the reckless fellow a lesson that he would
never forget, and resented with haughty silence Dr. Arnold's sententious
reply, that "it was likely to do just that." Then he openly and
unhesitatingly regretted Dr. Armitage's absence, sent twice to his home
to learn concerning his whereabouts, and was not improved in temper by
learning that he was lying ill at Buffalo; and, finally, with much
hesitancy and visible annoyance, that would have provoked to withdrawal
a younger and less eminent man, committed the case into Dr. Arnold's
hands. The doctor skillfully evaded the questions that were trembling on
Mrs. Hastings' lips and hungering in Dora's eyes concerning the nature
and extent of Pliny's injuries, which fact led Theodore to be very much
alarmed, and yet he was totally unprepared for the abrupt answer which
he received when he first found a chance to ask the question in private.

"He hasn't a chance in a hundred; brain is injured; is morally certain
to have a course of fever, and he has burned his system so thoroughly
with poison that he has no rallying power."

It was late in the afternoon before the doctor, after issuing very
strict and careful orders, left his patient for a few hours. Mr.
Hastings turned at once to Theodore, and spoke in the haughty,
half-sarcastic tone which he always assumed toward him.

"Now, young man, I don't know how you became mixed up with this sad
accident; some people have a marvelous faculty for g