wn upon Mrs. Pennypoker's uplifted
countenance, as she delivered herself of the closing lines, with a
fervor that astonished her audience,--

"'But when to the altar a victim I go,
Aunt Tabitha'll tell me _she_ never did so.'"

And she swept off from the little stage, in a parting storm of cheers.

In the mean time, Louise had heard nothing from Dr. Brownlee; and she
was beginning to grow uneasy, for the time for his reading was at hand,
and the play was to follow it almost immediately. She was just resolving
to give up all hope, and bring the entertainment to a hasty close, when
she saw the doctor come hurrying in at the side door. She turned to
Charlie MacGregor, who chanced to be standing near her.

"Will you help me out, Charlie?" she asked. "Go on again, and
play--anything, I don't care what, just to give Dr. Brownlee time to get
his breath."

"But strikes me they've had about all of me they can stand," demurred
Charlie.

"Never mind if they have," said Louise. "There isn't anybody else that
can appear, at a minute's warning. Go, please."

The next moment the doctor was by her side.

"Miss Everett, have you any powder?" he asked, laughing a little, as he
pointed to a great purplish bruise on the side of his forehead.

"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed in alarm. "What is it? Are you hurt?"

"Hush!" he said, in a low voice, though he was conscious of a quick
sense of pleasure at the anxiety of her tone. "It's only a bump; but it
doesn't look well, and I don't want it to show. Can't you cover it up
somehow, before I go on?"

"Come this way," she said hastily. "I'm not much used to powder, but
I'll see what I can do. Tell me," she begged, as the doctor dropped into
a chair; "what has happened? It's a bad bruise, and your cheek is cut;
what was it?"

"I was helping them get the man out of the car, and one of the beams
fell against me; that's all. I found the new doctor, Dr. Hofer, in
charge; so I just helped him lift the man out, and then came back here,"
he answered as lightly as he could, and without adding a word about the
moments that he himself had lain there stunned from the force of the
blow on his head.

Louise looked down at him anxiously. His face was white, and his hands
were a little unsteady.

"Please don't try to read, Dr. Brownlee," she urged. "I'm sure you don't
feel able."

"I'm all right," he said, rousing himself with a forced laugh; "if you
can cover up the spot so it won't sh