n
wing of the Tiffany house and switched the current to the instrument
in Eleanor's living-room. Most of the day she spent answering that
telephone. People of whom she had never even heard, made anxious
inquiries about the condition of Mr. Chester. Before night the
newspapers became a plague. For in the afternoon, winged reporters,
shot out in volleys for a "second day story," had called at 2196
Valencia and found there no Sadie Brown. Hurrying down the back trail
to the Emporium, they did discover an indignant little shop-girl of
that name. Those reporters who had been with the wreck the night
before found no resemblance in her to the mysterious lady. Then came
a bombardment, in person and by telephone, of the Tiffany house. The
Judge, meeting all callers at the front door, lied tactfully. The city
editors gave up sending reporters and took to bullying over the
telephone; so that the burden of an unaccustomed lying fell upon
Eleanor. At eleven o'clock, and after one voice had declared that the
_Journal_ had the whole account and would make it pretty peppery if
the Tiffanys did not confirm it, Eleanor took the telephone off the
hook and went to bed.

The morning papers did pretty well with what they had. "Mysterious
Woman Nurses Prominent Varsity Athlete"--"Who Is The Pretty Girl that
Nursed Society Man in Las Olivas Horror?"--"Modest Heroine of Las
Olivas Holocaust." But the secret, thanks to Mark Heath, was safe.

* * * * *

She slept that night. Far along in the morning she awoke to the
delicious sense of physical renewal. The situation crept into her mind
stage by stage, as such things do arrive in the awakening
consciousness. She was calm now, what with her rest of body, her
decision of soul. She could think it out; her course of action and how
she might accomplish it.

A knock at her door roused her from half-sleep and meditation to full
wakening. Kate Waddington had entered--Kate, transformed into a
picturesque imitation of a nurse. She was all in grass linen, the
collar rolled away to show her round, golden throat. Her flowing tie
was blue, and a blue bow completed the knot of her hair. She looked
cool, efficient, domestically business-like.

"He's better!" Kate burst out with the news as Eleanor turned her
head. "There's really no danger now. The nurse says that he roused
this morning and showed a positively vicious temper because they would
not let him see anyon