his inquiry:

"It is Miss Rogers, sir. She is dangerously ill, and will have no other
doctor."

"I will go to her at once," said Jay Gardiner.

But at that moment a man who had been hurt in a railway accident was
brought in, and he was obliged to devote half an hour of his valuable
time in dressing his wounds. Then with all possible haste he set out on
his journey.

He gave orders to his driver to go to Miss Rogers' residence by the
shortest route possible.

At that very moment, in another part of the city, a woman who had once
been young and beautiful lay dying. The room in which she lay was
magnificent in its costly hangings; the lace draperies that hung from
the windows represented a fortune, the carpets and rugs which covered
the floor were of the costliest description. Rare paintings and the
richest of bric-a-brac occupied the walls and other available places.
Even the lace counterpane on the bed represented the expenditure of a
vast sum of money. But the woman who lay moaning there in mortal pain
would have given all to have purchased one hour of ease.

"Has the doctor come yet, Mary?" she asked.

"No," replied her faithful attendant, who bent over her. "But he can not
be long now, my lady. It is several hours since we telegraphed for him,
and I have telephoned for him every hour since. At the office they say
that he has already started for here."

"Are those carriage wheels? Go to the window, Mary, and see."

The attendant glided noiselessly to the heavily draped window and drew
aside the hangings.

"No," she answered, gently; "he has not yet come."

"Something must have happened, Mary," half-sobbed the sufferer; "I am
sure of it."

Ay, something out of the usual had happened to Doctor Gardiner.

As his handsome brougham turned into Canal Street, the doctor, in
looking from the window, noticed a young girl hurrying along the street.

There was something about the symmetrical figure that caused the doctor
to look a second time.

He said to himself that she must be young; and a feeling of pity
thrilled his heart to see one so young threading the streets at that
hour of the night.

So many people were making their way through the streets that the driver
was only able to proceed slowly. And thus the young girl, who had quite
unconsciously attracted the doctor's attention, kept pace with the
vehicle.

Once, as Jay Gardiner caught sight of her face, he felt as though an
electric shock had sudden