er, but I
don't reckon much on 'em."

"Run, then, quick!" said Mary. "There's no time to be lost."

"Ay, and after I've sent Peter Matthew I'll come in again and get you
something to eat. You must be fair pined."

Mary returned to the room again, and waited what seemed to her an
interminable length of time, looking anxiously at the sick woman the
whole time. She lay very still, almost motionless in fact, but Mary
was sure she was not dead, and she prayed as she had never prayed
before that she might live. As it seemed to her, it was not Paul's
mother's life that hung in the balance, but Paul's.

At length Dr. White came, and went quickly into the bedroom. Dr. White
was a tall, spare man, between forty and fifty years of age. He was
one of those doctors who loved his profession with a love almost
amounting to passion, and he had worked himself almost to a skeleton.
People said that he ought to be a very rich man, but he was not. A
great part of the service he rendered was a labour of love. Scores of
people in Brunford wondered why he never sent a bill to them, and when
he was asked the reasons for his remissness, he always put the
inquirers off with a laugh. "Oh, you'll be getting it some day." The
truth was he hated sending bills to poor people, and his great delight
was not in receiving cheques or payment for his services, but in seeing
his patients restored to health and strength again. He was almost
worshipped in the town, and, indeed, no one worked so hard for the good
of the people as he did in his own way.

When he entered the room he looked at Mary rather wonderingly, but
asked no questions. He went straight to the patient's bedside, and
examined her carefully. When he had completed his examination he
turned to the young girl, who was watching him with wide, staring eyes.

"When did this happen?" he said.

Mary began to explain Mrs. Stepaside's relationship to the accused man
in Manchester and of the sufferings through which she had gone.

"I know all about that," said the doctor. "But tell me the immediate
cause of this."

As may be imagined, this was a difficult task, but Mary's ready wit
helped her through with it.

"I brought her from Manchester this morning," she said. "She did not
seem very well then, and she asked me to come with her. Then,
then----" And her eyes rested upon the newspaper which she had been
reading.

"Oh, I see," said the doctor. "It was a sudden shock. Yes