d
looked into the fast dimming eye.

"That bairn needs a doctor," she said to the mother. "Come with me;
there is a dispensary on the next block."

Rising stupidly, with her infant in her arms, the woman in dull
obedience followed her down the sun-baked block to the door marked:

"DISPENSARY.

"PATIENTS TREATED FREE FROM TEN TO TWELVE O'CLOCK."

Nora looked at the sign in discouragement; instinct told her that two
hours of delay would be fatal. The child was evidently nearing a state
of collapse. Turning about entirely baffled, Nora's eyes fell upon an
elderly man coming down the street at a brisk trot, a travelling bag
in one hand and a large white umbrella in the other. He was evidently
a gentleman,--which was strange, for gentlemen did not often appear in
Bayard Street. What was stranger still, he looked up at the numbers of
the houses as if he were seeking a friend, and, strangest of all, at
the sight of herself he took off his hat, and her astonished gaze
rested upon Dr. Cricket.

"Well, well, Captain," the little Doctor cried, peering at her with
his near-sighted frown. "I _am_ in luck. I came down on the night
boat, and hurried over here right away; but we were so late I was
afraid you might have got off to headquarters to report for duty. I
promised Miss Standish when I left Nepaug that I would surely see you
on my way through New York. She felt so worried about your coming back
so soon to this town, which is like a bake-oven,--or would be if it
smelled better."

All this the good Doctor poured forth so rapidly that Nora could not
get in a word edgewise. When at length she found space to utter a
reply, she cried out, "Oh, Doctor, never mind me, but take pity on
this bairn! It's in an awfu' way."

"Pooh, Pooh, nothing of the sort!" answered the Doctor, with
professional cheerfulness, before he had fairly glanced at the child.
Then aside to Nora: "We must get into the dispensary somehow. Water,
hot and cold, are what the child needs. It is near a convulsion."

At this juncture, as eight o'clock was striking, the dispensary clerk
arrived, key in hand, and, seeing the emergency, put all the resources
of the building at the disposal of Dr. Cricket, who soon brought a
better color to the little face, and handing the child, rolled in a
blanket, to the mother, bade her keep it cool. The woman looked
blankly at the rising wave of heat outside; Dr. Cricket too looked
out,