skins off," the ponderous books
with their horrific and highly colored plates, the "patients' chair"
with its clinging odor of plush and ether, the untidy desk, the dust on
everything!

But she had not come to Dr. Rogers' office to indulge in memory. She
had come to see the lady who was so busily addressing envelopes and,
after a decent interval of polite abstraction, she devoted herself
cautiously to this purpose.

Nurse Watkins, before Desire's entrance, had not been addressing
envelopes. She had been reading. Her book lay open upon the window-sill
and Desire, having good eyes, could read its title upside down. It was
not a title which she knew, nor, if titles tell anything, did it belong
to a book which invited knowing. Desire felt almost certain that it was
not a book which Mary would care to read. Still, one never could tell.
The professor had said nothing whatever about Mary's literary taste.

Desire's eyes strayed, vaguely, from the book to its owner. Only Miss
Watkins' profile was visible but it was a profile well worth attention.
People who cannot choose their literature are often quite successful
with their caps. Miss Watkins' cap was just right. And her hair was
certainly yellow. Desire frowned.

Miss Watkins, looking up, caught the frown.

"Doctor really can't be long now," she drawled sympathetically. Desire
felt that the sympathy, like the assurance, was professional--an
afterglow, perhaps of sympathy which had existed once, before life had
overdrawn its account. She felt, also, that Miss Watkins' nose was
decidedly good. It was straight, with the nicest little blunt point;
and her eyes were blue--not misty blue, like the hills, but a passable
blue for all that. Her expression was cold and eminently superior.
("Frightfully nursey" was what Desire called it to herself.) Her voice
was thin. (Desire was glad of that.)

"Doctor must have been kept somewhere," said the nurse pursuing her
formula. "Won't you sit near the window? There's a breeze."

"Thank you." Desire moved to the window. "You must find it very
peaceful here--after nursing overseas."

Nurse Watkins tapped her full upper lip with her pen. "Yes," she said.
"It's very dull." Desire smiled. Her spirits had been rising ever since
her entrance and she was now quite cheerful. Pretty as Miss Mary
Watkins undoubtedly was, there was a some-thing--could it be possible
that she chewed gum? No, of course she could not chew gum. And yet
there was a