nt on. "That is, if it
_was_ you! A Pullman drawing-room--"

"And a mistake about the tickets," he broke out. "Yes, yes, it's they
all right. Talking about me, did you say? Did Eleanor--I mean, did Miss
Van Coort--express--?"

"She was wondering how she could find you," I said. "You see, they're
busy getting up a house-party and she was running over her men. 'If I
only knew where that dear Doctor Jones was,' she said, and then asked
me, if by any possible chance--"

His fine blue eyes were glistening with all sorts of tender thoughts. It
was really touching. And I was in love myself, you know.

"So she has remained unmarried!" he exclaimed softly. "Unmarried--after
all these years!"

"She's a very popular girl," I said. "She's had dozens of men at her
feet--but an unfortunate attachment, something that seems to go back to
about three years ago, has apparently determined her to stay out of the
game!"

Doctor Jones dropped his head on his hands and murmured something that
sounded like "Eleanor, Eleanor!" Then he looked up with one of the most
radiant smiles I ever saw on a man's face. "I hope I'm not presuming on
a very short acquaintance," he said, "but the fact is--why should I not
tell you?--Miss Van Coort was the woman in my life!"

I explained to him that Freddy was the woman in mine.

Then you ought to have seen us fraternize!

In twenty minutes I had him almost convinced that Eleanor had loved him
all these years. But he worried a lot about a Mr. Wise who had been on
the same train, and a certain Colonel Hadow who had also paid Eleanor
attention. Jones was a great fellow for wanting to be sure. I
pooh-poohed them out of the way and gave him the open track. Then,
indeed, the clouds rolled away. He beamed with joy. In his rich gush of
friendship he recurred to the subject of my insomnia with a new-born
enthusiasm. He subdivided all my symptoms. He dived again into my
physical being. He consulted German authorities. I squirmed and lied
and resisted all I could, but he said he owed me an eternal debt that
could only be liquidated by an absolute cure. He wanted to tie me up and
shoot me with an X-ray. He ordered me to wear white socks. He had a
long, terrifying look at a drop of my blood. He jerked hairs out of my
head to sample my nerve force. He said I was a baffling subject, but
that he meant to make me well if it took the last shot in the scientific
locker. And he wound up at last by refusing point-blank