st I'm all
ready for it, and then I'm nearly wild. And so it goes--up and down, up
and down."

"How is she? Is it all settled for to-morrow? Hitchcock said that
perhaps--"

"Mrs. Moore is doing very well--really very well. She was a little
excited when Mrs. Wylie was with her, but she is nicely sleepy now.
I think it will be better to stay only a moment. She will get a good
night's rest to-night, it is so cool. The weather is on our side."

She smiled into his eyes and nodded gravely. He brightened and squared
his shoulders. As he went quickly up the stairs, Belden stopped the
woman.

"Tell me," he said authoritatively, "how is my sister, really? What do
you consider her chance?"

She looked him easily in the eyes. "It is impossible to say," she
returned gravely. "Your sister is a very brave, self-possessed woman,
and seems to have a good constitution. That is, of course, half the
battle. But her case is very complicated, and until the operation, no
one can tell. You may have every confidence in Dr. Jameson. He is a
magnificent surgeon."

Before her non-committal eyes his own fell baffled. He was more
irritated than he cared to own. Could she not see that he was prepared
for anything, that his self-control was as great as her own? She treated
him like a child; those professional reserves, necessary, doubtless,
in the case of Peter and his excitable sister, were wasted on him. Why
could she not see it?

"I am quite aware of Dr. Jameson's skill," he said coldly, "but I
had hoped that you would find yourself able to break through the
professional attitude sufficiently to give me your real opinion, which,
of course, you must have formed."

She threw him a quick glance. "Ah, my friend," he thought exultingly,
"you have a temper, then!" But in an instant it was gone.

"I have told you all I was able to tell," she said evenly. "I have been
here but a short time, you know."

She turned and left the hall, and he, chafing under a sense of merited
rebuke, conscious of a foolish petulance, went discontentedly into the
library. He seemed to be continually at fault with Miss Strong, but
unable to resist the effort to master her.

The evening was very lonely and still. Peter had gone to his room early,
and the children had effaced themselves: Susy was with them. Aunt Lucia
read the "Imitation of Christ," by the fire. Bel-den's mind turned
unconsciously to the old days when Caddy and he dreamed out their future
in the n