t I just say so? You are a regular old hen,
Georgie K. You cluck at a fellow like a setting hen at one chicken."

Still Doctor Gordon's gloomy face, although he tried to be jocular, did
not relax. Going home late that night, or rather early next morning, he
laid his hand heavily on James's shoulder.

"Boy, I am about at the finish!" he groaned out.

"Now, see here, Doctor Gordon, can't I be of some assistance if you were
to tell me?" asked James. He passed his hand under the older man's arm,
and helped him through a snowdrift as if he had been his father. A great
compassion filled his heart.

But Gordon only groaned out a great sigh. "No," he said. "Secrecy is the
one shield I have. I don't say weapon, but shield. In these latter days
we try to content ourselves with shields; and secrecy is the strongest
shield on earth. If I were going to commit a crime, I should never even
intimate the slightest motive for it to any man living. I should trust
no man living to help me through with it."

James felt a vague horror steal over him. He tried to speak lightly to
cover it. "I trust there is no question of crime?" he said, laughing.

"Not the slightest," replied Gordon. "I have no intention to use a
weapon, but my shield I must stick to. Thank the Lord, you were awake
last night, and to-night Clemency is in another room. By the way, I have
bought a dog."

"A dog?"

"Yes, a bull terrier, well trained, but he has a voice like a whole pack
of hounds. Clemency likes dogs. I will venture that no one comes near
the house after this without waking him up."

"You will keep him tied though."

"Yes, unless I get driven too far," replied Gordon grimly.

"Does Mrs. Ewing like dogs?"

"She is as fond of them as Clemency."

When, the next day, the dog arrived James was assured of the fact that
both Clemency and Mrs. Ewing did like dogs. They seemed more pleased
than he had ever seen them, and the dog responded readily to their
advances. He was a splendid specimen of his breed, very large, without a
spot on his white coat, and with beautiful eyes. Doctor Gordon had a
staple fixed in the vestibule, and the dog was leashed to it at night.
"I can't have my patients driven away," he said with a laugh.

That evening Doctor Gordon had a call, and he took Aaron with him. That
left James alone with Clemency, as Mrs. Ewing retired almost immediately
after Doctor Gordon left.

After the jingle of the sleigh-bells had died away Clemen