his arm, and should then sleep
under his roof. So they settled down, Burns on his couch, Grant in an
armchair. When Chester left he was thinking that, except for the outward
signs of his adventure, Burns did not look as unfit as might have been
expected for a happy hour with an old friend.

Just outside the house Chester himself had an adventure. He was quite
alone, and he almost ran into a slim figure on the walk. The lights from
the office shone out into the October night, and Chester could see at a
glance who the girl was, even if the gleam of golden hair which all
the town knew had not told him. She was panting and her hand was on her
side.

"Did Doctor Burns get home all right?" she cried under her breath.

"What do you know about Doctor Burns?" was Chester's quick reply. He was
startled by the girl's appearance here at this hour.

"It doesn't make any difference what I know. Tell me if he got home. Was
he much hurt? Why shouldn't you tell me that, Mr. Chester?"

"He is home and all right. Do you want him professionally? He can't go
out to-night."

"I know he can't. But I had to know he got home. I--"

She sank down on the doorstep, shaken and sobbing. Chester stood looking
down at het, wondering what on earth he was to say. What had Rose Seeley
to do with Red? What had she to do with his losing control on the Red
Bank hill? A quick thought crossed his mind, to be as quickly dismissed.
No, whatever Red's private affairs were, they could have nothing to do
with this Rose--too bruised and trampled a rose to take the fancy of a
man like him even in his most evil hour.

Suddenly she lifted her head. "He saved my life and 'most lost his.
They'd been making repairs on the hill and, some way, the lanterns
wasn't lit. It's an awful dark night. He saw what he was comin' to and
turned out sudden into the grass. He had to go into the ditch, then, not
to run over me--and somebody else. He ran away!" Plainly that scornful
accent did not mean Burns. "I didn't. I helped him get the car up. I
got his engine goin' for him; he showed me how. His arm was broke. There
ain't no house for a mile out there. I hated to see him try to come
home alone. I've walked all the way--run some of it--to make sure he got
here."

"He got here," murmured Chester, thinking to himself that this was the
queerest story he'd over heard, but confident he would never have any
better version of it and pretty sure that it was the true one.

"I supp