he forerunner of an illness.

He banished the thought instantly from his loyal old heart, ashamed of
having applied such a word as tantrum to anything Lloyd might choose to
do. Of course she had felt ill, he told himself. So wretched that she
hadn't known what she was saying when she stormed at him so angrily. He
resolved to watch her closely, and take matters in his own hands if she
showed any more alarming symptoms.

There was a matinee next day in Louisville, to which Mrs. Sherman took
all the girls in the neighbourhood. That was the end of the Christmas
gaieties for Lloyd. Doctor Shelby was at Locust on her return. He came
out of the old Colonel's den, where he had been sitting for several
hours, deep in a game of chess, and found her shivering in front of the
fire with a nervous chill, sobbing hysterically.

She stormed at him almost as she had done at her grandfather, protesting
that she was only tired and nervous, and that she would be all right as
soon as she had had her cry out. But she submitted meekly when he
ordered her mother to put her to bed. The old doctor had always indulged
her, but there was a sternness in his manner now that made her obey
him.

He called to see her the next day, and the next. But his visits did not
seem like professional ones. There was nothing said about medicine or
symptoms. He only asked her about school and the good times she had been
having, and the extra studying she had been doing. Then he sat and joked
and talked with her and her mother, as had been his habit ever since
Lloyd could remember. The third afternoon she was down in the
drawing-room when he came.

"We'll soon be having Miss Holly-berry back again," he said, playfully
pinching her pale cheek.

"And without taking any nasty old medicine," she answered. "I don't mind
doctahs when they can cure people without giving them pills and
powdahs."

The Colonel looked up sharply. "What's that?" he asked. "Haven't you
been giving her anything, Dick? It seems to me the child would get along
faster if she had a good tonic."

"I am going to prescribe one this morning," the doctor answered. "That's
what I came up for." He laughed at the look of disgust on Lloyd's face.

"It isn't bad," he assured her, with an indulgent smile. "Why, I know
dozens of girls who would say that the tonic I am going to prescribe is
the most agreeable that could be given. I've even had them beg for it.
This is it, simply to lengthen your Christ