e
some sort of purchase and made payment in a five-pound note which had
proved to be counterfeit. It was a sad moment for the girl when the
forgery was discovered, for she had to make up the loss from her own
pocket and that was no small matter.

Then the miracle had happened. The doctor had arrived full of apologies,
had presented his card and explained. The note was one which he had been
keeping as a curiosity. It has been passed on him and was such an
excellent specimen that he intended having it framed but it had got
mixed up with his other money.

"You started by being the villain of the piece and ended by being my
good fairy," she said. "I should never have known there was a vacancy
here but for you. I should not have been admitted by the proper Miss
Millit but for the terror of your name."

She dropped her little hand lightly on his shoulder. It was a gesture of
good-comradeship.

She half-turned to go when an angry exclamation held her.

"What is it? Oh, I see--No. 4!"

She drew a little closer to the doctor's side and watched with narrowing
lids the approaching figure.

"Why does he do it--oh, why does he do it?" she demanded impatiently.
"How can a man be so weak, so wretchedly weak? There's nothing justifies
that!"

"That" was apparently trying to walk the opposite kerb as though it
were a tight-rope. Save for a certain disorder of attire, a protruding
necktie and a muddy hat, he was respectable enough. He was young and,
under other conditions, passably good looking. But with his fair hair
streaming over his forehead and his hat at the back of his head he
lacked fascination. His attempt, aided by a walking-stick used as a
balancing-pole, to keep his equilibrium on six inches of kerbing, might
have been funny to a less sensitive soul than Oliva's.

He slipped, recovered himself with a little whoop, slipped again, and
finally gave up the attempt, crossing the road to his home.

He recognized the doctor with a flourish of his hat.

"Glorious weather, my Escu-escu-lapius," he said, with a little slur in
his voice but a merry smile in his eye; "simply wonderful weather for
bacteria trypanosomes (got it) an' all the jolly little microbes."

He smiled at the doctor blandly, ignoring the other's significant glance
at the girl, who had drawn back so that she might not find herself
included in the conversation.

"I'm goin' to leave you, doctor," he went on, "goin' top floor, away
from the evil smells o