l of water had been absorbed, replaced the
covering and arranged the bed as before.

"Great Scot, man," began the lieutenant, amazed by this; but Cleek's
hand closed sharply on his arm, and Cleek's whispered "Sh-h-h!" sounded
close to his ear. "Keep your father up after everybody else has gone to
bed, especially Aunt Ruth," he went on. "If she's not at hand, the
damage can't be repaired for this night at least. Give him your room and
you come in with me. Bridewell, I know the man; I know the means; and
with God's help to-night I'll know the reason as well!"

III

Everything was carried out in accordance with Cleek's plan. The captain,
trapped into talking by his son, sat up long after Miss Sutcliff and the
one serving maid the house boasted had gone to bed, and when, in time,
he, too, retired to his room, the soaked mattress did its work in the
most effectual manner. Whimpering like a hurt child over the unexplained
and apparently unexplainable accident, the old man suffered his son to
lead him off to his own room; and there, unable to rest on the harder
mattress, and suffering agonies of pain, he lay for a long time before
the door swung open, the glimmer of a bedroom candle tempered the
darkness to a sort of golden dusk, and the very double of Dr. Fordyce
came softly into the room. It was Cleek, wrapped in a well-padded
dressing-gown and carrying in addition to the candle a bottle of lotion
and a fresh linen bandage.

"Why, doctor," began the old captain, half rising upon the elbow of his
uninjured arm. "Whatever in the world brings you here?"

"Study, my dear old friend, study," returned a voice so like to Dr.
Fordyce's own that there was scarcely a shade of difference. "I have
been sitting up for hours and hours thinking, reading, studying until
now I am sure, very, very sure, Captain, that I have found a lotion that
will ease the pain. For a moment after I let myself in by the partition
door and found your room empty I didn't know where to turn; but
fortunately your moans guided me in the right direction, and here I am.
Now then, let us off with that other bandage and on with this new one,
and I think we shall soon ease up that constant pain."

"God knows I hope so, doctor, for it is almost unbearable," the old man
replied, and sat holding his lips tightly shut to keep from crying out
while Cleek undid the bandage and stripped bare the injured arm from
finger-tips to shoulder. His gorge rose as he saw the t