ot her tumble. What'll father and mother say? What are we
going to do, anyhow? Second Fiddle's no good on earth in the kitchen;
she couldn't boil an egg. Say, breaking your knee-pan's no joke. Price
Williston did it a year ago August, and he hasn't got good use of it
yet,--'fraid he never will----"

"Oh, let up on that,"--Lanse cut him short,--"and don't mention it again
to anybody. Doctor Forester and Churchill will fix her up all right,
only it's an awful shame it should have happened. I'm going up to see
Doctor Churchill."

At the foot of the stairs he met that person coming down, shook hands
with him eagerly, and listened to a brief and concise account of his
sister's injury. As it ended, Doctor Forester's automobile rolled up to
the door.

"Did the five and a half miles in precisely twenty minutes," said Doctor
Forester, as he came up the steps, watch in hand; "slow speed within
limits and all. Lanse, my boy, this is too bad. Doctor Churchill--very
glad to see you again. Decided to settle out here, eh? Well, on some
accounts I think you're wise. Charlotte, little girl, cheer up! There
are worse things than a fractured patella--I believe that's what you
called the injury, Doctor Churchill."

In such genial fashion the surgeon and old friend of the family made his
entry, bringing with him that atmosphere which men of his profession
carry about with them, making the people who have been anxiously
awaiting them feel that here is somebody who knows how to take things
coolly, and is not upset at the notion of a broken bone.

He moved deliberately up-stairs toward Celia's room, listening to the
younger physician's statement of the conditions under which he had been
called, turning at the door to smile and nod back at Charlotte, who
watched him from the top of the staircase with serious eyes.

At the end of what seemed like a long period of time the two physicians
came down-stairs together, meeting Lanse at the foot.

"Well, sir," said Doctor Forester, "so far, so good. Celia is as
comfortable as such cases usually are an hour or two afterward, which is
not saying much from her point of view, though a good deal from ours.
She has a long siege of inactivity before her to put that knee into a
strong condition, but it will not be a great while before she can be
about on crutches, I hope. Doctor Churchill, at my insistence, has put
up the knee in the best possible shape, and I am going to leave it in
his care. I'll dro