that always looked as if they were trying not to get their feet wet,
and a floppy bronze dog we called Fido. He was meant for a Gordon
setter, I think, but it didn't go much further than intention. Louise
and I used to ride the deer."

His face shadowed a little as he spoke, for nearly the first time, of
the dead girl.

"Allan," Phyllis said, bending closer to him, all rosy and golden in her
green hammock, "tell me about--Louise Frey--if you don't mind talking
about her? Would it be bad for you, do you think?"

Allan's eyes dwelt on his wife pleasurably. She was very real and near
and lovable, and Louise Frey seemed far away and shadowy in his
thoughts. He had loved her very dearly and passionately, that
boisterous, handsome young Louise, but that gay boy-life she had
belonged to seemed separated now from this pleasant rose-garden, with
its golden-haired, wisely-sweet young chatelaine, by thousands of black
years. The blackness came back when he remembered what lay behind it.

"There's nothing much to tell, Phyllis," he said, frowning a little.
"She was pretty and full of life. She had black hair and eyes and a
good deal of color. We were more or less friends all our lives, for our
country-places adjoined. She was eighteen when--it happened."

"Eighteen," said Phyllis musingly. "She would have been just my age....
We won't talk about it, then, Allan ... Well, Viola?"

The pretty Tuskegee chambermaid was holding out a tray with a card on
it.

"The doctor, ma'am," she said.

"The doctor!" echoed Allan, half-vexed, half-laughing. "I _knew_ you had
something up your sleeve, Phyllis! What on earth did you have him for?"

Phyllis's face was a study of astonishment. "On my honor, I hadn't a
notion he was even in existence," she protested. "He's not _my_ doctor!"

"He must have 'just growed,' or else Lily-Anna's called him in,"
suggested Allan sunnily. "Bring him along, Viola."

Viola produced him so promptly that nobody had time to remember the
professional doctor's visits don't usually have cards, or thought to
look at the card for enlightenment. So the surprise was complete when
the doctor appeared.

"Johnny Hewitt!" ejaculated Allan, throwing out both hands in greeting.
"Of all people! Well, you old fraud, pretending to be a doctor! The last
I heard about you, you were trying to prove that you weren't the man
that tied a mule into old Sumerley's chair at college."

"I never did prove it," responded Johnny Hew