ed significant glances. They were obviously
amused. The former then looked the stranger kindly in the eye and
replied:

"That has always been my plan. I entirely agree with you as to its
advant--"

He stopped suddenly, rose and went white. He stared at the man,
open-mouthed; he trembled visibly.

"Ah!" said the stranger, "I see that you are indisposed, Doctor. If you
cannot treat yourself Dr. Harper can do something for you, I am sure."

"Who the devil are you?" said Harper, bluntly.

The stranger came nearer and, bending toward them, said in a whisper: "I
call myself Jarette sometimes, but I don't mind telling you, for old
friendship, that I am Dr. William Mancher."

The revelation brought Harper to his feet. "Mancher!" he cried; and
Helberson added: "It is true, by God!"

"Yes," said the stranger, smiling vaguely, "it is true enough, no
doubt."

He hesitated and seemed to be trying to recall something, then began
humming a popular air. He had apparently forgotten their presence.

"Look here, Mancher," said the elder of the two, "tell us just what
occurred that night--to Jarette, you know."

"Oh, yes, about Jarette," said the other. "It's odd I should have
neglected to tell you--I tell it so often. You see I knew, by
over-hearing him talking to himself, that he was pretty badly
frightened. So I couldn't resist the temptation to come to life and have
a bit of fun out of him--I couldn't really. That was all right, though
certainly I did not think he would take it so seriously; I did not,
truly. And afterward--well, it was a tough job changing places with him,
and then--damn you! you didn't let me out!"

Nothing could exceed the ferocity with which these last words were
delivered. Both men stepped back in alarm.

"We?--why--why," Helberson stammered, losing his self-possession
utterly, "we had nothing to do with it."

"Didn't I say you were Drs. Hell-born and Sharper?" inquired the man,
laughing.

"My name is Helberson, yes; and this gentleman is Mr. Harper," replied
the former, reassured by the laugh. "But we are not physicians now; we
are--well, hang it, old man, we are gamblers."

And that was the truth.

"A very good profession--very good, indeed; and, by the way, I hope
Sharper here paid over Jarette's money like an honest stakeholder. A
very good and honorable profession," he repeated, thoughtfully, moving
carelessly away; "but I stick to the old one. I am High Supreme Medical
Officer of the Bl