ank
into her chair, covered her face with her great red hands and burst into
tempestuous weeping. Cameron sat up quickly.

"What in the name of goodness is wrong, Mandy?"

"Lie down at once, Mr. Cameron!" said the nurse sternly. "Hush, hush,
Miss Haley! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Don't you know that you
are hurting him?"

She could have chosen no better word. In an instant Mandy was on her
feet, mopping off her face and choking down her sobs.

"Ain't I a fool?" she cried angrily. "A blamed fool. Well, I won't
bother you any longer. Guess I'll go now. Good-by all." Without another
look at Cameron she was gone.

Cameron lay back upon his pillows, white and nerveless.

"Now can you tell me," he panted, "what's up?"

"Search me!" said the nurse gaily, "but I forbid you to speak a single
word for half an hour. Here, drink this right off! Now, not a word! What
will Dr. Martin say? Not a word! Yes, I shall see her safely off the
place. Quiet now!" She kept up a continuous stream of sprightly chatter
to cover her own anxiety and to turn the current of her patient's
thoughts. By the time she had reached the entrance hall, however, Mandy
had vanished.

"Great silly goose!" said the indignant nurse. "I'd see myself far
enough before I'd give myself away like that. Little fool! He'll have
a temperature sure and I will catch it. Bah! These girls! Next time she
sees him it will not be here. I hope the doctor will just give me an
hour to get him quiet again."

But in this hope she was disappointed, for upon her return to her
patient she found Dr. Martin in the room. His face was grave.

"What's up, nurse? What is the meaning of this rotten pulse? What has he
been having to eat?"

"Well, Dr. Martin, I may as well confess my sins," replied the nurse,
"for there is no use trying to deceive you anyway. Mr. Cameron has had a
visitor and she has excited him."

"Ah!" said the doctor in a relieved tone. "A visitor! A lady visitor! A
charming, sympathetic, interested, and interesting visitor."

"Exactly!" said the nurse with a giggle.

"It was Miss Haley, Martin," said Cameron gravely.

The doctor looked puzzled.

"The daughter of the farmer with whom I was working," explained Cameron.

"Ah, I remember her," said the doctor. "And a deuce of a time I had with
her, too, getting you away from her, if I remember aright. I trust there
is nothing seriously wrong in that quarter?" said Martin with unusual
gravity.

"