ell me his name. She says----" here Joan referred to the
letter; "'I am going to try and keep him until you come and see him.
Joan, he is worth a trip from Chicago.'"

"You are--going?" asked Patricia.

"Pat--I am. Only for a visit, but suddenly I find myself crazy hungry
for them all.

"I'll be back in a couple of weeks; I'll only lose three lessons and
surely, Pat, you'll forgive me if I desert you for that one glimpse of
my darling Nan and her man?"

"I suppose so. But, Joan, don't stay long. I know how the reformed
drunkard feels when he's left to his lonesome. He doubts his
reformation."

"Pat!" Joan felt the tug of responsibility.

The next night Patricia came home with a bedraggled little dog in her
arms.

"Where did you find that, Pat?" Joan paused in her task of getting
dinner and fondled the absurd creature.

"Oh! he was browsing along like a lost soul, sniffing to find--not a
scent, I wager he never had one of his own, but a possible one. Out of
all the mob, Joan, he chose me! He came up, nosed around my feet, and
then whined delightedly--the old fraud! I picked him up and looked in
his eyes--I know the look, Joan. He might be my never-had-brother, there
is a family resemblance."

"Pat, how silly."

"No joking, lamb. I couldn't ignore the appeal--besides, he'll keep me
straight while you are away."

"Pat--come with me!" Joan bent over the dog, who already showed his
preference for Patricia.

"I cannot, Joan. The trade is growing--I am planning an exhibition. I'm
ashamed to say it, but the business is getting into my gray matter.
No--go to your duty, lamb--the pup and I will get acquainted and make up
for lost time."

And while Joan made preparations to go to New York, and while Doris and
Nancy planned to make her visit a success, something occurred that
changed all their lives. It was the epidemic of influenza. The shrouded
and menacing Thing approached like the plague that it was to prove
itself. It was no discerner of people; its area was limitless, it
harvested whence it would and, while it was named, it was not
understood.

David Martin ordered Doris and Nancy out of town at once.

"You may not escape," he said, "but your best chance is in the open.
Besides, you'll leave us freer here."

"But Joan--David!"

"Joan be hanged! Can't she get to Ridge House?"

"Of course. But I wanted to have her here to--to justify herself. Emily
Tweksbury is trying to make a tragedy of Joan. I'm afr