er
eyes; they started up almost simultaneously. Ruth noticed the warm robe
about her, and her eyes sped to the doctor. He, however, was speaking to
Mrs. Levice, who in the dim light looked pale but calm.

"I feel perfectly well," she was saying, "and shall get up immediately."

"Where is the necessity?" he inquired. "Lie still to-day; it is not bad
weather for staying in bed."

"Did not Ruth tell you?"

"Tell me?" he repeated in surprise.

"Of the cause of this attack?"

"No."

"Then I must. Briefly, my husband has been in New York for the past
five weeks; he suffered there with acute pneumonia for a week, told us
nothing, but hurried home as soon as possible,--too soon, I suppose. Day
before yesterday my nephew received a letter stating these facts, and,
later, a telegram asking him to come to Reno, where he was delayed,
feeling too ill to go farther alone. The first I heard of this was last
night, when Ruth received this telegram from Louis." She handed it to
him.

As Kemp read, an unmistakable gravity settled on his face. As he was
folding the paper thoughtfully, Mrs. Levice addressed him again in her
unfamiliar, calm voice,--

"Will you please explain what he means by your understanding?"

"Yes; I suppose it is expedient for me to tell you at once," he said
slowly, reseating himself and pausing as if trying to recall something.

"Last year," he began, "probably as early as February, your husband came
to me complaining of a cough that annoyed him nights and mornings;
he further told me that when he felt it coming, he went to another
apartment so as not to disturb you. I examined him, and found he was
suffering with the first stages of asthma, and that one of his lungs
was slightly diseased already. I treated him and gave him directions for
living carefully. You knew nothing of this?"

"Nothing," she answered hoarsely.

"Well," he went on gently, "there was no cause for worry; if checked in
time, a man may live to second childhood with asthma, and the loss of a
small portion of a lung is not necessarily fatal. He knew this, and was
mending slowly; I examined him several times and found no increase in
the loss of tissue, while he told me the cough was not so troublesome."

"But for some weeks before he left," said Mrs. Levice, "he coughed every
morning and night. When I besought him to see a doctor, he ridiculed me
out of the idea. How did you find him before he left?"

"I have not seen Mr. Levice fo