ring the week in which Ruth had established herself as nurse-in-chief
to her mother she had seen him almost daily. Time in a quiet sick-room
passes monotonously; events that are unnoticed in hours of well-being
and activity here assume proportions of importance; meal-times are
looked forward to as a break in the day; the doctor's visit especially
when it is the only one allowed, is an excitement. Dr. Kemp's visits
were short, but the two learned to look for his coming and the sound
of his deep, cheery voice, as to their morning's tonic that would
strengthen the whole day. Naturally, as he was a stranger, Mrs. Levice
in her idleness had analyzed and discussed aloud his qualities, both
personal and professional, to her satisfaction. She had small ground
for basing her judgments, but the doctor formed a good part of her
conversation.

Ruth's knowledge of him was somewhat larger,--about the distance between
Mrs. Levice's bedroom and the front door. She had a homely little way of
seeing people to the door, and here it was the doctor gave her any
new instructions. Instructions are soon given and taken; and there was
always time for a word or two of a different nature.

In the first place, she had been attracted by his horses, a magnificent
pair of jetty blacks.

"I wonder if they would despise a lump of sugar," she said one morning.

"Why should they?" asked Kemp.

"Oh, they seem to hold their heads so haughtily."

"Still, they are human enough to know sweets when they see them," their
owner replied, taking in the beautiful figure of the young girl in her
quaint, flowered morning-gown. "Try them once, and you won't doubt it."

She did try them; and as she turned a slightly flushed face to Kemp, who
stood beside her, he held out his hand, saying almost boyishly, "Let me
thank you and shake hands for my horses."

One can become eloquent, witty, or tender over the weather. The doctor
became neither of these; but Ruth, whose spirits were mercurially
affected by the atmosphere, always viewed the elements with the eye of a
private signal-service reporter.

"This is the time for a tramp," she said, as they stood on the veranda,
and the summer air, laden with the perfume of heliotrope, stole around
them. "That is where the laboring man has the advantage over you, Dr.
Kemp."

"Which, ten to one, he finds a disadvantage. I must confess that in such
weather every healthy individual with time at his disposal should be
inhalin