available for consultation
from nine to twelve to-morrow, at the Moscow Hotel. Remember the time
and place. Men only. Nine to twelve. And all under the inviolable seal
of my profession."

Some quality of unexpressed insistence in the stranger--or was it the
speaker's own uneasiness of spirit?--brought back the roving, brilliant
eyes to the square face below.

"A little blackmail on the side, eh?"

The words were spoken low, but with a peculiar, abrupt crispness. This,
then, was direct challenge. Professor Certain tautened. Should he accept
it, or was it safer to ignore this pestilent disturber? Craft and anger
thrust opposing counsels upon him. But determination of the issue came
from outside.

"Lemme through."

From the outskirts of the crowd a rawboned giant forced his way inward.
He was gaunt and unkempt as a weed in winter.

"Here's trouble," remarked a man at the front. "Allus comes with a
Hardscrabbler."

"What's a Hardscrabbler?" queried the well-dressed man.

"Feller from the Hardscrabble Settlement over on Corsica Lake. Tough
lot, they are. Make their own laws, when they want any; run their place
to suit themselves. Ain't much they ain't up to. Hoss-stealin',
barn-burnin', boot-leggin', an' murder thrown in when--"

"Be you the doctor was to Corsica Village two years ago?" The newcomer's
high, droning voice cut short the explanation.

"I was there, my friend. Testimonials and letters from some of your
leading citizens attest the work--"

"You give my woman morpheean." There was a hideous edged intonation in
the word, like the whine of some plaintive and dangerous animal.

"My friend!" The Professor's hand went forth in repressive deprecation.
"We physicians give what seems to us best, in these cases."

"A reg'lar doctor from Burnham seen her," pursued the Hardscrabbler, in
the same thin wail, moving nearer, but not again raising his eyes to the
other's face. Instead, his gaze seemed fixed upon the man's shining
expanse of waistcoat. "He said you doped her with the morpheean you give
her."

"So your chickens come home to roost, Professor," said the stranger, in
a half-voice.

"Impossible," declared the Professor, addressing the Hardscrabbler. "You
misunderstood him."

"They took my woman away. They took her to the 'sylum."

Foreboding peril, the people nearest the uncouth visitor had drawn away.
Only the stranger held his ground; more than held it, indeed, for he
edged almost imperceptibly