As he said this he happened to glance at Mr. Mencke, and was astonished,
amazed, to observe a look of unmistakable satisfaction, if not of
absolute triumph, flash from his eyes.

What could it mean?

Was it possible that the man, for any secret reason, could desire the
death of this young and beautiful girl?

He had not once spoken as yet, having simply nodded to the doctor, with
a half-suppressed grunt, in answer to his courteous salutation.

"William, do you hear?" his wife now said, turning to him. "Violet is
dangerously ill down on Hughes street. I must go to her at once."

"Certainly, of course," responded her better half, with a shrug of his
corpulent shoulders.

"She is my sister, though much younger than myself, and I have had the
care of her ever since the death of our parents," Mrs. Mencke explained.
"What can I do? Will it be possible to bring her home?"

"I fear not at present," Doctor Norton returned, "but it would be well
to provide a competent nurse for her where she is, as Mrs. Richardson
has her hands more than full with the care of both patients and her
domestic duties also."

"Certainly, Violet shall have every attention," the woman responded,
somewhat haughtily, while the frown deepened upon her brow at the
mention of the people upon whose care her sister had been so strangely
thrown.

Doctor Norton was inwardly indignant that neither of his listeners
should express the slightest gratitude or appreciation for what brave
Wallace Richardson had done to save the young girl's life. Evidently
they were not pleased that she should owe so great a debt to so plebeian
a source.

Mrs. Mencke now arose and excused herself, saying that she would make
ready to accompany the physician to Hughes street to attend to her
sister's needs.

"That was a horrible affair," Doctor Norton observed to Mr. Mencke, as
she left the room, determined to draw out his reticent companion if that
were possible.

"It was beastly," grunted the man, with another shrug; "and the
corporation will have a pretty sum to pay for damages. Will--do you
think the girl--Violet--will die?" and the man leaned eagerly forward, a
greedy sparkle in his small, black eyes.

A flush of anger and disgust mounted to the good doctor's brow at this
question, and like a flash the man's character was revealed to him.

He saw that he was a shrewd, grasping, money-making man, who measured
everything and everybody by dollars and cents; that alre