Page 4 (1/2)

She looked up when he entered, and there was in her young girl face the

very slightest shade of recognition She could not help it, for Clemency

was candor itself Then she bowed very formally, and shook hands

sedately when Doctor Gordon introduced James as Doctor Elliot, his new

assistant, and carried off her part very well James was not so

successful

He colored and was somewhat confused, but nobody appeared to

notice it Clelad she was that Uncle To home from Annie Lipton's "I am never afraid,"

said she, and her little face betrayed the lie, "but I was tired, and

besides I was beginning to be cold, for I went out without rows so cold when the sun goes

down," said Mrs Ewing Then a chime of Japanese bells was heard which

announced dinner

"Doctor Elliot will be glad of dinner," said Doctor Gordon "He has

walked all the way from Gresham"

Clemency looked at him with approval, and tried to look as if she had

never seen hiood walk," said she

"Twenty-five

poor horses all the time, it would be better for thehingly

"I never hint," said Cle animals They could travel as well as horses in the course of

time if they only put their minds to it"

"Well, your old uncle's bones must be saved, even at the expense of the

horse's," said Doctor Gordon

"Bones are improved by use," said Clemency severely, as she took her

seat at the dinner-table They all laughed The girl herself relaxed her

pretty face with a whimsical smile It was quite evident that Cle of the house, and that she traded

innocently upon the fact The young doctor, although his first

impression of the elder wo girl The older woman was, as it were, croith

an aureole of perfection, but the young girl was croith

possibilities which dazzled with arments were removed, and her thick crown of ash-blonde hair

was revealed The la

of a young girl, andbecause she had the sweetest

confidence in everybody thinking her one

However, Ja-room, which

was , did not

for a second retreat fro Behind the

coffee-urn sat the woman hom he had not fallen in love, that was

too poor a term to use He had become a worshipper He felt himself,

body and soul, prostrate before the Divinity of Worandeur of the abstract in the individual What was any

spoiled, sweet young girl to that? And Mrs Eas, in truth, a

wonderful creature She was a large woreat quantity of

blue-black hair, which had the ripples one sees in antique statues Her

eyes, black at first glance, were in reality dark blue Her face gave

one a never-ending surprise Jaue comparisons with the Greek Helen, or Cleopatra, calance at her He dared not

often She did not talk h her voice was so sweet and gracious Speech in a creature like

that was not an essential It ht even be an excrescence upon a

perfection It did not occur to the dazed ht have very siht be tired or ill, or preoccupied But after a

nureat pang, as

if one should see for the first tione, when his fancy had supplied them, that the woman did not

look well In spite of her beauty, there was ill-health evident in her

face James was a mere tyro in his profession as yet, but certain

infallible signs were there which he could not , possibly of very great suffering She ate very

little, Ja as much

as any one James saw that Doctor Gordon also noticed it When the ruffness which

astonished the young man "For Heaven's sake, why don't you eat your

dinner, Clara?" said he "E's plate Now, Clara,

eat your dinner" To Ja obeyed like

a child She ate every h she could not restrain her

expression of loathing When the salad and dessert were brought on she

ate them also

Doctor Gordon watched her hat see man, positive

brutality His mouth under his heavy beard quivered perceptibly whenever

he looked at his sister eating, his forehead becaated, and his

deep-set eyes sparkled Jalad when dinner was over,

and, at Doctor Gordon's request, he followed him into his office

Doctor Gordon's office was a small room at the back of the house It had

an outer door co with a path which led to the stable Two

sides of the room were lined withdiverse coloredtable in the led pris The first thing which struck

one on entering the rooleahts like jewels,

and over all the flickers of pris table was covered

with corks, empty bottles, books, a hty inkstand and writing reat leather tobacco pouch, and, interspersed a all, a

multitude of pipes The doctor drew a chair beside this chaotic table

lit with rainbow lights, and invited James to sit down "Sit down a

ar, please," replied James The doctor pushed the box toward hiar at the least when he began

to smoke Doctor Gordon filled a pipe loomy, almost fierce, expression which it had assuh, sketchy fashion His face was blurred

with a gray grizzle of beard He wore his hair rather long, and he had

a fashion of running his fingers through it, which made it look like a

thick brush He dressed rather carelessly, still like a gentle, but his linen was i assistant was too shy

to break The elder esture and shook hilike this Get

your hat and coat"

James obeyed, and the two men left the office by the outer door which

opened on the stable As they came around by the front of the house

Cle out, you and Doctor Elliot, Uncle Tom?" she called

"Yes, dear; why?"

"Patients?"

"No; we are going down to Georgie K's Tell your o to bed at

once"

When the twobriskly in the keen

frosty air, Ja is not well, is she?"

he said He fairly started at the way in which his question was

received Doctor Gordon turned upon him even fiercely

"She is perfectly well, perfectly well," he replied

"She does not look--" began Janose on a woman's