and say I shall be prevented from coming to her to-night by a call that
was not to be disregarded,"

"It was madness of you, Miss Durant, to come out without a cloak, and I
insist on your wearing this," said the doctor, the moment the carriage had
started, as he removed his own overcoat.

"Oh, I forgot--but I mustn't take it from you, Dr. Armstrong."

"Have no thought of me. I am twice as warmly clad as you, and am better
protected than usual."

Despite her protest he placed it about Constance's shoulders and buttoned
it up. "You know," he said, "the society girl with her bare throat and
arms is at once the marvel and the despair of us doctors, for every dinner
or ball ought to have its death-list from pneumonia; but it never--"

"Will it be a very painful operation?" asked the girl.

"Not at all; and the anaesthetic prevents consciousness. If Swot were a
little older, I should not have had to trouble you. It is a curious fact
that boys, as a rule, face operations more bravely than any other class of
patient we have."

"I wonder why that is?" queried Constance.

"It is due to the same ambition which makes cigarette-smokers of them--a
desire to be thought manly."

Once the carriage reached the hospital, Constance followed the doctor up