"No, Doctor, one way or another it is all the same to me."

"Well, boy, I can fix up that vertebra so it won't slip out again....
But, if there's anything in the world to save your life, I don't know
what it is."

"Thank you, Doctor. It's--something to know--what to expect," returned
Lane, with a smile.

"You might live a year--and you might not.... You might improve. God
only knows. Miracles _do_ happen. Anyway, come back to see me."

Lane shook hands with him and went out, passing another patient in the
reception room. Then as Lane opened the door and stepped out upon the
porch he almost collided with a girl who evidently had been about to
come in.

"I beg your----" he began, and stopped. He knew this girl, but the
strained tragic shadow of her eyes was strikingly unfamiliar. The
transparent white skin let the blue tracery of veins show. On the
instant her lips trembled and parted.

"Oh, Daren--don't you know me?" she asked.

"Mel Iden!" he burst out. "Know you? I should smile I do. But it--it
was so sudden. And you're older--different somehow. Mel, you're
sweeter--why you're beautiful."

He clasped her hands and held on to them, until he felt her rather