"I see Miss Levice here; don't come down," Kemp was saying. :What further
directions I have must be given to a woman."

"Stay with Mamma, Father," called Ruth, looking up at her hesitating
father; "I shall see the doctor out;" and she quickly ran down the few
remaining steps to Kemp, awaiting her at the foot. She opened the door of
the library, and closing it quickly behind them, turned to him expectantly.

"Nothing to be alarmed at," he said, answering her mute inquiry. He seated
himself at the table, and drew from his vest-pocket pencil and blank.
Without another glance at the girl, he wrote rapidly for some minutes; then
quickly moving back his chair, he arose and handed her the two slips of
paper.

"The first is a tonic which you will have made up," he explained, picking
up his gloves and hat and moving toward the door; "the other is a diet
which you are to observe. As I told her just now, she must remain in bed
and see no one but her immediate family; you must see that she hears and
reads nothing exciting. That is all, I think."

Indignation and alarm held riot in Ruth's face and arrested the doctor's
departure.

"Dr. Kemp," she said, "you force me to remind you of a promise you made me
last night. Will you at least tell me what ails my mother that you use
such strenuous measures?"

A flash of recollection came to the doctor's eyes.

"Why, this is an unpardonable breach upon my part, Miss Levice; but I will