CHAPTER VI.


"Hark: I hear the sound of coaches,
The hour of attack approaches."
GAY.


Mrs. Pritchard had arrayed Fleda in the white muslin, with an
amount of satisfaction and admiration that all the lines of
her face were insufficient to express.

"Now," she said, "you must just run down and let the doctor
see you, afore you take the shine off, or he wont be able to
look at anything else when you get to the place."

"That would be unfortunate!" said Fleda, and she ran down,
laughing, into the room where the doctor was waiting for her;
but her astonished eyes encountering the figure of Dr.
Quackenboss, she stopped short, with an air that no woman of
the world could have bettered. The physician of Queechy, on
his part, was at least equally taken aback.

"Dr. Quackenboss!" said Fleda.

"I — I was going to say, Miss Ringgan!" said the doctor, with
a most unaffected obeisance, "but — a — I am afraid, Sir, it
is a deceptive influence!"