"Do you think his reason came before the fit or after?" asked the girl,
anxiously.

"I couldn't say. Had anything happened?"

"I was away, and found him on the floor on my return," she answered,
half uneasily. After a pause she said, "Then he has told you his name
and all about himself?"

"Yes, it's nothing at all! He was a stranger just arrived from the
States, going to the mines--the old story; had no near relations, of
course; wasn't missed or asked after; remembers walking along the ridge
and falling over; name, John Baxter, of Maine." He paused, and relaxing
into a slight smile, added, "I haven't spoiled your romance, have I?"

"No," she said, with an answering smile. Then as the doctor walked
briskly away she slightly knitted her pretty brows, hung her head,
patted the ground with her little foot beyond the hem of her gown, and
said to herself, "The man was lying to him."


CHAPTER III


On her return to the house, Josephine apparently contented herself with
receiving the bulletin of the stranger's condition from the servant, for
she did not enter his room. She had obtained no theory of last night's
incident from her parents, who, beyond a querulous agitation that was
quickened by the news of his return to reason, refrained from even that