"You will pass my house on that road," continued Doctor Davison. "But
when you come to town you must not pass it."

"Sir?" she asked him, surprised.

"Not without stopping to see me," he explained, his eyes twinkling
more than ever. And then he left her and went back to his seat.

But Ruth found, when he had gone, that the choke came back into her
throat again and the sting of unshed tears to her eyes. But she would
not let those same tears fall!

She stared out of the plate-glass window and saw that it was now quite
dark. The whistle of the fast-flying locomotive shrieked its
long-drawn warning, and a group of signal lights flashed past. Then
she heard the loud ringing of a gong at a grade crossing. They must be
nearing Cheslow now.

And then she saw that they were on a curve quite a sharp curve, for
she saw the lights of the locomotive and the mail car far ahead upon
the gleaming rails. They began to slow down, too, and the wheels
wailed under the pressure of the brakes.

She could see the signal lights along the tracks ahead and then-- with
a start, for she knew what it meant-- a sharp red flame appeared out
of the darkness beyond the rushing engine pilot.

Danger! That is what that red light meant. The brakes clamped down
upon the wheels again so suddenly that the easily-riding coach jarred