helter-skelter process occupied her mind.

Then there came a scene which stayed. It was dim at first; she was
more thoroughly aware of the sound of voices than anything else.
Then she saw clearly.

She--that is, her agent--was in some sort of a room, giving
instructions to a group of white-clad figures. Before Billie could
concentrate upon what was being said the talk ceased; and next
moment, amid perfect silence, the agent bent over something which
lay on a high table.

Whereupon Billie got a severe jolt. For, unless she was most
woefully mistaken, the thing she was now looking at was the
unconscious form of a patient; the place was the operating-room of a
hospital; and the eyes she was using belonged to a surgeon.

She watched breathlessly. The surgeon's nimble fingers proceeded
with the utmost unconcern to open wide the patient's torso. Other
pairs of hands, belonging to nurses, aided in this; and Billie found
the intricate process decidedly interesting rather than otherwise.
Of course she was spared the odor of blood.

As soon as the ribs were entirely displaced, the lungs were
carefully laid aside. Extraordinary delicacy seemed called for here.
Billie shortly began to wonder if it were not high time to quit when
her agent, assisted as before, calmly exposed the patient's heart to
full view.

Billie could see it throbbing; more, she could hear it. She watched