greeted Dr. Farnham. And the voice was as thrilling in its tone as
the face was in its expression. "But," he suddenly exclaimed, as his
eyes met mine, "this is not Mrs. Gannon." And he hurriedly drew the
doctor down the hall. "Why have you brought this young girl?" he
asked, in tones which, however lowered, I could easily distinguish.
"Didn't you know there were reasons why we especially wanted an
elderly person?"

"No," I heard the doctor say, and then, his back being towards me, I
lost the rest of his speech till the words, "She is no gossip," came
to salute me and make me ask myself if there was a secret skeleton
in this house, that they feared so much the eyes of a stranger.

"But," the young man went hurriedly on, "she is not at all the kind
of person to have over my mother. How could we----" and there his
voice fell so as to become unintelligible.

But the doctor's sudden exclamation helped me out.

"What!" he wonderingly cried, "do you intend to sit up too?"

"I or my brother," was the calm response, "Would you expect us to
leave her alone with a stranger?"

The doctor made no answer, and the young man, taking a step
sidewise, threw me a glance full of anxiety and trouble.

"I don't like it," he murmured; "but there must be a woman of some
kind in the room, and a stranger----"