Miss Eastman inquired about other children, one by one, as though calling the roll. At first he evaded her questioning, giving such vague and equivocal replies that presently she clearly understood the situation. "It is epidemic," she said, "and you have been keeping this from me. How long since it began?" "The worst is over," he answered, with something of the old heartiness that made the sick take courage even in their hour of darkest trial. But he was reluctant to talk much of conditions in Duck Town; and presently, during a lull in the conversation, Miss Eastman laid the pieces of the broken miniature on the table before him. "Was this David's mother?" she asked. As the man took up the two parts of the broken portrait he glanced apprehensively toward the top of his desk. The picture which used to stand there was gone. "Where did you get this?" he questioned. "As soon as they get into trousers they get into mischief," she replied, and again she asked whether that was a picture of the little boy's mother. With gentle fingers Dr. Redfield fitted the parts of the picture together, sorrowfully shook his head over them, and then, as a wan smile creased his tired face, he said:-- "David asked me if she was _my_ mother. Has the little rogue been claiming her for _his_?" Miss Eastman slowly answered: "She does look a little like--" "Yes," the doctor interrupted, "more than that, I should say--more than a little like David's mother. From the first time I saw that poor dear woman I thought so, and yet I was never quite sure that my fancy had not created the resemblance. It was an unaccountable likeness, and yet so strong a one that it meant much, very much to me." "I must take this home again," she said, "for to-morrow David is to bring it back to you. He must tell you all about it--how he got into trouble. We shall come early in the morning, and he will stay here with Mrs. Botz, while I go with you." "Go with me?" The bushy eyebrows of Dr. Redfield raised with inquiring astonishment. "You cannot go on forever like this," she replied. "You must let others help. I think I can be rather useful down there in Duck Town. I shall be here early in the morning to go with you." The Doctor said nothing. He merely clasped the woman's hand in his two hands, and the look in his face was the look of that little boy called David, when somebody has been good to him. CHAPTER XIII THE SUBSTITUTE To Mrs. Wilson, the neighbor who had spent the better part of two hours with David, Miss Eastman was saying, "_Must_ you go?" Surely it is conclusive proof of superior intelligence in womankind that any of the sex can understand when she is wanted and when she is not wanted, although the idea in either case is conveyed in precisely the same words.