In the upper hall he saw the dim light that burns through the night in a house of sickness. He had been there early in the evening; if he thought the nurse was up he would like to stop again. But he considered that it must be almost one--too late for disturbing them. He hoped Mr. Holland was having a good night; he would not have many more nights to get through. He wished there was some one of them to whom he could talk about sending for Ruth. They had not sent for her when her mother died, but that was sudden, everyone was panic-stricken. And that was only two years after Ruth's going away; time had not worked much then on their feeling against her. He would have to answer her letter and tell her that her father could not live. He wanted to have the authority to tell her to come home. Anything else seemed fairly indecent in its lack of feeling. Eleven years--and Ruth had never been home; and she loved her father--though of course no one in the town would believe _that_. His car had slowed almost to a stop; there was a low whistle from the porch and someone was coming down the steps. It was Ted Holland--Ruth's younger brother. "Hello, Deane," he said, coming out to him; "thinking of coming in?" "No, I guess not; it's pretty late. I was just passing, and wondering about your father." "He went to sleep; seems quiet, and about the same." "That's good; hope it will keep up through the night." The young fellow did not reply. The doctor was thinking that it must be lonely for him--all alone on the porch after midnight, his father dying upstairs, no member of the immediate family in the house. "Sent for Cy, Ted?" he asked. Cyrus was the older brother, older than both Ted and Ruth. It was he who had been most bitter against Ruth. Deane had always believed that if it had not been for Cyrus the rest of them would not have hardened into their pain and humiliation like that. Ted nodded. "I had written, and today, after you said what you did, I wired. I had an answer tonight. He has to finish up a deal that will take him a few days, but I am to keep him informed--I told him you said it might be a couple of weeks--and he'll come the first minute he can." There was a pause. Deane wanted to say: "And Ruth?" but that was a hard thing to say to one of the Hollands. But Ted himself mentioned her. "Tell you what I'm worrying about, Deane," he blurted out, "and that's Ruth!" Deane nodded appreciatively. He had always liked this young Ted, but there was a new outgoing to him for this. "Father asked for her this afternoon. I don't care whether he was just right in his mind or not--it shows she's _on_ his mind. 'Hasn't Ruth come in yet!' he asked, several times." "You send for her, Ted," commanded the doctor. "You ought to. I'll back you up if Cy's disagreeable." "He'll be disagreeable all right," muttered the younger brother.