"I could do that on a barn-yard fence, couldn't I--like Chantecler, and make the sun rise?" "You could never get up early enough." "I flew past your window at six." "How did you know it was my window?" Justin glanced down at her. Her soft white hat was pulled low, so that it almost hid her eyes, but through the veil he could see that they were softly shining. Her lips were red, and her cheeks touched by the wind with vivid color. "I knew--because my heart told me," he said, ardently. But she did not blush. "You knew it because you know which is Diana's guest room," she stated. "Were you awake?" "No. I am never awake at six--I love to be lazy." "Don't tell that to Dr. Anthony or he'll set you to weaving. You know what I told you; he said that idleness leads to weakness or wickedness----" "I haven't had time to see what it leads to," Bettina informed him. "I've always been so busy. I'm going to play for a while." "Will you play with me?" Justin challenged her. Shining eyes met shining eyes--youth responded to youth. "It will be glorious," said Bettina, meeting his mood. They laughed together, the care-free laughter of their golden age. Diana, catching the echo of it, waked from a reverie which had to do with Anthony back there in a big, bare room, contending with skilful and steady hands against the evil forces which sought to destroy; saving a life, giving to a little unknown girl a future of hope and of health. Every breath that she had drawn since she had left him had been a prayer that his hand might not fail, that his nerves might be like steel--she felt as if her heart were beating with his to uphold him, as if she could bear him on the wings of love and be his talisman against harm. Yet in front of her was the girl he was to marry, laughing lightly up into the eyes of a boy, unconscious of her lover's need, unconscious of everything except that she was young and free from care--and that the morning world was beautiful! CHAPTER VIII THE EMPTY HOUSE When the doctor came that night he was tired. The day had been a hard one, and he felt weighed down by the woes of those weak folk who bore so heavily on his strength. He found Bettina alone. Diana and Sophie had gone to play bridge across the harbor, and only Delia in the garden and Peter Pan on the porch remained for chaperonage. Bettina greeted her betrothed soberly, and held up her face to be kissed. "I said things about you yesterday," she confessed, as she and Anthony settled themselves on the porch where they could look out upon the lights. "I said things about you to Diana, and afterward we went to the Pirate House with Justin Ford for lunch, and I flirted with him----" "What did you say about me?" "That I hated your surgery--that it seemed dreadful." He had been smiling, but he grew grave at once. "You can't separate me from my work, child; you must take us together."