"You must let me get out of here as soon as possible, doctor. I have something very important to do!" he cried eagerly. "Love-making, eh?" bantered the doctor, thinking of Roma. "All right, my dear fellow. I shall have you walking about in a few days, I trust; but I warn you it will be a long while before you can do any but left-handed hugging!" "Pshaw!" exclaimed his patient; but he colored up to his brows. He was indeed thinking of how impassionedly he would make love to Liane when he saw her again. "I shall ask her to marry me on the spot!" he decided joyfully, "and--I hope I'm not vain--but I don't believe she will say no. We must be married very soon, so I can take her away from her wretched surroundings. That old grandmother can be pensioned off. She shall never see Liane again after she is my wife. Of course, the world will say I've made a mésalliance, but I'm rich enough to please myself, and my darling is beautiful enough to wear a crown." The doctor found him the most impatient patient in the world. He never complained of the pain in his arm, though it was excruciating. He only chafed at his confinement. "I want to get out," he said. "Doctor, you know I'm one of the judges at the Beauty Show to-morrow night." "I'm going to let you go with your arm in a sling. Hang it all, I wouldn't miss it myself for anything! Say, there's more than one beauty in Stonecliff, but it goes without saying that you judges will award the prize to Miss Clarke, eh?" cried the jocose physician. CHAPTER X. ROMA SEEKS A NEW MAID. Roma's rage and grief at her mother's failure to set matters straight between her and Devereaux were beyond all expression. But, for very pride's sake, she concealed the deepest bitterness of her heart. She could not accuse her gentle mother of wanton carelessness, for the tears stood in her deep-blue eyes as she told the story of her interview, concluding sadly: "Do not think, my darling, that I did not do my best to bring him to reason, putting pride away, and telling him how devotedly you loved him, and that it would break your heart to lose him now. He was cold and unresponsive to all my pleadings, and as good as said he was glad to be free of you. I confess I lost my temper at the last, and told him I despised him, before I came away." Roma did not speak, she only tapped the rich carpet with a restless foot, indicative of a white heat of repressed anger; but Mrs. Clarke did not read her mood aright; she thought she was bearing the blow with fortitude. In her keen sympathy she exclaimed: "It is a cruel blow to your pride and love, my daughter, and I only wish I knew how to comfort you." Roma lifted her white face and glittering eyes to Mrs. Clarke's anxious scrutiny, and actually laughed--a strange, mirthless laugh, that chilled her mother's blood. Then she said, with seeming coolness: