"There's one in the house. I'll send Dr. Hoyle right up, Mr. Ryder," said the clerk. "Hoyle won't thank you for troubling him," Miss Solomons sneered. But as Mrs. Judson began on another spasm she did not leave Ruth all the work of holding the large lady upon the couch. "My soul! this is awful!" groaned Ryder, coming back just as Mrs. Judson began another series of convulsions, for which indulgence in public she was not dressed exactly right. "Say!" exclaimed the house detective to Ryder. "This is no place for a man. You had better go." "Hang it!" groaned Ryder, realizing that Miss Solomons was right, and starting for the door again. "Why couldn't she have gone somewhere else to have her fit?" Just then the doctor's welcome knock sounded. Ryder let him in. The medical man appeared, candle in one hand and his black case in the other. The ridiculousness of walking about this big hotel carrying a candle stuck into the neck of a whisky bottle did not appear to strike any of them at the moment as humorous. Dr. Hoyle was a young but very businesslike practitioner. He handed his candle to Ryder, strode down the room, and sat down beside the widow, one end of whom each of the other women was trying to hold to the couch. "Half a glass of water, please," he said to Ruth. "Let her go, Miss Solomons. She isn't going to kick any more now." "Gee!" gasped the house detective, getting up from her knees and striking her usual attitude, one hand on her hip and the other clutching the paper novel. The doctor selected a vial from his case, dropped a little of its contents into the water, which instantly turned the water cloudy and white; then held the glass to the patient's lips. "Drink this," he commanded. Mrs. Judson's jaws seemed to be locked and her eyes were tightly closed. She breathed stertorously. Ryder, looking on from afar, was actually frightened. If that woman dared to die in this room---- "Drink this, Mrs. Judson!" said the doctor again. No result. Then the professional man leaned forward, with the glass still at her lips, and, seizing the large lady's nose, deliberately wrung it! The seemingly fixed jaws unlocked instantly and Mrs. Judson uttered an entirely different cry from her former painful sounds. "Gee!" sighed Miss Solomons again, but with satisfaction. "This is no place for us, Mister. Come on! Dr. Hoyle can manage her without our help," and she started for the door. CHAPTER XI THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES "Drink this!" the doctor said again to the large lady, and, choking and sputtering, Mrs. Judson did as she was told. Ryder looked on in amazement. Ruth, seeing his face, and Miss Solomon's back being turned, broke into a giggle and cast herself helplessly into Ryder's arms. "Oh! you funny, funny man!" she murmured. "I like to see a doctor work over a woman with hysterics--they know 'em so well!"