"I can't exactly go on," she said. "I don't want you to take me for a fool. Only, don't you suppose that you and I, ourselves, must throw out some influence that is not seen with the eyes or heard with the ears? Don't we affect every one near us with our good and evil? Don't we affect the people who live above and below in apartments, or to the right and left in houses? Doesn't strength or weakness come through wood and iron and stone? Didn't it come through this wall, Doctor?" "My dear Miss Peters," said I, shrugging my shoulders, "how can I say? I can only tell you that you have just finished the longest, the most human, and, on the whole, in the best sense, the most scientific observation I have ever known you to make." CHAPTER II "WHY CARE?" There is the tale, all told. Many may want to ask me my theories. I have none. My story, except as to form, is like the data I keep in every case which comes before my notice--it is a somewhat incomplete and matter-of-fact section out of human life. Like poor MacMechem I try to keep my mind open. I simply offer a narrative of the sequence of events. One thing only troubles me. Did Margaret Murchie lie when she said Mrs. Estabrook was the daughter of Cranch? or when she said that she was the daughter of Judge Colfax? And to this question many will say, "Why care?" Others will decide--each for himself. THE END * * * * * * TITLES SELECTED FROM GROSSET & DUNLAP'S LIST May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list THE SIEGE OF THE SEVEN SUITORS. By Meredith Nicholson. Illustrated by C. Coles Phillips and Reginald Birch. Seven suitors vie with each other for the love of a beautiful girl, and she subjects them to a test that is full of mystery, magic and sheer amusement. THE MAGNET. By Henry C. Rowland. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood. The story of a remarkable courtship involving three pretty girls on a yacht, a poet-lover in pursuit, and a mix-up in the names of the girls. THE TURN OF THE ROAD. By Eugenia Brooks Frothingham. A beautiful young opera singer chooses professional success instead of love, but comes to a place in life where the call of the heart is stronger than worldly success. SCOTTIE AND HIS LADY. By Margaret Morse. Illustrated by Harold M. Brett. A young girl whose affections have been blighted is presented with a Scotch Collie to divert her mind, and the roving adventures of her pet lead the young mistress into another romance. SHEILA VEDDER. By Amelia E. Barr. Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher. A very beautiful romance of the Shetland Islands, with a handsome, strong-willed hero and a lovely girl of Gaelic blood as heroine. A sequel to "Jan Vedder's Wife." JOHN WARD, PREACHER. By Margaret Deland.