The doctor grinned at Virginia, who gave him a slightly embarrassed glance; and Benson noting it, felt somehow that he was in the way; yet he followed the physician into the hall and closed the door. In the library, Dr. Harrison promptly divested himself of his outer coat and fell to warming his hands before the fire. Benson stood at a little distance fingering the rim of his hat, and wondering who was ill since it was not Virginia. “You must have had a very disagreeable ride, doctor,” Virginia was saying. “I'll leave Jacob to speak of that; he couldn't have enjoyed it any more than I did.” He smiled again; then picking up his case of medicines he quitted the room. “Won't you come nearer the fire, Mr. Benson?” said Virginia; her words were civil enough, but there was the old hostility in her manner, which Benson had never been able to explain. “I rather fear I've chosen a poor time for my call,” he observed. “If it is to see Mrs. Walsh—” “It is to see Mrs. Walsh,” he replied. “She is not well.” “I'm very sorry. It's nothing serious, I hope?” he said. He drew forward a chair, and seated himself with no little composure before the fire. “I am not detaining you?” he said suddenly, half rising. “No, I think not; Martha is with her.” He wondered vaguely at her reticence regarding Jane. “There's a good deal of sickness,” he said, as one presenting a valuable fact for her consideration. “So I hear.” “I fear her affairs are in a rather bad way,” he continued, suddenly recalled to the ostensible purpose of his visit. “You have heard from her husband's brother then?” said Virginia quickly. “Not from him personally, but from a lawyer in New York for whom I occasionally transact business here.” “Oh!” and Virginia waited for him to go on. “I gather that this brother of Walsh's is entirely irresponsible. In the first place his business did not fail; he disposed of it at a remunerative figure.” “And the money which was left for Jane is lost?” asked Virginia. “That seems to be the case. In fact Walsh has himself sailed for California.”