"I have come on purpose for you," he put in, authoritatively. "It is an urgent case; do not keep me waiting." "But, sir," she persisted, "it is impossible. I am expected early in the morning at Scott's Corners, and was just going to bed when you came in, in order to get a little sleep before taking the train." "Dr. Perry's case?" "Yes." He frowned, and I am not sure but what he uttered a mild oath. At all events, he seemed very much put out. I immediately drew near. "Oh, sir," I cried, "if you would have confidence in me. I am not unused to the work, and----" His stare frightened me, it was so searching and so keen. "Who are you?" he asked. I told him, and Mrs. Gannon put in a word for me. I was reliable, she said, and if too much experience was not wanted, would do better than such and such a one--naming certain persons, probably neighbors. But the doctor's steady look told me he relied more on his own judgment than on anything she or I could say. "Can you hold your tongue?" he asked. I started. Who would not have done so? "I see that you can," he muttered, and glanced down at my dress. "When can you be ready?" he inquired. "You may be wanted for days, and it may be only for hours." "Will ten minutes be soon enough?" I asked. A smile difficult to fathom crossed his firm lip. "I will give you fifteen," he said, and turned towards the door. But on the threshold he paused and looked back. "You have not asked who or what your patient is," he grimly suggested. "No," I answered shortly. "Well," said he, "it is Mrs. Pollard, and she is going to die." Mrs. Pollard! Mrs. Gannon and I involuntarily turned and looked at each other. "Mrs. Pollard!" repeated the good nurse, wonderingly. "I did not know she was sick." "She wasn't this noon. It is a sudden attack. Apoplexy we call it. She fell at the news of Mr. Barrows' death." And with this parting shot, he went out and closed the door behind him. I sank, just a little bit weakened, on the lounge, then rose with renewed vigor. "The work has fallen into the right hands," thought I. "Ada would wish me to leave her for such a task as this." And yet I was troubled. For though this sudden prostration of Mrs. Pollard, on the hearing of her young pastor's sorrowful death, seemed to betoken a nature of more than ordinary sensibility, I had always heard that she was a hard woman, with an eye of steel and a heart that could only be reached through selfish interests. But then she was the magnate of the place, the beginning and end of the aristocracy of S----; and when is not such a one open to calumny? I was determined to reserve my judgment.