Fate had brought the doctor in the nick of time to perform an inestimable service to the Motor Maids and to all those who knew and loved Miss Helen Campbell. And through this service to the friends of Miss Campbell, another was to follow,--one filled with danger and interest, which would require all the skill of his profession. About ten o'clock Miss Campbell awoke, refreshed and rested. She took the milk and bread with an appetite. Then she examined the stranger at her bedside with some curiosity. "I suppose they sent for you from the village?" she asked. "I happened to be nearer than that," he answered. Memory was returning by slow degrees. "I had a shock of some sort; or was it a fall? I remember fainting and the next thing I recall was aromatic ammonia and you." The doctor smiled. "I suppose they are all in bed now. They were too tired to sit up." "It was so late, you see," he said apologetically. "They needn't have left me this enormous porch to myself. I know they will hate sleeping down there. Can't Billie come and speak to me?" "I am afraid he's sound asleep by now." "He?" ejaculated the patient. "But, of course, how could you be expected to know my young cousin by name. She is the tall girl with the gray eyes. I think she is beautiful. Perhaps you might not--but you would--" The doctor started. He had heard a stealthy step on the porch below. "You will not think me impertinent if I ask you not to talk?" he said. "Just a few more hours' quiet and you'll be quite fit. I'm going to leave you a moment." Miss Campbell gave him a good natured smile. She liked his fine face and his clear brown eyes. "Very well, doctor," she said. "I see you know your business. I'll be obedient." Taking the lamp he went downstairs. It could hardly be the gray-eyed Billie and her friends returning, he argued. They would never come creeping back in that stealthy manner. "Well, who is it?" he called in a low voice. Mrs. Lupo came out of the shadows and stood before him. "Lady going die?" she asked in a terrified whisper. "Pretty ill, but she's coming around." The woman looked vastly relieved. "Young lady know?" "She has never come back." Mrs. Lupo raised both hands in a gesture of despair. "The marsh--I never told--I'm wicked woman!" she exclaimed. "Good heavens!" said the doctor, "you mean to say you sent them through that bog? It's full of suck holes. You have done enough wickedness for one day. Where is your husband? Hurry up, quick. Wake up the villagers. Get lanterns. Go find them!" Mrs. Lupo seized a lantern from the gallery. "I go myself," she said, and disappeared. All that night Mrs. Lupo searched Table Top. She knew the trail as intimately as the mountain girl, but at dawn she had found nothing. But as the light spread over the marsh, she saw something lying on the very edge of the most dangerous quicksand in the place. It was Nancy's hobble skirt.