Evelyn was relieved to hear it; but Carroll, who had paused, continued: "As soon as the doctor comes, we'll make him more presentable; but as I'm not sure about the last bandages I put on, he can't be moved till then. Afterwards, he'll no doubt hold an audience." There was nothing to do but wait, and Evelyn again summoned her patience. Before long a doctor arrived, and Carroll followed him to Vane's room alone. The latter's face was very impassive, though Carroll waited in tense suspense while the doctor stripped off the bandages and bark supports from the injured leg. He examined it attentively, and then looked round at Carroll. "You fixed that limb when it was broken in the bush?" he said. "Yes," said Carroll, with a desperate attempt to treat the matter humourously. "But I really think we both had a hand in the thing. My partner favoured me with his views; I disclaim some of the responsibility." "Then I guess you've been remarkably fortunate, which is perhaps the best way of expressing it." Vane raised his head and fixed his eyes upon the speaker. "It won't have to be rebroken? I'll be able to walk without a limp?" "I should say the latter's very probable." Vane's eyes glistened and he let his head fall back. "It's good news; better than I expected. Now if you could fix me up again, I'd like to get dressed. I've felt like a hobo long enough." The doctor nodded indulgently. "We can venture to change that state of affairs, but I'll superintend the operation." It was some time before Vane's toilet was completed, and then Carroll surveyed him with humorous admiration. "You do us credit, and now I suppose I can announce that you'll receive?" he said. Nairn and his wife and Evelyn came in, and the former, who shook hands with Vane very heartily, afterwards looked down at him with twinkling eyes. "I'd have been glad to see ye, however ye had come," he said, and Vane fully believed him. "For a' that, this is no the way I could have wished to welcome ye." "When a man won't take his friends' advice, what can he expect?" said Vane. "Let it be a warning. If the making of your mark and dollars is your object, ye must stick to it and think of nothing else. Ye cannot accumulate riches by spreading yourself, and philanthropy's no lucrative, except maybe to a few." "It's good counsel, but I'm thinking that's a pity," his wife remarked. "What would ye say, Evelyn?" The girl was aware that the tone of light banter had been adopted to cover deeper feelings, which those present shrank from expressing; but she ventured to give her thoughts free rein. "I agree with you in one respect," she said. "But I can't believe that the object mentioned is Mr. Vane's only one. He would never be willing to pay the necessary price." It was a delicate compliment, uttered in all sincerity, and Vane's worn face grew warm. He was, however, conscious that it would be safer to avoid being serious, and he smiled.