By and by the hours began to drag with him. The invalid could not get well fast enough to keep pace with his impatience. The day she was able for the first time to sit up a while, in an armchair wheeled by the bedside, was a fete day to the four Americans in the Couronne hotel. If Lynde did not exhaust his entire inheritance in cut flowers on this occasion, it was because Dr. Pendegrast objected to them in any profusion in a sick-chamber. "When am I to see her?" asked Lynde that evening, as the doctor dropped into the room to make his usual report. "Let me think. To-day is Tuesday--perhaps we shall let you see her by Friday or Saturday." "Good heavens! why don't you put it off thirty or forty years?" "I haven't the time," returned Dr. Pendegrast, laughing. "Seriously, she will not be strong enough until then to bear the least excitement. I am not going to run any risks with Ruth, I can tell you. You are very impatient, of course. I will give you a soothing draught." "What is it?" "A piece of information." "I'll take it!" "And a piece of advice." "I'll take that, too; you can't frighten me." "It is a betrayal of confidence on my part," said the doctor slowly, and with an air of reconsidering his offer. "No matter." "Well, then, Ruth's asking for you, the other night, rather amazed Denham when he came to think it over quietly, and Mrs. Denham judged it best to inform him of the conversation which took place between you and her the morning you set out for Paris. Denham was still more amazed. She had attempted to cure him of one astonishment by giving him another. Similia similibus curantur did not work that time. Then the two came to me for consultation, and I told them I thought Ruth's case required a doctor of divinity rather than a doctor of medicine." "Did you say that!" "Certainly I did. I strongly advised an operation, and designated the English church here as a proper place in which to have it performed. Moreover, as a change of air would be beneficial as soon as might be afterwards, I suggested for the invalid a short trip to Geneva--with not too much company. My dear fellow, you need not thank me; I am looking exclusively to Ruth's happiness--yours can come in incidentally, if it wants to. Mrs. Denham is YOUR ally." "Is she, indeed? I thought differently. And Ruth"-- "Ruth," interposed the doctor, with a twinkle in his eyes, "Ruth is the good little girl in the primer who doesn't speak until she's spoken to." "By Jove, she doesn't speak even then! I have tried her twice: once she evaded me, and once she refused to listen." "The results of her false education," said the doctor sententiously. Lynde laughed. "To what view of the question does Mr. Denham incline?" he asked. "Denham is not as unreasonable as he used to be; but he is somewhat stunned by the unexpectedness of the thing." "That's the information; and now for the advice, Doctor."