She was firm upon this point, so he went below to do what else he might. At the telephone he found the explanation of his inability to get the house in the fact that the receiver was hanging loose. It was another accusation. Doubtless in her weakened condition she had dropped it from her hand and turned away, too dazed to replace it. The hot shame of it dried his tongue so that he could scarcely make himself understood. In spite of this he accomplished many things in a very few minutes. The operator gave him the number of a near-by reliable nurse, and finding her in, he sent off the cab for her. Then through an employment bureau he secured a cook who agreed to reach the house within an hour. He then telephoned the nearest market and ordered everything he could think of from beefsteak to fruit, and to this added everything the marketman could think of. He had no sooner finished than the nurse arrived. By the greatest good luck Miss Colson proved to be young, cheerful, and capable. She followed Donaldson upstairs and succeeded in winning the confidence of both the girl and Marie at once. Donaldson left them together. A little while later he was allowed to come up again. "I feel like an unfaithful knight," he said, as he entered. "I deserve to be dismissed without a word." "Because you slept? It was not your fault. I fear I have left you little time for rest." "Why did n't you tell them to break down the doors--to _get_ me!" Her face clouded for a moment. She saw how chagrined he still felt. "Don't blame yourself," she pleaded. "It's all over anyway and you 've done everything possible. You 've been very thoughtful." "I was a fool to leave you here. I should have stayed." "That was impossible." Donaldson marveled that she could pass off the whole episode so generously. He refrained from questioning her further as to what had happened. It was unnecessary, for he knew well enough. "Let us choose a pleasanter subject," she said. "Tell me how you became a great hero." "A sorry hero," he answered, not understanding what she meant. "No. No. It was fine! It was fine!" He was bewildered. "You don't mean to say you have n't seen the papers--but then, of course, you have n't, if you were asleep all day Sunday. Please bring me that pile in the corner." He handed them to her and she unfolded the first page of the uppermost paper. He found himself confronting a picture of himself as he had stood, the centre of an admiring crowd, in front of the big machine which had so nearly killed Bobby. He shared the first page with the latest guesses concerning the Riverside robberies. "Well," he stammered, "I 'd forgotten all about that!" "Forgotten such an act! You don't half realize what a hero you are. Listen to the headlines, 'Heroic Rescue,' 'Young Lawyer Gives Remarkable Exhibition of Nerve,' 'The Name of Lawyer Donaldson Mentioned for Carnegie Medal,' 'Bravest Deed of the Year,' 'Faced Death Unflinchingly.'"