"Poor Mrs. Preston! I'll go right down and see her. I've been thinking for a week that I'd take a run on my bike down that way. But things have been so queer, you know, that I didn't feel--you understand?" The doctor nodded and rose to go. Miss M'Gann's note was more jarring than the kindly old dentist's. "Oh, you aren't going!" Miss M'Gann protested regretfully. "I want to ask so many questions. I am _so_ glad to see you. I feel that I know you _very_ well. Mr. Dresser, your intimate friend, has spoken to me about you. Such an interesting man, a little erratic, like a genius, you know." As Sommers remained stiffly mute, Miss M'Gann's remarks died away. "There is nothing more to tell," he said, getting up. "Of course Mrs. Preston has had a very serious strain, and I,--her friends,--must see that she has rest." "Sure," Miss M'Gann broke in warmly; "now a lot of us girls are going up to Plum Lake, Michigan, for four weeks. It would be good for her to be with a nice party--" "We will see," the doctor said coldly. Later Miss M'Gann said to one of her friends: "Talkin' to him is like rubbing noses with an iceberg. He's one of your regular freeze-you-up, top-notchy eastern swells." "Perhaps it would be well if Mrs. Preston came here to stay with you for a few days. I will ask her," Sommers suggested, as he shook hands. "Certainly," Miss M'Gann replied warmly, "first-class house, good society, reasonable rates, and all that." But the doctor was bowing himself out. 'He's taking some interest in the fair widow's welfare,' Miss M'Gann commented, as she watched him from behind the hall-door curtain. 'I hope he won't get the d. t.'s like number one, and live off her. Think she'd have had warning to wait a reasonable time.' Meantime Sommers was musing over the "breezy" and "lively" Miss M'Gann, who, he judged, contributed much to the gayety of the Keystone Hotel. He had been hasty in suggesting that Alves might find a refuge in the Keystone. It would be for a few days, however, for he planned--he was rather vague about what he had planned. He wondered if there would be much of Miss M'Gann in the future, their future, and he longed to get away, to take Alves and fly.