Dr. Carey settled down for the evening with some inexplicable misgiving he could not overcome. "I didn't sleep well last night, Bo Peep," he said when he rose late the next morning. "I reckon we doctors get so used to being called out on especially bad nights we can't rest decently in our beds." "I didn't sleep well, nutheh," Bo Peep replied. "I kep thinkin' bout that man come heah foh you yestedy. I jes wa'n't gwine to le' yuh go out again las' night." "What did he want?" the doctor asked, secretly appreciative of Bo Peep's goodness of heart as he saw the street full of whirling snow. "He done said hit wah a maturity case." Bo Peep tried to speak carelessly. In truth, his conscience had not left him in peace a moment. "What do you mean? Who was it?" Horace Carey demanded. "Don't be mad, Doctah, please don't. Hit wah cuz you all wah done woah out las' night. Hit wah Misteh Shulley from Grass Riveh, suh. He said hit wah Misteh Asheh Aydelot's wife--" "For the love of God!" Horace Carey cried hoarsely, springing up. "Do you know who Mrs. Aydelot is, Bo Peep?" "No, suh; neveh see huh." "She was Virginia Thaine of the old Thaine family back at home." Bo Peep did not sit down. He fell in a heap at Dr. Carey's feet, moaning grievously. "Fo' Gawd, I neveh thought o' harm. I jus' thought o' you all, deed I did. Oh! Oh!" "Help to get me off then," Carey commanded, and Bo Peep flew to his tasks. When the doctor was ready to start he found two horses waiting outside in the storm and Bo Peep, wrapped to the eyes, beside them. "Why two?" he asked kindly, for Bo Peep's face was so full of sorrow he could not help pitying the boy. "Please, kaint I go with you all? I can cook betteh'n Miss Virginia eveh could, an' I can be lots of help an' you all'll need help." "But it's a stinger of a storm, Bo Peep," the doctor insisted, anxious to be off. "Neveh mind! Neveh mind! Lemme go. I won't complain of no stom." And the doctor let him go. It was already dark at the Sunflower Ranch when the two, after hours of battling with wind and snow and bitter cold, reached the cabin door. Bo Peep, instead of giving up early or hanging a dead weight on Dr. Carey's hands, as he had feared the boy might do, had been the more hopeful of the two in all the journey. The hardship was Bo Peep's penance, and right merrily, after the nature of a merry-hearted race, he took his punishment. Jim Shirley, putting wood on the kitchen fire, bent low as he heard the piteous moanings from the sick room. "Oh, Lord, if you can work miracles work one now," he pleaded below his breath. "Bring help out of this storm or give us sense to do the best for her. We need her so, dear Lord. We need her so." He lifted his eyes to see Horace Carey between himself and the bedroom door, slipping out of his snowy coat. And beside him stood Bo Peep, helping him to get ready for the sick room.