"By gar, Doc'," grunted the little man between his teeth, "what you goin' to do now, hein! I feel lot bettaire I tink eff I tak a drink." He had not even asked for a drop of water before, nor had he spoken a word. "He may have it," said Sperry, in the voice he used at consultations. The Clown poured a tin cup full of whiskey and the little man drained it to the last drop. "He'll suffer," said Sperry, turning to the trapper, "when the arm begins to swell under the bandage." "Broke bad, Doc'?" asked the trapper. "Yes, a compound fracture; but he'll be all right, my man, in a few weeks." Sperry opened a thin leather case, which he took from his bag, extracted a phial, and shook two whitish gray pills into the trapper's palm. "Give him one in an hour, and another to-night if he can't sleep," he said. He went over to the patient, felt his pulse, then with a nod to the rest, he started toward the door. "Hold on, Doc'!" came from half a dozen in the group of lumber jacks; "won't ye take a leetle somethin' 'fore ye go?" Sperry shook his head and smiled. "No, thank you," he said, half amused. "I seldom take anything before luncheon." "But, say--we'd like to fix it with ye--what's the damage, Doc'?" and half a dozen rough hands went into their trousers pockets. But Sperry only waved his hand in an embarrassed way in protest, and added: "Of course not--what I have done for one of you men, I would do for anybody. I shall see him in the morning"--and he strode out of the shanty. By this time the little Frenchman's eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily--he was dead drunk. "Goll! warn't that an awful hooker ye give him, Freme?" asked the trapper. He turned to the sufferer, now that the doctor had disappeared, and drew an extra blanket tenderly over him. "Wall, he ain't no home'path," replied the Clown with a grin; "'sides, I presume likely he needed all he could git down him." * * * * * The days that followed were full of joy to Alice. Never had Thayor seen her in so merry a mood. Le Boeuf's broken arm had somehow changed Thayor's attitude toward his guest--so much so that the man's personality no longer jarred on him. He concluded that whatever suspicions he had had--and they were never definite--were groundless. Alice was simply bored in New York and Sperry amused her. That was the secret of his success with his women patients; she was bored here, and again Sperry amused her! Why not, then, give her all the pleasure she wanted? With this result fixed in his mind, his attitude to the "Exquisite" changed. He even sought out ways in which his guest's stay could be made happy. "You must see the trout pond, doctor," he would say. "Ah! you don't believe we've got one--but we have; you must show it to the doctor, my dear"--at which her eyes would seek her friend's, only to be met with an answering look and the words: