“I’m going to stay with him,” Leaver announced, by and by.  Jamie’s little, wasted hand was fast in his, Jamie’s eyes, when they rested anywhere with intelligence, rested on his face—­a face tender and pitiful.

“Good for you.  I shall feel easier about him if you do,” and Burns went away with the feeling that this course would be as good for the surgeon as for the patient.

He stopped in the lower hall to telephone Ellen.

“All safely over, dear,” he said.  “The patient doing well so far, and no reason why he shouldn’t continue, as far as we can see.”

“Oh, I’m so glad, Red,” came back the joyous reply, and Burns responded: 

“That goes without saying, partner.  I’ll tell you a lot more about it, now, when I get back.”

The Green Imp went back at a furious pace.  Half-way home, however, as it neared a figure walking by the roadside, it suddenly slowed down.

“Will you ride home, Miss Photographer?” Burns called.  “Or do you prefer trudging all the way back with that camera and tripod?”

“I’m delighted to ride, Dr. Burns,” replied Charlotte Ruston.  “Captivating roadside views enticed me much farther than I intended, and the camera weighs twice what it did when I started.”

“Jump in, then, and let me give you a piece of good news I’m bursting with,” and Burns held out his hand for the camera.  “You’re getting a beautiful sunburn on that right cheek,” he commented.

“I’ll burn the left to match it, if you won’t drive too fast.  You’ll have to go a little slower while you talk.  I’ve noticed you’re always silent when you’re scorching along the road.”

“So I am, I believe.  Well, I’m not going to be silent now.  I’ve just come from seeing Jamie Ferguson put on the road to future health and happiness, the good Lord willing—­and I’ve a notion He is.”

“Jamie—­the little cripple who lies on his back?”

“The same.  He’ll lie on his back some time longer and then, I think, he’ll get up.”

“You operated on him to-day?  How glad I am!”

“No, I didn’t operate.  It took a better man than I. I’ve never done this particular stunt, and Jamie was not a patient for experiment.  Jack Leaver did the trick, and a finished trick it was, too.  I’m so full of enthusiasm over his performance that I’m bursting with it, as I warned you.”

Charlotte Ruston had turned suddenly to face him.  As he looked at her, with this announcement, he had a view of lovely, startled eyes.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, wondering.  He had to look ahead at the road, but he cut down on the Imp’s speed, so that he could spare a glance at his companion again.  “You look as if I’d given you bad news instead of good.”

“Oh, no!—­oh, no!” she said, in odd, short breaths.  “It’s great—­wonderful!  Poor little fellow!  I’m very glad.  You said—­Dr. Leaver did it?  I was simply—­surprised.”

“Did it brilliantly.  But there’s no occasion for surprise about that.  Having been in Baltimore as much as you have, you must know his position there.  There’s nobody with a bigger reputation.”