“Hm—­m,” was his reply as he thrust his arms into his white office-jacket.  “Well, best wake her up, though it seems a pity.  Looks as if she’d been on a hunger strike, eh?” he added under his breath.

Miss Mathewson had the girl awake again in a minute, and she sat up, an expression of contrition crossing her face as she caught sight of the big doctor at the other side of the room, his back toward her.  When Burns turned, at Amy’s summons, he beheld the slim figure sitting straight on the edge of the broad couch, the brown eyes fixed on him.

“Tired out?” he asked pleasantly.  “Take this chair, please, so I can see all you have to tell me—­and a few things you don’t tell me.”

It did not take him long.  His eyes on the face which was too flushed, his fingers on the pulse which beat too fast, his thermometer registering a temperature too high, all told him that here was work for him.  The questions he asked brought replies which confirmed his fears.  Nothing in his manner indicated, however, that he was doing considerable quick thinking.  His examination over, he sat back in his chair and began a second series of questions, speaking in a more than ordinarily quiet but cheerful way.

“Will you tell me just a bit about your personal affairs?” he asked.  “I understand that you come from some distance.  Have you a home and family?”

“No family—­for the last two years, since my father died.”

“And no home?”

“If I am ill, Doctor Burns, I will look after myself.”

He studied her.  The brown eyes met the scrutinizing hazel ones without flinching.  Whether or not the spirit flinched he could not be sure.  The hazel eyes were very kindly.

“You have relatives somewhere whom we might let know of this?”

She shook her head determinedly.  Her head lifted ever so little.

“You are quite alone in the world?”

“For all present purposes—­yes, Doctor Burns.”

“I can’t just believe,” he said gently, “that it is not very important to somebody to know if you are ill.”

“It is just my affair,” she answered with equal courtesy of manner but no less finally.  “Believe me, please—­and tell me what to do.  Shall I not be better to-morrow—­or in a day or two?”

He was silent for a moment.  Then, “It is not a time for you to be without friends,” said Red Pepper Burns.  “I will prove to you that you have them at hand.  After that you will find there are others.  I am going to take you to a pleasant place I know of, where you will have nothing to do but to lie still and rest and get well.  The best of nurses will look after you.  You will obey orders for a little—­my orders, if you want to trust me—­”

“Where is this place?” The question was a little breathless.

“Where do you guess?”

“In—­a hospital?”

“In one of the best in the world.”

“I am—­pretty ill then?”