Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

“ Mrs. Carew is very nice, of course; but after all, they've only been here a few months. They don't seem at all well off, and yet he doesn't appear to be worried about not having the least sign of a practice. I can't help thinking—”
She paused significantly.
“What can't you help thinking?” inquired her son, with a smile. “That poor Hunter has some sinister secret in his past?”
“No,” said she. “No, not that. I don't like to say it, but I've sometimes thought he might be nothing but an adventurer, who came here to find a wife with money.”
“Mother!” exclaimed Alan, quite shocked. ”

“ Poor Aunt Katherine couldn't manage everything herself, and we couldn't afford a servant, and yet she felt that it was very important to keep up appearances; so I decided that I would be the servant. I intended to be invisible until I was ready to appear as a full-fledged M.D. myself.” She paused, and smiled a little. “We both worked very hard to make a doctor of Noel,” she went on. “I think now that we tried a little too hard. If he hadn't felt that so much was expected of him, he might have gone through with it.”
“He may do better where he is,” said Alan. ”

“ Carew and Hunter—and who else?”
There was a light, quick step on the stairs. Turning, he saw the inexplicable girl descending. This was an excellent opportunity to study her, which Alan did not miss. A remarkable girl! Mere prettiness was not a thing that particularly appealed to this young man. He had met dozens of pretty girls without losing his heart. What interested him now was not the fine regularity of her features, but her air of candid and unassuming dignity, and the thoughtful intelligence of her face. ”

“ Carew. “He's a physician. I think he has already 'hung out his shingle,' as they say—Noel Hunter. Of course, he doesn't expect to do much practicing yet. I want him to rest first, and to get accustomed to the place.”
As if by magic, Dr. Hunter was transformed by those words from an object of pity into a very interesting young man. Professionally his life was not altered, but the very next week he was invited to a little dance; and every one who saw him there was irresistibly urged to invite him to something else. Ladies came to call upon Mrs. Carew, to sing the praises of her charming nephew. ”

“ Alan believed that they were ashamed, too.
Hunter had mentioned that he was going to take Mrs. Carew to the moving pictures that evening, and Alan decided then and there that he would use that time for further investigations.
“Because, if they're capable of making a drudge of a girl like that,” he said to himself, “Nesta's going to be told. It's the most beastly piece of snobbishness I've ever come across! Evidently she eats with them. No doubt she's one of the family until an outsider appears, and then she's nobody.” ”

“ And, mind you, the young man was nothing on earth but the youngest son of a poor miller, the Marquis of Carabas being simply an invention of the clever animal's.
Well, there are people alive to-day who have the same ambition as that devoted cat—people who try to make a Marquis of Carabas out of some ordinary young man. Unfortunately, they do not always succeed. I know of a case in point.
There appeared one day in a certain town in Westchester a new doctor, arriving unknown and without introduction in the midst of a quite sufficient supply of well established practitioners. ”

“ He went downstairs, aware of all sorts of new defects in himself. He felt that he was the most commonplace, uninteresting fellow imaginable, and that there was nothing about him that could possibly please or interest any one. ”

“ They merged very well, because Nesta was frequently in the vicinity of the hydroplane, so that they could both be studied together.
It was unfortunate that Noel did not mention this to his aunt, because she would have approved heartily of one of those interests; but he knew that aunts were extremely likely to worry about flying. He was very fond of her, and didn't want to worry her; so the poor lady knew nothing.
Mrs. Lorrimer knew, however.
“Alan,” she said to her son, “don't you think you encourage that young Dr. Hunter a little too much?” ”

“ Helps my aunt, you know. She—she is remarkable, Lorrimer, very.”
Alan gave serious attention to this problem. His legal training did not make him disposed to believe everything he heard, though he was too intelligent to go to the other extreme and believe nothing.
What was the explanation? Had Hunter made a misalliance, which he was ashamed of, and wanted to conceal? No—marriage with that girl wouldn't be a misalliance for any one, and she wasn't the sort who would consent to being concealed. ”

“ Well, to be sure, that was not happening. He had ample time for sleep, and, providing he was able to pay, there was nothing to prevent his eating all day. And that, too, was a pity and a waste, because obviously he must be longing to give his medical services, and must have studied a long time to prepare himself. The people who lived on the same street felt embarrassed and a little guilty when they caught sight of Noel Hunter, M.D., all ready to be a doctor, but wanted by no one.
II
One day there came to Mr. ”