"Thank God——"
He rose with sudden determination. She couldn't be left like that. He would call the doctor back at once, and, what was better still, he would bring her mother, a wise gray-haired little saint, who rarely volunteered advice in her daughter's affairs. The door would fly open at her soft command.
CHAPTER XIII
AN OLD STORY
The doctor's house lay beyond the Capitol and in his haste Norton forgot that a banquet was being held in his honor. He found himself suddenly face to face with the first of the departing guests as they began to pour through the gates of the Square.
He couldn't face these people, turned in his tracks, walked back to the next block and hurried into an obscure side street by which he could avoid them.
The doctor had not retired. He was seated on his porch quietly smoking, as if he were expecting the call.
"Well, you've bungled it, I see," he said simply, as he rose and seized his hat.