"I am sorry if I have called up bitter recollections," laughed his friend.
Then the bell sounded, and the train moved on.
Jay Gardiner turned resolutely away from the window, that he might not catch a look of the hotel.
"I wonder if my patient, Miss Rogers, and the relative this girl speaks of are one and the same person?" he asked himself.
He had once saved the life of this Miss Rogers, and since that time she had been a devoted friend of his.
She was a most kind, estimable woman, and he admired her for her noble character. Surely she could not be the lady of whom Sally Pendleton spoke so derisively?
He reached the city at last, and, without taking time to refresh himself, hurried to see who it was that needed his help.
It was eleven o'clock, and the crowds on the streets of the great metropolis had begun to thin out.
His office clerk, who was expecting him, said, in answer to his inquiry:
"It is Miss Rogers, sir. She is dangerously ill, and will have no other doctor."