'Very soon,' she wrote firmly.
About an hour after dinner, Alice pushed open the sliding doors of the second parlor, the room on the left of the hall, called the sitting room, and let herself through into the hall. Fred was just coming in by the front door. 'Fred . . .'
He touched his forehead. 'If your bag's ready, Miss Brennan . . .'
'Wait,' she said.
'Mr. Whitlock wants to start.'
'He's not going to start,' she said belligerently. 'Do you know who's the doctor here?'
'No, I don't, Miss Brennan.'
'I'm worried,' Alice said. She appealed to him with a little smile. 'I really am. I never saw anybody as sick as that, just over the wrong food. I don't think we ought to let him go on.' Fred was listening respectfully. 'Do you?' she demanded.
'I couldn't say. Miss Brennan.'
Alice stamped her foot. 'Oh, stop it!' she cried. 'This is no time for revenge.'
Fred grinned. He suddenly stopped being remote and stood at ease, although he scarcely moved. 'O.K.' he said. 'You put me in my place and now you want me to pop out again. Well, what's the matter?'
'Suppose we get him miles off in the car some place and then he collapses? I don't want the responsibility.'
'Yeah, but he wants to go.'
'He won't go if I make fuss enough. -Look, I'm just not going to go off with him unless some doctor says it's all right. Have you ever seen him like this before?'
'Yeah, once.'
'What happened?'
'That time he was in bed three days.'
'Well, you see? Here he's with his own family and in a house with beds and all, and I . . .'
'You don't want the responsibility,' he said. 'Well, I don't blame you. How about the girls? Why don't you talk it over with them?'
'They've said he shouldn't go. Where are they?'
'Search me. They were right here ten minutes ago. I was asking Mr. Johnson about number six.'
'What?'
'The road.'
'What road?'
'Concentrate,' said Fred. 'You know when you drive a car? Well, you pick a road.'
'I'm sorry.' Alice went over to the telephone that stood
on a little stand back in the portion of the hall below the stairs. ''I don't suppose there's more than one doctor in a town IDce this, do you?'
'If there's one,' said Fred, 'they're lucky.'
Alice picked up the phone. When the operator answered she said, 'Operator, can you give me the name of a doctor in ... in Ogaunee?'
'I beg you pardon,' squeaked the operator.
'A doctor. I want the name of a doctor. I'm in Ogau-
nee.'
'You mean Dr. Follett?' said the voice, suddenly human and sounding as if it were chewing gum.
'I guess I do,' said Alice. 'Can you connect me with his number?'
'Sure,' the operator said.
'Miss Brennan,' said Fred softly, ''you are sticking your neck out, if I may be so bold.''
They heard Innes calling, faindy, beyond the closed sliding doors.
A voice on the phone said, 'Yes?' with a great patience.
'Dr. Follett? This is Alice Brennan speaking. I am at the Whitlock house.'
The voice said, 'Yes?'' very cautiously. Fred slipped into the sitting room, and Alice thanked him with her eyes.
'Mr. Innes Whitlock is here,' she said crisply into the phone, 'and he has been quite ill. I wonder if you could come and have a look at him?' 'Who is this speaking?'
'Alice Brennan. I am with Mr. Whitlock. I am his . . . secretary,' Alice said desperately. 'Please come if you can, Doctor. Because Mr. Whitlock wants to drive on to his camp, and I'm not sure he ought to try it' 'I see. You wish me to come there?' 'Yes, of course,'' she said impatiently. 'Do you know where we are? The Whitlock house. It's on a hill.' Silence sung on the wire for a moment 'Yes, I know,' the voice said finally. 'Very well.' 'Thaok you,' Alice said with relief. She hung up the phone, looked at her watch. Eight o'clock. It might be sticking her neck out,
