CHAPTER 3
The Tell-Tale Lock
THE hour of midnight had just struck as Marion Brisbane opened a side door of the Kynox Hospital and entered. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes shone with animation. It was her night off duty, and she had enjoyed herself at Mrs. Beck’s, the wife of the mining recorder. A few congenial friends had been invited, and most of the evening had been spent at bridge-whist. While refreshments were being served, Miss Risteen, the new teacher of the little school, had asked Marion why she had come so far north.
“For adventure, I suppose,” had been the smiling and evasive reply.
“Have you found it?”
“Oh, yes.”
“What! in a small hospital?”
“Certainly. It is there that we see so much of the tragedy of this country. Numerous trails lead into Kynox from various mining camps. You have no idea how many patients we receive during the year, though now we have only a few.”
“But I mean adventure in the open,” Miss Risteen had explained.
“Not much yet. But I have gone several times to outlying creeks to administer first-aid to injured men
during the doctor’s absence. He has been away for a
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