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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Smiles', by Eliot H. Robinson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: 'Smiles'
+       A Rose of the Cumberlands
+
+Author: Eliot H. Robinson
+
+Illustrator: H. Weston Taylor
+
+Release Date: August 9, 2007 [EBook #22287]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'SMILES' ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"SMILES"
+
+A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+By ELIOT H. ROBINSON
+
+"SMILES": A Rose of the Cumberlands . . . $1.90
+
+SMILING PASS: Being a Further Account
+of the Career of "Smiles": A Rose of the
+Cumberlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE  . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance
+of Lorraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+MAN PROPOSES; or, The Romance of
+John Alden Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+GO GET 'EM! The True Adventures of an
+American Aviator of the Lafayette Flying
+Corps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.50
+By Eliot H. Robinson and Lieutenant
+William A. Wellman.
+
+WITH OLD GLORY IN BERLIN; or, The
+Story of an American Girl's Life and
+Trials in Germany and Her Escape from
+the Huns  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00
+By Eliot H. Robinson and Josephine
+Therese.
+
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+
+53 BEACON STREET, BOSTON
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: "A MAN AND A WOMAN--AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING" (See
+Page 374)]
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"SMILES"
+
+A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS
+
+BY
+ELIOT H. ROBINSON
+Author of "Man Proposes"
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+H. WESTON TAYLOR
+
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+BOSTON--PUBLISHERS
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Copyright, 1919, by
+The Page Company
+
+Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
+
+All rights reserved
+
+First Impression, May, 1919
+Second Impression, June, 1919
+Third Impression, July, 1919
+Fourth Impression, August, 1919
+Fifth Impression, September, 1919
+Sixth Impression, October, 1919
+Seventh Impression, December, 1919
+Eighth Impression, February, 1920
+Ninth Impression, September, 1920
+Tenth Impression, August, 1921
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+TO MY BOYS
+This Story of a Girl
+Who Loved Children
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The Keynote of Life is Love--
+Lacking it, naught is worth while--
+The Symbol of Service, the Cross
+And the Sign of Courage, A Smile.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+I wish to acknowledge, most gratefully, the valuable assistance rendered
+to me, in the preparation of the chapters dealing with the medical and
+hospital incidents, by Robert W. Guiler, M.D.; by Alonzo J. Shadman,
+M.D., to whom I am indebted for my description of the unusual operation
+in Chapter XXI; and by Miss Elizabeth E. Sullivan, Superintendent of
+Nurses at the Boston Children's Hospital. And, above all, I desire to
+make acknowledgment of the debt of gratitude that I owe to Mr. Henry
+Wightman Packer for his helpful criticism throughout the writing of this
+story.
+
+ELIOT HARLOW ROBINSON.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                                    PAGE
+
+      I. DONALD MACDONALD, M.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   1
+
+     II. ENTER BIG JERRY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
+
+    III. AN INNOCENT SERPENT IN EDEN  . . . . . . . . . . .  25
+
+     IV. "SMILES" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
+
+      V. GIVING AND RECEIVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
+
+     VI. AN UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57
+
+    VII. "SMILES'" GIFT AND THE "WRITING" . . . . . . . . .  66
+
+   VIII. SOME OF SEVERAL EPISTLES . . . . . . . . . . . . .  77
+
+     IX. THE HIGH HILLS, AND "GOD'S MAN"  . . . . . . . . .  91
+
+      X. "SMILES'" CONSECRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
+
+     XI. ADOPTION BY BLOOD  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
+
+    XII. THE THREE OF HEARTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
+
+   XIII. GATHERING CLOUDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
+
+    XIV. SOWING THE WIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
+
+     XV. REAPING THE WHIRLWIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
+
+    XVI. THE AFTERMATH  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
+
+   XVII. THE PARTING PLEDGE AND PASSING DAYS  . . . . . . . 171
+
+  XVIII. THE ADDED BURDEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
+
+    XIX. "SMILES'" APPEAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
+
+     XX. THE ANSWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
+
+    XXI. A MODERN MIRACLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
+
+   XXII. VICARIOUS ATONEMENT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
+
+  XXIII. TWO LETTERS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
+
+   XXIV. NEW SCENES, NEW FRIENDS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
+
+    XXV. THE FIRST MILESTONE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
+
+   XXVI. THE CALL OF THE RED CROSS  . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
+
+  XXVII. THE GOAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
+
+ XXVIII. "BUT A ROSE HAS THORNS"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
+
+   XXIX. AN INTERLUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
+
+    XXX. DONALD'S HOMECOMING  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
+
+   XXXI. THE VALLEY OF INDECISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
+
+  XXXII. THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE  . . . . . . . . . . . 341
+
+ XXXIII. WHAT THE CRICKET HEARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
+
+  XXXIV. A LOST BROTHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
+
+   XXXV. THE HALLOWED MOON  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+                                                           PAGE
+
+"A man and a woman--as it was in the
+beginning" (See Page 374)  . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
+
+"One dusty, but dainty, foot was held
+between her hands"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
+
+"She was kneeling beside a low, rounded mound"  . . . . . .  48
+
+"Read the brief article twice, mechanically,
+and almost without understanding" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
+
+"Holding the girl in clinging white close to him" . . . . . 347
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+DONALD MACDONALD, M.D.
+
+
+The man came to a stop, a look of humiliation and deep self-disgust on
+his bronzed face. With methodical care he leaned his rifle against the
+seamed trunk of a forest patriarch and drew the sleeve of his hunting
+shirt across his forehead, now glistening with beads of sweat; then, and
+not until then, did he relieve his injured feelings by giving voice to a
+short but soul-satisfying expletive.
+
+At the sound of his deep voice the dog, which had, panting, dropped at
+his feet after a wild, purposeless dash through the underbrush, looked
+up with bright eyes whose expression conveyed both worship and a
+question, and, as the man bent and stroked his wiry coat, rustled the
+pine needles with his stubby tail.
+
+The picture held no other animate creatures, and no other sound
+disturbed the silence of the woods.
+
+By the hunter's serviceable nickeled timepiece the afternoon was not
+spent; but the sun was already swinging low over the western
+mountaintop, and its slanting rays, as they filtered through the leafy
+network overhead, had begun to take on the richer gold of early evening,
+and the thick forest foliage of oddly intermingled oak and pine, beech
+and poplar, was assuming deeper, more velvety tones. There was solemn
+beauty in the scene; but, for the moment, the man was out of tune with
+the vibrant color harmonies, and he frankly stated the reason in his
+next words, which were addressed to his unlovely canine companion, whose
+sagacity more than compensated for his appealing homeliness.
+
+"Mike, we're lost!"
+
+City born and bred though he was, the man took a not unjustifiable pride
+in the woodcraft which he had acquired during many vacations spent in
+the wilds; hence it was humiliating to have to admit that fact--even to
+his dog. To be sure, the fastnesses of the border Cumberlands were new
+to him; but his vanity was hurt by the realization that he had tramped
+for nearly an hour through serried ranks of ancient trees and crowding
+thickets of laurel and rhododendron--which seemed to take a personal
+delight in impeding the progress of a "furriner"--and over craggy rocks,
+only to find, at the end of that time, that he was entering one end of a
+short ravine from the other end of which he had started with the vague
+purpose of seeking the path by which he had climbed from the valley
+village.
+
+Moreover, a subtle change was taking place in the air. Faint breezes,
+the sighing heralds of advancing evening, were now beginning to steal
+slowly out from the picturesque, seamed rocks of the ravine and from
+behind each gnarled or stately tree, with an unmistakable warning.
+
+There was clearly but one logical course for him to pursue--head
+straight up the mountainside until he should arrive at some commanding
+clearing whence he could recover his lost bearings and establish some
+landmarks for a fresh start downward. With his square jaw set in a
+decisive manner, the man picked up his gun, threw back his heavy
+shoulders, and began to climb, driving his muscular body forcibly
+through the underbrush.
+
+The decision and the action were both characteristic of Donald
+MacDonald, in whose Yankee veins ran the blood of a dour and purposeful
+Scottish clan. Aggressive determination showed in every lineament of his
+face, of which his nearest friend, Philip Bentley, had once said, "The
+Great Sculptor started to carve a masterpiece, choosing granite rather
+than marble as his medium, and was content to leave it rough hewn."
+Every feature was strong and rugged, which gave his countenance an
+expression masterful to the point of being almost surly when it was in
+repose; but it was a face which caused most men--and women over
+thirty--to turn for a second glance.
+
+To-day, the effect of strength was further enhanced by a week's growth
+of blue-black beard. But his eyes, agate gray and flecked with the green
+of the "moss" variety, were the real touchstones of his character, and
+they belied the stern lines of his mouth and chin and spoke eloquently
+of a warm, kindly heart within the powerful body, a body which, to the
+city dweller, suggested the fullback on a football team. Indeed, such he
+had been in those days when great power counted more heavily than speed
+and agility. Not but that he possessed these attributes as well, in a
+degree unusual in one who tipped the scales at one hundred and ninety.
+
+To some it seemed an inexplicable anomaly that a man of his type should
+have selected, as the work to which he had dedicated his life, the
+profession of medicine, and still more strange that he had become a
+specialist in the diseases of children. Yet such was the case, and many
+a mother, whose heartstrings were plucked by the lean fingers of
+Despair, had cause to bless the almost uncanny surgical skill which his
+highly-trained brain exercised through the medium of his big, spatulate,
+gentle fingers.
+
+As "Mac" had, in the old days, smashed his way through the opposing line
+of blue-jerseyed giants on the football field, and as he now plowed
+through the laurel and rhododendron, so had he won his way to the
+forefront of the younger generation of his profession until, at the age
+of thirty-five, he had become recognized as one of the most able
+children's specialists in America. A "man's man," blunt of speech to the
+point of often offending at first the cultured women with whom his
+labors brought him into contact, he was worshipped in hundreds of homes
+as an angel of mercy in strange guise, and was the idol of hundreds of
+little folk to whom he had brought new health and happiness.
+
+The toilsome upward climb brought its reward at length, and Donald's eye
+caught sight of a clearing, and unmistakable signs of near-by
+civilization, if a scattering mountain settlement of primitive dwellers
+in that feudal country which lies half in West Virginia, half in
+Kentucky, may be so designated.
+
+No sooner had he stepped into the partially cleared land, and caught
+sight of a small, isolated cabin beyond, so toned by wind and weather
+that it seemed almost an integral part of its natural surroundings, than
+his own presence was detected, as the sharp and surly barking of an
+unseen dog evidenced. Mike made answer to the challenge, and instantly
+other, more distant, canine voices joined in the growing clamor.
+
+As man and dog advanced across the clearing, not one, but half a dozen
+gaunt curs, summoned to the spot by a warning which meant the approach
+of a stranger, much as their clannish masters might have been in other
+years, mysteriously appeared from all sides and rushed forward, their
+lips drawn back from threatening teeth, their bristling throats rumbling
+ominously.
+
+Donald sharply commanded the likewise bristling Mike to keep to heel,
+threw his rifle to hip and backed hastily toward the cabin. He had no
+wish to employ his weapon, and as retreat was the other alternative, for
+his companion's sake, if not his own, indeed, discretion seemed to be,
+by all odds, valor's better part.
+
+A noisy and exciting moment brought him to the cabin's door, still face
+to the enemy. Fumbling behind him with his left hand, Donald found and
+lifted the latch. The door swung suddenly open under his weight, Mike
+scurried between his legs, and the combination resulted in his downfall,
+precipitate and sprawling.
+
+Simultaneously came a startled exclamation in a treble voice, the
+clatter of a fallen kettle and then a quick cry of pain.
+
+In an instant Donald had scrambled ungracefully to his feet and found
+himself face to face with a picture that he was destined never to
+forget.
+
+Backed by a big stone fireplace, in which the embers were glowing
+ruddily, stood a young girl clad in a simple one-piece dress, which left
+neck, arms and legs bare. One dusty, but dainty, foot was held between
+her hands, while she balanced on the other. A tumbling mass of rich
+brown curls, shot with gleaming threads like tiny rays of captive
+sunshine, fell, unbound, over her shoulders, and partly veiled a
+childlike face, tanned to an Indian brown and now twisted with pain, but
+nevertheless so startlingly sweet and appealing that the man gasped in
+astonishment.
+
+[Illustration: "ONE DUSTY, BUT DAINTY, FOOT WAS HELD BETWEEN HER
+HANDS"]
+
+As it is with many who wear bluntness like a cloak, Donald possessed a
+deep-seated appreciation of the beautiful, without being capable of
+expressing it. But now he vaguely realized that here, where he would
+last have looked for it, he had blundered upon a child whom Mother
+Nature had designed lovingly and with painstaking care, perhaps in order
+to satisfy herself that, in the bustle of creation which nowadays left
+her little time for attention to fine detail, her hands had not wholly
+lost the cunning which was theirs when the world was young and women
+were few and fair.
+
+Her face had the qualities of a sweet wild-flower, delicate of form yet
+hardy enough to stand up under the stress of a storm. A critic might
+have declared the sensitive mouth a shade too broad for the tapering
+lines which formed the firmly rounded chin; he might have said that the
+upper lip, against which its companion was now tightly pressed to check
+its trembling, was too short for classic beauty; but he would hardly
+have been able to find a flaw in the molding of the straight, slender
+nose or the broad forehead, or the cheeks which curved as symmetrically
+as the petals of a damask rose, or--if he were human--with the faint
+shadows at the corners of the lips which were not dimples, but
+fascinatingly suggested them. But, above all, it was the child's eyes,
+heavy with a sudden rush of unshed tears that merely added to their
+appealing charm, which left the strongest impression on the man. They
+were remarkable eyes, long of lash and of a deep blue with limpid
+purple shadows and golden highlights.
+
+Her form, untrammelled by confining clothing and bending naturally, was
+slender and lithesome, but full of curves which told that the bud of
+childhood was just beginning to open into the blossom of early
+maturity--about fifteen or sixteen years old, Donald guessed her to be.
+
+At her feet lay an overturned kettle the contents from which, a simple
+stew, was sending up a cloud of steam from the rough floor, and
+explained the reason for the misty eyes and tenderly nursed ankle.
+
+The whole picture was graven on his mind in a single glance; but, the
+next instant the sunniest, most appealing of smiles broke through the
+girl's pain-drawn tears.
+
+"Yo' ... yo' looked so funny a-fallin' over thet thar dawg, an'
+a-rollin' on the floor," her words bubbled forth.
+
+"I'm glad that you have something to laugh about, but dev ... deucedly
+sorry that I made you burn yourself, child," answered Donald, awkwardly.
+"It must hurt like the ... the mischief," he added, as he stepped
+forward to examine the injury with a quick return to his professional
+manner.
+
+"Wall, hit _do_ burn, kinder. But taint nothin'." She sniffed bravely,
+but a tear overflowed its reservoir and made a channel through a smudge
+on her cheek.
+
+"Well, I happen to be a doctor--when I'm not on a vacation--so I can do
+a little toward repairing the damage I caused." He was already
+unfastening the small first-aid kit which experience had taught him
+never to go without.
+
+"Taint nothin', sir, really. I'll jest put some lard on hit, an' ..."
+began the girl, timidly backing away.
+
+Donald did not stop to argue, but placed his strong hands on either side
+of her slender waist and lifted her lightly to the homemade table, while
+she gasped and again the wonderful smile, more shy this time,
+transformed her tear-stained face. In silence, and with flying,
+experienced fingers, the physician applied a soothing salve to the
+blotchy red, fast-swelling burn on the ankle, and deftly bandaged it.
+
+"There," he said. "You won't know, in a few minutes, that anything has
+happened."
+
+"Thank ye, sir," said the girl, as he lifted her again and allowed her
+to slip gently to the floor. "Yo' shore knows how ter do up a foot."
+
+She hopped gingerly over to the fireplace, and began to clear up the
+wreck of supper, first calmly lifting the dog away from the steaming hot
+meat which his quivering nose was inquisitively approaching.
+
+"Be careful. Mike might ..."
+
+"Oh, he won't bite _me_." She broke into his warning, and gave a playful
+tug at the coarse hair on the animal's neck. Somewhat to Donald's
+surprise, the dog wiggled ecstatically at the friendly advances and paid
+his lowly homage by licking her bare foot.
+
+"Never mind that mess, I'll clean it up if you'll get me a shovel. And
+of course I mean to pay for it," said Donald hastily.
+
+"In course yo' won't do no sech thing. We-all's got plenty uv
+pertaties,--I growed 'em myself,--this yere meat haint hurt a mite, an'
+water's cheap," she responded. "Yo' jest take a cheer, mister, an' yo'
+kin hev supper along with us as soon as grandpap comes, which'll be
+right soon, I reckon. We-all don't see stranger folks much up yere, an'
+he'll be plumb glad thet ye drapped in." She tossed a morsel of meat to
+the expectant Mike; then added shyly, "An' so be I."
+
+"Well, I certainly 'drapped,'" laughed Donald. "It looked as though all
+the dogs south of the Mason-Dixon line had gathered to give Mike and me
+a warm, if not cordial, welcome, so we didn't stop to knock before
+coming in."
+
+"Lucky fer ye thet yo' struck a cabin whar the latch string air allus
+out," she answered, her silver laughter echoing his. "I hadn't a' ought
+ter hev been so skeered, but I warn't payin' no attention ter all the
+barkin', fer I jest allowed thet the dawgs hed treed a coon, er somep'n.
+Yo' see they haint exactly fond o' strangers, an' they be powerful
+fierce. I reckon they'd hev gobbled Mike right up."
+
+Donald glanced affectionately at the wiry mass of bone and sinew which
+went to make the police dog every inch a warrior, and doubted it. The
+child had finished her task, and started the stew to heating again over
+the fire, and now she turned, swept back the mass of curls from her
+heated face with a graceful motion of her shapely arm, and stood
+regarding him with frank curiosity. Donald had no intention of
+remaining longer, or accepting the hospitable invitation, but there
+was a touch of romance in the adventure, and a strong appeal in the
+girl herself, which caused him to hesitate, and linger to ask a few
+questions about the neighborhood and her life. When he did regretfully
+pick up his cap and rifle, and call the dog, who turned protestingly
+from her-who-dispensed-savory-pieces-of-meat, he found that he had
+suffered the fate of all who hesitate, for a glance through the window
+showed him that, although the glowing, iridescent reflection from the
+western sky still lingered in the mountain top, embroidering its edge
+with gold, it was fast fading, and already Night had spread her dusky
+mantle over the eastern slope. Already darkness had blotted out the
+lower reaches.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ENTER BIG JERRY
+
+
+As Donald stopped, uncertain, there came the sound of measured, heavy
+footfalls on the beaten dirt path outside the cabin. The girl's face
+lighted up joyfully; she hopped to the door, flung it open, and a
+slightly stooping, but gigantic, form stepped in out of the darkness,
+caught her up in his huge arms and submitted with a quizzical smile
+while she pulled his face toward hers by tugging at his long beard, and
+kissed him.
+
+Across the tumbled masses of her hair the newcomer's still piercing dark
+eyes, blinking a little under their shaggy brows as the fire leaped in
+the draft from the open door, caught sight of Donald as he stood back
+among the shadows. He straightened up suddenly, and his brows drew
+together in a suspicious scowl.
+
+The city man knew enough of the primitive code of the mountain people to
+understand that the presence of a man,--especially a strange man,--alone
+in the house with a young woman, was fraught with unpleasant
+possibilities. But, before he could speak, the child-woman had launched
+into a vivacious, if ungrammatical, explanation and story of what had
+occurred. In substantiation she now raised her short skirt and lifted
+the bandaged foot, with utter freedom from embarrassment, and laughed
+deliciously until an answering smile crept slowly into the eyes of the
+old mountaineer.
+
+With a simple courtesy, which seemed to hold something of innate
+majesty, he stepped forward, and extended a weatherbeaten hand, several
+sizes larger than Donald's, and boomed out in a deep voice that matched
+his physical proportions, "Yo're suttinly welcome, stranger. What
+happened warn't no fault o' yourn, and I'm plumb obleeged ter ye fer
+fixin' up my granddarter's hurt. Draw up a cheer fer the stranger,
+Smiles, he'll jine us in a bite er supper. The fare's simple, but I war
+raised on't, and 'pears ter me thet I top ye some."
+
+"I should say that you did. You make me feel small, and it's not often
+any man does that ... physically, I mean."
+
+The two clasped hands, and Donald winced as his own powerful fingers
+cracked under the crushing pressure of those of the older man, who
+seemed to take a boyish delight in this display of his tremendous
+strength.
+
+"What a colossus he is," thought Donald, as he gritted his teeth to keep
+back the involuntary exclamation of pain, for, although the massive
+shoulders and Jovian head of the mountaineer were stooped forward, he
+towered fully three inches above the six foot city athlete, and his
+iron-gray beard, rusted with tobacco juice about his mouth, swept over
+his chest almost to his waist.
+
+"Thanks for the invitation," he said aloud, as he covertly nursed his
+right hand. "It's mighty kind of you, but I don't want to impose longer,
+and, besides, I'd better start back to Fayville before it gets dark
+altogether. If you'll just tell me the most direct way, ..."
+
+"Wall, I reckon the most _dee_rect way air ter go straight through the
+woods thar a piece, an' then jump off'n a four hundred foot cliff," the
+old man chuckled titanically. "But I likewise reckon taint pra'tical;
+leastwise, not onless yo' happen ter be one o' them new-fangled
+aviationeers I've hearn tell on. However, here ye be, an' here yo're
+goin' ter stay twill atter supper. Come, child. Sot on another plate fer
+the doctor man."
+
+"Donald MacDonald's my name, sir."
+
+"Peers like yo'r paw stuttered when he give yo' thet name," laughed the
+giant. "Mine's Jerry Webb--'Big Jerry,' they mostwise calls me
+hyarerbouts." There was simple pride in the nickname evident in his
+voice.
+
+"Of course, if you really want me to stay, I'd be glad enough to do it,
+Mr. Webb, although I don't like to cause any more trouble for Miss ..."
+
+"'Rose' air the given name of my leetle gal, but folks gener'ly calls
+her Smiles, fer short." The old man spoke with a noticeable tenderness
+toning his big voice.
+
+"And there's no need of explaining the reason," answered Donald in a low
+aside so that the child, who was busy over the stewing kettle on its
+primitive crane, might not hear. "I never expect to see another to equal
+hers."
+
+His host sent a sharp glance at him, then, softening, it travelled to
+the graceful form of the girl silhouetted against the ruddy glow of the
+open fire, whose reflection outlined her warm flesh with a tint of
+burnished copper.
+
+"Yes," he responded simply. "Seems like, when thet leetle gal's sweet
+face lights up with a smile, hit's like a sunbeam a-breakin' through the
+leaves an' playin' on a waterpool in the quiet woods."
+
+"Oh," interrupted Rose with a cry. "I done plumb ferget ter git the milk
+from Uncle Perly's, but 'twon't take more'n a minute. Kin I take Mike?"
+she added, pleadingly, as she buried her slim fingers in the rough hair
+on the dog's neck, while he stood sniffing acquaintance with the huge
+boots and homespun pantaloons of the giant.
+
+"Sure; that is if you're not still afraid that the neighbors' dogs will
+make a meal of him," smiled Donald, and the object of the conversation,
+who seemed to sense its meaning, sprang eagerly erect and placed his
+forepaws on the girl's breast.
+
+"No dawg haint a-goin' ter tetch him whilst he's with me," she responded
+with quiet assurance. "Come, Mickey."
+
+"Which air a fact," supplemented her grandfather, as girl and dog
+disappeared with a rush and a bark. "Dumb beasts an' children worships
+Smiles--an' hit haint scarse to be wondered at, fer she love 'em all.
+An' she's more rememberful than her grandpappy. Yo' see, we don't
+gener'ly hev milk fer our coffee, 'ceptin' when company comes."
+
+In some distress at this frank announcement, Donald said, "But I don't
+like to have you put yourselves out for me. I wouldn't have stayed
+if...."
+
+"Now, don't let thet idee disturb ye a mite. We're glad ter hev ye with
+us, an' what fer air friends ef hit haint ter be an excuse fer a leetle
+extry celebration? Set down, set down thar."
+
+Donald obeyed, and, while his host moved ponderously about, depositing
+the contents of a bundle which he had brought, studied his surroundings
+curiously. It was his first experience within a real "feud country"
+cabin, and he was interested to see how closely its appearance coincided
+with what his imagination had painted from reading fiction woven about
+them. To his quiet delight he found that it might almost have served as
+an illustration for such a book, as, one by one, he mentally checked off
+the salient features. There were the hand-hewn timbers of wall and
+unsheathed ceiling; the yawning rough stone fireplace with its wrought
+iron crane, and, above it, a rifle whose unusual length proclaimed its
+ownership; the strings of dried herbs and red pepper pods--few, to be
+sure, and dusty with age--suspended from the rafters; and, in one
+corner, a crude ladder leading into the loft.
+
+Only one thing was missing, the wall-beds or bunks, for the hand of
+civilization had pointed to one improvement, and doors, obviously not a
+part of the original simple structure, opened into a small addition,
+roughly partitioned into two sleeping rooms. They were of equal size,
+but there was no need of labels to proclaim their occupants, for one was
+so nearly filled with a bed which would have served for Golden Locks'
+biggest bear, that the rough clothing which was suspended from wooden
+pegs on the opposite wall hung against it, whereas the other contained,
+besides a narrow bed, a small chest of drawers with a cheap mirror above
+it, and a chair. The one window was draped with a daintily-flowered
+material, which Donald decided was calico, a cover of the same material
+lay across the chest, and on it--in the place of honor between an old
+comb and brush stood a small blue-and-white jar, whose cheaply glazed
+surface caught the flicker of the fire and winked at him as though it
+were aware of the absurdity of anything so trivial being held in such
+high esteem. More of the "calico," which really was an inexpensive but
+tasteful chintz, hung against the wall and served to hide from prying
+eyes the child's meagre wardrobe, and a bow of it was perkily tied to
+the back of the chair.
+
+Donald smiled his amusement and caught an answering grin on Big Jerry's
+face. "She haint like we-all," he said. "Wants ter hev bright an' purty
+things erbout, an' ..." he lowered his voice, "durned ef she didn't make
+me a _necktie_ of thet thar stuff--seen one on a 'furriner' once." The
+visitor felt a warm satisfaction over the thought that his own costume
+didn't include such excess adornment.
+
+"I put hit on ... once, ter please her, but I reckon hit didn't make
+much of a showin' under _this_." He ran his fingers reflectively through
+his heavy beard for a moment; then, with his voice still a forte
+whisper, he added, "Say, stranger, I've got a leetle drap o' white
+liquor hid out in the woodshed whar Smiles kaint find hit, an' ef yo'd
+delight ter wet yo'r throat afore she comes back, why ..."
+
+The door flew open with a bang, and Rose and Mike tore in, panting and
+a-glitter with diamond drops of rain. Instantly the expression of simple
+guile on the old man's face changed so ludicrously to one of overdone
+innocence that it was all Donald could do to keep from laughing.
+
+"Storm's a-comin'," cried the girl, gayly, while the dog rushed madly
+around the room, with his nose to the floor and barking hilariously,
+until his master seized him by the back and held him, squirming. A flash
+of distant lightning substantiated the announcement, and a few seconds
+later their ears caught the crescendo reverberations of thunder as it
+echoed down the valley.
+
+Mike growled uneasily and crouched close to his master's legs, but Rose
+ran again to the door and stood, heedless of the rain which beat in
+upon her wind-whipped skirt, peering out with evident delight. A still
+more vivid, zigzag flash rent the serried masses of black storm-clouds
+which were rolling up over the mountain's top, edging the nearer one
+with fire, and she laughed merrily and clapped her hands like a child.
+
+"Shet thet door, yo' young vixen," bellowed Big Jerry, plainly
+disturbed. The girl obeyed, and gave him a kiss, and the whining dog a
+reassuring pat, as she hurried back to finish setting the table--a
+simple matter, for there was no spotless damask, glittering silver and
+cut glass to deck the white-scoured top of the plain slab which formed a
+substantial table for many purposes.
+
+In a moment she had announced, quite informally, that supper was served;
+but, just as the two men arose to take their places, there came a long
+"hulloo-oo" above the sound of wind and rain. Again Rose dashed to the
+door, with the cry, "Why, thet's Judd Amos; I knows his call."
+
+Without reason or warning Donald experienced a quick tightening about
+his heart, the absurdity of which caused him to smile. What on earth was
+it to him if this mountain child's color heightened a shade at a
+familiar call in a masculine voice?
+
+The next instant a tall youth, as lean and sinewy as an Indian, stumbled
+into the room, with his rough coat about his head, and water streaming
+from his drenched clothing and the barrel of a gun, which was every whit
+as modern and efficient as Donald's own.
+
+"Gosh a'mighty," he said. "Thought I'd be drownded, shore. Hit's a-goin'
+ter be a rip-snorter ... worst storm er the summer, by the way hit's
+started." Then, as he dashed the rain from his eyes, and, for the first
+time caught sight of the visitor, he stopped short in none too pleased
+surprise, if the black look which went toward Donald from beneath his
+lowering brows meant anything.
+
+"Make ye acquainted with Donald MacDonald, a doctor man from the city,
+Judd," boomed the giant's hearty voice. "Doc, shake hands with a
+neighbor uv ourn, Judd Amos."
+
+As Donald stood up he managed to silence Mike's throaty growl with a
+warning shove with his foot. The men formally clasped hands, their eyes
+looking steadily into each other's from the same level, and this time,
+primed by his earlier experience, the city man exerted all of his
+strength, and felt a glow of childish satisfaction as the other winced.
+
+"Set ye down, Judd. Draw a cheer up by the fire, yo're soaked," said Big
+Jerry. "Honey-rose," he added, addressing the girl in a wheedling tone,
+"Judd 'pears ter be powerful soaked an' cold. Kaint he ... kaint we-all
+hev jest a drap o' white liquor?"
+
+He stroked his beard and pushed aside his drooping mustache in
+anticipation, but to no avail, for her answer, uttered firmly and with
+no suggestion of a smile in her deep eyes this time, was, "'Deed yo'
+kaint; nary a drap. Yo' know, an' Juddy, _he_ knows ..." to Donald
+there seemed to be some special significance in her words, "thet thar
+haint a-goin' ter be nary a drap o' thet devil's brew in house o' mine.
+Why, I be plumb s'prised at ye, grandpap."
+
+The tremendous old man rubbed his whiskers faster and hemmed
+apologetically. "In course I haint got none ... in the cabin ..." he
+glanced quickly at Donald, "an' I didn't mean nothin', Smiles. Come,
+swing yo'r cheer erround ter the table, Judd, we'll jest fergit the
+eeliments, an' enjoy a dry celebration in the doctor's honor ... all
+'cept Judd, he air plenty wet," he added, in a jocose attempt to turn
+his mistake into a jest. "Rose hurted her foot, an' doc, he done hit up
+fer her real nice."
+
+More bashfully than before, the girl extended the injured member in its
+now mud-bedraggled bandage for the newcomer's inspection.
+
+Donald had been watching the scene with quiet amusement over the child's
+assurance, and had noticed not only the look of sorrowful resignation on
+her grandfather's face, but the dull flush which mounted the swarthy
+cheeks of the younger man. Judd's mouth retained the straight line for
+some time, but a quick burst of light-hearted song on Smiles' lips, as
+she turned to dish up the savory stew, showed that the incident was
+forgotten by her as soon as it was ended.
+
+"Better let me lift it down for you," said Donald, as she swung the
+crane with its heavy iron kettle from the fire. "We don't want any more
+burns here to-night."
+
+He jumped up and acted on the words without giving the matter a thought,
+but it seemed to him that the girl's pleased, "Thank ye, sir," was a bit
+embarrassed, and that the men regarded him with blank surprise. Not for
+a minute did it dawn upon him that his act had not been according to the
+code of the mountains.
+
+They were all seated at last, but yet another surprise was in store for
+the visitor, for Rose folded her hands, bent her head until the curls
+veiled the glowing face, and began a simple blessing. Big Jerry sat bolt
+upright with his eyes screwed up ludicrously, and, although Judd bent
+his head the merest fraction, it was with obvious embarrassment, and his
+flashing optics kept sending suspicious glances at the "furriner" as
+though to discover if he were laughing at them all. In fact, nothing was
+further from Donald's mind. It had been long since he had partaken of a
+meal at which grace was said, but the simple, homely words touched a
+chord of memory and made it vibrate to a note which brought both pain
+and pleasure.
+
+The host's stentorian "Amen" was the signal for attack, and for a time
+the business of satisfying the demands of healthy hunger was paramount
+to all things else. It was no feast of wit and wisdom, but of something,
+for the time being, more desirable, and the application of the other
+three gave Donald an opportunity to study covertly the unusual group of
+which he had so unexpectedly become a part.
+
+Although he was essentially a man of action, his brusqueness of manner
+was, in part at least, a pose which had become unconscious, and, deep
+within his heart, in a chamber carefully locked from the gaze of his
+fellow men, dwelt Romance and Imagination--the spirit gifts of a mother,
+whose death, five years before, had brought him his first black grief.
+Had this visioning power been lacking in him he could never have
+accomplished the modern miracles which he had already wrought many times
+in constructive and restorative surgery. Now, the spirit of imagery in
+his soul was stirred by something in the romantic unreality of his
+surroundings--the rude, yet interesting room which served all family
+purposes save that of slumber; the mellow radiance from a crude lamp and
+the ever-changing light of the open fire; the long, wavering shadows
+within the cabin; and, without, the banshee wailing of the storm wind
+around the eaves, the occasional crash of thunder, the creaking of limbs
+and fitful dashes of rain. He found himself leaning back in his chair
+and mentally attempting to dissect and study not the bodies, but the
+personalities, of the three who were the representatives of a type, in
+manners and customs at least, new to him.
+
+In his boyhood, and before the pressing demands of his profession had
+enslaved him, Donald had been an insatiate reader, and now he
+endeavored to recall to memory some of the stories which he had read
+about this strange people, whose dwelling place was within the limits of
+the busy, progressive East, yet who were surprisingly isolated from it
+by natural barriers, and still more so by traditions slow to perish.
+Pure of stock he knew them to be, for their unmixed blood had had its
+fountain source in the veins of some of America's best and earliest
+settlers; primitive in their ideals, strong in their simple purposes and
+passions, the products of, and perhaps even now factors in, blood feuds
+whose beginnings dated back generations. And, although he laughed at
+himself for his imaginings as he remembered that the twentieth century
+was ten years old, he found himself assigning both the men places in his
+memory picture.
+
+Big Jerry, slow of speech, patriarchal in looks and bearing, powerful in
+body, became, to his mind's eye, the venerable chieftain of a mountain
+clan. Judd, with his aquiline face, which was undoubtedly handsome in a
+dark, brooding way, beneath its uncombed shock of black hair which swept
+low over his forehead, sinewy with the strength, quickness and muck of
+the natural grace of a panther, was the typical outlaw of the hills.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+AN INNOCENT SERPENT IN EDEN
+
+
+Donald turned his appraising gaze upon the child, and here the illusion
+yielded to another, quite different.
+
+Even her primitive dress, her unbound hair, her crude forms of speech
+and soft, drawling intonation--such as the throaty, unvarying
+pronunciation of "the" as though it were "ther," and "a" like
+"er"--which sounded so deliciously odd to his New England ears, could
+not erase from his mind the impression that she did not belong in the
+picture. To be sure he had, during his tramps, already seen many a wild
+mountain flower so delicately sweet that it seemed out of place amid its
+stern environment. But Rose affected him differently, although the
+difference was subtle, indefinable.
+
+In the company of the men he was conscious of the reserve which one of
+his type instinctively feels when first in the presence of people of
+another race or class. With her he was already wholly at his ease.
+Donald finally attributed this to the fact that she was, after all,
+merely a child--one of a class which is akin the world over, and which
+he understood better than any other.
+
+As the simple meal progressed, Big Jerry began to ply the visitor with
+questions, and press him to talk on many subjects connected with the
+wide world of men; and, as Donald's natural reticence yielded to the
+naïve interrogations, he answered with a readiness which somewhat
+surprised even himself. The child ate little; but sat with her elbows on
+the table, her firmly rounded chin resting on her clasped hands, and
+drank in his words. Her luminous eyes were fixed on his face, and
+expressions of wonder and delight chased each other across her own
+countenance, like wavering light and shade on a placid pool.
+
+Judd, too, remained silent, ill at ease, and his dark, morose eyes ever
+shifted from the face of the man to that of the girl. Once, while Donald
+and his host were engaged in an animated discussion, he awkwardly
+attempted to draw Rose into personal conversation; but he relapsed again
+into moody silence when he received a frank, though smiling, rebuff.
+Clearly the meal was not an enjoyable one for him.
+
+All things of human invention come to an end, and at last Big Jerry
+lifted his towering frame from his chair to indicate that the supper was
+over. With obvious relief Judd crossed to the door and, opening it,
+announced that the storm had nearly passed. It was still raining,
+however.
+
+"Ef yo' air goin' back ter the village, stranger, I'll be pleased ter
+sot ye on yo'r way," he announced as he drew on his coat, and to
+Donald's mind the sentence carried an unmistakable _double entente_.
+
+Nevertheless he answered promptly, "Thanks, I'd be much obliged if you
+would. Perhaps Mr. Webb can spare me a lantern, too, since these paths
+are unfamiliar to ..."
+
+"Sho, yo haint a-goin' out er this house ter-night, friend," broke in
+the old man. "Leastwise, ef yo'r willin' ter put up with sech
+accommodations as the loft room offers ye. Thar haint no sense of yer
+takin' er five-mile walk through them drenched bushes, an' gittin'
+soaked yerself."
+
+"In course yer goin' ter stay," echoed the girl, with childlike delight.
+"Besides, I wants ter hear lots more erbout the city an' city folks."
+
+"But I have already imposed enough on your hospitality," protested
+Donald, hesitatingly, since the invitation held a strong appeal for him.
+
+"Yo' haint imposed at all. Set yo'rself down. I shore appreciates yo'r
+company."
+
+Judd scowled from the doorway, then flung back over his shoulder a
+short, "Wall, I reckon I'll be startin' home now," and, without further
+words, he went out, closing the door behind him with unnecessary
+violence. Donald said nothing, but he was frankly amused; for it was
+very apparent that the young mountaineer felt that he had a proprietary
+interest in Rose, and was undisguisedly jealous of the stranger who was
+held in such high favor.
+
+Rose, however, lost no time thinking of her lover,--if lover she regarded
+him,--but flew about the final household duties, humming happily, and
+now and then breaking into unfinished snatches of song like a wild wood
+bird. Evidently the slight burn no longer troubled her and was already
+forgotten.
+
+Her work finished, she joined the two men, who were smoking their pipes
+before the blazing fire, and seated herself crosslegged at her
+grandfather's feet. Mike got up leisurely from his post beneath his
+master's chair, stretched forward and back, yawned prodigiously, and
+then lay down with his shaggy head on the girl's bare legs. As Donald
+talked, Rose played with the dog, rolling him over and rubbing his
+underbody until his mouth opened in a grotesque animal imitation of her
+own wonderful smile, which constantly flashed to her lips like a ray of
+light, only to vanish as swiftly, and leave its slowly fading afterglow
+in her deep eyes.
+
+"Dr. Mac," said the child timidly, during a moment of contented silence,
+her natural use of his intimate nickname, both startling and pleasing
+Donald, "yo-all allowed thet yo' doctored children mostly. I loves
+babies more'n anything else in the world, 'ceptin' only grandpap;
+they're so purty an' sweet an' helpless-like, thet I reckon the Lord
+loves 'em powerful, an' the' haint nothin' finer then takin' keer of
+'em."
+
+Donald nodded with pleasure, and the girl continued, dreamily:
+
+"I allows thet, when God made people an' put the breath o' life inter
+them, he hadn't quite got outer his mind what he done on an earlier day,
+an' was jest improvin' on hit; fer hit sorter seems ter me thet big men
+an' women air like growin' trees, fashioned fer ter stand up agin ther
+eliments an' storms most times; but babies air like tiny leetle
+flowers--so weak an' tender thet we hev ter take mighty good keer of
+'em. Don't yo' never feel, somehow, like yo' was tendin' a gyarden of
+purty flowers, an' a-drivin' away the grubs an' bugs what would make 'em
+wilt an' die?"
+
+"To be sure I do, my child," he answered, wondering if she realized how
+apt was her simile, since most disease is, indeed, caused by "bugs an'
+grubs." "And many people, with imaginations like yours, have felt
+exactly the same. Did you ever read a poem called 'The Reaper'? No, I
+suppose not," he added, as the girl shook her curls, while a wistful
+look crept into her eyes.
+
+"It was written by Longfellow, a very famous poet who used to live near
+my home city of Boston, and no man ever loved little children better
+than he did. I had to learn the verses years ago when I was a schoolboy,
+and I remember the first of them still:--
+
+    "'There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,
+      And, with his sickle keen,
+    He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
+      And the flowers that grow between.'
+
+"For--he has the Reaper say--the Lord has need of the pretty flowers to
+make his garden in Heaven more bright and fair."
+
+"I never thought er thet," said the girl seriously, "but I reckon hit's
+so. Grandpap's bearded like the grain, but somehow he 'pears ter me more
+like er big pine tree, fer grain bends before ther wind, an' he haint
+never bent ter no storm."
+
+"And I? Am I a tree, too," queried Donald with amusement.
+
+She studied him judiciously and then answered with quiet assurance,
+"Yo're the oak. Hit don't bend, neither."
+
+"And yourself?"
+
+"Why," she laughed, "I'm jest a rose like my name. A rose jest growrn'
+inter er bush."
+
+"To be sure you are. Except that roses have thorns."
+
+"I hev thorns, too," she said with conviction, and Donald doubted
+it--then.
+
+"I should plumb love ter take keer of babies an' make 'em well an'
+strong like yo' do," she went on pensively.
+
+"Perhaps you may, someday. You'll have babies of your own."
+
+"Yes," was her simple reply, "I shall have babies ter love an' keer for,
+but I meant thet I wanted ter help all little children."
+
+"A children's nurse, perhaps, like those who work with me," and he went
+on to tell her graphically of the wonderful things done at the
+Children's Hospital, upon the staff of which he was.
+
+Rose listened, as enchanted as a child with a fairy story,--and indeed
+such it was, a modern fairy tale wherein medicine was a magic potion,
+and the merciful knife a magic wand. Told in simple language which she
+could understand, his story of the work in which his very life was bound
+up seemed to her like an epic, and, when he paused, she drew her breath
+with a sigh of keen delight, and cried, "Oh, granddaddy. Haint thet a
+wonderful thing fer ter do? I shorely wants ter be a trained nurse like
+thet when I grows up."
+
+"Perhaps you will, some day, who knows?" said Donald thoughtlessly.
+
+"An' what would this hyar old pine do without the rosebush blossomin'
+close beside him? What would the leetle wild mountain flowers hyarabouts
+do without thar Smiles ter take keer o' them?" asked the old man
+tenderly, but with a hidden undercurrent of distress.
+
+"But ef I could larn ter take _better_ keer o' them ..." began the girl.
+
+The old man moved uneasily, then said, "Wall, yo're only a leetle
+rosebud yerself now, an' hit's more'n time yo' closed up fer the night.
+Run erlong ter bed, hon."
+
+Obedient, but a little rebellious, Rose got up slowly, kissed the
+strong, weather-scarred cheek of the old man and turned toward the door
+of her room.
+
+"Good night, Smiles," called Donald. She hesitated a moment, then ran
+back to him with childish impetuosity, flung her slender arms about his
+neck and kissed him, too, whispering, "I loves ye, Dr. Mac, fer thet yo'
+loves little children."
+
+The frank embrace embarrassed him a little, and he felt the thrill of an
+almost unknown glow in his heart. Many a time his patients--even those
+as old as Rose--had kissed him thus; but something in her act left a new
+impression. Judged by the standards of the mountain folks she was almost
+a woman, and he knew it.
+
+Mike pattered to her door as it closed, scratched upon it with a low
+whine, and then lay down close against it.
+
+There was a moment's silence in the room as the men, each busy with his
+own thoughts, puffed steadily. Then Big Jerry carefully knocked the
+ashes from his pipe and remarked, "Hit haint no fault er yourn,
+stranger; but I haint altergether pleased at ther thoughts yo'r comin'
+hes placed in my leetle gal's head. She won't easy ferget what yo' done
+told her, an' ... an' I couldn't bear fer ter lose her."
+
+"I'm sorry. I spoke without thinking that it might result in her
+becoming discontented," answered Don. "To-morrow I'll try to make her
+understand--what is a fact--that although her loving heart might be ever
+so eager, her ways and those of the city are so utterly different that
+she couldn't possibly hope to go there and become a nurse such as I
+described. You understand what I mean."
+
+"Yes, an' I'd be powerful obleeged ter ye, friend," replied the old man
+with evident relief. "Hit's es yo' say. Rose air er mountain gal by
+bringin' up, ef not by birth, an' 'tis hyar thet she rightfully belongs
+now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+"SMILES"
+
+
+"'Not by birth?'" echoed Donald, in surprise. "But I thought that she
+was your granddaughter?"
+
+"An' so she be--or perhaps my darter," hastily answered Jerry, realizing
+his error too late. "I reckon I shouldn't hev told ye," he added in
+distress.
+
+"Don't let any such idea worry you, Mr. Webb. Where she came from is
+nothing to me, and, indeed, after to-morrow I shall probably never see
+her again. I've got to admit, though, that you have aroused my
+curiosity, and I'd like to hear the story that's behind her presence
+here, if you are willing to tell it."
+
+The giant hesitated, then said slowly, "Wall, I kaint think of no reason
+why yo' shouldn't hyar hit. Hit happened this erway.
+
+"Twar one mornin', thirteen summers ergone, an' I war ergunnin' down in
+ther woods er piece, not fur from ther Swift River. I rekerlect hit war
+er purty mornin', with ther dew still er-clingin' ter ther grass, an'
+sparklin'--like jewels, an' ther wood birds war singin' like they war
+special happy. I clumb erround er big rock, an' all of er sudden I
+seen--I seen er leetle mite of er gal, standin, thar, jest es still es
+still. She warn't more'n three year old, I jedged, an' she suttinly
+come from ther city, fer her leetle dress warn't like none I'd ever
+seen--hit hed sorter loose panterloons ter hit, an', although her legs
+war bare--an' all scratched an' bleedin'--thar war tiny socks an' shoes
+on 'em. Thar war tears in her big blue eyes an' on her purty cheeks, but
+she warn't cryin' none, then. No, sir; she war jest erstandin' an'
+erlookin' up ter whar a robin war singin' in an oak tree, an' her leetle
+mouth war open fer all ther world like a rosebud. Wall, es I stood thar,
+erwatchin' like I'd seen er fairy, she smiles--yo' know thet smile of
+her'n, like a rainbow breakin' fer er minute through the rain, an' then
+fadin' erway slow?
+
+"I calls ter her sorter soft-like, an' dang me ef she didn't come
+walkin' right up ter me, not a mite erfeered. She made a funny leetle
+bow, held out her chubby hand an' says, 'How do ye do, big man. Hev ye
+seen my pappa an' mamma?'
+
+"I tuck her on my knee, an' leetle by leetle--fer she couldn't talk
+much--she told me thet they come from a great, big city whar war
+'lectric and steam cyars an' policemen, fer ter play in the woods, an'
+thet her pappa an' mamma hed gone out on the water in a boat ter ketch a
+fish fer baby's breakfast. Thar boat hed runned erway with her pappa an'
+mamma, she said, an' they war settin' in hit cryin'.
+
+"I reckoned what hed happed ter them, fer tharerbouts the Swift River
+air a most deceevin', treetcherous stream, what looks innocent, but hes
+a powerful swift current what don't show. City folks haint no business
+ter go campin' in woods thet they don't know nothin' erbout," he
+interpolated.
+
+"Wall, I left the leetle gal ersettin' on the rock, an' runned es fast
+es ever I could down stream ter the rapids. Her folks warn't nowhar ter
+be seen, but I found part of thar canoeboat, smashed ter splinters, an'
+I guessed the rest." He paused, and smoked steadily for some time before
+continuing.
+
+"In course the baby couldn't tell us much, 'ceptin' thet her name war
+Rose. She didn't remember the name of the city whar they come from, but
+she said thet erfore they come inter the woods, she slept all night on a
+train.
+
+"We found ther campin' outfit of her paw an' maw, an' whar hit stood I
+built up a leetle mound with a sorter cross on hit, in thar memory.
+
+"In course, I tried ter find out arterwards whar they come from, but hit
+warn't no sorter use. Thar war no address on anything in the tent or
+thar spare-close, and no one hed seen them in Fayville or tharerbouts,
+so I reckoned thay come clar ercross the mountains from Kentuck. Mebbe,
+ef I hed hed more money, I mought hev found out erbout them; but us war
+powerful po'r them days. An'--mebbe, again, hit war wrong--but maw an'
+me couldn't holp thinkin' thet the leetle gal war sent us by the good
+Lord, fer we didn't hev no children, hevin' lost a leetle gal jest
+erbout es old es Smiles, ten years back."
+
+"I don't think that you have any cause for reproaching yourself, Mr.
+Webb," broke in Donald, reassuringly. "It seems to me that you did all
+you could do, under the circumstances. Certainly the child was
+fortunate, for you have been very kind to the little waif."
+
+"We war mostly kind ter ourselves," was Big Jerry's simple rejoinder.
+"She shorely hes been a ray of sunshine in this hyar cabin--'specially
+since maw died three years ergone, since when Rose hes taken keer of
+hit, an' me. She air a leetle mite of a tyrant, et times, but I reckon
+I'm ther better fer hit.
+
+"Wall, we brung her up like our own flesh an' blood, but altho' she
+called my woman 'Maw', she allus called me 'Grandpappy.' An' we didn't
+never try ter make her fergit her real paw an' maw, an' every
+birthday--leastwise we calls ther day she come ter us her birthday--she
+puts wild flowers on the mound I made. She's growed up like the other
+children hyar, and 'twar them what fust called her Smiles; but 'twarnt
+long erfore maw an' me sorter got inter the habit of doin' hit too, fer
+hit suits her right well."
+
+The speaker became silent, his memory dwelling in scenes of the dimming
+past, while Donald's thoughts were busy with the story which he had just
+heard. The inherent difference between _her_ personality and that of the
+average mountain girl was explained. The curtsy which she--a
+three-year-old baby--had made Big Jerry, seemed to indicate that she
+had been a flower of city hothouse culture before being transplanted to
+the wilds, and there growing up, in outward semblance at least, in
+conformity with her environment. But, Donald felt, within the child lay
+an ineradicable strain of breeding, making her different from these
+others, an inherited fineness of soul of which her peculiar charm was
+evidence.
+
+A little later his host arose, and said with native courtesy, "I reckon
+yo're tired enough ter want ter go ter bed, stranger, an' I'll show ye
+ter yo'r loft room."
+
+The pair bade each other good-night, and Donald climbed the homemade
+ladder to his resting place beneath the roof, on which the rain was
+still keeping up a continuous patter. He felt that he was weary enough
+so that no rocking was needed to induce slumber, but it was nevertheless
+some time before he really fell asleep. And when he did it was with the
+mental picture of the child's smile, like a quickly vanishing sun-rift
+in the mist, before his closed eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Donald was awakened the next morning by the sound of laughing voices,
+and Mike's hilarious barking, outside his little window. Looking through
+it he beheld a delightful picture. On the dew-sprinkled grass of the
+little clearing about the cottage were merrily romping the dog, Rose and
+a small child. Beyond, lay the mountain's wooded descent, rich in
+variegated greens and seemingly rising like an island shore from a sea
+of pearly vapor, tinted with delicate mauve, rose and amber by the sun,
+which had itself not yet risen above the valley mist. Scrambling into
+his outer garments, the man ran down to join them in their game.
+
+"Look out, er yo'll git yo're feet wetted, Mr. doctor man," cried Rose
+gayly, as she drew her own bare foot through the grass and held it
+forward shining with dew.
+
+"Do you think a little thing like wet feet would stop me from getting
+into the game?" he answered. "And you called me a sturdy oak! Who is the
+little buttercup?" he added, looking at the child whose shock of bright
+golden curls made his nickname an apt one.
+
+"She's Lou, Judd's leetle sister, an' her house air jest over thar
+beyond ourn. Yo' guessed rightly, she _air_ one er my flower children,
+ain't ye, honey-sweet?" Rose dropped to her knees in the wet grass, and
+gathered the bashful child against her tenderly. The baby buried her
+face in her friend's neck without speaking, and in a moment Rose stood
+up, saying, "We-all thinks a heap er Lou, 'specially Judd."
+
+"I've got a little niece at home just about Lou's age. Her name is
+Muriel. Would you like to hear about her and her playthings? She's got a
+tiny pony and cart," he said, and soon the child was sitting in his lap,
+listening wide-eyed to the description of dolls who opened and shut
+their eyes, and wonderful mechanical toys which walked and turned
+somersaults, monkeys which climbed poles and other equally incredible
+things.
+
+"He air a funny man, an' he tells funny stories," giggled the child,
+when Donald had exhausted his memory and imagination. "In course thar
+hain't no sech things."
+
+"Indeed thar _air_, ef he says thar air," chided Rose with implicit
+faith in her friend.
+
+"What, doll babies thet open an' shet thar eyes, an' say 'maw' an' 'paw'
+like weuns, Smiles?" asked the baby, unconvinced.
+
+"Wait until I go back home, and I'll send you one that can do every one
+of those wonderful things," laughed Donald. "I mean to send Rose a
+present, too."
+
+"Oh," cried the latter, "I shall be more'n obleeged ter ye."
+
+"What would you like best," he asked.
+
+She thought seriously a moment, then said, "I reckon I should like best
+a white dress an' cap, like the nurses wear."
+
+Donald experienced a pang of regret, but responded lightly, "Very well,
+that shall be yours, and I'm also going to send you a little book of
+poems called 'The Child's Garden of Verses', written by another man who
+looked on babies as flowers, too."
+
+At this moment the sound of quick footsteps caused them to look up. Judd
+Amos was coming around the side of the cottage, and the night had
+apparently not taken the black look from his countenance.
+
+"Oh, Juddy," cried the baby, wriggling free of Donald's arms. "Thet man
+thar air er goin' ter send me er doll baby thet opens an' shets hits
+eyes, Juddy."
+
+"We're obleeged ter ye; but I reckon thet I kin buy Lou all the presents
+she needs," said Judd gruffly. "Yo' maw wants ye ter come ter breakfast,
+sis," he added, and picked the baby up in his long arms, giving her an
+undoubtedly affectionate hug as he saw that the tears had sprung to her
+eyes.
+
+"That's nonsense," snorted Donald angrily, as Judd disappeared with his
+burden. "I'll send the doll to you--along with the dress and book--and
+he can't stop _you_ from giving it to her."
+
+"I reckon he _kaint_," Rose responded with eyes flashing. "I kin make
+Judd Amos do jest whatsoever I tells him." And Donald thought that she
+probably spoke the truth.
+
+"Haint we a-goin' ter hev no breakfast this mornin'?" came Big Jerry's
+deep voice, toned to assumed anger, as he appeared with an armful of
+wood, and, laughing merrily, Rose blew him a kiss and disappeared
+within-doors.
+
+During the morning meal, which was quickly prepared, the girl talked
+continually of the delights of being a children's nurse, and as he
+observed the look of worry on the old man's face, Donald determined to
+put an end to the child's rosy, but impossible, dream as soon as
+possible. His duty was plain enough, even if he had not given his
+promise to Rose's grandfather; yet the more he saw of her the stronger
+grew the unbidden thought of what a wonderful woman she would make if
+she could be taken to the city and given the advantages of education.
+
+His opportunity came when, breakfast over, Big Jerry started for the
+door, announcing that he would be back in a few moments.
+
+"I'll wait for you to return before I go, and talk to the child as I
+agreed," said Donald, in an undertone. The old man nodded his
+understanding.
+
+Hardly knowing how to commence, Donald turned to the girl and said
+hesitatingly, "Little Rose, I've got to go along in a few moments, but
+first I must tell you something which I'm afraid will cause you
+disappointment."
+
+Smiles stepped close to him, with her large eyes filled with a surprised
+question.
+
+"It is this. I wish, indeed, that you might grow up to be a nurse for
+little children, such as my story last night set you to dreaming of
+being, but, although I'm sure you would be a splendid one, it is
+impossible, you know, dear."
+
+"Why haint hit possible?" she demanded.
+
+"Well, you see, dear child, nurses of that sort have to study and know
+almost as much as doctors. They have to train--go to school in the
+hospital, that is--for three years."
+
+"But I haint erfeered ter work. I _wants_ ter study, an' larn," she
+cried eagerly.
+
+"Yes, I know, but ... well, it costs a lot of money in the first place;
+nurses don't get any pay while they're learning, and they have to
+deposit three hundred dollars before they can take the course, one
+hundred each year. Besides that, they have to have a good education to
+start with. Probably you don't know what is meant by a 'High School,'
+but a girl must have gone through one--studied steadily for twelve or
+thirteen years--or at least have an equivalent amount of education,
+before she can hope to enter the Children's Hospital."
+
+"Wha ... what do 'equivalent' mean?" she asked, with her lips beginning
+to tremble a little from disappointment.
+
+"It means that you would have to know as much as though you had gone
+through a High School, and be able to pass an examination proving that
+you do."
+
+Very slowly Rose turned back to recommence her work, and Donald sensed,
+rather than saw, that the tears were very near to the surface. Another
+roseate dream of childhood had been ruthlessly shattered, and he hated
+himself for having witlessly engendered it in her mind, since it could
+only be born to die unrealized.
+
+When she spoke again, it was to say with a telltale quaver in her
+subdued voice, "I reckon thet us mountain folks kaint never do
+worthwhile things, fer all sech take er mighty lot er larnin'."
+
+"There are two kinds of learning in this world, Rose, one of the mind,
+and the other of the heart. And without the benefits which come from the
+latter, the things of the former would be of little use. You may be sure
+that helping one's neighbors, as you are always helping yours; being
+happy yourself and making others contented and happier, and bringing
+smiles to the lips of friends by the example of your own sweet smile;
+are things very much worth while," said Donald, haltingly, but with
+sincerity. He placed his arm about her slender shoulder, with the
+half-hope that she would accept his comfort, and perhaps cry out the
+last of her disappointment with her head on his breast. Instead, she
+turned sharply away and went on with the work she had started, and the
+man followed her grandfather outside, realizing that hers, like most
+battles within the soul, must be fought out alone.
+
+In a few moments, and while he was still talking to Big Jerry, Rose
+joined them on the stoop. A quick glance at her flowerlike face told
+Donald that her childish--but none the less real--grief was banished,
+for a smile of victory curved her lips.
+
+"Ef ye haint a-goin' ter the city right away, doctor," said his host,
+"we would be downright pleased ter hev ye come up ergin. I've come ter
+like ye right well."
+
+"Indeed I shall--come every day if I may, for you and little Rose seem
+like old friends of mine already. And, when I do go back next week, you
+may be sure that I shall not forget either of you, or your hospitality."
+
+He picked up his rifle regretfully, whistled to Mike, who came bounding
+to him, but whose tail drooped ludicrously when he understood by canine
+instinct that the call meant separation from his new comrade, and with a
+final good-bye wave, struck off into the woods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+GIVING AND RECEIVING
+
+
+The call of the Jungle Folk, "Good hunting," was not fulfilled during
+Donald's day in the forest. Game there was aplenty, but he made clumsy
+work of following the fresh tracks in the wet wood mould, and missed the
+one wild creature that he saw, for he shot at it rather by instinct than
+design, and was not sorry that his bullet went wide. Indeed, love of the
+out-of-doors and the thrill of the chase, rather than the wish to slay,
+drew him into the woods for his brief respites from work and for
+recreation each summer. He seldom killed except for food; the convulsive
+pain-drawn death struggle, the cry of mortal agony, and the despairing
+look in the glazed eyes of dumb, stricken animals held no fascination
+for him. He saw too much of such things among human beings.
+
+The day, truly, was a glory. The storm of the previous night had cleared
+and revivified the air, which, for many days, had been oppressively
+sultry; the irregular patches of sky, glimpsed through the branches,
+were a transparent blue; the springy ground was bright with wild
+blossoms and colorful berries,--dogwood and service berry,--adder's
+tongue, bleeding heart and ferns in rich profusion. His subconscious
+senses drank in the manifold beauties, but his active mind was otherwise
+engaged.
+
+To-day the solitude, usually so appealing, so restful after fifty
+work-filled weeks amid the noisy turmoil of the city's life, lacked
+something of its customary charm and satisfaction. The man found himself
+with a real longing for the companionship of the simple old man and the
+intimate appeal of the child, whose acquaintance he had enjoyed for a
+few hours only. It was on them, rather than on his present occupation,
+that his thoughts were bent.
+
+At last approaching night found him safely back in the valley village,
+where the keeper of the primitive boarding house expressed her
+solicitation over his prolonged absence, as she handed him several
+letters which had arrived the day previous. One epistle, from his
+associate physician, Dr. Bentley, carried a pressing plea that he return
+to Boston as soon as possible, and perform a difficult operation. The
+call was so urgent that Donald regretfully concluded that duty demanded
+his compliance.
+
+He determined, however, not to leave without paying a final visit to his
+new friends, and, soon after sun-up the following morning, set forth for
+Big Jerry's cabin, carrying, as a present for Rose, a woven sweetgrass
+basket filled with such simple confections as the general store
+afforded. Nor had he forgotten a generous supply of pipe tobacco for her
+grandfather.
+
+Donald plunged into the woods and headed for Swift River, whose broken,
+winding course he followed upward until he reached the rapids of rushing
+molten silver and the low, but dangerous, fall which marked the spot of
+the early tragedy in the child's life. As he stood there, cap in hand,
+the sound of a low treble voice in song fell on his ears, coming from a
+place not far distant.
+
+Some one, alone under the cathedral arches of the forest, was softly
+chanting the words of the simple, familiar hymn, "Nearer, My God, to
+Thee," and, impelled by the unusualness of the thing at such an hour and
+in such a place, Donald moved quietly forward until the solitary singer
+was in view.
+
+It was Rose. She was kneeling beside a low, rounded mound covered with
+fresh-gathered forest vines, and sprinkled with wild flowers.
+
+The meaning of the picture flashed at once into the man's mind. This was
+the "birthday" of little Smiles--the anniversary of her advent to a new
+life--and this her yearly pilgrimage of love and filial homage to those
+barely remembered two who had given her being.
+
+Donald waited in silence, leaning against a concealing tree trunk, until
+the child had ended her act of simple devotion by throwing an unaffected
+kiss from her finger tips, not towards the dead earth, but upwards to
+the spirit world above.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE WAS KNEELING BESIDE A LOW, ROUNDED MOUND"]
+
+Then, as she arose and moved slowly away, her light step barely
+disturbing the grass, Donald followed and overtook her. The girl's
+greeting, although more subdued than on the morning before, was none the
+less delighted, and, with her hand snuggled warmly in his, they made
+their way to the cabin.
+
+"I bids ye welcome, doctor," sang out Big Jerry, as he caught sight of
+them. "Hit shor' air a fine day fer ter spend in ther woods."
+
+"And I cannot spend it there," answered Donald, ruefully. "I've been
+called back to the city to attend a little sick patient, and leave
+Fayville on the noon train."
+
+"Wall, now, thet air too bad, an' hit's mighty kind er ye ter come way
+up hyar erfore yo' left," said the old man, while the girl's new
+disappointment, caused by the announcement, was evident enough without
+verbal expression.
+
+"I brought you a package of tobacco, a little token of my appreciation
+for your kindness to me night before last, Mr. Webb; and Rose a
+'birthday' gift, just a few sweets in a basket which I found at the
+store, and which struck me as pretty."
+
+Jerry stumblingly expressed his gratitude for the present, and Rose
+unconsciously curtsied, much as she must have thirteen years before. Her
+lips and eyes smiled her shy thanks, but it appeared to Donald that
+mischievous amusement struggled with appreciation in her look.
+
+"Something seems to be amusing you, little lady. Let me into the
+secret," said Donald.
+
+Her silvery laughter broke from her lips, as she answered, "I'm shor'
+obleeged fer the compliment yo' paid thet basket. I made hit myself."
+
+"_You_ did? Why, it's wonderful, but it looks as though I'd been
+carrying coals to Newcastle. Newcastle is the name of a town in England
+where a great deal of coal comes from," he hastened to add, in
+explanation.
+
+"Like kerryin' water ter the river. I makes them leetle baskets odd
+times, an' sells 'em ter the storekeeper in Fayville, but I never hev
+none fer myself, somehow, an' I haint never a-goin' ter part with this
+hyar one, leastwise ef I kin keep hit."
+
+"Of course you may. It's my present to you just the same; but don't be
+afraid that it is meant to take the place of the other things I have
+promised you."
+
+While he had been talking to the child, Big Jerry had picked up Donald's
+rifle, and now stood caressingly running his hand down the blue-black
+barrel, and over the polished black walnut stock.
+
+Its owner watched him with inward amusement, yet fully understanding the
+woodman's love for a perfect weapon. As an ordinary man would lift a
+child's airgun, the giant tossed the rifle to a firing position,
+snuggled the butt against his shoulder, and leaned his gray-bearded
+cheek on it affectionately. Finally he lowered it regretfully to the
+ground, and remarked, with the suggestion of a sigh, "This hyar shor'
+air a mighty purty weepon, doctor. I reckon she'll drap a bullet purty
+nigh whar hit's aimed ter go."
+
+"Try it," encouraged Don, catching a look of almost boyish delight cross
+the old man's face.
+
+"Air she loaded? I haint right familiar with these hyar repeatin' guns,
+with thar leevers an' sich."
+
+The other threw a cartridge into the breech, and handed the weapon over,
+with the remark, "She shoots a trifle high, compared with the average
+rifle, I've found--perhaps an inch at a hundred yard range."
+
+"Thank ye, sir," replied Jerry, and added simply, "I reckon I'll jest
+chip the top off'n thet big rock erfore the oak tree, yonder." With the
+last word came the gun's flash, and to Donald's amazement he saw a tiny
+cloud of white dust rise from the peak of the boulder.
+
+Rose was already running lightly towards the target accompanied by the
+excited Mike, and her twinkling legs held such fleetness that the
+trained athlete barely caught up with her as she finished the dash, and
+triumphantly laid her finger on a leaden mark across the stone.
+
+"Good Lord," gasped Donald, as Big Jerry approached more sedately, "I
+thought that I could shoot some, but that ... that beats anything I ever
+saw in the West, or on the stage. And with an unfamiliar gun, too."
+
+"She shoots erbout ther same ter the left, too," commented the marksman
+judiciously. "But et thet she air a moghty fine rifle-gun, an' I shor'
+would be pleased ter own her, only I reckon yo' haint anxious ter sell."
+
+"I'd as soon think of selling Mike, or any other of my good friends,"
+promptly responded Donald, whereat a quick shadow of disappointment
+crossed the old man's countenance.
+
+"I erpreciates the feelin' thet ye hev fer hit," he said as he handed it
+back. "Er gun air mighty nigh like blood kin ter a hunter."
+
+"But we sometimes part even with certain of our kindred when the right
+man comes along whom we can trust to love, honor and cherish them,"
+laughed the younger man. "And, since I feel that I would be insulting
+that gun to fire it again after the way _you_ fired it, I'm going to
+honor it by giving it to you."
+
+"Why ... why, in course I'm mightily obleeged ter ye, doctor; but I jest
+couldn't think of acceptin' hit from ye," stammered Big Jerry,
+struggling between the dictates of honor and insatiate desire.
+
+"Don't say another word, my good friend; she's yours and I have several
+others at home. Only please don't use it in any shooting feuds--if there
+are such things still in existence nowadays. Since my profession is to
+save human lives, I mustn't have a part in the taking of them even by
+proxy, you know." Don's eyes were laughing.
+
+"Yo' hev no cause fer worriment erlong thet line," earnestly answered
+Jerry, as he patted the rifle, cradled in the crook of his arm like a
+child. "My fightin' day air over, praise ter Gawd. Thar war a time when
+I war sorter proud of ther notch thet's cut in the stock er my fust gun;
+but now ... wall, I'd give a good deal ef 'twarn't thar. I figgers,
+nowerdays, thet hit haint the Lord's purpose thet humans should spill
+each other's blood, leastwise onless thar's somethin' bigger et stake
+then spite er revengement."
+
+"Tell him erbout the shootin' matches at the County Fairs whar yo' used
+allus ter bear erway the prize, grandpap," interposed Smiles hurriedly,
+with the obvious design of changing the current of the old man's
+thoughts.
+
+The latter seated himself on the rock, his face lighting with
+reminiscence, as he complied, with the words, "Wall, ef I does say hit,
+thar warn't many in Kentuck er West Virginny could handle a shootin'
+iron with Big Jerry in them days, an', come County Fair time, I mostwise
+allus kerried off the money prize an' the wreath give by ther queen.
+'Twarn't fancy shootin', like they hes on the stage yo' war er-speakin
+of, p'raps, but hit took a stiddy hand an' a clar eye ter do the trick.
+Gener'lly the spo't ended with the pick er the rifle shooters a-trying
+ter cut down ten weighted strings et a hundred paces, an' more times
+then once I done hit in as many shots."
+
+Then, as though somewhat ashamed at the boastfulness in his words, he
+added hastily, "But I take no credit fer thet Gawd give me the skill
+ter do hit, an' I might hev used hit ter better purpose then ofttimes I
+did, fer I was overproud er my skill.
+
+"I shor' thanks ye fer this hyar rifle-gun, an', come Thanksgiving time,
+I hopes ter send ye a wild turkey bird killed by hit."
+
+"If you do that I shall be more than repaid," responded Donald. "Well,
+good friends of mine, I must be on my way; but don't think that you have
+seen the last of me. I've found the ideal spot in which to spend a
+vacation, and next summer I'll be back here again, D. V."
+
+"What's 'D. V.'?" asked the girl, curiously.
+
+"It stands for _Deo Volente_--Latin words which mean, 'God willing.'"
+
+"I hopes thet yo' _does_ come back, an' we-all will be here ter welcome
+ye, D. V." said Rose; then added, shyly, "I hev a gift fer yo' ter take
+back home ter leetle Muriel, ef yo're willin'. Hit's in the cabin, an',
+ef yo'll wait, I'll run an' git hit fer ye."
+
+"Of course I'll be glad to take it to her, my child, and I know that
+she'll be delighted both with it and the stories I shall tell her about
+Smiles. But wait, I will go with you, for there is one thing more I want
+to do before I leave, if you can find me a piece of string."
+
+With a question in her wide-eyed glance, Rose led him back to the little
+mountain homestead and, as soon as they were inside, hurried to produce
+the desired article.
+
+"Now then, hold up your arms," commanded Donald lightly.
+
+Rose obeyed, and, slipping the string about her yielding waist, he drew
+it taut and tied a knot to mark the resultant measurement. Following the
+same procedure, he took the circumference of her chest, the length of
+her arm, and from her neck to a few inches above her slender ankle.
+Suddenly her puzzled expression gave place to one of understanding, and
+the starry smile broke over her countenance.
+
+"You've _guessed_," cried Donald with feigned disappointment.
+
+"Ef hit's a secret, I won't even whisper hit ter no one," the child
+responded gayly.
+
+"Good. It _is_ a secret, but not a dark one."
+
+"I reckon thet hit's all white," she gurgled. "An' now I hev a secret
+fer _yo_' ter keep--leastwise till ye gits ter the city. Yo' promise,
+too?"
+
+"I solemnly swear," said Don, and, breaking away, the girl ran into her
+own room and bashfully brought out a paper bundle through the top folds
+of which protruded the twisted reed handle of a basket, somewhat similar
+to the one of her own manufacture which he had given her. "This hyar
+basket's fer the little girl; but, inside hit's something fer yo' ter
+remember leetle Rose by. Also thar's a writin', askin' ye ter do
+something fer me an' ef yo' kin do hit I will shor' be mightily obleeged
+ter ye."
+
+"I can't guess what on earth it is, but you may be sure that I will do
+it if it can be done," he answered earnestly. "Good-by, Smiles. Even
+without your gift as a reminder I shouldn't have forgotten you, and I
+shall not think of the Cumberlands without seeing your dear little
+face."
+
+Donald took both her small hands in his big ones, and, yielding to a
+sudden impulse, bent down and drew her towards him. For just an instant
+she held back slightly, and the color swiftly mantled her cheeks. Then,
+as he was on the point of releasing her, a little ashamed of his
+intention, she freed her hands and, flinging them about his neck, kissed
+him warmly again.
+
+With the fresh, childlike pressure of her young lips on his, Donald went
+hurriedly out, and, after a last hearty handclasp from Big Jerry, turned
+towards the woods, an unaccustomed song in his heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+AN UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE
+
+
+"I wants ter hev speech with ye, stranger."
+
+The words, spoken in a harsh voice, fell gratingly on Donald's ears, and
+brought to an abrupt end the happy thoughts with which his mind was
+occupied. He stopped, forcing the growling Mike behind him, as Judd
+stepped out from the bushes, squarely across his path.
+
+"I would be glad to stop and talk with you, Judd, but I'm due in
+Fayville before noon, and have already stayed too long at Big Jerry's."
+
+"Yo' hev," was the prompt and surly reply.
+
+"What the devil do you mean by that?" snapped Donald, with rising ire.
+
+"What I says, goes," was the reply. "This hyar place air a powerful good
+one fer yo' ter keep erway from, stranger."
+
+"Indeed? Well, you don't own it."
+
+The younger man's color heightened, and his lean jaws clamped together.
+
+"I warns ye fair," he said, after a brief pause.
+
+"And I don't accept such a warning from any one," shot back Donald,
+momentarily growing more angry. "It's no business of yours, whether I go
+or stay."
+
+"I makes hit my business," replied the other sullenly. "Big Jerry air
+growin' old an' foolish, I reckon; but I seen what I seen, an' thar
+haint no city man ergoin' ter come up hyar an' make trouble fer a gal uv
+our'n."
+
+"Judd, it's you who are the fool. I don't admit your right to discuss
+this, or any matter, with me, but Rose is nothing to me but a very good
+friend. Besides, she's only a child."
+
+"She's nigh onter old ernough ter wed," was the uncompromising answer.
+"An' ef she haint nothin' ter ye, the more shame on ye fer tryin' ter
+make her love ye, an' mayhaps break her heart."
+
+"But I haven't tried to make her love me," broke in Donald impatiently.
+
+"Then fer what did yo' put yer arms erbout her an' kiss her, like I seen
+ye through the winder awhile back, I wants ter know?" demanded the
+other, as he hastily frustrated Donald's attempt to step by him.
+
+The man felt his own face flush hotly, and was angry over this visible
+display of feeling.
+
+"I tell you she's only a child. I kissed her as I would any little girl
+of whom I was fond."
+
+"Yo' love her, an' yo' haint the man ter say hit."
+
+"Very well, then. Supposing I admit that I love her, what is it to you?"
+replied Donald, with a flash of heat.
+
+"I loves her, too. I've loved her since she come ter these hyar
+mountains, a leetle baby; an' I don't calkerlate ter hev yo', er any
+city man, make a plaything uv her. Hit's man ter man, now. Air yo', er
+haint yo', a-goin' ter leave hyar, an' keep erway?"
+
+"As I told you before, it's none of your business," replied Don shortly.
+
+"An' es I told ye before, hit air. Now I tells ye thet yo' haint
+a-comin' back."
+
+"That ... remains to be seen," Donald answered wrathfully as he stepped
+past Judd, this time unimpeded.
+
+He had not gone more than a score of swinging strides, keeping the
+bristling dog close beside him, when he heard the staccato crack of a
+rifle, and simultaneously the high-pitched whine of a bullet past his
+head.
+
+Once before, in the Maine woods, he had been an unwilling target, on
+that occasion for an overanxious deer hunter. Then he had sprung up,
+waving his arms and shouting a warning, but now instinct told him that
+the opposite procedure was the proper one, and he threw himself
+precipitately into the enveloping rhododendrons. As he did so, from the
+path above him came a derisive laugh which set his blood boiling.
+
+It awakened in Donald all the blind, fighting spirit which, in gridiron
+days, had driven him with clinched teeth into the thick of the battering
+mêlée. He sprang into a crouching posture, face turned toward the
+taunting sound, every muscle taut, every nerve tingling, and with but
+one thought surging through his brain--the desire to charge back and
+attack Judd, barehanded.
+
+Slowly the red demons of primitive passion vanished before the returning
+light of wisdom, born of maturity and the restraining power of
+civilization. He quickly realized that he had no right to make a fool of
+himself for the sake of such a cause, and in such a childish manner. His
+duty was paramount to the satisfaction of an atavistic impulse, and,
+placing a strong mental grasp upon his nerves, which cried for drastic
+action, Donald turned downward into the footpath again, and broke into a
+run.
+
+Haste was doubly essential, for little time remained before the hour for
+the departure of his train, and, even in Virginia, it _might_ leave
+according to schedule. As he crashed impetuously through a bush whose
+branches blocked the path, he heard again the laughter from above him
+and caught a new note therein--that of exultation.
+
+Donald stifled an oath, while an additional reason for returning to the
+mountain burned its way into his heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the path above, Judd deliberately blew the fouling smoke from his
+rifle barrel, turned about, and, with a satisfied smile mingling with
+the expression of hate on his lips, climbed back towards Jerry's cabin.
+
+In its doorway stood Rose. The happy flush still lingered delicately on
+her cheeks, and her limpid eyes were full of a soft, dreamy light.
+
+"What war yo' ershootin' at, Judd?" she cried, as the man came into
+view, carelessly swinging his long weapon.
+
+"Et a pole-cat," was his brief reply, as he removed his broad straw hat
+and sank with the unconscious grace of a wild animal onto the stoop at
+her feet.
+
+Neither broke the silence for several minutes, but the man scarcely took
+his burning gaze from the child's lovely face. At length she sighed ever
+so gently, and, seating herself beside him, dropped her firm chin into
+her cupped hands.
+
+"Smiles," began Judd, with all the harshness gone from his voice, "I
+don't enjoy fer ter hear yo' sigh thet erway, er ter see ther fur-off
+look in yo'r purty eyes, 'cause I fears thet hit means thar's some one
+else then me in yo'r heart."
+
+Instantly she sat up straight, and turned her eyes, full of surprise,
+upon him. "Why, Juddy!" she said.
+
+"Ef hit's thet doctor man, I likes hit least uv all, Smiles," the man
+continued, speaking bitterly. "He haint come fur no good, leetle gal,
+an' I don't want fer yo' ter think on him."
+
+"I reckon I thinks on whom I likes," she responded briefly.
+
+"Don't go fer ter git angry with me, Rose gal. Hit aint thet I wants ter
+be selfish er onreasonable, but ..." Judd stopped. Words of passionate
+love trembled on his lips, but were held there by a barrier of
+inherited reticence in matters of the heart. Iron reserve and laconic
+speech were essentially typical of his breed; but, at length, the eager
+utterances strained against the fetter of his will, and broke them.
+
+"I kaint speak as I desires to, Smiles. I fears I kaint make ye
+understand what's in my heart; but I've keered mightily fer ye, dear,
+ever since yo' war a smilin' leetle baby gal, an' now ... now yo'r most
+a woman grown, an' I love ye, want ye more come each new day an' each
+new night. Thar haint one ef them passes but thet I make excuse fer ter
+see ye, an' jest ther sight o' yo'r sweet face somehow kindles a light
+inside me that burns, 'thout scarcely dimmin', till I sees ye agin.
+Thet's ther reason I said what I done, a moment back.
+
+"I jest kaint bear fer ter think uv yo' lovin' some one else then me. I
+... I keers so much thet I believes I'd rather see ye dead then thet,
+Rose gal."
+
+Fairly trembling with the sweep of his unloosed emotion, the reserved,
+strong-willed man paused, and, as the girl stood up hastily, she was
+trembling, too.
+
+"Why, Juddy," she cried softly, distress in her voice, "I didn't rightly
+understand thet yo' felt thet erway. I likes ye, in course, but I'm only
+a leetle gal, an' I haint keerin' fer any one ... thet erway. I ... I
+don't enjoy fer ter hyar yo' say sech words ter me now, Juddy."
+
+"I reckon yo'r right, an' I shouldn't hev told ye yet, Rose," answered
+the man, almost humbly. "I kin bide my time, but I wants ye ter know
+thet I feels es I does. I'm a-goin' ter keep right on lovin' ye more an'
+more, and, when yo'r older, I plans ter ask ye ter marry with me."
+
+"I likes ye ... indeed I likes ye, Judd, but ... oh, please don't ever
+go fer ter do that. I kaint never marry ye, Judd."
+
+The man stiffened, and his face grew black again. "I believes thet yo'
+air in love with thet doctor man, atter all," he shot out.
+
+"I haint neither," cried the girl, angrily stamping her bare foot, "I
+does love him, but I haint _in_ love with nobody, 'ceptin' grandpap."
+
+"Yo' submitted ter his takin' ye in his arms an' kissin' ye," burst out
+the mountaineer.
+
+"Judd Amos, yo'r a mean, spyin' sneak, an' I hates ye!" stormed Rose,
+while her eyes filled with angry tears.
+
+"I didn't go fer ter spy on ye, Smiles," he protested, "I seen ye by
+chance. But, whether yo' love him er not, yo' might jest as well fergit
+him. He keered fer ye jest because yo' air er purty mountain flower, an'
+he haint never ercomin' back hyar ergin."
+
+"He air, too," contradicted the girl rebelliously. "He air ercomin' back
+an' he's promised ter help me git edercation."
+
+Judd laughed shortly.
+
+"I warned him fair ter keep erway, an' p'inted my warnin' with a rifle
+ball."
+
+Rose's eyes widened in horror.
+
+"Yo' ... yo' means yo' shot him, Judd?" she whispered, with both hands
+pressed to her breast.
+
+"Shot him? No. I didn't aim fer ter hurt him, an' 'twarn't in nowise
+necessary. I jest put a bullet past his head an' he run like a skeered
+rabbit."
+
+"Taint so. He never run from no one," she cried staunchly.
+
+"Wall, hit shor' appeared like hit ter me," was the gloating answer.
+
+Feminine instinct gave Rose an intuitive insight into the real reasons
+which underlay Donald's apparent flight; but pride sealed her lips, just
+as she was on the point of explaining triumphantly that the doctor had
+been called back home that day, and that it was the following summer
+when he would return.
+
+"Juddy," she said gently, after a moment, "yo' hed no reason fer doin'
+what yo' done. Hit war mighty wrong, but I fergives ye. I wants ter
+still be friends with ye. I wants ye ter help me, Juddy."
+
+The last words were breathed softly, and the naïve appeal in her voice
+brought the hostile man quickly back to submissive and worshipful
+fealty.
+
+"Yo' know thet I'd do enything in the world fer ye, Smiles," he answered
+simply.
+
+"I believes thet yo' _think_ yo' would, Judd, but I wonders ef, deep in
+yo'r heart, yo' really keers ernough fer me ter ... I kaint scarcely
+explain what I means. I reckon I air powerful ignerrant in
+speecherfyin'."
+
+"I don't rightly know what yo' means, Smiles, but I give ye my promise
+ter do whatsoever yo' wants, ef hit takes my life," he declared
+earnestly, his former selfish desire to bend her will into compliance
+with his own for the moment yielding to his blind eagerness to prove his
+love.
+
+Youthful and unsophisticated in worldly wiles as she was, the eternal
+feminine in Rose sensed her victory and power, and, still maintaining
+her half commanding, half tenderly appealing tone, she outlined her
+plan, for the accomplishment of which his aid was all essential.
+
+Judd protested, pleaded and stormed--all to no avail. He felt himself
+like a man caught in a snare of his own weaving--a snare strengthened by
+fair, yet unbreakable, silken threads added by the child.
+
+Finally, miserable at heart, he yielded, and departed with his hand
+tingling from the impulsive affectionate pressure of Smiles' fingers
+upon it. But, as the conscious thrill which it caused in his being
+lessened, his thoughts became immersed in gloom, through which no
+encouraging light made its way. He realized that he had lost the first
+battle for her heart, and the loss brought closer the dark spectre of
+ultimate defeat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"SMILES'" GIFT: AND THE "WRITING"
+
+
+"Now, my boy, let us hear an account of your trip. Did you enjoy it, and
+find anything of especial interest in the mountains of the feud
+country?"
+
+The doctor's father lighted his after-dinner cigar, and leaned back with
+the indolent satisfaction which a man ripe in useful years may feel when
+surrounded by his family. Since the death of his wife, he and his
+children had been more inseparably attached one to another than ever,
+and each drew a full measure of happiness from these all-too-infrequent
+reunions, when Donald could be with them. Even little Muriel was not
+left out of the group, for she had been granted the exceptional
+privilege of sitting up an extra hour, and listening to the wonderful
+hunting tales told by her beloved Uncle Don, upon whose lap she was now
+contentedly curled. Her mother and father sat near by.
+
+"Yes, to both questions," responded Donald.
+
+"Did you shoot any bears?" queried his little niece, expectantly.
+
+"No bears this trip, although I almost scalded to death a bare-legged
+little girl," was the reply. And with Rose thus made the central figure
+of his recital at the very outset, Donald proceeded to tell of his
+experiences and new friendships; but consciously refrained from
+mentioning the unpleasant incident with which his trip ended, and
+Smiles' parting embrace.
+
+His faithful reproduction of the soft mountain dialect brought frequent
+smiles from his listeners, and filled the child with delighted
+amusement.
+
+"I just love Smiles," she cried, as he finished his story.
+
+"Indeed, so does every one who knows her. _You_ do, don't you, Mike?"
+added Donald, and the dog beat a tattoo on the rug with his stumpy tail.
+
+"Witchery," laughed his father. "Even your clumsy description has
+strangely stirred my youthful blood, and 'I longs fer ter see this hyar
+wonderful child dryad of ther primeval forest.' If you ever go back
+there, you had better wear magic armor as protection against that
+illusive smile which seems to have cast a spell of enchantment over your
+civilized senses."
+
+"Pshaw, you needn't be concerned about my feelings for her. She's no
+siren, but a very real little person. I'll admit that she's amazingly
+attractive; but she's merely a child."
+
+"Children grow up," teased his sister.
+
+"I'm aware of that natural phenomenon," answered Donald, somewhat
+curtly. "But ... Great Scott, can't I describe a fifteen--no,
+sixteen-year-old little savage, without all you people imagining that
+I'm going to be such a fool as to fall in love with her?"
+
+"Sometimes it isn't what one says, but the way he says it, that
+incriminates," put in his brother-in-law, adding his voice to the
+general baiting which had apparently disclosed a tender spot.
+
+"Hang it all, I believe that I'll go back and ask Smiles to marry me, if
+only to put an end to your teasing," cried Don with a laugh not entirely
+natural. "At least I might perhaps succeed in frustrating _your_ obvious
+designs, Ethel. Oh, I'm not blind!"
+
+"I've almost concluded that you _are_--or hopeless," answered his
+sister. "However, I'm perfectly willing to admit that I would like to
+see you married to Marion Treville--she's my closest friend, and would
+certainly make you a perfect wife."
+
+"Too perfect, by far. Can you imagine me hitched with that proud and
+classic beauty? I should go mad."
+
+"But I want my pretty basket that little Smiles made for me," broke in
+Muriel, to whom the present remarks held no interest, and who emphasized
+her demand by seizing his cheeks.
+
+"To be sure you do, and I want to see my present, too. I'll bring them
+right down."
+
+Not at all ill pleased at this opportunity to escape from his family's
+jesting, which, for some indefinable reason, aroused his belligerency,
+Donald jumped up hastily and departed for the sanctuary of his bedroom,
+to get the bulky bundle with its mysterious enclosure. Minutes slipped
+by, and he failed to return to the group downstairs.
+
+At last his absorption was broken into by the arrival of Muriel, whose
+entrance into the room, with the traces of tears on her cheeks, brought
+him back to the present with a remorseful start.
+
+"You didn't come down, an' you _didn't_ come down, Uncle Don, an' now
+mother says it's bedtime, an' I want Smiles' basket to take with me."
+
+"Why, I'm terribly sorry that I've been so long, sweetheart-mine. I
+stopped to read the letter she wrote to me, and, I'm ashamed to say,
+forgot that you were waiting for me. But see, here's your present.
+Little Rose made it all herself for you. Isn't it pretty?"
+
+With a cry of delight the child gathered the simple basket into her
+chubby arms and bent her head over it. "Oh, don't it smell sweet, Uncle
+Don. Does Smiles smell like that?"
+
+"Perhaps not exactly," he replied, chuckling.
+
+"Now please show me what she sent to you. Was it a basket, too?"
+
+"No, not a basket. It's a very great secret; but, if you'll promise not
+to tell a soul, no matter how they tease, I'll show it to you."
+
+"Cross my heart, an' hope to die," said the child earnestly, making
+across her pinafore the mystic sign, so potent to the childish mind.
+
+Donald opened a drawer in the chiffonier and took out a small and
+obviously cheap glazed blue-and-white vase. The child took it
+wonderingly and, removing the cover, sniffed audibly and deeply.
+
+"My. _This_ smells like Rose," she said with conviction.
+
+"You're right, it does, indeed, because it _is_ roses--dried wild rose
+petals which she gathered and preserved herself. I saw it in her little
+cabin, and know that it was her most precious possession, yet she gave
+it to 'Uncle Don' as a keepsake, so that he might remember her whenever
+he smells of it."
+
+"Wasn't she just _too_ sweet to do that. My, how I would like to see
+her, Uncle Don."
+
+"Well, perhaps you may, some day."
+
+The sentence echoed out of the past, carrying his recollection back to
+the night when he had heedlessly spoken the identical words to Smiles,
+and there entered his mind the sudden realization of what amazing
+potentialities for good or evil often lie hidden in the simplest
+utterances.
+
+The sound of his sister's light tread in the hallway caused Donald to
+return his homely gift to its hiding place hurriedly, and little Muriel,
+with roguishly twinkling eyes, imitated his action as he laid his finger
+on his lips as a seal of secrecy.
+
+"Well, you _two_ kids," laughed Ethel, as she caught sight of the
+picture framed by the doorway.
+
+"I'm glad that I haven't wholly forgotten how to be one," answered her
+brother, as he kissed first his little niece, and then the basket which
+she held up with the demand that it be paid similar homage, and bade
+them good-night.
+
+Rejoining the diminished group in the living-room, Donald was
+preoccupiedly silent, until his father asked,
+
+"Well, have you read your little friend's 'writing'? I confess to a mild
+curiosity as to what sort of a letter a girl like her would write, and
+what sort of a request she would be likely to make of you."
+
+Don drew from his pocket the letter, painfully scrawled on cheap, and
+not overclean paper, and handed it over. Adjusting his eye-glasses the
+older man read aloud:--
+
+     Dear Dr. Mac,
+
+     Truly I want to be a nurse like you told me about some day.
+
+"Well," commented the reader, "at least she starts right off with the
+business in hand, without any palavering.
+
+     And I reckon that even a little mountain girl like me can be one
+     if she wishes hard enough and works hard, too.
+
+"Why," he interpolated again, "there doesn't seem to be any evidence of
+your weirdly wonderful spelling and grammar here."
+
+"Go on," answered Donald, smiling slightly.
+
+     I reckon it will take me a long, long time to get education and
+     earn all that money, but I can do it, Dr. Mac. I am sure I can do
+     it. I told my grandfather all that I mean to do, and he won't try
+     to stop me none. Of course he does not want for me to go away from
+     him, but I explained that I _had_ to, and of course that made it
+     all right.
+
+     When you was telling us what those nurses done, something seemed
+     like it went jump inside my heart, and straightways I know that the
+     dear Lord meant for me to do it, too. I read a story once about a
+     girl in france named Jone of Ark and I reckon I felt like she done
+     when she see the angel.
+
+     I know I can do it, Dr. Mac, if you will help me a little bit like
+     you promised. Most of all I figures I need a heap of book learning,
+     and it is books I wants for you to get me. You know the books I
+     need to have, Dr. Mac, and in this letter I am going to put $10.
+
+     It is an awful lot of money; but I reckon books cost a good deal,
+     and you can bring me the change next summer, for I have not got no
+     use for money here. Don't be afeared. It is my own money. It was in
+     my father's pocket among the camp things granddaddy found, and
+     there was some more. Grandfather, he kept it for me until I was a
+     big girl and now I am keeping it for a rainy day, like the copy
+     book says, although I don't think money would be much use to keep
+     off the rain.
+
+     Their is a preacher man who lives on our mountain winters, when he
+     can not travel about none, and I know I can get him to help me
+     learn if I help his wife with her work, and I can read pretty well
+     now and write pretty well when I have a spelling book to study the
+     words out of, although I have to go sorter slow, for they do not
+     allus spell words like they sound, and sometimes I cannot find them
+     at all. I guess my book is not a very good one.
+
+     I reckon it will take me a long while to earn more than $300; but I
+     am going to work awful hard, making baskets and other things, and I
+     am going to get Judd Amos, our naybor, to sell them for me at the
+     village store, for he goes down their trading every week, and he
+     will do anything I ask him, like I told you.
+
+     This is a pretty long letter and it has taken me all the evening to
+     right. I hope that you can read it. Well, I guess that is all now
+     from your loveing little friend.
+
+     I most forgot to say please give my love to Mike.
+
+                                                            ROSE WEBB.
+
+"Well, I've got to admit that I have seen many a letter, written by a
+grown-up, that fell a long ways short of that one in clarity of thought
+and in accomplishment of a definite object," said Mr. MacDonald, as he
+handed it back. "Do you suppose that her eagerness to become a nurse is
+just a passing childish whim, or has she really got sand enough to put
+her almost impossible plan through?"
+
+"Clairvoyancy was not included either in the Harvard or Medical School
+curriculum," responded Donald, with a shrug.
+
+"Meaning that the things of the future are in the laps of the gods. Of
+course, but I was merely asking for your personal opinion. I'm not
+jesting now; that letter really aroused my interest in the child."
+
+"Well, then, I believe that Smiles really possesses the strength of
+purpose to go through with even so difficult a task as she has set for
+herself. Remember, she comes of city stock, and hasn't the blood of
+those unprogressive mountaineers in her veins."
+
+"And you? Are you going to help her as she asks? What about your promise
+to Big Jerry?"
+
+"I lived up to both the spirit and letter of that, when I tried to
+explain to the child the almost unsurmountable difficulties which lay
+between her and the accomplishment of her dream. Besides, I know that
+she has told the truth in her letter, and has somehow managed actually
+to win over the old man. I can't help feeling mighty sorry for him, if
+the foster birdling is really going to fly away from his nest after he
+has reared and loved her so tenderly, but, after all, it is only the
+history of the human race. Still, I can't blame him if he looks on me as
+a serpent who stole into his simple Eden, carrying the apple of
+discontent."
+
+"There have been, of course, plenty of cases similar to this, where the
+adventurer's spirit was really big enough and the vision strong enough
+to carry him or her through to victory," mused Donald's father. "Such a
+one was the immortal Abe Lincoln, who came from just such surroundings.
+But the task is doubly hard for a young girl, and the experiment of thus
+breaking away from the ties and traditions of many years, and seeking a
+place in a wholly new, wholly dissimilar life, cannot but be fraught
+with dangers. There, in that simple environment she naturally appealed
+to you as not only an attractive child, but as a somewhat unusual
+personality. Tell me, lad, how will, or would, she measure up, if
+transplanted a few years hence into city life, where the standards of
+comparison are so utterly different; so much more exacting?"
+
+"Frankly, I don't know," responded Donald. "Since I read her letter I
+have been asking myself that question, and the answer worries me, since
+I feel in a way responsible for having opened the gates before her
+untrained feet. Somehow I cannot disassociate little Rose from her
+present environment, and, although she certainly _has_ an unusual charm
+for such a child, I must admit that, in part, at least, it was the
+result of--no, not that, but made more obvious by--her surroundings."
+
+"Well, she has apparently decided to take the moulding of her life into
+her own hands and, without knowing the quotation, determined to be 'the
+master of her fate and captain of her soul.' However, a little more
+education can scarcely hurt her, and, if she succeeds in saving up some
+money, it will come in handy enough as a 'dot,' in case she marries your
+friend, Judd Amos, and raises a family of mountain brats."
+
+Donald's reply was unnecessarily positive.
+
+"I'll wager that she'll never do that." And with that the conversation,
+as far as it concerned Smiles, ended.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During purloined hours in the next few days the eminently successful
+young physician might have been seen engaged in strange errands, which
+took him into such places as a dressmaker's establishment, and several
+stores which sold textbooks. It was also a noteworthy fact that the
+decidedly soiled and crumpled ten-dollar bill, with which he had been
+commissioned to purchase the means through which education might be
+acquired, was never taken from the special compartment in his bill
+folder.
+
+Then the flood of fall practice engulfed him, and gradually the memory
+of little Smiles faded from his busy mind, although it never quite
+vanished, and from time to time fresh breezes from the distant
+Cumberlands fanned it to life like a glowing ember.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SOME OF SEVERAL EPISTLES
+
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   I
+
+                                        Commonwealth Avenue
+                                             Boston, Massachusetts.
+                                                  September 15, 1912.
+
+Dear little Smiles:
+
+If you had been able to look inside of my heart when I opened your
+present and read your letter, you would have beheld as many different
+lights and shadows there as you can see in your own eyes when you look
+in the glass over your bureau.
+
+The sight of that little jar, and the scent of the spiced rose-petals,
+brought you so near to me that I thought I could almost see you by just
+closing my eyes--which may seem to you a funny way of "seeing" a person.
+It made me very happy.
+
+The letter, too, pleased me a great deal; but I must tell you that it
+also troubled me. That is when the shadow fell on my thoughts of you.
+
+The reason? I will tell it to you, because I feel that I should,
+although please do not think that I want to croak like an old black crow
+in one of your pine trees.
+
+If you have really set your whole heart upon becoming a nurse when you
+grow up, and your granddaddy has consented, it is not for me to say that
+you cannot do it. But I _do_ know the path which you must travel. I
+know that it is much steeper, much more rocky and full of briary bushes
+than any one your feet have ever climbed on your mountain, and you will
+have to keep a very brave little heart inside you, if you hope to reach
+the summit. And then, if you succeed, instead of finding a fairy castle
+filled with all sorts of pleasant things, you will only discover another
+long and weary road which must be traveled until your tired little body,
+and heart, made heavy by the sufferings of little children, long for the
+quiet restfulness of your dear old mountain home.
+
+Am I still trying to discourage you? I suppose that I am, for, you see,
+_I_ can look back along that road which lies _before_ you, and I can
+remember the rocks I had to climb over, and the bushes I had to struggle
+through, and yet I know that it was far easier for me than it will be
+for you.
+
+You have read parables in the Bible. Well, I am preaching a modern
+parable. "Book learning" is a sword and buckler--or perhaps it would be
+better to say that it is a suit of strong hunting clothes and thick
+leather knee-boots, and I was pretty well clad like that when I started
+my trip, while you are dressed only in thin gingham, with your legs and
+feet bare--as I first saw you. Please shut your eyes, dear child, and
+try to see the parable picture I have drawn for you.
+
+Have you done it? The picture is not as pretty as the one I painted the
+night I told about how fine it was to be a nurse, is it? But it is more
+nearly true to life.
+
+Now, think hard before you make up your mind as to whether or not you
+really mean to go ahead, for--after all, little Smiles--each boy and
+girl has soon to decide, all alone, what he or she is going to do with
+that strange thing which we call life.
+
+If your courage is really as strong as that of the wonderful Joan of
+Arc, I, too, believe that you can succeed and make your dream come
+true, and of course I will help you, gladly--in every way that I can.
+
+Now I am all through preaching. It is out of my line, and I promise not
+to do it again. Within a few days you will, I hope, get a boxful of the
+books which I have sent you as you asked me. Most of them are just what
+you wanted--school books--but on my own hook I added one or two not
+strictly for study--like plums in a dry bread pudding. And, of course,
+there is something else in the box and _I_ guess that _you_ can guess
+what it is.
+
+This, little Smiles, is the longest letter I ever wrote to anybody, I
+think. Don't you feel proud? It must end now, however; but not before I
+ask you to give my best regards to your kind granddaddy.
+
+Don't let the cold winter that is coming, chill your warm affection for
+
+                                       Your sincere friend,
+                                                 Donald MacDonald.
+
+P.S. I told Mike what you wrote to him, and he wigwagged a message of
+love back to you with his tail.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   II
+
+                                            Big Jerry's Cabin
+                                                 in Webb's Gap, Virginia.
+                                                      Sep't. 20, 1912.
+
+Dear Doctor Mac:
+
+Oh, dear doctor, can you ever forgive me for waiting two whole days
+before I wrote you back to thank you with all my heart for the many
+wonderful things which came in that box? It was like a fairy's treasure
+chest. And most of all I am obliged for that letter you wrote me. It was
+the first letter I ever got from any one and I shall keep it as long as
+I live. I think, of all the things I got, I like that the best. Those
+others you could _buy_, but you had to _make_ that yourself,
+and it seemed like I could almost hear you talking the words in your
+strong voice, like the sound of the falls in the Swift River.
+
+When I looked inside that box I could not make up my mind what I liked
+best. The many books kind of scared me when I opened them and remembered
+I had got to know all that much; but the book of beautiful poetry I just
+love. I have read all of the poetrys and know some of them to speak
+already.
+
+Then there is that nurse's dress. O how I love it, and how I wish for
+you to see me in it. I plans to put it on a little while everyday and
+pretend that I am a real nurse _like I am going to be_. I done it
+yesterday, and somehow when I shet my eyes and run my hands over its
+crackely stiff whiteness, it seemed to me that the room was full of
+sweet little babies for me to take keer of.
+
+And now, doctor, I must tell you that I done what you said for me to do.
+I closed my eyes up tight like granddaddy does when I say prayers, and I
+saw little Smiles acliming that rough path, and walking along that rough
+road you wrote about, but by the side of that long road I kept aseeing
+beautiful little flowers what were fading and drooping and calling out
+in tiny voices like baby chickens for Rose to keer for them. So doctor,
+the picture did not scare me none.
+
+The Lord give Joan of Arc (I know how to spell it now) a silver armor to
+protect her, and I reckon the white nurse's dress that you give me is my
+armor.
+
+Now doctor I must tell you about little Lou and the wonderful doll you
+sent to her. She was so funny when I give it to her that I got a chreek
+in my side laughing. First thing, she held it up tight against her and
+when it went Ma-a-a-like a calf, she dropped it quick and run and hide
+under the bed. But pretty soon she crep out again and I showed her how
+to make it shut its eyes.
+
+Then she jumped around and cried. 'O Smiles, hit _kaint_ do them things
+but hit _does_ do them.' Well, pretty soon, Judd Amos, her brother, come
+in and, when he saw it in Lou's arms, his face got as black as a storm
+cloud and he went for to take it away from her.
+
+I just stepped in front of him, and said, 'Judd Amos, if you ever go for
+to take that doll baby away from her, or even _touch_ it, I won't never
+speak to you again.'
+
+He was powerful mad with me, but he seen that I meant like I said, so
+Lou can keep her doll. And what do you think she has named it? She has
+named it Mike. Even Judd had to laugh a little when she said that was
+the doll baby's name.
+
+I am making baskets as fast as ever I can and Judd is going to take them
+to the store at Fayville for me. I went down with him and seen the
+storekeeper man myself last week, and he promised me to buy all that he
+can from me.
+
+Granddaddy shoots with your rifle gun most every day. He can hit a
+string like he used to, but he would not shoot a apple off my head like
+a man did in the book that had about Joan of Arc in it, although I
+wanted him to.
+
+I have ritten a piece of poetry like Mr. Eugene Fields did, and this is
+it
+
+    The cold may make my lips turn blue,
+    But it can't freeze my love for you.
+
+Your happy and loving little friend
+
+                                                                Smiles.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   III
+
+                                       Commonwealth Avenue
+                                            Boston, Massachusetts.
+                                                 October 24, 1912.
+
+Proprietor of the General Store,
+Fayville, ---- County,
+West Virginia.
+
+Dear Sir:
+
+I am informed that you are occasionally purchasing, through one Judd
+Amos, of Webb's Gap, sweetgrass baskets made by a little mountain girl
+of that settlement.
+
+I am interested in her work, and herewith enclose a money order in the
+sum of ten dollars ($10.00) with which I will ask you to purchase at a
+rate reasonably in advance of the one you are now paying, all the
+baskets which she sends to you. You may express them to my address each
+month, and I will forward further funds upon request.
+
+Please do not mention my name in connection with this transaction; but,
+if any questions are asked, merely say that you have obtained a city
+market for them.
+
+                                             Very truly yours,
+                                                  (Dr.) Donald MacDonald.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   IV
+
+                                            Webb's Gap. Vir.
+                                                 November 24, 1912.
+
+Dear Dr. McDonald:
+
+How many letters do you guess I have written to you so far this month?
+24. Yes, I have written you a long letter every day, telling you all the
+things I did, and thought, but of course I did not mail them, for I knew
+that you would get tired of reading them.
+
+But this one I am going to send, for grandfather has asked me to let you
+know that he has shot that wild turkey bird for your Thanksgiving--which
+is Thursday--and has sent it to you by express package from Fayville. I
+was with him when he did it.
+
+Evenings come right early now and we went into the woods just before sun
+down. It was right beautiful, and I wished that you could have been with
+us. I will try and tell you what I saw like I do in my daily letters
+that my teacher says are practice themes. (I could not have spelled that
+to save my life a month ago.)
+
+Well, except for the big pine trees which never seem to change, just
+like granddaddy, all the tall forest people and the half grown-up
+children-bushes, had put on bright new dresses in honor of Thanksgiving
+time. They were red, made of many colored patches like Bible Joseph's
+coat,--yellow green and brown, some as bright as God could paint the
+colors, some soft, like they had been washed and washed.
+
+Granddaddy thought it was beautiful too--although he called it "purty."
+But he did not like the brown grass and fallen pine needles, and called
+the marsh near the river an ugly mudflat; but _I_ thought it was
+beautiful, for that oozy mud was deep purple (the reverend told me the
+word), and the little pools of water were all gold. Those are the colors
+that kings dress in, yet that old mudflat wore them, too.
+
+Well, finally, when it began to grow dusk, we found a wild turkey bird
+roosting on a tree limb and granddaddy said, 'Hush, I aims ter shoot hit
+right thru ther head.' When you get it look where the bullet went.
+
+Now perhaps you would like to hear about what I have been doing. Well, I
+have been doing many things, but most of all I have been studying.
+
+The minister, whose name is Reverend John Talmadge, came back to our
+mountain when it began to get cold, for he is in not very good health
+and can't go about much, although he sits out doors most of the time.
+
+He is my very good friend, and I have found out a lot about him. One
+thing is that he went to college like you did, and he knows a great deal
+more than there is in all those books, even. So you see he can help me a
+good deal. He is even going to teach me some Latin, _D. V._ I think that
+God must have sent him to our mountain.
+
+Every day I study the books you sent, first with him and then at home,
+and I am getting along so nice that last week, when the teacher in our
+little school was away, they let me be the teacher.
+
+And who do you think was one of my pupils? It was Judd Amos. He has
+bought some books and is learning, too. I reckon he does not want a girl
+to be smarter than he is at book learning, which he says is nonsense for
+girls. But I know that it is not nonsense. Why, I can travel in far-off
+lands and see things that I did not even know _were_, by just reading
+books, and the reverend has lent me some to read.
+
+Then I am still making my baskets, and what do you think? The storeman
+is buying all I can send him, and paying me more than he used to for
+them! He says that city folks like to buy them for they smell so sweet
+and like the woods. I am saving all my money and, with what I had, have
+nearly $75 already, and, by next summer, will have over $100. Isn't that
+wonderful? Granddaddy pays me 10 cents a week for keeping house for him,
+too. Isn't he good?
+
+Don't you think I ought to be a very happy little girl? Well, I am, and
+I guess my face is getting all out of shape, I find so many things to
+smile about.
+
+                                            Your affectionate friend,
+                                                 Rose.
+
+P. S. Please give my love and a turkey drumstick to Mike.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   V
+
+                                            Commonwealth Avenue
+                                                 Boston, Massachusetts.
+                                                      December 23, 1912.
+
+Dear little Smiles:
+
+Although I am very busy, for the Winter has given colds to many little
+folks here, I can not let Christmastide go by without writing a letter
+to you, little forest friend. It was very dear of you to send me that
+basket of holly, which I found waiting for me when I returned, tired
+out, last night.
+
+Its dark green leaves and bright red berries looked up at me when I
+undid it, almost as though they were your personal messengers and were
+trying eagerly to say, "Smiles wishes you a Merry Christmas through us."
+The basket was indeed a work of art, but to me it seemed even more than
+that--a labor of love.
+
+I could almost imagine you tramping through the snow-covered mountain
+woods and gathering the holiday berries, and the picture which my mind
+painted was so attractive that I heartily wished I might have been
+there, too.
+
+I am delighted with the accounts of the progress you are making in your
+studies, and your all-too-infrequent letters themselves tell the story.
+I'm afraid that I shall not know you next summer. Write me just as often
+as you feel like doing so, dear, and if I do not always reply you may
+know that it is only because I am so very busy.
+
+Now I have two pieces of news to tell you. I am sure that you will be
+very much pleased with one of them and I hope will be with both.
+
+First, Muriel's mother had a wonderful present just a little ahead of
+Christmas day--not from Santa Claus, but from Old Father Stork. It is a
+fine baby boy, whose eyes are almost the color of yours, and his name is
+to be "Donald MacDonald Thayer." I suppose I have now got to be extra
+good in order to set my namesake the right example.
+
+Knowing how dear all little ones are to your heart, I am sure that you
+will be almost as pleased as we are over this happy event, and I can
+almost see your sweet face light up with its wonderful smile as you read
+this.
+
+Second, I am engaged to be married some day, if I can ever find time.
+_Her_ name is Marion Treville and she is very good and kind, and every
+one thinks she is very beautiful, too.
+
+I hope that you have by this time received the little friendship box
+which I sent to you and your grandfather. The dress is a present from
+Muriel, who loves your basket more than any of her toys, and continually
+speaks of you as her "dear friend Smiles"; the hair ribbon is from Mike
+and the book from
+
+                                                 Your sincere friend,
+                                                      Donald MacDonald.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   VI
+
+                                                 Webb's Gap
+                                                      January 7, 1913.
+
+Dear Dr. MacDonald:
+
+When I tell you that there has been a great deal of trouble here, you
+will understand why I have not written you long before this, to thank
+you for those lovely Christmas presents.
+
+Grandfather was delighted with his tobacco, although he has not smoked
+it yet, and all my gifts made me very happy. The dress dear little
+Muriel sent me is so lovely that I don't believe I shall ever dare to
+wear it, especially as, when grandfather saw me in it, he looked so
+sorrowful as he said, 'Hit's powerful purty, but hit haint my Smiles no
+more,' that he almost made me cry. I wonder if I can really ever leave
+him? He needs me very much now.
+
+Oh, I was so happy for all of you when I read about Muriel having a dear
+little baby brother. I sat right down and wrote a verse. The reverend
+helped me with some of the words, but still I'm afraid that it is not
+very good and I am afraid you will laugh at it. It is the best I can do
+now, and I guess I will send it to you in this letter.
+
+Now I must tell you that your friend, my grandfather, has been very sick
+since Christmas. The doctor from Fayville has been to see him several
+times and he says the trouble is--I know that you will laugh at me now,
+but I can only write what it sounds like to me--'Aunt Jina pecks her
+wrist.' He has pains in his heart and has to keep very still, which he
+does not like to do, so I am the nurse and, whenever I feed him, or give
+him the medicine that the doctor left, I put on my nurse's dress.
+
+Of course I have not been able to go to the reverend's for my lessons,
+and I have not been able to study much, except when grandfather is
+asleep; but he--the reverend, I mean--comes to our house as often as he
+can, and we take turns in reading aloud to grandfather, sometimes from
+the book you sent me, but most times from the Holy Bible, which he likes
+best.
+
+The reverend says that it is better than medicine to sooth a troubled
+heart, and I reckon it must be so, for it almost always puts grandfather
+to sleep, and the trouble is with his heart, like I told you.
+
+Then, beside that, a little wild mountain flower was born to a neighbor
+of ours last week. We tried--oh, so hard--to make it live, but the cold
+was so bitter here that God took pity on it and took it back to his
+garden in Paradise.
+
+At first I could not help crying, and I came home and tore up the verses
+that I wrote, but then I remembered what you told me about the Reaper,
+and I went back to the poor, sorrowful mother and told her. And I
+remembered what you said about making people smile by smiling myself, so
+I did that, too.
+
+This is not a very happy letter, but grandfather is getting better every
+day, and summer will soon be here now. The new year seems to me like the
+top of a snow covered mountain. When we have climbed over it, it is not
+long before we can hurry down into the valley where the sun is warm and
+the flowers bloom.
+
+                                                 Your affectionate friend,
+                                                      Rose Webb.
+
+P. S. I am very glad that you are going to be married.
+
+(The Enclosure)
+
+    Deep the world with snow was covered,
+    Cold and barren was the earth,
+    Low the Christmas angels hovered
+    As a little babe had birth.
+
+    Just a tender little flower,
+    Dropped upon the world below
+    Out of God's eternal bower--
+    Pink as sunrise, white as snow.
+
+    But the little blossom stranger,
+    As its earthly life it starts,
+    Need fear neither cold nor danger,
+    For 'tis planted _in our hearts_.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                             VII
+
+                                             "Thayerhurst"
+                                                  Manchester-by-the-sea.
+                                                       August 15, 1913.
+
+My dear little Smiles:
+
+This is going to be a very short letter, and can you guess why? Early
+next month I am going to run away from my work and everything here, and
+hurry down to your mountain for two whole weeks of wonderful vacation.
+So the next time you hear from me the words will come from my lips
+instead of my pen.
+
+I have been very glad indeed to hear that Big Jerry has been so well
+this summer, and I am sure that he has many more years of virile health
+ahead of him. I am keenly looking forward to seeing him cut a string
+with the new rifle.
+
+The weather has been terribly hot in Boston this month and caused much
+suffering, but it is quite cool and very pleasant here by the ocean.
+
+Every night that it is possible, I spend here with my sister's family,
+partly because I love to see my little namesake, even for a moment,
+partly to escape the city's heat and obtain some really refreshing rest.
+It makes me almost ashamed sometimes, when I think how comfortable I am,
+and how uncomfortable are the little children in the crowded city, most
+of whom have no woods, fields and streams like yours to play in, and
+many of whom never see anything out of doors except dirty, paved streets
+which get so hot that they burn the feet, even though the fire engine
+men frequently send rushing streams of water through them.
+
+But I know that a fighter must always keep in the best possible
+condition, and we doctors _and nurses_ have declared war on an enemy who
+has killed millions and millions, and never takes a day off.
+
+I wonder how you will like the ocean when you see it. Very much, I am
+sure, it is so immensely big--like the sky--so beautiful, and more full
+of ever-changing colors than even your mountains.
+
+They tell me that little Muriel plays beside it all day long on the fine
+white sand and over the rocks, while baby brother lies near by on a
+blanket, kicking and gurgling, and holding long, wordless conversations
+with the white clouds and sea birds high overhead.
+
+This has been a much longer letter than I expected it to be, and now I
+must chop it off short with just five more words,
+
+                                                  Your affectionate friend,
+                                                       Donald MacDonald.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE HIGH HILLS, AND "GOD'S MAN"
+
+
+    Sun hath sunk in radiant splendor,
+      Now the colors fade away
+    And the moon, with light more tender,
+      Sheds its silver on the bay.
+
+    Eventide is softly casting
+      O'er the earth a magic spell,
+    And a love-song, everlasting,
+      On the night wind seems to swell.
+
+    Deeper grow the lengthening shadows,
+      Darkening the heaven's blue,
+    One by one the stars are gleaming,
+      Night is nigh, would you were, too.
+
+Donald hummed the words in his not unmelodious baritone, as he climbed
+up the forest path down which, twelve months before, he had rushed
+headlong, in blind anger.
+
+The spell of the high, forest-clad hills, and the new-born night was upon
+his spirit. Pleasant anticipations filled his heart, and left no room
+for painful recollection as he hastened over the needle-strewn pathway
+on which the white radiance of the full moon, shining through the
+branches, made a tracery of silver and black.
+
+Let men whose minds are governed wholly by cold commonsense, and whose
+souls hold no spark of vitalizing imagination, scoff at moon-witchery
+and lunar madness. Let them declare that the earth's haunting satellite
+is merely a dead world which cannot even shine with its own light. Magic
+it _does_ wield. And, just as it distorts and magnifies all commonplace,
+familiar objects, so it twists the thoughts of men; just as it steals
+away the natural colors from the things of earth, and substitutes for
+them those of its own conception, so it alters the hues of man's
+meditation.
+
+The usually exuberant Mike trotted in silence, close to his master's
+heels, and now and then cast suspicious glances aloft at the tall
+spectre things which he knew to be trees.
+
+Donald knew that it was rather absurd of him to be toiling up the
+five-mile mountain path that night, when the next morning would have
+done just as well; but he had thankfully thrown off the shackles of
+civilization along with its habiliments. For two free, full weeks he
+meant to live like a child of the out-of-doors, and to draw a brimming
+supply of new energy from Mother Nature's never-failing breasts. Every
+moment was precious.
+
+As he neared the Gap, his winging thoughts flew ahead to Big Jerry's
+cabin and to the child-woman who had so attracted him a year before.
+Once more he told himself that she was nothing to him, and that now,
+especially, he had no right to allow her, child though she were, to hold
+so large a place in his heart. Yet what chance has reason in
+competition with moonlight?
+
+The clearing, with the cabin beyond it, came into view. The little house
+was likewise a victim of the prevailing necromancy, for its rough,
+hand-split and weatherbeaten shingles were now a shimmering
+olive-silver.
+
+Mike gave voice to a joyful yelp, and tried to crowd past his owner's
+legs, for he had seen, or sensed, Rose even before the latter became
+aware of the presence of their little friend. She was standing, alone,
+on the outer edge of the tiny stoop, whose darkened doorway formed a
+black background, against which her figure appeared, cameo-like. The
+flooding brightness lifted her form and face, seen in profile, into
+sharp relief, and the shadow which it cast on the grass made her appear
+the more tall and slender. Grown and subtly altered she undoubtedly was,
+thought Donald. The girlish curves and lithesomeness had not departed;
+but they carried a suggestion of approaching maturity. Her wavy hair no
+longer hung unbound about her face, but was dressed in two braids, one
+of which had fallen forward across her breast. Shoes and stockings
+covered her legs; but the simple dress still left her neck and arms
+bare, and the flesh was robbed of its color and made alabaster, the
+golden threads stolen from the dark hair and replaced by a silver sheen,
+so that there was something ethereal, but startlingly beautiful, in the
+picture.
+
+Holding the violently wriggling Mike in check, one hand on his collar,
+the other grasping his jaws, Donald stole silently forward until he had
+passed the corner of the cabin, and his own shadow had crept forward,
+and laid itself at the girl's feet.
+
+Suddenly she perceived it, and turned with a question in her shadowy
+eyes. Her lips parted, then curved into the familiar magic smile, as she
+cried, "Oh, Doctor MacDonald. You've _come_."
+
+Mike twisted free, and, with a mad bound and wiggle, threw himself on
+the girl, who caught him in her arms. Then, holding him against her, she
+somehow succeeded in extending one hand, shapely and slender, to meet
+the man's two eager ones.
+
+"Oh, grandpap," she thrilled through the doorway. "Hurry out hyar. Dr.
+Mac hes come fer ter see ye."
+
+A sense of vague disappointment possessed Donald as he heard her lapse
+into the musical, but provincial, dialect; but, seeming to read his
+thought that the year of study had not been able to alter it, she
+whispered, "I always talk like I used to, to him, for he likes it best."
+
+"I see, and you're quite right, too," was his low-voiced reply, as he
+heard the old man's heavy tread crossing the bare floor within.
+
+"Wall, wall, stranger. We air shor'ly powerful pleased fer ter welcome
+ye ergin," came in Big Jerry's deep and hearty voice, as he emerged from
+the darkness, and caught Donald's hand in the old, crushing vise.
+
+For a few moments they all chatted happily, and then Jerry said, "Erfore
+I fergits hit, us wants ye ter stay up hyar this trip. Ther loft-room
+air yourn, an' leetle Rose hes fixed hit up special fer ye--curtains et
+ther window, er rag rug on ther floor, an' ther Lawd knows what else."
+
+"Do you really want me to?" cried the newcomer in pleased surprise.
+
+"Of course we really want you," answered the happy girl.
+
+"Then, by Jove, I'll be only too glad to, although I had not thought of
+such a thing."
+
+"I allows thet yo' kin regard this hyar cabin as yo'r home whenever
+yo're hyarerbouts, an' we wants fer ye ter feel thet hit _air_ home,"
+said the giant with simple courtesy.
+
+"I can't tell you how much that means to me--real hospitality like
+that," began Donald, hesitatingly. "You know I ... I haven't any real
+home and haven't had ... since mother left us, and my sister was
+married. Of course," he added hastily, "my rooms are pleasant and
+comfortable, and all that; but they're only a place to work, sleep and
+eat in, and there isn't any of that indefinably vital something--a soul,
+perhaps--which makes a _real_ home a sacred spot, no matter how big or
+how small it may be. I get frightfully lonely there, sometimes."
+
+"I didn't allow thet a man could git lonely in the city," replied Jerry.
+
+"'In the city?' My dear man, one can be _twice_ as lonely there as any
+place I know of. The very life makes for shut-inness, in mind as well as
+body, and there are thousands and thousands of men, and women, too,
+there, who know scarcely a soul outside of the very few with whom their
+daily work brings them in contact; and _they_ are mere acquaintances,
+not friends. They see only the four walls of the rooms in which they
+work and sleep, and the walled-in streets between the two.
+
+"These very streets seem to me to typify the city's life--so hard, so
+filled with hurrying, jostling crowds of people, all equally intent upon
+their own narrow, selfish affairs, people who would think a fellow crazy
+if he spoke to them pleasantly, as you did to me the first time I saw
+you. There are thousands who never even lift their eyes to the narrow
+strips of sky between the tall buildings. _They_--and they only--know
+what real loneliness is.
+
+"Of course I'm not one of those unfortunates," he added quickly, "for I
+have many friends, and am making new ones daily; but that is the
+atmosphere I live in fifty weeks of the year. Do you wonder that it gets
+on my nerves at times, and that I long to run away from it all and get
+into the big, open spaces in the warm heart of friendly nature?
+
+"Do you think that I can ever feel lonesome in the forest and fields,
+with living things always about me which are ready to share themselves
+with me?"
+
+"I reckon I haint never thought uv thet. This hyar mountain country
+air's whar I hev lived in contentment all my life, an' I allows thet
+hit's good ernough fer me ter keep on livin' in, twill I dies."
+
+Rose remained silent, although obviously disturbed by Donald's words;
+but, before she could voice her thoughts, another figure quietly joined
+the group--a tall, stooping man, clean shaven, and with an æsthetic
+countenance seemingly out of its natural environment.
+
+"Why, it's my minister man," cried Rose joyfully. "Wherever did you come
+from?"
+
+"My wanderings brought me close home, and I could not pass by without
+calling on my two good friends in Webb's Gap."
+
+"An' we air downright glad fer ter see ye, reverend," answered the host.
+"This hyar air the doctor man from the city, what leetle Rose hes told
+ye so much erbout."
+
+Donald already felt drawn to the strange divine, their common interest
+in the girl acting as a lode-stone, and he clasped his hand with
+friendly pressure. The other returned it less vigorously, but no less
+sincerely, and Donald experienced a peculiar mesmeric thrill which
+startled him a little.
+
+"Perhaps I should apologize," began Mr. Talmadge in a low voice, the
+timbre of which still retained the resonance of early culture. "I came
+on this happy scene--or at least to the corner of the house--while you
+were speaking of life in the city, and I could not very well help
+pausing and listening.
+
+"I know your feelings only too well, Dr. MacDonald. I was born, bred and
+worked in New York until my health became undermined by just such
+influences as you mentioned; and I was forced to run away, too, and seek
+the hills 'whence cometh my help.'"
+
+"And deep in your inner consciousness you don't regret the change, do
+you?" asked Donald.
+
+"No. Perhaps I am selfish--a shirker--and there are times when the old
+call to get back where I know that the need is greatest comes like a
+clarion. But for myself, the disaster--which once seemed like a
+curse--has turned out to be a blessing, as is so often the case. I have
+learned a great lesson, doctor."
+
+"What lesson?" queried Rose.
+
+"God's," responded the minister, quietly. "It may seem strange to you,
+my dear, but, although I was reared in a religious family, went through
+a great theological school, and was the rector of a city church for ten
+years, I never fully knew Him until I came here."
+
+"Why, Mr. Talmadge!" gasped the girl in astonishment, while Donald said
+bluntly, "Do you really believe that you know Him, now?"
+
+"I do. Not, of course, in all the fullness of His mysterious majesty,
+but as a friend whose ways are no longer hidden from my eyes."
+
+"Frankly, I wish I might say as much," said the doctor. "I, too, was
+brought up in a religious household, but small good it did me, for, when
+I became old enough to think for myself, the glaring errors and
+inconsistencies in my childhood belief became so apparent that I became
+hopeless of ever understanding the truth which might lie within that
+astonishing maze. I quit going to church long ago."
+
+"Doctors are generally regarded as an atheistic lot," smiled the
+minister.
+
+"That's slander. We may--in the aggregate--be agnostic.... I suppose
+that I am."
+
+"I ... I don't understand," said Rose in distress, "but I don't like for
+to hear yo' say that, Dr. Mac."
+
+"It may not be as bad as it sounds, my child," laughed Mr. Talmadge. "An
+atheist is indeed a terrible person, who doesn't believe in our heavenly
+Father, but an agnostic is only one who confesses that he doesn't know
+... but may be quite willing to learn."
+
+"Oh, learn ... I mean teach him, then," she said earnestly. "You are
+God's man and know everything about Him, Mr. Talmadge."
+
+"Indeed I don't--far from it, and I imagine that your friend doesn't
+want to hear a sermon on the mount."
+
+"_I_ do," she cried, "there's lot of things I want to hear about, but
+I've always been afraid to ask you, till now."
+
+Rather gruffly Donald added his word, "I hope that I am broad-minded
+enough not only to receive, but to welcome, any light on a subject which
+is, I imagine, the most vitally important one in life."
+
+"Well, then, suppose we hold a little spiritual clinic for our Rose's
+benefit primarily, remembering that where two or three are gathered
+together in His name, God will be with them. And, after all, what time
+could be more fitting than this silent, holy night; what place more
+suitable than this great temple of the out-of-doors, for us simple
+children of His to seek understanding?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"SMILES'" CONSECRATION
+
+
+If, half an hour previous, Donald had been told that, during the first
+evening of his long anticipated visit to his forest of enchantment, he
+was to play the part of patient in a spiritual clinic, conducted by a
+wandering backwood preacher for the instruction of a seventeen-year-old
+mountain girl--as well as for his own enlightenment--he would have
+scoffed at the idea; yet, oddly enough, he felt no sense of displeasure
+or antagonism.
+
+In the company of this unaffected man of God, the simple old mountaineer
+and the equally simple girl only, vanished all the self-conscious
+reserve and reticence which usually attacks the modern city dweller when
+called upon to speak of things spiritual and eternal, and which had so
+often bound Donald's tongue, even when his inner being cried aloud for
+expression.
+
+"I hardly blame you for your attitude of mind, doctor," began Mr.
+Talmadge. "Although it is certain that the knowledge of God starts from
+Himself a ray of pure white light, the dogmas, creeds and
+theologies--invented by many men of many minds--have raised between it
+and our spiritual eyes a glass clouded with earthly murkiness, through
+which we now see darkly. Only as mankind grows in spiritual stature, and
+lifts his head above the clouds, can he hope to see the ray in all its
+purity and glory."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that's so," assented Donald. "But I'm afraid that my
+difficulties lie deeper than the unessential differences in dogma.
+However, since our little friend is the one who has questions to ask,
+let her conduct the catechism."
+
+Rose was speechless with embarrassment, but finally managed to say, "I
+reckon I'm so ignorant, that I can't say the things that are in my
+heart. Please, Dr. Mac, you ask the reverend the questions and let me
+just sit and listen. Only don't use too big words, for I want to
+understand."
+
+"All right, I'll be cross-examiner, but please believe, Mr. Talmadge,
+that what I may say is not intended to be argumentative, but rather
+honestly inquisitive. I really would like to find out if any one can
+reasonably explain some of the many things in religion to the acceptance
+of which I have been unable to reconcile myself."
+
+"I'll do it gladly, if I can. But, before you begin, let me apologize
+for what I said in ill-timed jest about doctors being atheists. I
+suppose that, in one sense, there isn't a more truly religious class of
+men in the world."
+
+"I can't agree to that, either," said Donald.
+
+"Perhaps not, but tell me this. Isn't the structure and functionings of
+the human body infinitely more wonderful to you, who have made an
+intimate study of it, than it can be to us who have not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. It's the most marvellous thing on God's earth," answered
+Donald, unthinkingly employing an expression heard in childhood.
+
+"There!" cried Mr. Talmadge. "He's convicted out of his own mouth, isn't
+he, Rose? 'God's earth', he says."
+
+"A mere figure of speech," the physician laughed.
+
+"A statement of fact, sir. There are mighty few of you doctors who will
+not, within your hearts of hearts, agree that a Supreme Being must have
+designed this earthly temple which we call our body, the world we dwell
+in, and established the laws that govern both. And, knowing, as none
+others can, _how_ wonderfully the former is constructed, is not a
+doctor's appreciation of the Almighty's power bound to be sincere?"
+
+"Granted. But that isn't being religious," Donald protested.
+
+"It is the foundation of all true religion," was the quiet answer.
+
+The physician was still dubious. "Well, perhaps. Still, I doubt if many
+ministers would agree that merely because a man may believe in a
+superhuman creative power, he is religious, if, at the same time he
+says--as I must--that he doesn't and can't subscribe to many of the
+things which we were taught as children to believe as 'gospel truth.'"
+
+There was the sound of a shocked and troubled "Oh," from Rose, but the
+minister's composure was in no wise ruffled.
+
+"The trouble is, I imagine, that you have mentally outgrown the
+willingness to accept certain statements blindly, as children and
+primitive minds do, and yet have made no really earnest endeavor to lift
+the veil and look behind it with the intent of finding out if a simple
+and understandable truth may not lie hidden there."
+
+"But how is one going to get behind a plain statement of what is
+apparently meant to be fact, such as the description of the creation in
+Genesis?" demanded Donald, somewhat impatiently. "Science is absolute,
+and I, for one, know that the Darwinian theory of life, or one
+substantially like it, is true. Why, a study of human anatomy proves it,
+even if we did not have conclusive evidence in anthropology and geology.
+So, in the very first words of the Bible, we start off with a conflict
+between its tenets, and what human learning shows us to be an
+indisputable fact."
+
+"Do we?" smiled the minister.
+
+"Don't we?" answered Donald.
+
+Rose sat looking first at one, then at the other, with a puzzled look in
+her eyes, for it was all Greek to her.
+
+Noticing this, Mr. Talmadge said, "I guess that we've started a bit too
+strongly for our little listener, but we want her to accompany us from
+the start," and he briefly, in simple words, outlined the Darwinian
+theory, which brought an outraged grunt from Big Jerry. Then he turned
+back to Donald, and said, "Take the story of ... well, say the prodigal
+son, for an example. Was that the account of real happenings, think
+you?"
+
+"Of course not. Merely a parable." The other's mind reverted to the one
+which he himself had preached by letter to little "Smiles."
+
+"The Bible is filled with parables," said Mr. Talmadge, simply. "Why
+should we regard certain stories as allegories merely, and others as
+historically accurate statements of fact when they are difficult to
+credit as such? Especially why should we do so in the face of the
+obvious fact that the earlier part of the Old Testament is simply
+tradition, handed down, orally at first, by an intensely patriotic and
+rather vain race? _Sacred_ tradition it is, to be sure; but that should
+not deter us from endeavoring to analyze it in the light of reason.
+Besides, hasn't it ever occurred to you that in a translation from the
+original Hebrew, some of the finer meanings of the old words are sure to
+have been lost or distorted?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so."
+
+"As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word '_Yom_,' which, in the story of
+the Creation, has been translated 'day,' also means 'period.' And it is
+a rather interesting thing, in this connection, that the biblical
+account mentions an evening to each of the first six 'days,' but not to
+the seventh, which shows that _it_ isn't finished yet. Science tells us
+that this last period, since the creation of mankind, has already
+lasted many thousands of years--although the length of time ascribed to
+it varies greatly--and this gives us some idea of how long those other
+'days' might have been. Besides, in this case, we do not have to be
+'finicky' about the meaning of the ancient word, for in the Psalms there
+is a verse which says that a thousand years in _His_ sight are ..."
+
+"Are but as yesterday," Rose completed the quotation in her gentle
+voice. "You see, those were God's days, not ours."
+
+"Well, I'll be ... blessed," said Donald. "It is logical enough, isn't
+it? The trouble in this case, at least, was that I never consciously
+tried to reconcile what I regarded as the old and new beliefs."
+
+"But, Mr. Talmadge," Smiles' perplexed voice broke in. "If human beings
+just developed from a kind of monkey ..."
+
+"The anthropoid ape wasn't exactly a monkey, although he may have looked
+and acted like one," laughed Donald.
+
+"Well, but how could the Good Book say that God created man in His own
+image?"
+
+"Do you remember what Paul said, in his wonderful epistle to the
+Corinthians? He answered your question when he wrote, 'There is a
+natural body, and there is a spiritual body ... and as we have borne the
+image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly.'
+What does the Bible say that God is, Rose?"
+
+"'God is a spirit,'" whispered Smiles, reverently.
+
+"Exactly. And Dr. MacDonald will tell you that 'spirit' comes from a
+Latin word which means 'breath.' When God perceived that some of the
+earth creatures had, according to His plan, developed sufficiently in
+mind so that they could rule the world, He breathed into them some of
+His own spirit, and thus created them in His own image--for of course a
+spirit hasn't form and shape like beings of flesh and blood."
+
+"Hasn't He?" gasped the girl. "Why, there is a picture of Him, like a
+great big man with long beard, in my Bible."
+
+"Merely symbolic, dear child, and I have always felt that it was a vain
+symbolism, in both senses of that word. You look them up in your new
+dictionary to-morrow. In trying hard to picture God, men have made Him
+in the likeness of the most wonderful things their eyes had ever
+seen--themselves--and just increased His size. As for the beard, that is
+supposed to be a sign of power and strength.
+
+"Of course, in fact, God isn't a man or even a super-man, but a spirit,
+combining the spiritual elements of both male and female."
+
+"I reckon I jest hev ter think of er somebody fer ter worship," broke in
+the hitherto silent Jerry. "Jest something like ther wind air er bit too
+onsartain fer me."
+
+"And for millions of others," answered the minister quickly. "Of course
+there isn't the slightest bit of harm in people thinking of Our Heavenly
+Father as a Being with a form which our eyes might see if they were only
+given the power to behold heavenly, as well as earthly, things. The
+conception of the Omnipotent as a physical embodiment has in the past
+been of incalculable advantage in making an appeal to an aboriginal type
+of mind, since it really requires some sort of material personification,
+which it can at least visualize, the conception of which serves as an
+incentive for well-doing, and a deterrent from evil doing. It is
+therefore infinitely preferable as a working basis to an unembodied
+force."
+
+Big Jerry brought a smile to the lips of the other two men by bursting
+out, "Durned ef I understand. Them words air too powerful ederkated fer
+me."
+
+"But," said Rose, "what you say kind of frightens me, Mr. Talmadge. If
+we can't ever see God, even in Heaven, how can we be sure that He _is_?"
+
+"Have you ever seen ... love?" queried the minister softly.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Yet you know that _it_ is. You've never seen, tasted, touched or
+smelled thought, but you know that it exists. In the same mysterious way
+we know, and we shall know more perfectly hereafter, that the Great
+Spirit--I've always loved that beautiful Indian expression--_is_."
+
+"Yes," she said, somewhat uncertainly. "I _think_ that I understand. But
+it's powerful hard to understand how I can be His little child if He
+isn't a person."
+
+"I don't wonder that it puzzles you, dear. It is hard for even the
+oldest of us to try to imagine something entirely different from what we
+have actually seen with our mortal eyes, and we can hardly conceive of a
+spirit, or even a ghost, as something without some sort of a form, even
+though it be a very misty one. But the _real_ you isn't the flesh that
+we can see and touch, but the spirit that dwells inside, and, just as
+some of your earthly father and mother is in your body, so you have
+something of God within you, which was given you at birth. We call it
+..."
+
+"My soul."
+
+"Yes. And as that was part of Him you are His child ... so are we
+all--spiritual children."
+
+"And Jesus? Was He His son in the same way?" whispered the girl.
+
+"Exactly, only to a far greater degree than we can hope to be, for to
+Him the Heavenly Father gave His spirit in fuller measure than He ever
+had before to mankind, so that He might set an example to the world and
+teach us the way we should try to live."
+
+There was silence for a moment, and then Smiles spoke the thought that
+had been troubling her. "But, Mr. Talmadge, if God hasn't any body and
+our spirits are like him, why heaven ..."
+
+Mr. Talmadge sent a glance of smiling appeal at the doctor as though to
+say, "Now I'm in for it. How can I explain heaven as a spiritual
+condition?" Aloud he said, "I won't pretend to know just what heaven is
+like, but, of course, our spirits won't need an earth like this to walk
+on."
+
+"But," persisted the child, "the Good Book says that there are many
+mansions there, and golden streets, and also that it is a land flowing
+with milk and honey."
+
+"So it does, and very likely there are, in the realms of the spirit,
+things which correspond to those that we have known on earth, but I am
+quite sure that they are not _material_ things."
+
+"Ef thar haint no real heaven, thar haint no real hell," broke in Big
+Jerry, whose mind had been slowly grasping the meaning of the minister's
+words. "I reckon thar must be a place uv punishment fer sinners."
+
+Painstakingly, as though explaining to a child, Mr. Talmadge answered,
+"Mr. Webb, did you ever do something wrong, because of which your
+conscience troubled you later?"
+
+"Reckon I hev. Reckon I suffered the torments uv the damned fer hit."
+
+"Did you ever burn your hand?"
+
+"Yes, I done thet, too; powerful bad."
+
+"Which caused you the most suffering, your conscience or your hand?"
+
+"I erlows thet my conscience done hit."
+
+"That is the answer to your implied question. God doesn't need to give
+us new bodies, and send them into a place of fire and brimstone to
+punish us for our sins. If the soul suffers, it is in hell, even though
+it may still be in our mortal bodies. That it must suffer, when we do
+wrong, we know. But, Mr. Webb, I do not think that it is meant to be
+punishment in the sense of retribution--getting even--so much as it is
+for correction. You know that men put gold through the fire to purge it
+of the dross that makes it dim and lustreless. That is what the fires of
+the spirit are for; that is why the Bible speaks of Hell as a place of
+fire. It is another parable."
+
+"Yes, I see," said Rose, but the old man shook his head, unconvinced.
+Then the girl asked suddenly, "But why was God so good as to give us
+part of Himself and let us make it impure and suffer, Mr. Talmadge?"
+
+"Ah, now you are getting into the depths of religion and I'd rather not
+discuss that until you have had a chance to think over what we have
+talked about already. All that I wanted to do to-night was to get both
+you, and the doctor, to thinking for yourselves. Come and see me,
+doctor, if you want to continue this discussion. I've got theories on
+any subject that you may mention, I guess," he laughed. "But I won't
+count the evening wasted--even leaving out the pleasure I have had--if I
+have helped to open your eyes, ever so little, to the light."
+
+"Oh, you have ... and mine, too," answered Rose. "I mean to think
+_hard_, but if I get very puzzled, I'll come to see you about it. But,
+anyway, I mean to be God's little child all my life--as well as a
+trained nurse. And I mean to help Dr. Mac, always, to be a child of our
+heavenly Father, too," she added, simply. As Donald arose to bid the
+minister good-night, his eyes were a little misty, for the girl's
+unaffected declaration had moved him more deeply than he had ever been
+moved in his life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ADOPTION BY BLOOD
+
+
+For a little while Donald lay awake under the eaves in his loft room,
+but his sleeplessness was the result neither of worry or nervous
+tension. His mind, indeed, was unusually contented. None of the
+disturbing thoughts of difficult tasks on the morrow assailed it; he
+felt only an unwonted peace and contentment. The impressions left by the
+evening's talk still swayed and uplifted his soul. Yet, deep within his
+consciousness, there was a vague realization that it would be long, if
+ever, before he could hope to pattern his life by the precepts of the
+man of God who had so stirred him. Happily, he could not foresee how
+soon mortal passions were to repossess him wholly, to blot out the new
+spiritual light which was his.
+
+In her little room below, Rose, too, lay awake, her youthful mind
+teeming with wonderful, new ideas garnered from the seeds sown by the
+"reverend"; but the insistent call of slumber to her tired, healthy body
+in time lulled her busy thoughts to rest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Oh, Doctor Mac, come _quick_! Grandpappy's hurted."
+
+Sound asleep, and even then visioning the girl whose terrified voice
+suddenly wove itself into the figment of his dream, when the first word
+fell upon his ears, Donald was wide awake, and he was half out of bed
+before the last was spoken.
+
+He paused only long enough to draw on his hunting breeches and thrust
+his bare feet into their tramping boots--which left a hiatus of
+unstockinged muscular calf--hurriedly dropped down the ladder, and in
+two strides was out of doors.
+
+Near the wood pile stood the old mountaineer, on his countenance
+expression of mingled pain and chagrin, the latter dominating. His right
+hand still grasped the keen-edged axe, while Rose stood beside him,
+clasping his brawny left forearm with both of her small but sinewy
+hands.
+
+As Donald approached them on the run he noticed that the girl had
+sacrificed her treasured hair ribbon to make a tourniquet halfway up the
+old man's arm, and that blood was running down his hand and falling from
+the finger tips with slow, rhythmical continuity.
+
+"Hit haint nothin' et all, Smiles," Big Jerry was rumbling forth. "Hit
+air jest er scratch. I don't know how I come fer ter do hit an' I reckon
+I ought ter be plumb ershamed. Why, Smiles, I been erchoppin' wood fer
+nigh onter fifty year, an' I haint never chopped myself erfore. Hit war
+thet tarnation knot. But hit haint nothin', this hyar haint."
+
+"Come over to the well where we can give it a wash," was Donald's curt
+command, and Big Jerry followed him obediently, while the girl hastened
+ahead and drew up a bucket full of pure, sparkling, ice-cold spring
+water. The doctor tipped it unceremoniously over the giant's arm, and,
+as the already coagulating blood on the surface was washed away, made a
+hasty examination of the slanting, ugly gash beneath.
+
+"Superficial wound. No artery or major muscle severed," he announced, as
+though addressing a class. "Still, you were right in taking the
+precaution of applying that tourniquet, Rose. I suppose it was bleeding
+pretty merrily at first."
+
+"Hit war spoutin' powerful," she answered, in her stress of excitement
+lapsing into the language of childhood.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. That is in a way a good thing in such cases,
+however. It automatically cleanses the wound of any infectious matter.
+Look, Rose," he added, as though explaining to a clinic, "see how the
+blood is thickening up into a clot? That is chiefly the work of what we
+call 'white corpuscles'--infinitely tiny little organisms whose sole
+purpose in life is to eat up disease germs which may get into the veins,
+and to hurry to the surface when there is a cut, cluster together and
+die, their bodies forming a wall against the wicked enemies who are
+always anxious to get inside the blood for the purpose of making
+trouble."
+
+"I told ye 'twarnt nothin'," said Big Jerry, not without a note of
+relief in his voice, however. "A leetle blood-lettin' won't do me no
+hurt. I'll jest wind a rag eround hit, an' ..."
+
+"Not so fast," laughed Donald. "In all probability 'a rag just wound
+round it' would do the business, for your blood is apparently in
+first-class condition, with its full share of the red corpuscles; but
+you might just as well have the benefit of the hospital corps since we
+are on the ground. The red corpuscles," he added, addressing Smiles,
+"are the other good little chaps who continually go hurrying through the
+body, feeding it with oxygen and making it strong. Run into the house
+and get my 'first aid' kit, from my knapsack, child. You'll remember it
+when you see it, for I had to dig it out the very first time that I saw
+you."
+
+The girl hurried cabinwards, fleet as the wind, and, as the two men sat
+down on a woodpile to wait for her, Donald had an opportunity to take
+note of his ludicrously inadequate costume.
+
+It seemed little more than a minute before Rose returned with his kit,
+but it was not brought by a mountain maid. In that almost incredibly
+short time the child had changed her gingham dress for the immaculate
+costume of a trained nurse, and the transformation in apparel had been
+accompanied by one in mien no less noticeable. Dainty and fair as a
+white wild rose she was, yet seriously businesslike in expression.
+Donald was startled for a moment. It came to his mind that he was
+looking upon a vision of the years to come, and the picture caused his
+heart to beat a little faster; but, although the light of appreciation
+shone in his eyes, his only comment was, "Are your hands as clean as
+that dress?"
+
+"Yes, doctor."
+
+"Now how the deuce did she come to use that stereotyped response?" he
+wondered; then said, aloud, "Then undo that roll of gauze bandage and
+tear off a piece about six feet long ... be careful! Don't let it touch
+the ground."
+
+Then he immediately gave his attention to Big Jerry, and smiled with
+professional callousness as he caught the giant's wince when the
+antiseptic fluid which he poured on the wound started it smarting.
+
+"Now for your first lesson in the scientific application of a bandage,
+Smiles," he said.
+
+Very carefully she followed his directions, and at length the split end
+was tied with professional neatness. But, as his fingers tested the
+knot, the girl seized one of his hands and exclaimed, with solicitude,
+"Why, you're hurt, too, Doctor Mac!"
+
+She indicated on one of his fingers a small jagged tear from which the
+blood was slowly oozing.
+
+"How the dickens did I do that?" he demanded in surprise.
+
+"Sliding down the ladder from the loft-room, I reckon. See, there's a
+piece of splinter in it still."
+
+"Right-o, Miss Detective." He turned to the old man and remarked, "It
+looks as though your blood and mine had been mixing, this morning. Why
+not complete the ceremony and make it an adoption by blood; the way they
+used to do in some of the Indian tribes, you know?" he added, half
+jestingly, and acting on a sudden impulse. "You can take me into the
+clan as ... well, as your foster-son."
+
+"Thar haint no clan nowadays, I reckon, but ef yo' wants fer ter be my
+foster-son I'd shor' be pleased fer ter hev ye es such, lad."
+
+"Great. I feel like 'one of the family' already, and if you _will_ adopt
+me as a new son--with all the privileges and obligations of one--I'll
+appreciate it, no joking."
+
+As a pledge of their compact the city and mountain man clasped hands
+solemnly, while Rose stood by, delightedly smiling her benediction upon
+their act. "Why," she cried, "that makes me your little foster sister,
+Doctor Mac. Oh, I'm so glad!"
+
+"Yes, so it does." Donald answered with a cheery voice, but no sooner
+were the words spoken than a sense of rebellion took possession of him.
+"Idiot!" he muttered, shaking off the feeling with an effort of his
+will.
+
+"But haint ... aren't you going to do up your hurt finger, too?" she
+queried anxiously.
+
+The man seized the broken sliver with his fingers and jerked it out,
+examined the tiny incision and then thrust the wounded member into his
+mouth. "Don't ever tell any of my patients that you saw me do this," he
+laughed, with a return to good humor, "but that is my way of treating a
+minor injury ... then I forget it. It's a fearful secret," he added,
+lowering his voice, "but nature, aided by sun and air, are wonderful
+healers, and just ordinary saliva, if a person is healthy, is both
+cleansing and healing."
+
+"Thet air the way anumals cures thar hurts," remarked Jerry.
+
+"Yes, it is nature's way, and if the blood is pure, and the cut not so
+deep as to make infection likely, there isn't a much better one, after
+all. However, Miss Nurse, you may practice your art on my finger, too,
+if you want."
+
+He held his hand out, and, flushing with childish happiness, Rose bound
+up the little scratch painstakingly, answering Donald's brief word of
+commendation with a flashing smile. Indeed, experience with many nurses
+of many grades of ability made him aware that her untrained fingers held
+an unusual degree of natural knack which augured well for the future.
+
+During a simple breakfast, leisurely eaten, the trio talked over in
+detail the varied happenings of the year that had passed, and Donald was
+as astonished as he was pleased to discover what diligent application
+the girl had exercised in her studying, and what results she had
+attained, despite the manifold handicaps under which she had labored.
+Her ministerial friend and mentor had truly guided her feet far along
+the lower levels of learning. Yet the old and well-remembered childish
+charm had been in no wise lessened, and the unaffected simplicity with
+which she dropped into the mountain tongue, when speaking to her
+grandfather, caused Donald to glow with sympathetic appreciation.
+
+As they finished eating, Big Jerry remarked, "Hit air a powerful fine
+mornin' fer ter spend huntin', my boy. I reckon yo'll wish ter git inter
+the woods right smart, an' ef yo' desires ter make a day uv hit,
+Smiles'll fix ye up er leetle lunch ter take erlong."
+
+"Oh, I'm not exactly sure what I shall do," answered Donald, with slight
+hesitation. "Perhaps what I need most, to start with, is just plain
+rest, and I rather guess I'll laze around this morning, and maybe go
+down to Fayville to get my grip this afternoon."
+
+"Wall, thet air a good idee. Jest make yo'rself ter home. I've got a
+leetle bizness ter attend to up the mountain a piece, an' I allows yo'
+kin git erlong 'thout me fer a while." He departed, disappearing with
+surprising rapidity, and left the man and girl together.
+
+Donald sank onto the doorstep, leaned against the side post, and sucked
+away at his pipe with lazy contentment, alternately watching Rose as she
+flew busily about her simple household duties, and sending his gaze out
+over the broad stretch of peaceful mountainside, which lay dozing in the
+warm morning sun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE THREE OF HEARTS
+
+
+At length Donald said, abruptly, "You haven't asked me anything about
+Miss Treville, Smiles."
+
+There was a perceptible pause in the girl's dish-drying, and the simple
+mountain ballad that she was happily humming broke off in the middle of
+a minor cadence. The man regarded her with curiosity as she slowly
+approached him, saying, "I didn't mean to be so forgetful, doctor, and
+I'm plumb ashamed. I should be pleased to have you tell me all about
+her."
+
+"Why, I don't know as there is much to tell," he replied, a little
+nonplussed by the unexpectedness of the implied question. "Of course she
+is very nice and very lovely, as I wrote you."
+
+"What does she look like?"
+
+"I am afraid that I cannot hope to give a very accurate description of
+her, Rose. It would perhaps be easier if you had ever visited an art
+museum, and seen statues of some of the Greek goddesses, for people say
+that she looks like one of them. You see she is quite tall for a
+woman--almost as tall as I am myself--and ... well, her form and the way
+she carries herself is queenly. Then she has hair darker than yours,
+and ... her eyes are gray, I guess, although, come to think of it, I
+never noticed particularly. She isn't pretty like a wild-flower, but
+very beautiful, more like a stately cultivated bloom. When you have seen
+conservatory blossoms you will know better what I mean. She is very
+serious, too. Even when she is quite happy it is sometimes a bit hard to
+tell it, for she seldom really smiles.... I wish she would," he added,
+as though to himself, "she has wonderful teeth."
+
+"Oh, she must be very lovely," mused Rose, and added with slight
+hesitancy, "I reckon you must love her powerful."
+
+"Yes, of course," Donald answered, and then added, as though a logical
+reason for his affection was necessary, "You see, I have known Marion
+all her life. She is my sister's closest friend, and almost grew up in
+our house."
+
+"I wish I had," said Rose, the note of envy in her voice being
+outweighed by the childlike sincerity which her words carried. "What
+does she do?"
+
+"Do? Why, I don't know, exactly--what all society girls, with plenty of
+money at their disposal, do, I suppose. Of course she has clubs which
+she belongs to, and she goes to dances and theatres and ... I think she
+is interested in some sort of charity, too." He had an uncomfortable
+feeling that he was failing to make out a very strong case for the woman
+to whom he was engaged, and at the same time wondering why any
+vindication of her should seem necessary, since he had always regarded
+her as a bit too perfect, if anything.
+
+"Oh, that is lovely, for the Bible says that the greatest of all is
+charity," cried Rose, her eyes sparkling. "And does she go about helping
+poor, lonesome city people, and the dear little poor children? It must
+be wonderful to have lots of money, so that you can do all sorts of
+things to make them happier and better."
+
+"Confound the child," thought Donald, although his exasperation was
+directed rather at himself, than at her. "It's positively indecent the
+way she gets inside one. Judged by the standards of her class, Marion is
+a splendid girl--head and shoulders above the average--yet these
+unconsciously searching questions of Smiles' are ... Hang it all, I wish
+I had had sense enough not to open the subject."
+
+Aloud he said non-committally, "Yes, of course it is wonderful and I
+know that you would do it if you were able."
+
+"I _shall_ do it," was the confident answer. "I can't give money but I
+can give myself." There was a moment of silence; then Rose added softly,
+"I guess she loves you a lot, too, you are so good to ... to people, and
+do such wonderful things. When do you calculate to get married to her,
+Doctor Mac?"
+
+"Married?" he repeated in a startled voice, "Oh, some day, of course;
+but you know how terribly busy I am, and ..." He stopped, visualizing
+himself at that moment as he lolled indolently in the doorway of that
+mountain cabin, and wondering if the same thought were in her mind as
+was in his. At the same time came a welcome interruption in the
+appearance of a small child, brown as the proverbial berry, and bearing
+in her arms a large and rather dilapidated appearing doll. For an
+instant Donald failed to recognize her, and said, "Hello, here comes one
+of your little friends to see you, Smiles. Why, I do believe ... yes,
+it's Lou. Come along. You're not afraid of the doctor man who sent you
+that doll."
+
+Lou advanced, one finger in her mouth, the corners of which were lifting
+in a shy smile. Sensing the approach of another old friend, Mike bounded
+out of the doorway where he had lain panting in the shadow, and so
+energetic was his greeting that the child was very nearly upset by it,
+although as soon as she could regain her equilibrium she flung her
+little arms around the roughly coated neck, without a trace of fear.
+
+"Mike's got er broken leg," she announced. The words gave Donald a start
+until he saw that she was holding out to him her doll, one of whose
+limbs flapped about in piteous substantiation. "Kin yo' make hit well
+ergin?"
+
+Examining the injured member, whence the sawdust blood had issued
+through a deep incision in the cloth, Donald replied seriously, "It will
+require a rather serious operation, but I guess that I can mend it with
+the assistance of Nurse Smiles. We will have to sew up the wound and put
+the leg in splints."
+
+"Hit haint ergoin' ter hurt her much, air hit?" begged Lou, with all
+the solicitude of a young mother.
+
+"No. We'll give her an anesthetic--something to put her sound
+asleep--and I guess that she won't know anything about it." Rose joined
+them laughingly, bringing a threaded needle and some bits of cloth for
+stuffing and in a few minutes the operation was complete, even to the
+application of splints, roughly shaped by Donald's jack-knife.
+Throughout the process the physician explained each step to Rose, who
+cried as they finished, "Oh, I love to do it. It's lots more fun than
+book studying or weaving baskets."
+
+"Well, we might have a real lesson in 'first aid' this morning, if Lou
+can stay and be your little patient. Bring out that roll of bandages
+again."
+
+What a merry hour they spent, helped by Mike, who insisted in doing his
+share by licking the patient at every opportunity. The air was so warm
+that Lou's little dress could be taken off, and as she giggled or
+screamed with merriment, Donald and Rose treated her for every
+conceivable fracture, sprain or injury, the former all the while
+explaining in the simplest language at his command the major facts of
+human anatomy.
+
+Rose proved to be an astonishingly apt pupil, and after each
+demonstration insisted on going through both the procedure and
+explanation alone.
+
+Finally, in the course of demonstrating an unusually intricate piece of
+bandaging, Donald put his arms about Smiles, the better to guide her
+hands, and impulsively drew her close against him. He could not see her
+face, but he perceived that a quick flush mantled her neck and
+delicately rounded cheek. She moved away hastily, saying in a low voice,
+"I reckon you oughtn't do like that, Doctor Mac."
+
+"Why, Smiles!" came his response in a hurt tone.
+
+"I don't mean for to hurt you, and of course I cares for you like I used
+to, but I guess it ain't ... isn't ... just right for you to put your
+arms around me ... that way now. I'm most grown up now, and ... and ...
+you're pledged to ... to some one else." During her speech the color had
+flamed brighter and brighter.
+
+The man was both surprised and chagrined. He realized, of course, that
+in many respects Rose was indeed, 'most a woman now'--that she was far
+more mature in certain ways than city-bred girls of the same age; for,
+while they might be infinitely more sophisticated in worldly ways than
+she, they are still children, whereas she had already entered into the
+problems of life and for several years had not only been in full charge
+of a home, but in intimate touch with the issues of life and death in
+the little community. Understanding all this, he nevertheless looked
+upon her as a child because of the childlike simplicity which
+characterized her still.
+
+"I see," he answered slowly and a little ashamed, then added lightly,
+"but you have apparently forgotten that you adopted me as a
+foster-brother this morning."
+
+For a moment she said nothing; then the old misty smile touched her
+lips, and she replied, "I shor' most forgot that, and it makes it all
+right. Please, Doctor Mac, don't think that I didn't enjoy for you to do
+it."
+
+There succeeded another brief, awkward silence. Then Smiles slipped her
+arm about Donald's neck with frank, childlike affection, and leaned
+close to him, her young, warm being thrilling his senses, as he full
+well realized Marion's infrequent embraces never had.
+
+Shocked and distressed by his own emotions, Donald was the first to
+withdraw his encircling arm, with an intent to continue the lesson. But
+it was ended.
+
+During the brief interlude Lou had stood regarding the man and girl
+uncomprehendingly. Now she piped up, "Smiles loves ye er heap, I reckon,
+doctor man, an' so does I. Ef she don't marry with ye, I'll do hit when
+I gits bigger."
+
+"My, but I'm a fortunate man to have _three_ fair ladies love me, and I
+won't forget your promise," Donald laughed merrily.
+
+"But my brother Juddy don't love ye none," said the child, innocently
+bringing a cloud over the friendly sunshine in her hearers' hearts.
+Donald looked at Rose uneasily as he answered.
+
+"Oh, I hope he will like me some day. We should be the best of friends,
+for we both care for the same two dear girls."
+
+"Where _is_ Juddy?" came Smiles' somewhat troubled query.
+
+"Oh, he air away ergin; up in ther mountain."
+
+The shadow deepened on Rose's face and Donald caught the sound of a
+distressed, "Oh."
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked without special thought.
+
+"It haint ... it isn't anything ... leastwise it isn't anything that I
+can tell you about, doctor Mac. I ... I just don't like for him to go up
+there."
+
+A feeling closely akin to jealousy stirred Donald's heart. Did that
+uncouth young mountaineer really mean something to her after all?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+GATHERING CLOUDS
+
+
+Despite Smiles' ingenuous proffer of a sister's affection, Donald was
+troubled with an unreasonable dissatisfaction over the course which the
+events of the morning had taken, and he knew that it was unreasonable,
+which made it worse. Now he suddenly announced that he guessed he would
+not wait until the afternoon before going down to Fayville to get his
+small amount of baggage.
+
+The girl was troubled, also, without knowing just why, and she watched
+his departure with an unhappy feeling that somehow the changes which the
+year had made in both their lives had raised a misty barrier between
+them--intangible, but not easily to be swept away. Furthermore, young as
+she was, she intuitively sensed that hers was the necessity of
+reconstructing their friendship on a new foundation, because she was a
+woman. The man could not do it.
+
+Meanwhile Donald performed his downward journey with none of the
+lightness of heart which makes a long walk a pleasure, rather than a
+task. Going down the wooded descent, where the dew still lay wet beneath
+the heaviest thickets, was not so bad; but, when he had obtained his
+grip and gun, and started on the back trail, his discomforts commenced.
+As the main street of the little village changed its character, first to
+a road and then a cart path through the fields, it grew deep with dust,
+and, although no air stirred, it seemed to rise, as water does by
+capillary attraction, until his clothing was saturated and his mouth and
+nose overlaid with a film of it. Overhead the sky burned, and from the
+brown fields, which stretched to the wooded base of the mountain, heat
+waves rose as though the dry earth were panting with visible breath. An
+insect chirped half-heartedly in the grass, and then left off as though
+the effort were too great, and a small striped snake leisurely wove a
+sinuous path through the dust ahead of him, and vanished with a faint
+hiss.
+
+It was better when he struck the woods, for there was shade; but the air
+was more sultry and the added exertion of climbing started the
+perspiration and turned the coating of dust to sticky grime. Still the
+breeze delayed, and the fragrant odors of the woods were cloying. His
+luggage grew heavier and yet more heavy; his arm and back began to ache
+painfully.
+
+When physical discomfort is accompanied by morose introspection, the
+result is certain to be unpleasant, and Donald's thoughts were in dismal
+grays and browns, which ill-matched the radiant colors of external
+nature.
+
+Certainly Smiles was not to blame, he thought, as he trudged up and up.
+The fact still remained that they lived on utterly different planes, and
+that he had not the slightest idea of falling in love with her, or, even
+mentally, violating his pledge to Marion. Pshaw, she was nothing but a
+child! It was foolish, absurdly so, yet somehow he felt that his world
+was out of joint, and, since he could not, or would not, determine just
+what the trouble was, he could not take active measures to bring about a
+readjustment.
+
+With a conscious effort of his will he put the mountain child out of his
+thoughts, and attempted to analyze his real feelings for the city girl,
+to whom he was betrothed. He could assign no reason to the vague, but
+persistent, feeling which frequently possessed him, when he was apart
+from her, that she was not his natural mate. Her poise and reserve,
+which sometimes irritated him, he knew to be really virtues, in a way as
+desirable as they were rare in women, even of her class; her unusual
+beauty fully satisfied his eye; she was a reigning queen, the desired of
+many men and he had won her, although he hesitated a little over the
+word "won." Finally, he was certain that she loved him, after her
+fashion. Why should he, a man as reserved as he was, and one who had
+little time to spend on the romantic embellishments of life, ask for
+more? Yet there was mute rebellion in the depths of his heart, and even
+the memory of that milestone night, eight months before, when the spirit
+of Christmastide had added its spell to the influences of life-long
+propinquity, and they had, almost without spoken words, crossed the
+border and pledged themselves to one another, brought no thrill.
+
+"I _know_ that she is a wonderful woman, and a real beauty," mused
+Donald, half aloud. "The trouble must be ... yes, _is_, with me. She's
+too wonderful for my simple tastes; that's the truth, as I told Ethel.
+Oh, well, perhaps I can learn to live up to her ... but I hate this
+society stuff."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Donald's return to the cabin, weary and uncomfortable in body and mind,
+found Big Jerry sitting heavily in a chair, with Smiles hovering about,
+and, from the expression on the face of each, he sensed at once that
+something was wrong. The old man was saying, somewhat laboriously, "Hit
+don't pain me ... much, Rose, gal. Hit haint nothin' ... ter mention.
+I'll jest set still hyar erwhile, an' ..."
+
+As the girl caught sight of Donald's big form in the doorway, her face
+brightened momentarily; but it clouded again with swift pain when he
+touched his heart with a significant gesture, accompanied by a
+questioning look. She nodded, then said aloud, "Here's our Doctor Mac
+back ergin, grandpappy. I reckon he kin do somethin' fer ter help ye."
+
+The newcomer attempted a cheery laugh, and said, "Well, I'm not much
+good unless we can turn Time's flight backward, and make him a child
+again temporarily. Kiddies are my specialty, you know, and although I've
+a few grown-up patients, left over from the time when I took whatever
+came, and was thankful, I am killing them off as fast as I can."
+
+He spoke facetiously, with the design of instilling a lighter element in
+the conversation; but, although Jerry smiled wryly, the girl looked so
+shocked that Donald hastened to add, "Please don't be alarmed, dear, of
+course I didn't mean that literally. And you know that I will do
+anything in my power to help. I only wish that I knew more about
+troubles affecting the heart," he added.
+
+"Reckon the doctor down in Fayville hed ought ter say the same thing,"
+interposed the old man. "I erlows he didn't do me no good, fer I got
+better es soon's I quit takin' the stuff he left me."
+
+"Don't be too hard on him, foster father. After all, what you probably
+needed most was to give that big heart of yours a rest, and that is what
+did the business then, and will now. Well, I'll look you over anyway. I
+guess professional ethics won't be outraged, with the other physician
+five steep, uphill miles away."
+
+While he talked he had been opening his suitcase, and now took out a
+compact emergency bag which experience had taught him never to go away
+without, and at whose shining, unfamiliar contents Smiles' eyes opened
+with fascinated amazement. Taking out a stethoscope, Donald bade the
+giant open his soft, homemade shirt, and planted the transmitting disk
+against the massive chest, padded with wonderful, bulging muscles.
+
+"O-ho," he said under his breath, as he finally laid the instrument
+aside; for his intently listening ears had caught the faint, but clearly
+discernible sound of a systolic murmur, deep within.
+
+"Air the trouble 'Aunt' ... what the other doctor said hit was?"
+questioned Rose.
+
+"Angina pectoris? He may have had a touch of that last winter of course,
+but my guess is that it's something a bit different now."
+
+"I haint erfeered ter hyar the truth," rumbled Jerry, straightening up
+like a soldier before the court martial.
+
+"Well," answered the doctor, "I should say that you have a touch of
+another jaw-breaking Latin phrase, namely, an aneurism of the thoracic
+aorta."
+
+"Hit shor' sounds powerful bad," grunted Jerry. "But then I reckon thet
+doctors likes ter use big words."
+
+"Right. For instance, we prefer to call an old-fashioned cold in the
+head, 'Naso-pharyngitis.' The worse it sounds, the more credit we get
+for curing it, you see. Well, 'sticks and stones may break our bones,
+but _words_ will never hurt us,' so don't let that Latin expression
+worry you. Just take things a bit easy, don't overdo physically or get
+overexcited, and you'll be good for many a moon yet," he added lightly.
+
+Jerry fastened up his shirt with big, fumbling fingers and walked slowly
+outside, while Rose, tears of pity shedding a misty luminousness over
+her eyes, stepped close to Donald and laid her hand appealingly on his
+arm, "Is it something pretty bad, Doctor Mac?" she breathed.
+
+"Well, it's apparently a mild case ... so far."
+
+"But the trouble ... is it ... is it dangerous?"
+
+He hesitated an instant, then responded quietly, "Nurses have to know
+the truth, of course, and I am sure that you have a brave little heart,
+so I'm not afraid to tell you that it _is_ bad. It is almost sure to be
+fatal, in time, but not necessarily soon. If he will take things easy,
+as I told him to, he'll live for a considerable time yet; but we mustn't
+allow him to get very greatly excited, or do any very heavy work."
+
+Suddenly very white, but calm and tearless, Smiles answered, "I reckon I
+can help him better if I know all about it, doctor. I _got_ to help him,
+you know. He's all I have now in the whole world."
+
+"Of course you're going to help him--we both are--but ... you have me,
+little sister, and your life work," he answered with awkward tenderness.
+"Now let us see if I can make you understand what I believe the trouble
+to be. In its incipient--that is, its early stages, it would be rather
+hard to tell from angina pectoris, for the symptoms would be much the
+same--pain about the heart and shortness of breath. But one can get
+over the latter, and feel perfectly well between attacks."
+
+He picked up from his open suitcase a folded newspaper which he had
+tossed in half read, on leaving the city, and drew for her a crude
+diagram of the heart and major arteries.
+
+"This biggest pipe which goes downward from the heart is called the
+great artery, and it and its branches--just like a tree's--carry the
+blood into all parts of the body, except the lungs. Another name for it
+is the descending thoracic aorta, and that is where grandfather's
+trouble is. If you knew something about automobile tires I would explain
+it by saying that he had a blow-out, but it's something like this. The
+pipe has an outer surface and an inner lining. At one time or another
+something happened to injure and weaken the former--disease does it
+sometimes--perhaps it may have been a severe strain or crushing blow on
+his chest."
+
+"A big tree fell on him early last winter," cried Rose, with sudden
+enlightenment. "His chest is so big and strong that he didn't think that
+it hurt him, 'cept to lame him considerable."
+
+"That may have caused the trouble. Well, what happens is this. The blood
+is pumped by the heart through that weakened pipe, and, little by
+little, it forces the lining out through the weakened spot, making
+something like a bubble filled with blood. In time that might grow until
+you could actually see the swelling, and all the time, the containing
+tissue is getting thinner and thinner. Now you can yourself guess the
+reason why he mustn't do anything to over-exert his heart. Hard work, or
+great excitement, makes our hearts beat faster, and sends the blood
+through that big artery with extra force and ..."
+
+"The bubble might ... break," whispered "Smiles," with a frightened look
+on her young face.
+
+"Yes. We call it a rupture of the aneurism, and when that happens mortal
+life ends."
+
+"Oh," she shuddered slightly. "I must keep him very quiet, Doctor Mac. I
+am strong and can do all the work. You tell him that he mustn't do
+anything, please, doctor."
+
+"I'm not sure that that would be the wisest plan, Rose. He has been so
+strong and active all his life it would break his great heart to be tied
+down like an invalid. I'm sure that he would be happier doing things,
+even if as a result he didn't live quite so long. Don't you think so,
+yourself?"
+
+She nodded, and he continued, "Of course he is so big and strong he can
+do common, simple tasks without anything like the amount of exertion
+required by an ordinary man, and, so long as he doesn't strain himself,
+or get very much excited, we may reasonably expect him to live for a
+good while yet. Besides, as the aneurism progresses there will come a
+steady, boring pain and increased shortness of breath, which will
+themselves help to keep him quiet."
+
+"But can't I give him some medicine?"
+
+"The best medicine that he can possibly have will be your happy,
+comforting smile and tender love, my child."
+
+She furtively wiped a stray tear from her cheek and smiled bravely up
+into his face, in a wordless pledge that to the administration of this
+treatment she would devote herself without stint.
+
+"May I ... may I have that paper," she answered appealingly, as he
+started to crumple it up, preparatory to tossing it into the fireplace.
+"We don't often have city papers to read, you know."
+
+"Why, of course; I didn't think," he answered, smoothing it out and
+handing it to her. She took it eagerly, and had read barely a minute
+before she cried, delightedly, "Why, Doctor Mac. _You're_ in this paper.
+Oh, did you read what it says?"
+
+"Hang it," thought Donald, "I forgot all about that fool story, or I
+wouldn't have given it to her." But she was already reading the brief
+article aloud, slowly but with appreciatory expression.
+
+                EXCEPTIONAL FEE PAID BOSTON DOCTOR
+
+     Dr. Donald MacDonald Operates on Multi-Millionaire's Child
+
+     What is rumored to have been one of the biggest fees paid to a
+     physician in recent years, was received lately by the brilliant
+     young children's specialist of this city, Dr. Donald MacDonald.
+
+     A few weeks ago he was summoned to Newport in consultation with
+     local and New York physicians over the five-year-old daughter of J.
+     Bentley Moors, the millionaire copper king, and finally saved the
+     child's life by performing successfully one of the most difficult
+     operations known to surgery--the removal of a brain tumor.
+
+     The child had already totally lost the power of speech, and had
+     sunk into a comatose state, the operation being performed at Dr.
+     MacDonald's suggestion as a final desperate resort.
+
+     His associates on the case are unstinted in their praise of his
+     skill, and declare that few other surgeons in America could have
+     carried it through with any hope of success.
+
+     The child was completely cured, and in his gratitude her father
+     sent the young doctor a check which--it is said--represented an
+     amount larger than many men earn in a lifetime.
+
+"What does 'comatose' mean, Doctor Mac?" asked Smiles.
+
+"It means a condition during which the body appears to be lifeless. A
+tumor is a growth--in that particular case here, inside the skull, which
+pressed on the child's brain, paralyzing, or shutting off, all the
+senses."
+
+"Oh, wasn't it wonderful to do what you did ... it was almost like the
+miracles our dear Lord performed, for you gave sight to the blind and
+raised up one who was _almost_ dead. I am so glad for that little child
+and her dear father, and I don't wonder that he gave you a lot of money.
+Was it ... was it as much as a ... a thousand dollars?" she asked in an
+awed tone.
+
+"Yes, indeed, much more than that, in fact."
+
+"Not five thousand?"
+
+Donald laughed. "The newspaper men, who had somehow or other got wind of
+the story--goodness knows how--tried mighty hard to get me to tell them
+how much, but I wouldn't. However, since I know that you can keep a
+secret, I will tell you. It was just ten times the amount of your last
+guess."
+
+"Oh!" she gasped, as the result of the multiplication dawned upon her.
+"Why, it was a fortune, and ... and _I_ know you."
+
+"Of course it pleased me," was his answer, "but not half as much as the
+result of the operation, dear. If a doctor is really in earnest, and
+bound up in his work, he never thinks whether the little sufferer
+stretched before him in bed, or on the operating table, has a father
+worth a million dollars, or one in the poorhouse. That is the reason why
+we have to charge for our services by a different standard from men in
+almost any other kind of work. The rich man has to help pay for the poor
+man, whether he wants to or not. I meant to charge that very rich man
+enough so that I could give myself to a great many poor children without
+charging them anything, perhaps; but he had a big heart and sent me that
+check for several times what I should have charged without even waiting
+for me to make out a bill. And his letter, which came with it, said that
+even fifty thousand dollars was poor compensation for a life worth more
+to him than all the money in the whole world."
+
+"A little child's life _is_ more precious than all the gold that ever
+was," said Smiles seriously, "for only God can give it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+SOWING THE WIND
+
+
+The noonday meal was a rather quiet, constrained affair. None of the
+three was in a talkative mood, Donald was still distrait, Big Jerry
+obviously in physical and mental distress, and Rose too full of troubled
+sympathy for conversation. Frequently Donald caught her gaze fixed on
+the old man's face with an expression of unutterable love; and as often,
+when she saw him watching her, her face lighted for a moment with a
+tender, compassionate smile.
+
+The eagerly anticipated vacation and reunion had truly begun badly, and
+it was with a sense of relief that Donald finished the simple dinner,
+and announced that he guessed he would go for a little tramp in the
+woods, while Rose was performing her household tasks.
+
+"Hain't yo' ergoin' ter tote yo'r rifle-gun?" queried Big Jerry, as he
+noticed that the doctor was leaving the house without a weapon.
+
+"No, not this trip. I'm not in a mood for hunting. All I want is a
+walk,--and a stout club and Mike will be protection enough against
+anything in these woods. Good-by, Smiles. I'll be back before
+supper-time, hungry as a bear."
+
+He left the clearing for the virgin woods at random, striding along
+briskly and with rising spirits, and at first unmindful of the direction
+that he was taking.
+
+In fact he had, subconsciously--even in his recreation--refused to
+follow the easiest way, and had struck out on the up-mountain trail.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a while Donald walked on, regardless of whither. Then the
+consciousness of the fact that he was in a--to him--unknown part of the
+mountain, and nearing the summit, brought with it a recollection of the
+words spoken that morning by little Lou, "Judd air erway ergin ... up in
+the mountain."
+
+Still, he kept on, for, although he told himself that he had not the
+slightest intention of seeking the mountaineer, or the solution of
+Smiles' troubled look, and most certainly was not courting trouble,
+purposeless curiosity impelled him higher and higher into the hitherto
+unexplored fastnesses. Now the timberlands lay beneath him, for,
+although the hardy laurel continued in profusion, albeit somewhat dried
+and withered, the trees were thinning out and becoming more scraggly,
+and more frequently the naked rocks, split and seamed, thrust themselves
+up through the baked soil, "like vertebræ in the backbone of the
+mountain," thought Donald. Now they were toned and softened by moss and
+lichen; now barren of vegetation, rugged and gaunt, split asunder by the
+ancient elements. In the distress which had come like a cloud over the
+sunlight of his spirits, so gayly anticipative a few hours previous,
+they flung a wordless challenge to the battling instinct in the man, and
+he accepted it with the thought that the best balm for troubled minds is
+strenuous bodily action.
+
+Eager and joyous over the new game, Mike tore about, panting, and
+dashing from side to side through the underbrush on real, or imaginary,
+scents, now stopping to dig madly for a moment, then racing on to catch
+up with his master, who frequently had to haul him over the precipitous
+crags by the shaggy hair on his muscular back.
+
+The air was cooler here, and as invigorating as wine; the sky was a
+transparent blue.
+
+At last, somewhat tired of pushing his way over rocks and through virgin
+underbrush with no objective, he was on the point of turning to retrace
+his footsteps, when Mike stopped short with nose a-quiver and bristles
+lifting on his neck.
+
+"What's up?" asked the man. As usual he addressed the dog as though he
+were a sentient being. "Trouble ahead? Some wild animal there, old boy?"
+
+But, instead of retreating, he grasped his cudgel more firmly, and
+cautiously parted the thick bushes in front of him.
+
+To his surprise, Donald found that he was almost on the edge of a sharp
+declivity leading down into a natural bowl-like hollow, so shut in with
+high rocks and underbrush that it was, in effect, a retreat almost as
+good as a cave for concealment. And that it was so used, or had been at
+some time, was made evident by the presence of a rude hut, little more
+than a lean-to since one end was wholly open, which snuggled against the
+further bank.
+
+With growing curiosity and caution, he worked his way along the edge,
+for now a faint odor of wood-smoke reached his nostrils, and there came
+to his ears the sound of some one, or something, moving within the
+shelter, a presence which the dog had apparently detected much sooner
+than had his master.
+
+At length he reached a point of vantage, partly hidden by a cleft rock,
+from which he could look fully into the interior of the shack. It was
+obviously not a habitation, although a fire was burning briskly within
+it. Near by stood a small keg or two, what appeared to be a large tub or
+vat, and, over the fire, was a queer metal object, the shape of which
+caused Donald to wonder for a brief instant if necromancy still existed,
+and he had stumbled upon the retreat of a mountain wizard. Almost
+immediately, however, the true explanation flashed through his mind.
+
+It was a crude illicit distillery--the hidden "still" of a mountain
+moonshiner! At the same moment a tall man in typical mountain costume
+moved into view and bent over the fire.
+
+In his interest Donald had forgotten Mike; but, at the appearance of the
+man, his companion gave voice to a sharp and hostile challenge.
+
+The furtive toiler turned like a flash, and, seizing the rifle which
+leaned against the wall near at hand, sprang out and levelled it at the
+intruder whose head was visible above the rock, for he had been too much
+surprised to move.
+
+"Put up yo'r hands!" he cried, and Donald complied with the order
+without perceptible hesitation, at the same time pushing into full
+sight. The man below was Judd!
+
+For a moment neither spoke, and the silence was pregnant with serious
+possibilities. Then Donald regained partial control of his shaken
+self-possession, and with his hands still held above his head, slid
+awkwardly down into a sitting posture on the edge of the bank.
+
+"Do you know, Judd," he remarked at last, with an assumption of
+coolness. "I thought _that_ sort of thing had ceased to exist, even in
+these wild mountains," and he nodded toward the distillery.
+
+"I allows thet yo' hev er habit of thinkin' wrong," was the surly
+response. "You haint no doctor man. Thet's er blind. Yo' be er revenuer,
+I reckon, an' es sich I've got ter put er bullet inter ye."
+
+"Don't be a fool," snapped Donald, even in this dangerous predicament
+unable to resort to conciliatory words when addressing Judd. "I'm
+nothing of the sort, and you know it."
+
+There was another spell of nerve-racking silence. Then the outlaw said
+slowly, "I reckon yo' speaks ther truth. Yo' haint smart ernough fer er
+revenuer. One er them wouldn't come er still-huntin' 'thout er
+rifle-gun, an' _with_ er barkin' dawg."
+
+"Well, I'm glad that's settled," answered Donald, uttering a forced
+laugh. "My arms are getting tired, held up like this, and, as you have a
+rifle and I haven't, I suggest that I be allowed to resume a more
+natural position."
+
+Without waiting for the permission, he dropped his hands to the bank
+beside him.
+
+Donald's action placed Judd in an obviously unpleasant dilemma. He knew
+it, and therein lay the intruder's best chance.
+
+"I haint never shot er man in cold blood erfore, but I reckon I've got
+ter do hit now," he said sullenly. "Yo' know too damned much erbout
+sartain things what don't consarn ye."
+
+"If they don't concern me--as I am willing to admit--why waste a
+bullet?" answered Donald, mentally sparring for time. "As a law-abiding
+citizen I might reasonably feel that you still ought to be put out of
+existence; but, it's no hunt of mine, since I'm not a federal officer. I
+haven't any particular desire to get a bullet through me, and I know
+perfectly well that you don't care for the thought of adding the crime
+of murder to the misdemeanor of illicit liquor making."
+
+"I haint erfeerd ter shoot ye," blustered Judd, and added significantly,
+"Yo're body wouldn't never be found, and yo' wouldn't be ther first
+pryin' stranger what got lost in these hyar hills, and warn't never
+heard of more."
+
+"Admitted. But what's to be gained in taking the chance? I'm ready--yes,
+anxious--to give you my word of honor that I'll forget what I've
+stumbled on here this afternoon. Come, be reasonable, Judd."
+
+"Wall, ef you'll swa'r thet ..." began the mountaineer dubiously.
+
+"I do," broke in Donald with undisguised eagerness. "I solemnly swear
+never to tell a soul about the existence of this still, so help me God.
+There, I hope that satisfies you. You need not be afraid of my not
+keeping my oath, but just the same, I think you're a fool to do this.
+You're almost sure to be caught at it, sooner or later, and a federal
+prison isn't a particularly pleasant place."
+
+"I don't reckerlect hevin' asked any advice from _yo'_," was Judd's
+surly reply.
+
+"Well, I don't expect that you'll follow it," answered the other, as he
+scrambled to his feet. "And since we don't seem to hit it off very well
+together, I guess I'll be starting along."
+
+"No yo' won't ... leastwise not yet!" Judd's words came with crisp
+finality, and were reinforced by a quick movement of his rifle to the
+hip. "I haint through with ye yet, stranger. Last year I warned ye fair
+thet this hyar mountain war an on-healthy place fer ye. 'Pears like yo'
+didn't believe hit, but I means thet ye should this time. Erfore yo'
+goes I'll hear ernother sworn promise from ye, an' I reckon yo' kin
+guess what hit air."
+
+"I can. And you're not going to get it. No, by God, not if you put a
+coward's bullet into me for refusing," burst out Donald, with his
+pent-up anger breaking its bounds at the other's dictatorial demands. "I
+agreed that what you did with your time wasn't my business, but what I
+do with mine, is. And I don't take orders from you in the matter,
+understand?"
+
+The mountaineer's lips drew back, his body quivered, and the finger on
+the rifle's trigger trembled.
+
+Above him, Donald stood equally tense and pale. He felt that he should
+be praying as he had never prayed before, but wrath possessed his spirit
+wholly, and his mind was completely concentrated on that lean
+forefinger, whose slightest tension meant death. Moments like these come
+but once in the lifetime of the average man, if, indeed, they ever come
+at all; but, when they do, when he suddenly finds himself face to face
+with some cataclysmic upheaval in human or external nature that
+threatens to rend the thin but impenetrable curtain which separates him
+from eternity, the salient characteristic of his being is unmasked and
+stands forth, naked. If he be at heart a coward, even though he may
+honestly never have suspected himself of cowardice, he will try to flee,
+or cringe and grovel for mercy; if his soul is stayed upon the immortal
+and everlasting truths, he will face what Fate may hold with the
+resigned fortitude which was the martyrs'; but, if he is merely a man,
+strong with the courage of the beast, refined and strengthened in the
+fires of intellect, he will be more likely to stand his ground
+unflinchingly and cast his defiance in the teeth of the danger which
+threatens, wrathful, but unafraid.
+
+Donald was of the latter breed. He made no move; but the cords and veins
+in his muscular neck and hands swelled visibly, and his dark gray eyes
+took on a steely glint, as they bored steadily into Judd's glowering
+black ones.
+
+Suddenly, with a deep oath, the mountaineer dropped the butt of his gun
+to the ground. Both men breathed a deep sigh, and the latter said: "No,
+I kaint shoot an unarmed man, even ef he _air_ a skunk. But hark ye. I
+warns ye now fer the last time. Clar out uv this hyar mountain terday,
+er go armed an' ready, fer, by Gawd A'mighty, I aims ter shoot ye dead
+the next time I meets ye. Hit's yo' er me now."
+
+When the other dropped his weapon, Donald had almost decided to make an
+attempt to clear the atmosphere by telling him again that his suspicions
+were utterly groundless and that, so far from having any intention of
+stealing the affections of the mountain child whom Judd loved, he was
+betrothed to another. But, at the challenge to fight, something, which
+he could neither explain afterwards nor control then, swept away the
+half-formed resolve, and the heat of primal hate sent a burning flush
+through him and drove cool reason utterly from its throne.
+
+"If you didn't have that gun, you damned coward, I'd come down there
+this instant, and thrash you within an inch of your worthless life," he
+shouted, heedless of consequences; too angry to care what might happen.
+And simultaneously, spurred on by his own blind passion, he slid down
+the bank and, with fists clenched, advanced on Judd. A yard ahead of him
+bristled Mike, a canine fury with gleaming teeth bared and muscles
+tensed for a spring. His master's quarrel was his also.
+
+"Call off thet damned dawg, ef yo' don't want fer him ter git shot,"
+raged the other, white with anger. "I reckon thet the time _hes_ come
+fer me ter teach ye a lesson; p'raps then a rifle bullet won't be nowise
+necessary. Yo' tie up thet devil, an' I'll hev it out with ye, now."
+Wrath robbed him, too, of all caution and he flung his gun far to one
+side as Donald, with hands that trembled so violently that he could
+barely tie the knots, slipped his handkerchief through Mike's collar and
+fastened him securely to a stout bush. Then he faced the infuriated
+mountaineer.
+
+"Hit's yo' er me," panted the latter, assuming a pantherlike crouch.
+
+"Let it go at that," answered the city man, dropping naturally into a
+fighting position.
+
+The veneer of our vaunted civilization is, at the best, thin, and every
+man, in whose veins runs red blood, has within him pent-up volcanic
+forces which require but little awakening to produce a soul-shattering
+upheaval. Donald knew that his being shouted aloud for battle--why, he
+didn't pause to analyze. Judd knew full well what _he_ was fighting
+for. It was the woman whom his heart had claimed as his mate, regardless
+of what his chances of winning her were.
+
+In college days, Donald had been a trained athlete, and he was still
+exceptionally powerful, although city life and his confining work had
+robbed his muscles of some of the flexibility and strength which had
+once been theirs, and were now possessed by those of his opponent. In
+weight, and knowledge of the science of boxing, he far surpassed Judd;
+but these odds were evened by the fact that _his_ mind--thoroughly
+aroused though it was--held only a desire to punish the other severely,
+whereas Judd's passion burned deeper; blood-lust was in his heart and he
+saw red. Nothing would satisfy him short of killing the man who seemed
+to be the personification of his failure to win Smiles.
+
+The mountaineer opened the fight with a furious rush. Donald
+instinctively side-stepped, and met it with a jolting short-arm blow to
+the other's lean jaw, which sent the aggressor to the ground.
+
+Like a flash he was up again, wild to close with his rival and get his
+fingers about his throat. There, in the little natural amphitheatre,
+with only the ancient trees as silent witnesses, was staged again the
+oft-fought fight between the boxer and the battler, but the decision was
+not to rest on points. No Marquis of Queensberry rules governed, no
+watchful referee was present to disqualify one or the other for unfair
+tactics.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+
+
+It was not long before Donald realized that, whatever had been Judd's
+primary purpose, he was now fighting to kill, and he sought desperately
+to drive home a blow which would knock him out. But, with all his
+greater skill, it was not easily to be accomplished. The mountaineer was
+tough, agile and actuated by a rage which mere punishment only
+increased. And punishment he took aplenty; while Donald remained almost
+unscathed, as he met rush after rush, and a storm of wildly flailing
+blows, with an unbroken defence.
+
+Nor was it long before the other realized that absolute necessity called
+for him to break through that guard, and clinch with his opponent, if he
+were to hope to be successful in carrying out his design. Gathering his
+physical forces for a final desperate assault--which right and left hand
+blows on his already battered, bleeding face could not check--he broke
+through Donald's defence, and flung his sinewy arms about his rival.
+
+For a moment both men clung desperately to one another, their breath
+coming in labored gasps.
+
+Then, suddenly, the mountaineer twisted his leg about one of Donald's,
+catching him off his guard, and they went heavily to the ground
+together.
+
+Whatever had been the city man's advantage when they were on their feet,
+he shortly discovered that the woodman's great agility and crude skill
+in wrestling gave him the upper hand in this more primitive method of
+combat. Over and over they rolled, gasping for breath, and, although
+Donald exerted his great, but now rapidly failing, strength, more than
+once he felt the clutch of the other's lean, powerful fingers gripping
+his throat and shutting off his breath, before he could tear them free.
+
+The end came suddenly.
+
+During a deadly grapple--with first one man, then the other, on
+top--Donald called into play the last of his nervous reserve force, and,
+with a mighty effort, broke free, and flung Judd face downward on the
+ground. The latter's right arm was extended, and, grasping the sweaty
+wrist, he drew it up and back, at the same instant crowding his knee
+into the spine of the prostrate man.
+
+Judd cursed and wriggled frantically; but only succeeded in grinding his
+battered face into the torn turf. It was some seconds before the
+conqueror could gain breath enough to speak. At last he panted out, "Now
+I've got you. If you move I'll dislocate your shoulder like _this_!" An
+involuntary shriek of agony was wrung from the defeated man's bleeding
+lips.
+
+"I'll let you up when ..."
+
+"Oh, ooooh!" came a startled, terrified cry from above him. Donald
+lifted his eyes, and saw Rose standing on the bank where he had stood.
+
+For an instant he remained as though turned to stone, staring at the
+girl with growing dismay. Finally he got slowly to his feet,
+instinctively gave partial aid to Judd as he too struggled up, his
+burning eyes also fixed on Smiles. It seemed as though the two
+dishevelled, dirt-covered and bleeding men typified the brute in nature,
+and stood arraigned there before the spirit of divine justice, for the
+slender girl's white dress, and no less white face, against the
+background of dark green, made her appear almost like an ethereal being.
+
+Her breast was rising and falling rapidly as was indicated by the
+palpitating movement of her hand pressed close against it; her lips were
+parted and her large, shadowy eyes filled with uncomprehending fear and
+pain.
+
+"What ... what do hit mean?" she whispered.
+
+As Judd made no answer Donald finally succeeded in summoning up an
+unnatural laugh and lied reassuringly, "It ... it isn't anything
+serious, Smiles. Judd and I got into a dispute over ... over which was
+the better wrestler, and I have been showing him a few city tricks."
+
+"Thet air a lie!" The mountaineer's words lashed out like a physical
+blow, and the crimson flamed into the other's cheeks--and those of
+Smiles as well.
+
+"Hit air er lie," he repeated with a rasping voice, as he dashed the
+blood and dirt from his lips. "We war fightin' ter kill, an' I reckon
+yo' kin guess what hit war erbout," he added, flinging the last words up
+at the girl.
+
+Once again Donald attempted to save her still greater distress by a
+white lie. "I chanced to stumble on his hidden still, Smiles, and he
+thought that I would betray him."
+
+"Oh, Juddy," cried the girl wringing her hands, "I've been erfeerin'
+this. In course I knowed erbout hit, fer yo' showed me the still
+yerself, but I've been worryin', and hit war ter warn ye ... ter beg ye
+ter quit fer leetle Lou's sake erfore hit war too late thet I came. Yo'
+must quit, oh _please_, Judd." In her eagerness she ran down the bank
+and toward him. "_I_ knows thet Doctor Mac wouldn't tell, but hit's a
+warnin'."
+
+As though hypnotized, Judd gazed into her pleading face, with his
+passion for her overwhelming that other one, which had so short a time
+before swayed him. He stepped to meet her with a gesture of
+hopelessness, and, realizing that he was for the moment forgotten,
+Donald moved softly to the mountaineer's rifle, ejected the cartridges
+from the magazine and pocketed them unobserved.
+
+"I _kaint_ quit, Rose," answered Judd, looking into her face with a
+hungry expression. "I kaint stop. Hit's my work, an' hit pays better
+then ever hit done. I wants ter make money ... fer yo'. Besides, ef hit
+hadn't ha' been fer the white liquor what I sell ter the storeman down
+in Fayville, I wouldn't have been able ter sell yo'r baskets for ye. I
+wouldn't hev had no money ter give ..."
+
+He checked his impetuous, unconsidered words too late. The girl's quick
+mind delved into his unspoken thought. She started and stepped back,
+crying, "'To give?' Judd Amos, war hit yo' thet paid me ther extry price
+on them baskets?"
+
+Confused and distressed, the other remained silent until she repeated
+her question insistently. Then he answered pleadingly, "I loves ye,
+Smiles. Yo' know hit, an' so does _he_. I wanted ter holp ye, an' 'twar
+ther only way."
+
+Even while Donald--rejoicing in the opportunity to regain his
+self-possession--had stood apart from the other two, none of the
+conversation had escaped him. With his wrath now fanned to flame afresh
+by Judd's apparent falsehood, he, too, burst into hot words without
+pausing to consider the effect of them on the girl, "What? You dare
+attempt to curry favor with her by lyingly claiming credit for the
+additional money her work brought, you cur? You didn't know that I held
+the cards to call that outrageous bluff, too, did you? You didn't know
+that I bought every one of those baskets, and told the storekeeper what
+price to pay for them, did you?"
+
+No sooner had the anger-impelled words left his lips than Donald felt
+heartily ashamed of himself, and wished that he might unsay them. Half
+afraid, he turned his eyes toward the girl to find his fears realized.
+Her eyes were flaming from her deathly white face, and a mingled look
+of hurt pride and bitter scorn struggled for supremacy on her lips.
+
+"Yo' ... yo' think I would accept yo'r charity?" she cried. "Yo' think I
+would take money gifts from any man? I allows ter pay ye both every cent
+uv thet money; and I hates ye ... I hates ye both."
+
+For an instant she stood trembling with anger and mortification, then
+turned and sped up the bank and away into the woods.
+
+Judd sank down with a muffled groan, but Donald, shocked at the result
+of his ill-advised and hasty words, forgot his late adversary and sprang
+in pursuit, crying, "Smiles. Dear child, wait. I want to talk with you,
+to explain...."
+
+He ran over rock and crag blunderingly into the forest in the direction
+she had taken, and, as he disappeared, Mike, who, during the combat, had
+continually raged at his leash in futile frenzy, made a last desperate
+effort, snapped the leather collar, although the effort drew a yelp of
+pain from him, and tore after him.
+
+He passed his master and overtook the fleeing girl, sagaciously sensing
+the situation; but, as she paid no heed to his appealing barks and tugs
+at her skirt, but merely ran the faster, he turned back to await his
+lord. Body-weary and discomforted, Donald likewise gave up the chase as
+the sound of Smiles' flight grew more distant and died away.
+
+Eventually she too dropped into a walk, and finally stopped altogether,
+with a deep, gasping sob. Throwing herself down at the foot of an
+ancient tree, she pressed her flushed face hard against the rough bark,
+her mind in a wretched turmoil.
+
+For the first time in Smiles' young life her eyes had been opened, and
+she had looked upon the brute passions of men, had tasted the bitter
+gall of trust abused, had felt an anger which brought with it the desire
+to hurt another as she herself had been hurt.
+
+Stabbed to the quick of her soul, she lay on the moss-bedded roots of
+the impassive tree, her body quivering with soundless, shuddering sobs.
+
+She hated herself, the two men--and Judd less than Donald, for she had
+known and excused his shortcomings, while in her childish eyes Dr.
+MacDonald had been all that was noble, a super-man, an idol whose feet
+were now clay. She hated the world where such things were possible.
+
+For a long time Rose lay as she had fallen, hardly moving, and
+when--pale and dry-eyed--she did arise to return to the cabin through
+the twilight shadows, something beautiful, but indefinable, which had
+gone to make up the fresh, childlike charm of her face, had vanished.
+
+Meanwhile, Donald walked heavily on with bowed head, heedless of the
+direction he took. The sound of rushing waters finally struck upon his
+ear, and his heated, dirt-covered body turned instinctively in their
+direction. A few minutes brought him to the river at a point where it
+tore through a narrow ravine of rock, in dashing cataract and noisy
+rapid. Donald, with increasing lameness, made his way painfully along
+the craggy bank until it descended to the river's edge, and, kneeling
+beside the leaping waters, he plunged his bruised, aching hands and face
+into them gratefully.
+
+As he stood up again at last, his ears caught faintly above the river's
+tumult the distant crack of a rifle, followed immediately by another
+sound nearer at hand on the bank above him.
+
+It was the agonized yelp of pain from a dog. Donald sprang erect, his
+heart seeming to lift with a convulsive action, and crowd his throat. He
+well knew that canine cry, now filled with mortal agony.
+
+Almost blind with reborn rage and fear, Donald sprang up the steep bank,
+scrambling, stumbling, heedless of boughs which lashed across his face,
+and rocks which bruised his legs. He reached the top, and, parting the
+bushes, found what he had sought--and feared to find. On the stubbly
+grass lay little Mike, whining and biting at a spot on his side where
+the tawny hair was already matted and dark with flowing blood.
+
+Made speechless by the clutching pressure in his throat, and suddenly
+dizzy from a mist which rose before his eyes, the man bent and lifted
+the panting animal--his bosom friend and faithful companion through many
+days and nights--in his trembling arms.
+
+Mike painfully turned his head and licked his master's drawn face. The
+next instant came the sound of crashing underbrush, and, through
+vistas, Donald saw a man approaching them on a lumbering run. It was Big
+Jerry. His beard and clothing were dishevelled, and, as he drew near,
+his deep, gasping breaths became audible. From his ghastly gray and
+working face his deep eyes looked forth with an expression which spelt
+pain of body and wrack of mind.
+
+Donald stood up, with the dog clasped to his breast, and a terrible
+expression on his countenance.
+
+"Mike ... my friend ... shot ... he is dying," came his words, in an
+unnatural voice. "God have mercy on the man who did it. I shall not!"
+
+The giant's frame seemed to collapse visibly; two big tears started from
+his eyes and ran down the furrows of his cheeks as he moved closer and
+laid his big, shaking hand on the dog's head.
+
+"_I_ done hit," he answered dully.
+
+Mike licked the wrinkled hand which moved in slow caress over his jaws.
+
+"You?" whispered Donald in amazed unbelief.
+
+"Gawd help me, yes. I shot him ... I wish hit hed er been myself,"
+returned the old man, between breaths which came in deep, body-shaking
+gasps.
+
+Slowly the doctor bent, laid his chum back on the ground, and knelt
+beside him until the fast glazing eyes--which never wavered from
+his--closed forever, and the pain-tortured little body lay still. Big
+Jerry, too, sank down and dropped his massive head onto his hands,
+while his frame rose and fell with convulsive heaving.
+
+"Hit war this erway," he began to speak at last, and told his story in
+broken, laboring sentences. "I war erhuntin' with ... with yo'r
+rifle-gun in the woods thar beyond ther ravine. Jest es I war startin'
+fer the cabin, I seen ... I seen a man erstandin' hyar on the bank, er
+peerin' down towards the river, thar. I looked whar he war erlookin',
+an' seen ye down thar, bathin' yo'r face in ther water. The man war
+ertotin' a rifle-gun, an' uv a sudden he drapped ter his knee an' raised
+hit, an' I knowed he war kalkerlatin' ter shoot ye.
+
+"I tried fer ter shout, ter cry out a warnin' ter ye, but my voice hed
+somehow lost hits power, an' wouldn't kerry above the noise of the
+falls. Thar war but one thing fer ter do, an' hit called fer powerful
+quick action.
+
+"Yo' war my foster-son, an' ef 'twar yo'r life er his'n I allowed I
+knowed whar my duty lay. But I didn't aim fer ter kill him.... I wish
+ter Gawd I hed. 'Taint boastin' none fer me ter say ter ye thet I aimed
+only fer ter shoot the arm what war holdin' the gun.
+
+"In course hit takes time fer ter tell ye all this, but I acted like I
+thought. Then ..." he paused, and went on only with a supreme effort,
+"then, jest as I started the trigger-pull, I seen ... I seen leetle Mike
+spring out o' the bushes straight at ... at the man. I _seen_ him, I
+tells ye, erfore I fired. My mind told me not ter pull thet trigger,
+an' ... an' I done hit. My aim war true, but ..." he stopped altogether.
+
+"The man," asked Donald at length, through clenched teeth. "What
+happened to him?"
+
+"He turned et the crack of my gun. He ... he seen me, and run off inter
+the wood thar."
+
+There ensued a long silence. Then Donald's hand stretched out and
+grasped that of the sorrowing giant.
+
+"Jerry," he said steadily. "Don't feel so bad, it wasn't your fault. You
+did all that man could do. You were trying to ... to save my life, just
+as ... as Mike was, God bless the little dog. He must have realized that
+Judd was following me by the exercise of a sense beyond our knowledge,
+and rushed back to attack him--for my sake."
+
+"Yo' said ... yo' said ... 'Judd.' How did yo' come ter know 'twar him?"
+
+With new and deepened remorse, Donald sadly outlined the chief incidents
+of the quarrel, without, however, mentioning the discovery of the still,
+or the immediate cause of the combat.
+
+"Gawd help us all ef er new feud hes broken out hyar," said Jerry
+solemnly, as he finished. "But yo' air my friend, enjyin' ther
+hospitality of my roof, an' from this day Judd Amos air my mortal enemy,
+even though he be my next neighbor."
+
+Donald sadly removed his coat, and, wrapping it around the body of his
+chum, arose, and the silent, painful journey home was begun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE AFTERMATH
+
+
+Supper was over. With kindly hands night had laid her deep purple mantle
+over the new-made mound back of the cabin, hiding it from the grieving
+gaze of the three who sat before the door in painful silence beneath the
+star-pierced dome of heaven. In the poignancy of her own sorrow, and her
+overwhelming sympathy for Donald, when she had come to a realization of
+the meaning of the bundle which he brought out of the woods and laid so
+tenderly down on the grass before the cabin's stoop, every vestige of
+Smiles' anger had instantly vanished.
+
+"Oh, the pity, the uselessness of it," cried Donald's heart, as his
+thoughts again and again turned back to the tragic series of events
+which had made the afternoon a thing of horror. The bitter
+culmination,--the death of Mike, poor, courageous, self-sacrificing
+little Mike--was the most needless of all, for, although he had not
+mentioned the fact to Big Jerry, Donald knew that in all human
+probability Judd's rifle was empty of cartridges. And, although Jerry
+himself uttered no word of complaint, the physician knew, only too well,
+that the gripping excitement, against which he had warned the old man
+only a few hours earlier, had brought its inevitable aftermath. The
+giant's breath came with labored, audible gasps, and his very appearance
+told the story of the increased pain within his breast. For these
+disasters--as well as the mortal enmity of the young mountaineer and the
+heart-ache of the innocent girl--he, and he alone, was to blame. Donald
+groaned under his breath.
+
+The silence was finally ended by Smiles crying out bitterly, "Oh, Doctor
+Mac, I can't understand why grandfather pulled that trigger, and shot
+dear little Mike. He saw him spring at Judd."
+
+"It wasn't in any wise his fault, dear heart. He could not possibly have
+helped it. You see our brains are telegraph stations from which the
+nerves run like wires, carrying messages to all the different parts of
+our bodies. Big Jerry had sent a command to his finger, ordering it to
+pull the trigger, and the muscles had started to obey. The second
+message countermanding the first--quick as it was--came too late to halt
+the purely muscular action; that is all."
+
+"Another good evening, my friends," came a cheery voice, and the
+mountain minister approached out of the shadows, and joined them. "I am
+just back from a journey into the wilderness, like John the Baptist's,
+and ... Why, what's wrong? Do I see the ghost of a sorrow sitting amid
+this group, which should be so happy?"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Talmadge," cried Rose, jumping up and stepping to his side as
+he paused. "Many ghosts are here to-night. I think that you took God
+away with you on your journey, for His spirit has not been in Webb's Gap
+this afternoon."
+
+"Tell me, what has happened, my dear?" he answered quietly, as he seated
+himself within the circle.
+
+Then, step by step, the whole unhappy story was haltingly poured into
+his ears, save only that Smiles consciously refrained from mentioning
+the cause which Judd had--by implication--given for the quarrel and
+Donald kept his promise and made no allusion to his finding of the
+still. Since the minister asked no questions and made no comment
+concerning the cause, it is fair to assume that he guessed the truth and
+wisely held his own counsel. When he had brought the patchwork recital
+to an end, the doctor laughed with a bitter note.
+
+"You see how much good the brief glimpse which I had last night of the
+eternal light did me! Before one full day has elapsed, I sound a lower
+depth in primitive, brutal passion then I ever had before in my life. I
+am sick at heart when I think how quickly and easily I could forget
+everything which goes to make up civilization. There was no excuse for
+it--that's the worst part. I was infinitely more to blame than Judd,
+even leaving out of consideration the fact that a greater degree of
+self-restraint and forbearance should reasonably have been expected of
+me, a city-bred man, than of him, a more primitive son of the hills."
+
+Donald placed his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands
+with a stifled sound, which might have been groan or curse, and very
+gently Smiles' hand stole up in the darkness and stroked his tumbled
+hair, until the man's own fumblingly sought and held it close, to find
+mute comfort in her warm clasp.
+
+"Perhaps I understand better than you think the reasons which underlie
+these most unhappy events," answered the old man slowly. There was no
+rebuke in his quiet voice.
+
+"Although it is true, doctor, that the deeper we get into the heart of
+primal nature, the closer we get to the heart of nature's God, it is
+equally true that the nearer we also get to the primal in man.
+
+"I cannot help feeling that the city's laws and conventions trammel the
+spirit in its free exercise of self, which is ill; but yet the inbred
+realization of those very laws and conventions, and the fear of
+consequences if they are broken, act as a salutary check on the
+primitive passions inherited by every one of us from our savage
+ancestors.
+
+"Of course, I know that, in places where men are crowded together, such
+man-made laws and conventions are wise and necessary; but the life which
+results is not--cannot be--full and natural as it may be in an isolated
+place like this, when honest obedience is paid to the still higher laws
+of God--and it is for _that_ obedience which all of us must strive
+constantly.
+
+"You failed in the test to-day; but, believe me, there are many in
+these mountains who, lacking all the advantages of training and
+education which are yours, meet it. Their lives are lived under nature's
+higher laws in perfect sincerity, and, although they might not conform
+to the standards of so-called civilization, they are surely purer in
+God's sight than those of millions who pattern theirs by printed
+precept."
+
+"I reckon," murmured Smiles, "that St. Peter had to put many black marks
+on three books to-day ... yes, mine too, for I was wickedly angry. It
+was hate that made me run away from Doctor Mac, and if I hadn't done it,
+M ... M ... Mike wouldn't have been shot." She leaned her head against
+Donald's arm, and cried softly.
+
+"'The wages of sin is death,'" said the minister. "And he paid the
+penalty for you, Dr. MacDonald, sacrificing himself because of his great
+love. Poor little Mike. Such faithful animals as he must have souls, and
+his is now in its own paradise."
+
+No one spoke for a little, and then Mr. Talmadge continued to muse
+aloud.
+
+"Mere repentance, such as the doctor now feels, is not enough. You
+remember the parable of the woman who drove the evil spirit from her
+fleshly temple, and swept it clean, but failed to fill its place with
+another guest, and seven other devils came and repossessed it? So it is
+always with human life, Dr. MacDonald. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so
+does the spirit. If a man does not fill his soul--swept free of past
+evil by repentance--with that which is actively good, the repentance is
+of little avail."
+
+"Yes, yes, I can readily understand that, for it has a parallel in
+bodily illness," answered Donald, somewhat impatiently. "We all know
+that, when the sick physical being is freed of its disease, it is left
+weak and an easy prey for new troubles. We can bring back to it the
+strength to resist by giving nerve-and tissue-building food and tonics,
+but how is the spirit to be ..."
+
+"How persistently the earth-man kicks against the pricks," cried Mr.
+Talmadge. "Child, your friend will not lift his eyes from the maze of
+doubt. You pledged yourself to help him. Help him now."
+
+Her face suddenly glowing with light, Rose turned to Donald eagerly, and
+said without hesitation, "Oh, Doctor Mac, don't you see? The answer is
+so clear, so simple that even I know it. The dear God spirit is
+everywhere, just waiting for you to call it to your aid. Please pray to
+Him to give you new strength so that you may not be weak again, and I
+will pray, too."
+
+"Yes," supplemented the minister, "'Whence cometh my help? My help
+cometh even from the Lord, which hath made heaven and earth.'"
+
+Donald was strongly moved at the eager interest in him which these two
+displayed. Shifting uncomfortably he replied, "I need His help, I know;
+but ... but I guess I have forgotten how to pray for it."
+
+"Open your heart with sincerity, and He will enter and bestow the
+strength you need in order to take up your task anew, and carry on until
+your purpose here on earth has been accomplished. That is all that
+prayer need be, for He is ever more ready to give than we to receive.
+Verbal petitions are vain and empty things; honest communion with Him
+_is_ prayer."
+
+He arose, content to say no more, and to leave the sorely troubled
+spirit of the stranger to Smiles' tender ministrations. "I am deeply
+sorry for you in your distress, Dr. MacDonald, but although there is
+small comfort in the remark, I cannot help but feel that what has
+happened was ordained to complete your lesson, so that you may leave
+these hills with a new understanding and higher purpose in life. Good
+night, and God be with you all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PARTING PLEDGE AND PASSING DAYS
+
+
+"Doctor Mac," began Smiles timidly, at length. "I'm sorry for what I
+said to you this afternoon, and I want to take it back. I guess when
+you're angry you don't see things as they are, and I'm sure that you
+were only being very, very kind to me when you ... you bought those
+baskets. I love you for it, really I do, and if ... if you want me to
+keep the money, and it would hurt your feelings if I...."
+
+"Of course I want you to keep it, dear. Yesterday you took me for a
+foster-brother, and I hope that you will always let me do for you as I
+would for a real flesh-and-blood sister."
+
+"I promise, and I will always do the same for you if I can, dear Don,"
+she whispered softly, adding, "but somehow to-night--oh please don't
+laugh at me now--somehow to-night I feel more like ... like a mother,
+than a sister to you."
+
+"And I truly think you are--a spiritual mother, little woman. I need you
+much more than you need me, I guess."
+
+"Do you know," he went on, after a moment, "I am beginning to believe
+that I was wrong this afternoon when I said that ... that Judd lied
+about adding to the money he received for your baskets. Of course I
+have no way of making sure, unless you have kept accounts, but I
+actually begin to think that he did."
+
+"I _know_ it," she replied promptly; but with a troubled voice. "Judd
+has been very wicked, but he doesn't lie. I think that he meant it the
+way ... the way you did, too; but he's different and I mean to give it
+all back to him." There was another pause, and then Smiles said gently,
+"Donald, it makes my heart ache like, to tell you this, but I've got to
+now. I want that you should go away early to-morrow morning."
+
+"What?" he burst out angrily, springing to his feet. "And have him
+believe that I ran away from him again? No, how can you ask it, Rose?"
+
+"It isn't that. We know, and _he_ knows now, that you're not afraid of
+him. But this mountain is his home, and, if you stay here, there is sure
+to be more trouble, and I couldn't bear that, Don. Even if one of you
+wasn't ... wasn't hurt in the body, wicked thoughts would hurt your
+souls. I know it is so, and you _must_ go ... but, oh, how I am going to
+miss you."
+
+For a moment Donald stood tense; then his body relaxed weakly and he
+answered, "Yes, you are right, Smiles. It _is_ up to me to go; but I
+know that some day these clouds are going to be lifted somehow, and we
+shall see each other again and be happy together."
+
+"I know it, too," she answered, with a sob catching her breath. As she
+spoke, the clouds, which had been covering the moon for some time,
+broke, letting the cool, white light flood the mountain side like a
+promise, and her face lit up with the old wondrous smile. "Of course we
+will," she cried. "Why, I mean to be your own special nurse some day,
+and help you always. Good-night, dear Don."
+
+She turned and ran quickly into the cabin, so that he should not see the
+tears which followed the smile.
+
+"Rose war right erbout yo'r goin',--I reckon she air allus right," came
+Big Jerry's voice. "Yo' hev got ter go; but I'm ergoin' ter miss ye
+powerful, likewise, lad."
+
+"But I'll see you again, too, before long. I've got some of my sense
+back, and I mean to write Judd that I am engaged to a girl in the
+city--not that I want his friendship after what has happened,
+however--and I will be down here again, for a few days at least, when
+the atmosphere has cleared--perhaps early this winter."
+
+"Taint likely yo'll ever see me ergin on earth, son," Jerry said
+heavily. "Reckon I'm most done fer."
+
+"Your heart? Is it very bad?" queried Donald.
+
+"I allows hit's nigh ter bustin'," was the steady response. "But mebbe
+I'll last some while yet--I hopes so, fer leetle Smiles' sake. I haint
+blind ter what hes happened, an' I knows thet the time air comin' when
+she's es plumb sartain ter fly erway from this hyar mountain es a
+homein' dove; fer she hes heard the call uv her city blood, an' hit
+haint ter be denied. But I reckon she haint ready ter leave the old nest
+yet, so I aims ter stay on erwhile longer ... fer her, though hit haint
+goin' ter be in no wise easy fer ter do."
+
+The younger man knew not what answer to make to this affecting
+declaration; but the necessity of a reply was forestalled, for Big Jerry
+stepped closer and continued earnestly, "Since yo' wished fer ter be a
+son ter me, I air ergoin' ter treat ye es sich, an' tell ye something
+thet I've done fer the leetle gal, an' thet she don't yet know erbout.
+
+"Back in the spring when I seen thet her mind war made up ter be a
+nurse, an' I knowed thet my own time war comin', I sold the timber
+rights ter these hyar woods ter a city lumber company fer a thousand
+dollars. They haint ergoin' ter cut fer some years yet, an' by thet time
+I won't be hyar ter grieve, an' Smiles won't neither.
+
+"Thet money, an' a leetle more what I hev saved, air ter be hern ...
+hit's in er savin' bank down ter the city now. But thet haint all I
+wants ye ter know. The reverend drawed a last will an' testiment fer me,
+leavin' this hyar land ter her--she haint blood kin of mine, yo' know,
+nor adopted by law-an' I reckons hit will be val'able some day, fer a
+city stranger told me oncet thet thar's coal on hit. So my leetle gal
+haint ergoin' ter start her new life penniless, an' ... an' now I wants
+ter name ye ter be her guardeen till she air growed up. I hopes yo'll
+accept ther charge, fer I trusts ye, son."
+
+"Accept? Indeed I will, and it makes me mighty happy to realize that I
+mean something to both of you. I've been playing that she was my sister,
+but now she will really be as much to me as though she were."
+
+The two men clasped hands again in full understanding, and as a symbol
+of a trust bestowed and accepted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At sunrise the following morning Donald once more turned his face toward
+the valley, whence he had climbed lightheartedly less than two days
+previous. He had come with a beloved companion. He went alone, save for
+crowding memories--some bright, but far more black as storm-clouds and
+shot with malignant flashes of lightning.
+
+His vacation--a travesty on the name--was ended; the castle which his
+dreams had built on this remote mountain was a shattered ruin. Yet,
+through the dark series of crowding events, ran a fine thread of
+gleaming gold, and Donald felt that it had not been broken by his
+departure. No, it was spun by Destiny to stretch on and on into the
+unseen future, at once for him a guide-line to a higher manhood, and a
+tie binding his life to that of the girl whose pathway--starting so far
+removed from his--had so strangely converged with it.
+
+To continue his hunting trip in another location, with Mike no longer
+his companion in it, was unthinkable. The empty spaces made the void in
+his heart unbearable, and he at once returned to Boston and joined his
+family at their summer home, to their amazement and delight.
+
+But the man now returned to them after little more than a week's absence
+was vastly different from the one who had left. All marked the
+alteration in him, and over and over in family council tried, vainly, to
+account for it, for Donald had withheld far more than he told of his
+experiences, and minimized what he did tell.
+
+But he knew, as well as they, that a new chord had been struck within
+him, and by its vibrations his whole life was being tuned anew.
+Something of the old boyishness and impetuosity was gone, a new
+purposefulness--not of the will but rather of the spirit--had supplanted
+it and engendered an unwonted serenity. Was it born of the words of the
+strange mountain prophet, or the impelling appeal of the no-less-strange
+mountain child, whose mysterious smile, though seen less frequently than
+on his first visit, still cast a spell over his senses, even in memory?
+He could not say.
+
+Whatever uncertainties had disturbed his heart before, when his thoughts
+had turned upon her, none now remained. The die was cast. Smiles had
+made her place in his life, and would always occupy it, but merely as a
+dear charge and comrade. Half-child, half-woman, she still appealed to
+him in both capacities as perhaps none other ever had; yet he could now
+admit that fact frankly, and at the same time tell himself that there
+was, there could be, nothing else.
+
+With the mists of uncertainty dispelled, and his mind purged of the
+passions which had, so unexpectedly, possessed it, Donald's life
+returned to its old ruts. His work absorbed him as before, he accepted
+Marion as more fully a part of his life than she had previously been,
+and, in so doing, found an unexpected contentment. If, at times, he
+still felt that she was not all that he might desire, at least she was
+of his class and he understood her thoroughly.
+
+"My work furnishes enough of romance for me," he sometimes thought.
+"And, if I want to remain a civilized human being, I had better stick to
+the life in which I was brought up. I never suspected how much of a
+'cave man' I was until I got into the heart of the primitive. Whew!
+Supposing I had killed Judd that afternoon! There were a few moments
+when it would have been a pleasure to have done it. Or supposing he had
+killed me! He wanted to, right enough. Puck was right."
+
+And so, while the months passed, Fortune smiled on the brilliant young
+physician, and daily laid new tributes of wealth, honor and affection at
+his feet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the mountain cabin it was otherwise.
+
+Changes, born of the travail of tragic happenings, cast their
+ever-lengthening shadows over Smiles' life, blotting out the golden
+sunlight of childhood, and overlaying it with the deeper tones of
+womanhood.
+
+Judd, her companion since baby days, she no longer called "friend," and
+he, for his part, steadily avoided her and the cabin which had once been
+a second home to him. Big Jerry, uncomplaining ever, day by day grew
+more feeble and pain-wracked, and so became more and more a dear burden
+to her. Only Mr. Talmadge, of her real intimates, remained unchanged in
+his relations with her, unless it was that in his deep and understanding
+sympathy he brought her greater spiritual and mental comfort than ever.
+The other neighbors were kind always, in their rough, well-meaning way;
+but he was her chief guide and comforter, and in him, and the books
+which Donald conscientiously sent to her every few weeks, she found the
+strength to carry forward.
+
+So, in the never-ending tasks which her daily life provided, and which
+she performed with distress in her heart, but a smile on her lips, Rose
+saw the weeks come and go, bringing in their slow-moving, but
+inexorable, train, autumn, fall and another winter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE ADDED BURDEN
+
+
+It was mid-winter. The twilight sky--cold and pale, more green than
+blue--brought the thought of new-made ice. Stripped long since of their
+verdure, the wooded Cumberlands lay, like naked, shivering giants,
+across whose mighty recumbent torsos the biting winds swept
+relentlessly.
+
+In contrast with the desolation without, inside Big Jerry's cabin all
+was as bright, warm and homelike as a merry fire, the soft glow of the
+evening lamp and the presence of the heart of the spot--the girl
+herself--could make it.
+
+Thankful for the blessings of the cheery home and her grandfather's
+presence in it still, and softly humming an old ballad which he loved,
+Rose was busily engaged in preparing an early supper, when she was
+interrupted by the sound of a low, uncertain knock on the door.
+
+She opened it, wonderingly, and the firelight leaped out into the night
+and disclosed the unshaven face and gaunt form of Judd.
+
+Save on rare occasions, and then at a distance, she had not seen him
+since that fateful day on the mountain's summit, when his passionate
+love and hate, intermingled, had driven him to commit the great offence
+against the unwritten laws of the feudal clan, by attacking one upon
+whom the sacred mantle of hospitality had been placed, by which act he
+had incurred Jerry's enmity, and made himself love's outlaw.
+
+The months had dealt harshly with him. Not only was his clothing frayed
+and soiled; but his face was so unnaturally pale that the deep-set eyes
+beneath their lowering black brows seemed to burn like embers, and there
+were many new lines on his countenance not graven there by wind and
+weather.
+
+Shocked at the change in him, and suddenly filled with womanly
+compassion which sounded the knell of anger, Rose called, gently, "Judd!
+Why, Judd! Come in."
+
+He shook his head. "I reckon I haint welcome in this hyar cabin, Smiles,
+an' taint on my own ercount thet I comes ter ye."
+
+"Why, what is the trouble?" was her startled inquiry.
+
+"Hit ... hit air leetle Lou. I erlows she's sick er somethin'."
+
+"Lou? Tell me quick, Judd. What is the matter with her?"
+
+"I don't rightly know." The answer was made with obvious distress. "She
+haint been her sunshiny self fer quite some time, an' ter-night ...
+wall, she air actin' so sorter ... queer, thet I got skeered."
+
+"I'll go over home with you at once," said Rose, as she hastily caught
+up and drew a shawl about her head and shoulders. "Grandpap," she called
+softly through the door to the old man's bedroom, "I'm ergoin' out fer
+er leetle time. One of ther neighbors air sick. Don't fret, fer I'll be
+back right soon, dear."
+
+There was a brief, rumbled reply; and, closing the door behind her on
+the warm comfort within, the girl joined the mountaineer in the crispy
+evening, now almost dark. She shivered a little, and he marked the
+involuntary act, and drew back a step.
+
+In silence they walked rapidly up the narrow path, slippery from a
+recent fall of light snow. Once Rose slipped, and instantly Judd's
+sinewy arm was about her waist, steadying her. Then, as she regained her
+balance and started forward, it tightened and drew her suddenly to him
+in a passionate, crushing embrace. She made no effort to struggle free,
+or voice her heart's protest against this outrage, but stood with her
+body rigid and unyielding within the circle of his arm until he slowly
+released her, mumbling, "I reckon I air plumb ershamed of myself,
+Smiles. I didn't go fer ter do hit, an' I knows thet I haint deservin'
+ter tetch so much es ther hem of yo'r skirt."
+
+She did not answer, and neither spoke again until his cabin was reached.
+
+When the door was opened, Smiles caught sight of the child sitting
+motionless on a stool near the fireplace. Her lips were parted and in
+her eyes was an odd look of semi-vacuity.
+
+"Lou!" cried Rose, pausing in alarmed astonishment.
+
+A light of recognition sprang into the child's eyes, she stood up a
+trifle unsteadily, and said, with a low throaty laugh of delight, "Hit
+air my Smiles. I awful glad ter see...." She started toward her friend;
+but her course suddenly veered to the left, waveringly, and her
+wandering gaze fell upon the now sadly battered doll lying in one
+corner. "To see ye, Mike," was the ending of her sentence, as she
+trotted to Donald's gift and began to cuddle it.
+
+"Yo' haint erbeen ter see Lou fer er long, long ..." The piping voice
+trailed off into silence.
+
+"Why, Lou, sweetheart. What is the matter? Don't you know your own
+Smiles?" pleaded the deeply distressed girl, as she gathered the child
+to her breast.
+
+The baby's hands dropped the doll unceremoniously and sought her
+friend's cheeks. Looking up with big eyes into the face drawn close to
+her own, she replied in a strangely slow, hesitant manner. "In course I
+remembers ye, Smiles. Yo' air the nurse what lives with ... with thet
+thar doctor man ... in the big city, whar air monkeys thet ... clumb
+sticks an' ... an' doll babies what close thar eyes ... an' say ... an'
+say ... My head hurts me, Smiles, hit do."
+
+She lay still in the loving arms for an instant, and then wriggled free
+and, sliding to the floor, picked up and began to rock the doll again,
+the while crooning a wordless lullaby.
+
+With anxiety growing akin to terror, Smiles felt the irregular pulse, as
+Donald had taught her how to do, and pressed her hand to the pale cheek
+and forehead.
+
+"She _is_ sick, Judd, and I'm kind of frightened, too. You can't take
+care of her here, and I mean to take her home with me, right now. I
+reckon you had better go down to the village and get Dr. Johnston,
+quick."
+
+The man had started, with words of protest trembling on his lips; but,
+as his look turned on his little sister, as she now leaned drowsily
+against the girl's knees, he stifled them unspoken, while a spasm of
+pain crossed his worn face. With a dull nod of acquiescence he held out
+his arms to receive the child, whom Rose had lifted and wrapped in a
+blanket from her little bed that had been brought in near the fire.
+
+The return journey was quickly and silently made, and, delivering the
+slight bundle to Smiles when her cabin was reached, Judd set off into
+the night, concern lending wings to his feet.
+
+"Grandpap, hit's Smiles back ergin'," called the girl softly. "An' I've
+brought leetle Lou Amos. She haint feelin' right well, an' I allows I
+hev got ter take keer of her here."
+
+The old man uttered a low growl of protest, which caused Rose to run to
+him and tenderly lay her hand on his lips, with the words, "Hush,
+grandpap. The baby haint in nowise ter blame fer ... fer what Judd
+done. In course we hev got ter keer fer her."
+
+Big Jerry nodded an abashed assent, and said no more.
+
+Smiles undressed her new charge, who struck uncertain terror to her
+heart by drowsily talking on and on, in snatches of unrelated sentences
+running the gamut of her limited experiences and with the childish words
+often failing, half formed. She put the baby in her own bed, and, after
+the belated supper had been eaten and cleared away, and the old man made
+as comfortable as possible for the night, Smiles lay down beside the
+baby, whose silence and more regular breathing indicated that she was at
+last asleep.
+
+The morrow's sun was well above the valley horizon before Judd returned
+with the country doctor, and again the former refused to enter the
+cabin. While the physician remained, he paced back and forth, back and
+forth, with weary, nervous strides; but even in his stress of mind he
+unconsciously kept out of view from the window in Big Jerry's room.
+
+At last Rose and Dr. Johnston reappeared, and, breathing hard, Judd
+hastened to join them.
+
+"It's brain fever, the doctor says, Judd," said Smiles at once. "He's
+left some medicine for me to give her, and you know that I'll nurse her
+for you like she was my own baby."
+
+"Air hit ... air hit _bad_, doctor?" asked the mountaineer, with a catch
+in his voice.
+
+"Well, of course it ain't an ... er ... exactly easy thing to cure, but
+I reckon she'll get well of it. By the way, Amos, how long has she been
+a-goin' on like that?"
+
+"I kaint rightly say, doctor. She hes acted kind er strange-like fer
+quite er spell, now thet I comes ter think on hit; but I didn't pay no
+pertickler attention to hit ontil er day er two back," answered the man
+contritely.
+
+"Hmmm," said the doctor. "Oh, I guess we can pull her through all right,
+and I will get up here as often as I can. Well, I reckon I'll be
+stepping along back."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But little Lou did not fulfil the country practitioner's optimistic
+prophecy. The change in her condition, as day after day crept by,
+growing longer and colder, was almost imperceptible; but it was steadily
+for the worse. The mountain winter closed in with unusual rigors, and
+Smiles' cabin continued to be a hospital where she passed her hours
+ministering equally to the keen-minded, but bodily tortured old
+man--whose heart pained constantly and with growing severity, and whose
+breathing became daily more labored--and the child whose mind steadily
+became more clouded and her physical functions more weak.
+
+Like a gaunt, miserable dog which had been driven from his home, Judd
+haunted the cabin. When she stole out one morning, to speak with him
+about Lou, Smiles cried, "Oh, if Doctor Mac were only here now! _He_
+would know what to do, I'm sure."
+
+Judd's hands, blue with cold, clenched so violently that the knuckles
+grew a bloodless white, and the look of pain, lying deep down in his
+eyes, changed to a flash of burning hate.
+
+"Don't never speak thet man's name ter me, gal."
+
+The words were spoken in a harsh voice and he strode abruptly away.
+
+At more and more infrequent intervals, the village doctor made his
+toilsome way up the slippery mountain side, sat regarding the little
+patient with a hopelessly puzzled look, and finally departed, shaking
+his head; but he never failed to leave behind him another bottle of
+obnoxious medicine on the chance that if one did not produce an
+improvement, another might. Even to the girl it was all too apparent,
+however, that he was aiming blindly into the dark.
+
+There came a time when the child spoke scarcely at all, save to moan
+piteously something about the pain in her head; her emaciated legs
+barely carried her on her uncertain course; her vague, sweet eyes turned
+inward more and more; and it was with the greatest difficulty, and only
+by the exercise of infinite patience that Smiles could feed her. The
+little mountain blossom was wilting and fading slowly away.
+
+On the afternoon of the first day of January Dr. Johnston spent a long
+time at the cabin, striving against the impossible to solve the problem
+which confronted him like an appalling mystery, far too deep to be
+pierced by the feeble ray of science at his command.
+
+At last he arose with a gesture of finality, and announced to the
+anxiously waiting girl, "I reckon I'm done. I won't go so fur as to say
+that a city specialist might not be able to help her; but hanged if _I_
+can. The trouble is too much for me, and I guess Lou is just a-goin' to
+die."
+
+Sudden tears welled into Smiles' luminous eyes, and ran unheeded down
+her cheeks, now unnaturally thin and wan.
+
+"Hit haint so," she cried in a choked voice. "Lou haint ergoin' ter die,
+Dr. Johnston!"
+
+Suddenly she stopped, as her thoughts flew backward on the wings of
+memory. Her eyes grew larger, a strange light came into them. Then,
+speaking slowly, almost as though the words were impelled by a will
+other than her own, she added with a tone of absolute certainty:
+
+"Yo' allows _yo'_ don't know what the trouble air, but _I_ does."
+
+The doctor was startled and looked as though he thought that he was
+about to have another patient on his hands.
+
+"Hit air a brain tumor thet she hes got, I knows it, an' I knows one of
+the few doctor men in this hyar country what kin cure hit. He air
+_ergoin'_ ter cure hit fer me, an' leetle Lou haint _ergoin'_ ter die."
+
+Uncertain what to make of this outburst, the doctor departed rather
+hastily. Smiles caught up her shawl and ran immediately to Judd's
+lonely, cheerless abode, which she entered without a thought of
+knocking. She found the man sitting dejectedly before a feeble fire.
+
+He sprang up, voiceless terror apparent in the look which he turned upon
+her white face, but, without pausing for any preliminaries, Rose said,
+"The doctor, he's been ter see our little Lou again, Judd. He allows
+thet he can't do anything more for her, and thet she has got ter die."
+
+The man--whose whole world was now centred in the child to whom he had,
+for a year, been father and mother as well as brother--sank down on his
+chair and buried his face in his hands.
+
+"I knowed hit," he muttered in a dead voice.
+
+"Hit haint so," cried the girl, who had by this time wholly relapsed
+into the mountain speech, as she frequently did still, when laboring
+under the stress of emotion. "Hit haint so, Judd. We kin save her. We
+hev _got_ ter save her."
+
+"Thar haint no way." The words were tuned to despair.
+
+"Thar _air_ a way. Thar's one man who kin save Lou's life fer ye, an' we
+must get him ter do hit.".
+
+She had mentioned no name, but Judd sprang swiftly erect, fists clenched
+and shaking above his head. "Do yo' think thet I'd be beholden ter
+_thet_ man, after what I done ter him? Do yo' think thet I'd accept
+even my sister's life et his hands? I hates him like I does the devil
+what, I reckon, air ergoin' ter git my soul!"
+
+"Judd!" cried the girl, "yo' don't know what yo'r ersayin'. Hit's
+blasphemy. Ef Doctor Mac kin save Lou's life--an' he _kin_--yo'd be a
+murderer,--yes, a murderer uv yo'r own flesh an' blood, ter forbid him."
+
+Spent by the force of his previous passionate outburst, the man sank
+tremblingly back into the chair again.
+
+"I kaint do hit, Smiles," he answered piteously. "I kaint do hit, an'
+hit's a foolish thought anyway. He wouldn't come hyar. Hit takes money
+fer ter git city doctors, an' I haint got none."
+
+"He will come ef I asks him, an' I hev money, Judd," she said with a
+pleading voice.
+
+"No, no, no. Ef Lou dies, I reckon I'll kill myself, too; but I forbids
+ye ter call the man I wronged, an' hates."
+
+Slowly the girl turned away, with a compassionate glance at the bent,
+soul-tortured youth, went out of the cabin, and softly closed the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+"SMILES'" APPEAL
+
+
+It was snowing when she stepped outside,--a soft, white curtain of
+closely woven flakes rapidly dimming the early evening glow and bringing
+nightshades on apace. The wind, too, was rising; its first fitful gusts
+drove the snow sweeping in whirling flurries across the open spaces, and
+then whistled off through the leafless trees.
+
+Rose shivered. The wind greeted her boisterously. It clutched her shawl
+in hoydenish jest, tore one end of it free from her grasp, and ran its
+invisible, icy fingers down her neck.
+
+The cabin of the nearest neighbor--Pete Andrews--was only a few rods
+distant; but, before the girl reached it in the face of the momentarily
+increasing storm, she was panting, and her face, hair and clothing were
+plastered with clinging flakes.
+
+"Mis' Andrews, I hates ter ask er favor of ye such er powerful mean
+night; but I needs help," said Smiles, as soon as the door had been
+opened, letting her in, together with a whirl of snow which spread
+itself like a ghost on the rough floor.
+
+"Yo' knows thet I'd do enything in ther world fer ye, Rose gal. I reckon
+I owes ye my life since when ... when Gawd Almighty tuck my baby back
+ter thet garden er His'n in Paradise," answered the frail, weary-looking
+woman, whose eyes quickly suffused with tears.
+
+"Hit haint repayment I'm askin' of ye, but er favor, Mis' Andrews. I
+wants ye ter help me save ther life of another mountin flower, what's
+nigh faded plum erway."
+
+"Lou Amos?" asked the woman. She had already turned to get her own
+shawl.
+
+"Yes, hit's leetle Lou. She air powerful sick, an' I wants fer ye ter
+stay ter-night with her an' grandpap, ef yo' will. Thar haint nothing
+ter do but stay with them."
+
+"In course I'll do hit fer ye, Smiles," was the ready answer, and her
+lank, slouching husband nodded a silent assent, as she turned to him.
+
+"But what air yo' reckonin' ter do? Yo' kaint go nowhar in this hyar
+storm. I don't recollect hits like on the mountain, no time."
+
+The girl did not answer; but held the door open while the other stepped
+out, only to catch her breath and flatten herself against the cabin's
+wall as a sheet of mingled sleet and snow struck her. By continually
+assisting one another, the two made their way slowly over to Jerry's
+home; and, when they paused within its shelter, Rose held her
+companion's arm a moment, and said, "Thar haint no use tryin' ter
+prevent me, Mis' Andrews, cause I'm ergoin' ter do hit. I'm ergoin' down
+ter Fayville, an' send a telegram message fer er city doctor thet I
+knows, ter come hyar an' make Lou well. Don't go fer ter tell grandpap
+whar I've gone er he'll worry erbout me, an' thar haint no cause ter.
+The storm's et my back, an' hits all down hill goin'. I hates ter tell a
+lie ter him, but I allows I've got ter, this one time."
+
+In sudden terror over the mad plan, the older woman began to protest;
+but Rose shook off her detaining hand, and put an end to the sentence by
+leading the way hastily into the cabin.
+
+"Thar's a leetle child what needs my help, an' I've got ter take keer of
+her fer er while, grandpap," Smiles said at once. "Mis' Andrews hes come
+over fer ter stay with ye and Lou, now haint thet kind uv her? I'll git
+back es soon es ever I kin, but don't yo' fret ef hit haint erfore yo'
+goes ter bed ... or even till mornin' time."
+
+She furtively obtained a few bills from her precious store, kissed the
+old man's haggard, wrinkled cheek, and the white forehead of the baby
+who lay on the bed, almost inert save for the restless moving of her
+head from side to side, and the low moans which came with almost every
+breath, and hurried out into the storm.
+
+In later years Rose could be induced to speak only with the greatest
+reluctance of that journey down the snow-swept mountain path--for the
+blizzard was as fierce as it was rare--and even the recollection of it
+brought a look of terror into her eyes.
+
+There was flying horror abroad that night, and the demented trees
+quivered and tossed their great arms so wildly that they cracked and
+broke, to fall crashing in the path. Yet, accomplish the five mile long,
+perilous descent, in the midst of lashing sleet and snow, over a
+slippery, tortuous path, she did. With her clothing torn by flaying
+branches and clutching wind, and drenched by icy water as the snow
+melted; with her hands and lips blue, and her feet numb; with her wavy
+hair pulled loose from its braids and plastered wetly against her
+colorless cheeks; she eventually stumbled into the rude building which
+contained the railroad and telegraph office at the terminus of the
+branch line at Fayville. Then she fell, half unconscious, into the arms
+of the astonished agent, who came to the door when he heard her stumble
+weakly against it.
+
+"Good God, child, where did you come from?" he cried.
+
+Smiles' lips moved faintly, and he caught an echo of the words which she
+had been repeating mechanically, over and over, "She haint ergoin' ter
+die!"
+
+"I reckon she ain't, if human will can save her ... whoever _she_ is,"
+muttered the man, as he laid the exhausted girl on a rude waiting bench,
+poured between her bruised lips a few drops of smuggled whiskey from a
+pocket flask, and then unceremoniously cut her shoe lacings and removed
+her sodden, icy boots.
+
+After a moment, she sat weakly up, and--punctuated by gasps drawn by
+exquisite pain--managed to pant out, "I've got to send a telegram ...
+to-night ... now. Oh, _please_, Mister, don't wait for anything."
+
+"There, there. We'll take care of your message all right. Don't worry,
+little woman," he answered, reassuringly. "But I ain't a-goin' ter send a
+tick till you're thawed out. My missus lives upstairs, an' she'll fix
+you up."
+
+He half-carried, half-helped the weary girl up the narrow stairs, and,
+having surrendered her into the charge of a kindly and solicitous woman,
+hastened to rekindle the wood fire in the stove. As its iron top began
+to regain the ruddy glow which had scarcely faded from it, Rose crept
+near, holding out her bent, stiffened hands.
+
+"Now, take it easy, little girl," cautioned the agent. "Not too close at
+first."
+
+"And take off your dress and stockings, dear," said his wife. "Don't
+give no thought to him,--we've got three daughters of our own, most
+growed up."
+
+The agent departed, with a heavy clamping of feet on the stairs, and
+gratefully--but with hands which were so numb that she had to give up in
+favor of the woman--Rose obeyed; and soon her teeth stopped their
+chattering, and the red blood of youth began once more to course through
+her veins, while her drenched, simple undergarments sent up vaporous
+white flags which indicated that the watery legions of the storm king
+were fast surrendering to their ancient enemy--Fire.
+
+The older woman wrapped a blanket about the girl, as her husband came
+upstairs again with a pad of telegram blanks, and said, "Now, I'll write
+out the message you've got to send for you, if you want me to."
+
+"Thank you, sir. I'm obliged to you and your missus. I reckon you can
+put the words better than I can, for I haint ... I have never sent one
+before. It's for Dr. Donald MacDonald, who lives on Commonwealth Avenue,
+up north in Boston city. And I want to tell him that little Lou Amos is
+most dying from a brain tumor. And tell him that she is nearly blind and
+'comatose'...."
+
+"That word's a new one to me, how do you spell it?" interrupted the
+agent, with pencil plowing through his rumpled hair.
+
+"I ... I guess I've forgotten. Spell it like it sounds, and he'll know.
+And tell him that I will pay him all the money I've got, if he'll only
+come quick."
+
+"How shall I sign it? It has to have your name, you know."
+
+"Say it's from his foster-sister, Rose."
+
+Laboriously the man wrote out the message, and the floor was littered
+with discarded attempts before he was satisfied; but in time the
+distant, slow clicking of the telegraph key below was sending not only
+the child's eager appeal to its destination many hundred miles north,
+but a message of renewed hope into the heart of Smiles.
+
+"It will cost you more'n a dollar," said the man, as he appeared again.
+"But if you haven't got that much, why ..."
+
+"I've got it right here," responded the girl, turning on him for an
+instant a glowing smile of gratitude for his halting offer. "I'm truly
+more'n obliged to you, sir ... and your wife. I reckon God meant that
+you should be here to-night to help save the life of a dear little
+child," she added simply.
+
+"Now I'll just put on my things and be startin' back home."
+
+"Startin' home? Well, I reckon not. You're a-goin' to stay right here
+to-night, and let my woman put you straight to bed. That's what you're
+a-goin' to do."
+
+Smiles' protests were all in vain, and soon the weary body and mind were
+relaxed in the sleep which follows hard on the heels of exhaustion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was close on to midnight when Dr. Donald MacDonald reached his
+apartment after a rare theatre party with his fiancée. His day's work
+had been exacting, and he was doubly tired. The thought of bed held an
+almost irresistible appeal.
+
+As he inserted his latch key in the lock, he heard the telephone bell in
+his office ringing insistently; his heart sank, and cried a rebellious
+answer.
+
+Combined force of habit and the call of duty caused him to hasten to the
+instrument, however, without stopping to remove hat or coat, and to his
+ear came a small, distant voice saying, "A telegram for Dr. Donald
+MacDonald. Is he ready to receive it?"
+
+"Yes ... Hold on a minute until I get a pencil.... All right, go ahead."
+
+"It is dated from Fayville, Virginia, January 1, 1914. 8:30 P.M. Are you
+getting it?"
+
+"Yes, yes. Go on," cried the man, with increasing heart pulsations.
+
+"'Dr. Donald MacDonald, Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass. Lou Amos dying
+of brain tumor almost blind and 'k-o-m-o-t-o-s-e'"--she spelt it
+out--"'Come at once if possible I will pay.' It is signed, 'Your
+foster-sister Rose.' Did you get it? Yes? Wait a moment, please, there
+is another one dated and addressed the same. The message reads, 'Girl
+came alone down mountain in howling blizzard. Case urgent. Signed,
+Thomas Timmins, Station Agent.' That is all."
+
+"Thank you. Good-night," said Donald mechanically, as he replaced the
+receiver.
+
+Through the partly open folding door he could dimly see that enticing
+bed, with his pajamas and bath robe laid across it. It seemed to him as
+though it were calling to his weary body with a siren's voice, or had
+suddenly acquired the properties of the cup of Tantalus. He hesitated,
+and moved a step toward it. Then the vision of Rose as he had last seen
+her, with the ethereal smile trembling on lips that struggled bravely
+to laugh, and in deep misty eyes, came between it and him.
+
+Still clad in hat and overcoat, he seated himself at the desk and called
+up first the information bureau of the South Terminal Station, then his
+young associate, Dr. Philip Bentley, in whose charge he was accustomed
+to leave his regular patients when called away from the city for any
+length of time; and finally a house used as a semi-club by trained
+nurses.
+
+When his last call was answered he asked, "Is Miss Merriman registered
+with you now? This is Dr. MacDonald speaking."
+
+After a wait of several minutes, during which he felt himself nod
+repeatedly, a sleepy voice spoke over the wire, "This is Miss Merriman,
+Dr. MacDonald. I'm just off a case."
+
+"Good. I'm lucky ... that is if you're game to take another one
+immediately."
+
+"Yes, doctor. Do you want me to-night?"
+
+"No, to-morrow ... this morning, that is, will do. I shall want you to
+meet me at the South Station, New York train, at seven o'clock."
+
+"Yes, doctor. What sort of a case is it?"
+
+"Same as the last you assisted me in--brain tumor. But we're going
+further this trip ... the jumping-off place in Virginia. It's up in the
+mountains, so take plenty of warm clothes."
+
+"Very well, doctor." Then there came a little laugh, for these two were
+excellent friends now, and the query, "Another record-breaking fee?"
+
+"I'll tell you to-morrow," he replied. "Don't forget, seven o'clock
+train for New York. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, doctor."
+
+Donald turned away from the desk, and for a moment stood motionless.
+
+"God bless her brave, trusting, little heart," he said half aloud.
+
+And he was not thinking of Miss Merriman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE ANSWER
+
+
+More than once Rose caught herself wondering if, after that day was
+done, she would ever be able to smile again. In obedience to the
+doctor's prescription for Big Jerry, which it was ever her first duty to
+fill, she never looked towards him--as he sat bent over before the fire,
+eyes heavy with pain, breath coming in deep rasps, but lips set firmly
+against a word of complaint--without sending him a message of love and
+compassion through the intangible medium of that smile. Yet, as the
+weary hours dragged on with plodding feet, it seemed to her as though
+each new one was not an interest payment on a fund of happiness stored
+within her heart, but a heavy dipping into the principal itself.
+
+Before she had taken her early morning departure back up to the mountain
+over the sodden, slippery path, she had received a telegram that Donald
+had sent off as his last act before yielding to the lure of bed, and
+which brought her the hope-engendering word that he would be with her as
+soon as swift-speeding trains could bring him.
+
+But that was yesterday. By no possibility could he reach them before the
+coming evening, and surely never had the sun taken so long to make his
+wintry journey across the pale blue sky.
+
+Hour after hour Rose sat by the bedside of little Lou, and tenderly
+stroked her cold small hands while she hummed unanswered lullabies, each
+note of which was the chant of a wordless prayer. The sufferer lay so
+white, so utterly still, save for the periods when her every breath was
+a faint moan or she suddenly shook and twisted in a convulsive spasm,
+that time and again the girl started up with a cry of terror frozen on
+her lips but echoing in her heart, and bent fearfully over to press her
+ear close against the baby's thin breast. As often it caught the barely
+discernible beat of the little heart within.
+
+The baby's eyes, now piteously crossed, had turned upward until the
+starlike pupils were almost out of sight. There were long periods when
+only the occasional twitching of the bloodless, childishly curved and
+parted lips, or the uneasy moving of the golden crowned head on the
+pillow, betrayed the fact that the spark of life still glowed faintly.
+Could she, by the power of will and prayer, keep that spark alight until
+the one on whom she pinned her faith should arrive, and fan it back to a
+flame by his miraculous skill? That was Smiles' one thought.
+
+The violet shadows of evening began at last to tinge the virgin
+whiteness of the out-of-doors, and Rose caught herself starting eagerly,
+with quickened pulse, at every new forest sound. The crunching tread of
+Judd, who paced incessantly outside the window, grew almost unbearable.
+She counted the steps as they died away, and listened for them to
+return, until her nerves shrieked in protest, and it was only by an
+effort that she curbed their clamoring demand that she rush to the door
+and scream at him; bid him stand still or begone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through the shadows Donald was once again making his way up the now
+familiar mountain side. To have climbed up the footpath with Miss
+Merriman and their essential baggage would have been impossible, and he
+had, after much persuasion, finally succeeded in hiring a man in
+Fayville to drive them up in a springless, rickety wagon. This had
+necessitated their taking a much more circuitous route, and what seemed
+like an interminably long time.
+
+During the railway journey from the Hub, he had told his companion all
+of the relevant facts, and much of the story of Rose, and the nurse's
+sympathetic interest in the recital had made her almost as anxious as
+the man himself to arrive at their destination and answer the girl's cry
+for aid.
+
+Once she had voiced a doubt as to the wisdom of leaving his urgent
+practice and taking such a trip on so slender grounds.
+
+"But how do you know that it _is_ brain tumor, doctor, or that there is
+either any chance of saving the child's life, or any real need of a
+surgeon? At the most you have only the conclusion of a country doctor
+who can hardly be competent to determine such a question."
+
+"I have considered all that, Miss Merriman," he had replied, shortly,
+and then added, as though he felt that an explanation were due,
+"Frankly, when I made up my mind to go, I wasn't thinking of the patient
+so much as I was of my foster-sister. Perhaps she won't appeal to you as
+she has to me; but I really feel a strong responsibility for her future,
+and I don't want her faith in m ... in physicians to be shattered. You
+see, I have held up the ideal of service, regardless of reward, as our
+motto." He sat silently looking out of the car window for a moment,
+while the nurse studied his serious, purposeful face and mentally
+revised her previous estimate of him. Then he went on, with an
+apologetic laugh, "Besides--Oh, I know that it sounds utterly
+preposterous, but there are times when a man's groundless premonitions
+are more real to him than any logical conclusions of his own. This is
+one of those times."
+
+The subject dropped.
+
+Donald had, in addition to a fortnight's compensation in advance, given
+Miss Merriman a return ticket and sufficient money to cover all
+necessary disbursements, and told her that she must, of course, look to
+him for any additional salary. Under no circumstances, he said, was she
+to accept what Rose was sure to try and press upon her.
+
+At length the plodding horse turned into the little clearing before
+Jerry's cabin, and, as it appeared, the watcher outside, his face
+twitching, slunk silently away into the forest, where his racked soul
+was to endure its hours of Gethsemane.
+
+Rose heard them. She hastened to the door, and her white lips uttered a
+low cry which spoke the overwhelming measure of her relief.
+
+"I just _knew_ you'd come!" she said, as the man, numbed with cold,
+swung his companion to the ground. The girl gave her a quick glance of
+surprise; but her eyes instantly returned to the doctor's face with an
+expression which Miss Merriman decided was as nearly worship as she had
+ever seen.
+
+Donald did not return her greeting in words at first; but, after he had
+paid the driver, so liberally that the latter was left speechless, and
+they had entered the cabin, he held out his strong arms to her. Smiles
+swayed into them and pressed her face against the thick fur of his coat
+with an almost soundless sigh that told the whole story of anxious
+waiting and the end of the tension that had left its mark on her
+childlike face.
+
+"This, Miss Merriman, is my little foster-sister, Rose. And Miss
+Merriman is a nurse who has come to help us," said he, as he released
+her, and passed on to greet the old giant, who had slowly pulled his
+shattered, towering frame from his chair, and now stood with a gaunt
+hand held out in welcome, while a ghost of his one-time hearty smile
+shadowed his lips. Big Jerry's flowing beard was now snow-white, and
+Donald was shocked at the change which had taken place in him.
+
+Their greeting was brief and simple, as between men whose hearts are
+charged, and, as soon as he had eased him back into his seat, Donald
+spoke with a quick assumption of his professional bearing.
+
+"Now, about our little patient. How is she, Rose?"
+
+"Close to the eternal gates, I'm afraid," whispered the girl, with a
+catch in her voice. "Oh, Donald, we cannot let her ..." she turned
+abruptly and led the way to the door of her tiny bedroom. The doctor
+stepped inside and looked briefly, but searchingly, at the child who lay
+there, silent, and the semblance of Death itself. With her lips caught
+by her teeth, and her hands clasped tightly together to still her
+trembling, Rose watched him.
+
+His next words, spoken as he stepped back into the cabin and shook
+himself free of his greatcoat, were brusquely non-committal. "And the
+doctor? Where is he?"
+
+"The doctor? Why, he ... he isn't here; he hasn't been here for days. He
+doesn't even know that you were coming ... that I had sent for you."
+
+"What? But I don't understand, child. Of course he ought to be here."
+Donald's voice was so sharp that it brought the tears, that were so near
+the surface, into Smiles' eyes, perceiving which, he hastened to add
+more gently, "There, there, of course you didn't know; but I can hardly
+hope to diagnose ... to determine what the trouble really is, or where
+the growth, if there is one, is located, unless I get a full history of
+the case from him and his own conclusions to help me."
+
+"But ... but, Donald, he didn't _have_ any conclusions. He said it was
+... was brain fever, first, and then he gave up trying and told us that
+Lou had just got to die. Besides, _I_ know the ... the history...." She
+stopped, with a little wail of distress.
+
+"'Brain _fever_!' Then who ... the telegram certainly said 'tumor.'"
+
+"Yes, yes. _I_ said that. Oh, I can't tell you why; but I just _know_
+that it is, Donald, for little Lou has been exactly like you told me
+that baby up north was--the one you saved by a ... a miracle. Oh, don't
+you remember? It was in the paper."
+
+Her sentences had become piteously incoherent; but their significance
+slowly dawned upon him. To Miss Merriman the conversation was somewhat
+of an enigma, and she stood aside, regarding Rose with an expression
+half bewildered, half frightened. Had this strange child summoned so
+famous a physician, whose moments, even, were golden, to the heart of
+the Cumberlands on her own initiative and on the strength of her own
+childish guess, merely? It was incredible, a tragic farce.
+
+Perhaps something of similar import passed swiftly through the man's
+mind, for he placed his large hands upon the girl's slender shoulders,
+and, for an instant, sent a searching gaze deep into her eyes, now
+luminous with unshed tears, as he had first seen them. They looked up at
+him troubled, but frankly trusting.
+
+"Do you mean, Rose," his words came slowly, "that you sent for me
+without a doctor's suggestion and advice; that you did it on your own
+hook?"
+
+She nodded. "I just couldn't bear to have her die. She is all that ...
+that Judd has got in the world, now, and I knew that you could save her
+for him."
+
+His hands felt the controlled tension of her body, and he impulsively
+drew her close to him. When he answered, his voice was strangely gentle.
+
+"It's all right, little doctor. I'm glad that you did, and only hope
+that I can help. Now, let's all sit down here before the fire--how good
+it feels after that bitter ride, doesn't it, Miss Merriman?--and you
+will tell me all that you can about the baby's trouble--every single
+thing that you have noticed from the first, no matter how little it is.
+You see, that only by knowing exactly how the patient has acted can the
+surgeon even hope to guess where the trouble has its seat. Once before I
+told you that a nurse has got to face the truth, understandingly and
+bravely, and I may as well tell you about some of the difficulties which
+lie in the path that we must tread to-night. Your faith has been
+almost--sublime, dear. I wonder if it would have failed if you had
+known how like a child in knowledge--a child searching in the dark--is a
+surgeon at such a time as this?"
+
+"I ... I don't believe that I understand, and you kind of frightened me,
+Don. I thought that all you would have to do would be to ... to cut out
+that awful thing that is stealing away Lou's precious life. Wasn't that
+what you did for that other little child?"
+
+"Yes, but ... how am I going to explain? If there is a tumor, as we
+think, I'll do my best to take it away; but, in order to do that, I
+have, of course, got to go inside of her skull right to the brain
+itself, and the trouble might be here, or here, or here." He touched her
+now profusion of curls at different cranial points. "That is the riddle
+which you and I must solve, and I have got to look to you for the key.
+The human brain is still a book of mystery to us. Some day, physicians
+will be able to read it with full understanding; but so far, we have,
+after thousands of years, barely learned how to open its covers and
+guess at the meaning of what lies hidden within."
+
+Rose had edged close to Miss Merriman on the rough bench before the
+fire, and, with the older woman's arm about her, now sat, wide-eyed and
+wondering, while Donald talked. As he kept his gaze fixed on the glowing
+heart of the fire, he seemed, in time, to be musing aloud rather than
+consciously explaining.
+
+"This much we have learned, however; that certain parts of the brain
+control all the different actions or functions of the body--I've called
+it a telegraph station once before...." he paused, and both thought of
+little Mike in his last home under the snow ... "with different keys,
+each sending its message over a separate wire. So you see that, if we
+can learn exactly what the message has been, I mean by that just how
+certain parts of the body have been affected--Miss Merriman would call
+them the 'localizing symptoms'--we can often tell almost exactly which
+key is being disarranged by the pressure of a foreign growth, such as a
+tumor. Do you think that you can understand that, Rose?"
+
+She nodded slowly.
+
+"That is the first, the great and most difficult thing for us to do. The
+rest depends, in part, upon the mechanical skill of the surgeon, but far
+more upon Fate, for there are certain kinds of growths which may be
+removed with a fair chance of success--it is only that, at present--and
+others ... but we won't consider the others. Lou is young, and in one
+way that is in our favor. If there _is_ a tumor, there is less
+likelihood of infiltration," he added, glancing at the nurse.
+
+Rose opened her lips as though to ask a question, and then decided not
+to, but her expression caused Donald to say, "Come child, don't look so
+frightened."
+
+"But I didn't know ... it's so ... so terrible. How can any one live if
+his head is cut open like that?"
+
+"It sounds desperate, doesn't it," he answered, lightly, "But with our
+anesthetics, which put the patient quietly to sleep, and our new,
+specially made instruments, the trained and careful surgeon can perform
+the operation quite easily--as far as the mechanical part goes, I mean.
+But, you can see how all-important it is for you to tell me just how Lou
+has been affected. I know what a good memory you have; make it count
+to-night."
+
+With her breathing quickened, and eyes shining from pent-up excitement,
+Rose began. Simply and painstakingly she recounted everything which she
+had observed about the baby's strange behavior from that painful night
+when she had brought her from Judd's lonely cabin, through the long days
+in which she had steadily weakened and failed, to the time when the
+invisible hand of Death seemed to have begun to pluck at the thread of
+life itself.
+
+Donald listened intently, without a word of interruption, until she
+suddenly broke off her recital with the words, "Oh, I can't think of
+anything more, truly I can't; and I'm so afraid ... afraid that it
+hasn't been enough to help."
+
+Miss Merriman's encircling arm closed comfortingly about the girl, and
+she patted the head which turned and burrowed into her shoulder, but she
+said nothing, waiting for the man to speak. He mused for a moment, and
+then his words came with the crisp incisiveness of a lawyer in
+cross-examination.
+
+"As she lost control of her legs and began to waver and stumble when she
+tried to walk, did she seem to turn, or fall, to one side more than to
+the other? Think!"
+
+The anxiety deepened in Smiles' eyes; but she answered without
+hesitation, "No, I don't think so. It was more as though her little body
+was plumb tuckered out."
+
+"And her hearing? Did that fail?"
+
+"No, not until just toward the last, anyway. Even when she couldn't seem
+to answer me, somehow I was quite sure that she understood, when I
+spoke, or sang, to her. She would kinder smile, but, oh, it was such a
+pitiful smile that it 'most broke my heart."
+
+"She seemed to understand, eh?" He paused, and the room was very still,
+except for Big Jerry's stentorian breathing. "Can you say quite
+certainly--don't be afraid to answer just exactly what you think--can
+you say, then, that, aside from the general weakness of all the powers
+of her little body and mind, the headache and occasional sickness, the
+most noticeable thing in all her strange behavior was that she wasn't
+able to talk clearly, and this increased until she wholly lost the power
+of speech which happened before she became as ... as I see her now?"
+
+"Yes, doctor."
+
+Donald turned abruptly to the nurse. "Barring the use of technical
+phraseology, and a possible expression of his own, probably valueless,
+conclusions, could any doctor, such as is likely to be practising in
+Fayville, have given me any more information, or told it better?"
+
+"No, doctor."
+
+At these unexpected words of praise the girl's smile appeared mistily
+for a moment, and then quivered away.
+
+There was silence again in the cabin, while the man turned his
+thoughtful gaze back to the fire, which had now turned to glowing orange
+embers. A far-off look, alien to his keen, masterful face crept into it.
+Finally he seemed to shake off his new mood, and spoke with a queer
+laugh.
+
+"I told you on the train that I was the victim of an uncanny
+premonition. I guess that Horatio was right about there being many
+things outside the ken of our limited philosophy. What psychic whisper
+from a world whose existence we men of 'common sense'"--he spoke the
+words sarcastically--"are loath to credit; what inspiration, born of the
+memory of that story of the case of the Bentley Moors' child in New
+York, which I told her in words of one syllable six months ago, was it
+that brought the light of truth to this girl's mind, when the village
+doctor utterly failed to catch so much as a glimmer of it?"
+
+"Then you think, doctor ...?" began Miss Merriman.
+
+"My diagnosis coincides with Smiles',--a tumorous growth on the brain,
+probably upon the third left frontal convolution ... right here," he
+said in explanation, as he touched his forehead between the left eyebrow
+and the hair. "Rose, you have done excellently. Now we, too, will do
+what we can, and we shall need your help in full measure to-night. I
+know that it is going to be bitterly hard for you, perhaps the hardest
+thing that you will ever be called upon to do in all your life; you've
+got to be a woman, and a brave one. I'd spare you if I could, but...."
+
+"But I don't want to be spared, Donald," she interrupted, eagerly.
+
+"I know, and I trust you more than I could any grown-up woman here in
+the mountains. It's hardly necessary to tell you again, that a nurse is
+a soldier, and must be not only brave, but obedient. If we decide to ...
+to go ahead I will be, not your friend, but your superior officer for a
+while, and, if my orders seem harsh and even cruel, you must not
+hesitate, or feel hurt. You understand that, don't you, dear?"
+
+"Yes, doctor. I understand."
+
+She spoke bravely, but her voice trembled a little.
+
+"Good. Before I make my final examination, Miss Merriman and I have got
+to change our clothes. She will use your room and I the loft; but first
+let us bring Lou's bed out here by the fire."
+
+It was done.
+
+"Now," he continued, "while we are getting ready, there are a number of
+things which you have got to do, and you will have to work fast. First,
+make grandfather comfortable in his room, and build up this fire. Then
+heat up as much water as the big kettle will hold, and see that a
+smaller one is scoured absolutely clean. Start some water heating in
+that, too. Finally, undress Lou completely, and wrap her in a blanket.
+Can you remember all that?"
+
+"Yes, Donald ... yes, doctor."
+
+Donald smiled, and added, "One thing more. Partly fill a pillow-case
+with sand, or dirt, if it is possible to get any. Perhaps the ground in
+the wood-house isn't frozen so hard but that you can get it."
+
+She nodded wonderingly.
+
+In a quarter of an hour her duties were completed and Miss Merriman and
+Donald had appeared, clad in their spotless white garments of service.
+Rose, likewise, was in her play uniform, which was now considerably too
+small for her, and her appearance in it would have caused a smile if it
+had not been more provocative of tears.
+
+Six months earlier the doctor and nurse, assisted by others of the most
+skilled and highly trained that the metropolis afforded, had prepared to
+perform the same desperate service in humanity's cause, within the
+perfectly appointed operating room of a modern city hospital. How
+different was the setting now!
+
+In the rude, but homey room of the mountain cabin, lighted only by
+old-fashioned lamps and lanterns and the pulsating blaze of the fire in
+the cavernous fireplace, whose colorful gleam touched with gold the
+scoured copper of pot and kettle, the three workers, in the immaculate
+garments of a city sickroom, bent intently over the naked form of the
+nearly insensible child, to whose alabaster body the leaping flames
+imparted a simulated glow of warm tones.
+
+The general examination was brief, and made in silence. Then Donald drew
+the covering over the little body as a sculptor might the cloth over his
+statue, and straightened up with a look in his gray eyes that was new to
+Rose.
+
+He spoke in curt sentences. "Of course the case is far more desperate
+than our last, Miss Merriman. It's the proverbial 'one chance in a
+thousand.' On that single thread hangs the child's life."
+
+Suddenly he startled Rose by giving a short, mirthless laugh, and,
+turning away, he began to speak in an undertone, as though unconscious
+of the presence of the other two, for, despite his previous calm, the
+thought of what was in prospect had keyed up his nerves to a pitch where
+they quivered like the E string of a violin.
+
+"Good God, what a colossal nerve a man is sometimes called upon to have
+in this world. Of course she'll die in twenty-four hours if I _don't_
+operate; but only a fool--or a genius--would tackle _this_ operation
+under such impossible conditions. Practically none of the things here
+that science says are necessary. 'A fool, or a genius.'"--He suddenly
+smote his hands together, and said, "I hope that I'm a fool for
+to-night. God takes care of them ... and drunkards. I wish I had a
+strong slug of Judd's white whiskey, it might steady my nerves.
+
+"Where _is_ Judd?" he snapped out, aloud, turning to Rose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A MODERN MIRACLE
+
+
+"I don't know. He was here when you came, but I saw him going up the
+mountain into the woods. But I'll answer for him; I'll take that chance,
+doctor. She is nearly as dear to me as she is to him, and I know that
+she is going to die, unless ... unless ..."
+
+"I knew you'd say it. Well, we'll operate, Miss Merriman."
+
+Donald's voice was calm, impersonal again, and his tone had a steely
+quality, as though his lancet or scalpel had become endowed with a
+voice, and spoken.
+
+Silently, and with practised hands, the nurse began to unpack his bag
+and lay out upon a sheet, which she obtained from Rose and spread over
+the rough table, the many strange instruments, bottles, rolls of
+bandages and sponges in their sterile packages.
+
+"Have you any baking soda--saleratus, Rose?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Good. Put about a teaspoonful in the smaller kettle, and boil these
+instruments for ten minutes, while we are making the final preparations.
+I want some hot water, too."
+
+He turned away, and for a moment stood looking up at the calm heavens in
+which the stars made openings for the white eternity beyond to shine
+through. Something in the scene bore his thoughts back to that summer
+evening when the mountain man of God had tried so earnestly to minister
+to his own disease. Snatches of sentences re-echoed in his memory. Then
+he stepped back to Smiles' side and his voice was soft, as he said, "I
+suppose that, whenever a surgeon begins an operation like this one, he
+has an unformed prayer deep in his heart, though he may not realize to
+whom he prays. There was never more occasion for one than to-night,
+Rose. I know that the Great Healer is nearer to you than to me. Ask Him
+that my hand may not falter."
+
+She nodded again, sweetly serious.
+
+Once more his accustomed bluntness of manner returned, and he snapped,
+"Oh, why in the devil didn't I have sense enough to bring another
+assistant?"
+
+"I am here, doctor," answered the girl.
+
+"Yes, yes, I know." He regarded her with the old, searching look. Then,
+to the nurse, "It's only one of the many chances we have got to take.
+When you put the patient under the anæsthetic you will show Rose exactly
+how it is administered, for she will have to keep her unconscious
+without any further aid from you after I begin to operate. We have _got_
+to trust her, Miss Merriman," he added shortly, as he caught the
+expression of grave doubt which the nurse could not keep from appearing
+on her countenance. "See that she washes and sterilizes her hands
+thoroughly. That hot water, Rose. I want a basinful."
+
+She supplied it, then departed to do the rest of his bidding, and for
+some moments was kept so busy that she did not realize what the other
+two were doing at the bedside, other than to note that Donald had raised
+the head of the bed by blocking up the legs with firelogs, and covered
+it with a rubber sheet such as she had never seen before.
+
+When she did, however, return to the side of the little sufferer, whose
+face was far whiter than the clean, but coarse, sheet which covered the
+emaciated body, a low cry of protest and grief was wrung from her lips.
+Already most of the lovely ringlets of spun gold, which had won for the
+baby Donald's characterization of "Little Buttercup," gleamed on the
+rough floor, and the ruthless but necessary sacrifice was being
+continued.
+
+There were tears on her cheeks as she aided the doctor to scrub the
+shorn scalp, until the child moaned and turned her head from side to
+side.
+
+"He is my commanding officer. He told me that I must always remember
+that, and obey," whispered Rose to herself, as Donald, in his
+abstraction, began to snap forth his orders in a manner and tone which,
+for a moment, made her shrink and quiver. His words were often
+unintelligible to her, until Miss Merriman, silent-footed and efficient,
+translated them into action, as, before the wide eyes of the mountain
+child, there began to unfold the swift drama of modern surgical science
+at its pinnacle, amid that fantastic setting.
+
+Strange words, indeed, were those which now fell on her attentive ears,
+many of them far outside the bounds of her limited vocabulary; yet,
+stranger still, she soon began to grasp their meaning intuitively, and
+her quick native perception, keyed high by emergency, led her often to
+anticipate the physician's wish, and act upon it. More than once she won
+a look of surprise from the older woman.
+
+Donald's directions to Miss Merriman were curt and incisive; but soon he
+did not limit his speech to them. Rather he seemed to be uttering his
+thoughts aloud; the old habit of making a running explanation for the
+benefit of a clinic or the better understanding of an assistant was
+subconsciously asserting itself, and it was to Rose as though she were
+listening to the outpouring of a fountain of knowledge, whose waters
+engulfed her mind and made it gasp, yet carried her along with them. It
+was all a dream, a weird, impossible nightmare to her; the familiar room
+began to assume a strange aspect, and the man's words came to her as do
+those heard in a sleeping vision--real, yet tinctured with unreality.
+
+"In this case the elastic tourniquet will stop the blood flow as
+effectively as the Heidenhain backstitch suture method, I think, Miss
+Merriman, and it will be much simpler. I'm glad I brought it. Have you
+the saline solution, and the gauze head-covering ready?"
+
+"Yes, doctor."
+
+"Then you may administer the ether--use the drop method, and don't
+forget to show her just how to regulate it.
+
+"No blood-pressure machine," he muttered. "Oh, well, we've just got to
+trust to her being able to stand it, and ..."
+
+"And to God," whispered Rose.
+
+He glanced quickly up, as though he had already forgotten her presence,
+and added, gently, "Of course."
+
+The small pad of gauze, which Miss Merriman laid over the baby's face,
+grew moist; a strange, pungent odor began to fill the room. As she bent
+over to watch intently what the nurse was doing, Rose suddenly found
+herself beginning to get dizzy.
+
+"Stand up, Smiles," came the sharp command. "Here, hold this
+handkerchief over your mouth and nose. Now, take the bottle yourself ...
+so ... a drop on the pad ... now. Yes, that's right, just as Miss
+Merriman has been doing. Little Lou is wholly unconscious, we must keep
+her so.
+
+"Remember, now your test is beginning, and I expect you not to fail me.
+A great deal depends on you, Rose. You are a soldier on the firing-line
+now, and you are going to keep up, whatever happens. It may be for half
+an hour, but you will keep up, for me, for Lou, whatever happens.
+Remember! _Whatever happens!_"
+
+He looked fixedly into the unnaturally big eyes which were turned up to
+his like two glorious flowers, and she nodded. With a pang of regret he
+noticed how thin her face was, and how white,--so pale that the color
+had fled even from the sweet, sensitive lips which smiled ever so
+faintly at him, and then at the nurse, as the latter made the quiet
+suggestion that she try to keep her eyes always fixed on the pad of
+gauze, and not let them be drawn away from it if she could possibly help
+it.
+
+But at first she could not, and so she saw the pitiful little head,
+stripped of its golden crown, first covered with a clinging veil of wet
+cloth, over which, from behind the ears to the top of the forehead, a
+circular band of rubber tubing was adjusted and drawn tight into the
+flesh--"to stop the blood, like I did for grandpappy when he cut his
+arm," she thought. Then the head was gently raised and settled into
+position on the sand-filled pillow, which cradled it firmly.
+
+Only the gurgling breath of the mercifully unconscious baby, and the
+crackling of the fire, broke the silence as the surgeon adjusted and
+posed his patient's head, as an artist would his model's.
+
+A piercing light flashed before the girl's eyes, and she saw that now
+Miss Merriman held a strange-looking black tube, which shed a circle of
+concentrated sunshine on the gauze-covered head. It was her first
+experience with a flashlight, and she marvelled at its power.
+
+Now there came another dart of light, thin and fleeting, and she knew
+that a knife was poised in mid-air. Involuntarily she closed her eyes
+tight; a shudder ran through her. Donald's voice spoke impersonally, and
+steadied her.
+
+"I shall expose the third left frontal convolution of the brain through
+the fronto-parietal bone, and, in making the osteoplastic flap, I intend
+to leave a wide working margin above the size of the opening which may
+actually be necessary in order to reach the growth. It has got to be
+fully exposed at once. I can't afford to delay, under the
+circumstances."
+
+The gleam of the scalpel held her unwilling gaze with the fascination of
+horror; she drew her breath with a sound between a shudder and a sigh as
+it descended....
+
+"I _must_ keep my eyes on the ether pad," came the command from her
+whirling brain.
+
+Many nights thereafter, Rose was to start up from troubled sleep with
+strange sounds and stranger words echoing in her brain--words like
+"bevelled trephines," "Hudson forceps," "elevators," "Horsley's wax,"
+"rongeurs," "clips" and "sponges,"--but during the actual operation she
+was scarcely conscious of them, and her principal feeling was one of
+dumb rebellion which grew until she found herself almost hating _this_
+Donald, who could speak with such unconcern and apparent callousness, at
+such a time. As well as she could, she willed her swimming gaze to
+remain fixed on the pad which she must keep moist. The difficulty of the
+task had suddenly become increased, for the pad seemed to become an
+animate thing. Now it appeared to retreat into the distance, and again
+it came floating back until it seemed about to smother her. There was a
+droning note in her ears; the words spoken by the other two sounded
+mixed and indistinct.
+
+Of only one sentence, repeated monotonously in Miss Merriman's clear
+voice, was she really conscious. "Rose, a drop of ether ... a drop of
+ether ... a drop of ether."
+
+She wanted to speak, to ask them if the room were not frightfully hot;
+but she could not.
+
+Rose had never fainted in her life, but she had once seen a neighbor
+swoon, and she realized vaguely that, as the minutes passed, her
+consciousness was slowly slipping from her. The air was close and heavy
+with strange smells. She felt as though she were swaying like a
+pendulum. The old, familiar objects grew grotesquely large and hazy; the
+deep shadows in the corners multiplied, and began to dance a solemn
+minuet, advancing, retreating; advancing, retreating....
+
+"Another drop of ether."
+
+She took a fresh mental grasp on herself, and held Duty, like a visible
+thing, before her eyes.
+
+Again that queer, far-away voice.
+
+"Look, Miss Merriman. Can you see that neoplasm under the membrane? Ah
+... now the flat dissector ... no, the blunter one ..."
+
+The voice trailed away into nothing, and another recalled her failing
+senses, with the battle cry:
+
+"Rose, another drop of ether."
+
+Then it began again, "Thank heaven, there is no infiltration, the growth
+is well localized and encapsulated. Steady, steady.... Ah, very pretty."
+
+The word caught her flickering thoughts, and angered her. How could any
+one use it about anything so awful?
+
+There was another misty moment. Then, "The operation is, in itself, a
+success, I think.... Now if the child's vitality ... I never did a
+better one ... another sponge ... excellent ... Are the sutures
+ready?... Quick, take the ether bottle, Miss Merriman!"
+
+Suddenly the girl felt a painful grasp on her arm. Some one was shaking
+her roughly.
+
+"Rose," came the same strange voice, "we need some more wood for the
+fire. Go out to the woodpile, and get some."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+VICARIOUS ATONEMENT
+
+
+In happy ignorance of the fact that the order had been given merely to
+get her outside, Smiles stumbled to the door with blind thankfulness,
+and, as soon as she had closed it behind her, crumpled up in an
+unconscious heap on the snow.
+
+Within doors, the nurse was saying, "I think she's fainted, doctor. I
+heard her fall."
+
+"Probably," was the callous response. "Don't worry about her, the cold
+will bring her around. We've got to get these sutures in. But, say,
+hasn't she been a brick?"
+
+Donald's prophecy was correct. Rose came to her senses a moment later,
+and, trembling and sobbing uncontrolledly, stumbled through the darkness
+to the woodpile, and sat down on it. For a time she was powerless to
+move, but when, at length, she did re-enter the cabin, with an armful of
+wood, although her face was drawn and white, her self-control was fully
+restored.
+
+Already the surgeon and nurse were bathing off the sewn wound with
+antiseptic fluid, and it was not long before the little injured head was
+wrapped in the swathing bandages which covered it completely, down to
+the deathlike, sunken cheeks.
+
+The period of coming out from under the merciful anæsthesia ended, the
+drooping flower was restored to its freshly made bed, the evidences of
+what had occurred removed, and then Smiles turned to her beloved friend
+with a pleading, unspoken question in her eyes.
+
+"I can't tell you yet, dear. I have ... all of us have done our mortal
+best and now the issues are in higher hands than ours. I hope ... But
+come, tell me, Rose, what made you feel so sure that the trouble _was_ a
+tumor on the brain. Was it merely a guess, based on what I had explained
+to you?"
+
+"No. I ... I just _knew_ it. I reckon that God told me so," was her
+reply.
+
+"Well, God was certainly right, then," smiled Donald, glad of any chance
+to relieve the tension. "Do you want to see the growth? See, it is as
+large, nearly, as a walnut. Do you wonder that, with this thing pressing
+more and more into her brain, Lou was robbed of her power to talk and
+act?"
+
+The girl broke down at last and wept hysterically, which caused Donald
+to look as uneasy as any mere man is bound to in such a circumstance;
+but Miss Merriman came to his rescue with comforting arms, and the
+words, "There, there, dear. Cry all you want to now. It's all over, and
+Dr. MacDonald will tell you that if she gets well--as we believe that
+she will--little Lou will be as healthy and happy a baby as she ever
+was in her life. He's taken out that wicked growth, kernel and all, and
+it will never come back again. Will it, doctor?"
+
+"Almost certainly not. Rose, we couldn't have done without you to-night.
+You have been the brave little soldier that I told you to be; but I'm
+afraid that it has been a terrible strain for you. Of course, it was an
+exceptional operation, rare and dangerous; but it has given you a pretty
+vivid idea of what trained nurses have to go through frequently. Has it
+changed your mind? Do you still think that you want to go ahead and give
+your life to such work?"
+
+"Would you ask a real soldier if he wanted to quit, or keep on fighting,
+after he had been in one battle, and seen men killed and wounded? It's
+got to be done, hasn't it, if the poor sick babies and grown-up people
+are to be made strong and well again? And I've just _got_ to help do it,
+Donald."
+
+He gave Miss Merriman a significant look; but his only response was,
+"Well, unless you want another job--that of bringing back to life people
+who have starved to death--you had better get us a bite to eat and some
+of your strong coffee. My internal anatomy ..."
+
+"Oh, I plumb forgot. You haven't had a thing to eat--nor poor
+granddaddy, either. I'm so ashamed I could _die_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two hours later, after she had finished making the old man as
+comfortable as possible for the night, Rose rejoined the other two in
+the main cabin. She came just in time to catch Donald in the act of
+half-heartedly trying to conceal a deep yawn.
+
+As he, in turn, caught sight of her sympathetic smile, he said, "We have
+given our patient a mild sleep inducer; and now, Rose, I want you to go
+up into my loft room right away, and get a long night's sleep yourself.
+You've been under a mighty heavy strain to-day; there are many other
+hard days coming, and we can't have another patient on our hands."
+
+The girl nodded, sleepily; but she had not taken one weary step before a
+different thought struck her, and she turned back to cry, contritely,
+"But you ... and Miss Merriman. There won't be any place for you to
+sleep, or for her either. Oh, what can we do?"
+
+"Just forget about us, my child. I shan't undress to-night, anyway, and
+can roll myself in my big fur coat and camp out in your little room,
+since Lou must stay out here where it is warmer. And as for Miss
+Merriman ... if I catch her so much as closing her eyes for one minute,
+to-night, I'll wring her neck."
+
+The nurse laughed; but Smiles' lips set, purposefully. "I forgot again.
+Of course some one has got to sit up with little Lou, and I'll do it.
+Why, Donald, poor Miss Merriman has been traveling and working all day
+long, and she's just tired to death--she must be. Of course she has got
+to get some rest. You go right up into the loft room, dear ..." and she
+began to push the nurse gently toward the ladder.
+
+"Rose," cut in the doctor, sternly, although his eyes held a pleased
+twinkle, "you're apparently forgetting one thing--that I'm boss here for
+the present, and that my nurses must learn to do as they are told,
+without arguing. I'm sorry for Miss Merriman, too; but she knows just
+what to do if anything happens, and you don't--yet. Besides, it won't be
+the first time that she has stayed up twenty-four hours at a stretch,
+will it?"
+
+"No, indeed--nor forty-eight," answered the nurse, as she smoothed the
+pillow under the little patient's head. "I shall want you fresh and
+strong to help me with the 'day shift,' Smiles dear. And, as the doctor
+says, orders are orders."
+
+The girl's tired eyes suddenly filled again, this time, with hurt,
+rebellious tears, and a pout, almost like a child's, appeared on her
+lips as she turned and moved slowly toward the ladder in the far corner.
+Donald watched her with sympathetic understanding and the thought, "She
+must think me a brute"; but, before he could speak the word of
+consolation which was on his tongue, she whirled about, just as she had
+when sent to bed on the first night of their acquaintance, and running
+back, threw herself into his arms. As she clung to him passionately,
+sobbing without restraint from weariness and the break in the tension
+which had kept her up for so long, she whispered, "Oh, I love you so,
+dear Don. You have been so good, so good to me, and I'm so very happy."
+
+"Well, well," answered the man huskily, as he patted her shoulder, "you
+certainly have a funny way of showing it; but, after all, women are
+queer creatures. I'm happy, too, dear--happy to be here and to have been
+able to help you. And now," he concluded, lightly, "my happiness will be
+complete if you will just let me see that sunny smile on your face, as
+you obey that order which I have had to give you three times already."
+
+The tired girl, for the moment more child than woman, leaned back in his
+arms and looked up at him with an expression so transcendently appealing
+that it was only by the exercise of all his moral force that he was able
+to restrain the impulse to crush her to him. He saw that the nurse was
+regarding him with a peculiar expression, and as she, in turn, caught
+his eye and turned hastily away with a little added color in her cheeks,
+Donald recovered himself, lightly kissed the forehead so close to his
+lips, and said, "Now for the fourth, and last, time, '_go to bed_.'
+Good-night, little sister."
+
+This time Rose actually departed, and, after the physician had given
+Miss Merriman a few final directions, and bidden her call him instantly,
+if anything appeared to be going wrong, he said good-night to her also,
+and stepped toward the little room which he was to occupy. On reaching
+it he paused, for there had come a low, uncertain knock on the cabin
+door.
+
+Lest it be repeated more loudly, and disturb the quiet into which the
+room had finally settled, Donald forestalled the nurse's act, hurried
+softly to the door, and opened it a few inches.
+
+He started. There, leaning dejectedly against one of the pronged cedar
+posts on the tiny stoop, was a spectre figure, ghastly of
+countenance--Judd's. The doctor read in it the awful anguish of
+uncertainty which had driven the mountaineer, against his will, back to
+the cabin which held for him either hope or blank despair--and the man
+he hated.
+
+Donald slipped outside, and closed the door softly behind him. He
+touched the inert form on the shoulder, and said in an undertone, "Come
+with me away from the house, Judd."
+
+The other followed him, with dragging feet and sagging shoulders, his
+obedience being like that of a whipped dog. As he reached the rock
+before the gnarled oak, which, in happier days, had been the target for
+Big Jerry's first practice shot with the rifle that was later to play a
+part in the tragedy of Mike's death, Donald stopped and faced the man
+who had sworn himself his mortal enemy. The sight of the rock had
+re-awakened bitter memories; but they perished still-born as his gaze
+turned on the dimly seen figure beside him.
+
+"Judd," he began, almost kindly, "you know why I came here this time?"
+
+The other made an indistinct sound of assent.
+
+"I ... I operated on your little sister's brain, to-night. Wait. It was
+absolutely necessary, if she were to have even a single chance for life.
+She was dying, Judd. The operation was a desperate one--a last resort. I
+can't promise you anything certainly, but she's still alive, and I
+honestly believe that she is going to live--and get well."
+
+For an instant the listener stood motionless. Then his pent-up emotions
+broke their bounds in one deep, shuddering breath, and he sank down
+beside the boulder, flung his tensed arms across it, and buried his face
+on them.
+
+At last he spoke, hoarsely, and without raising his head. "I done my
+damnedest ter kill ye, an' now yo' ... yo' saves Lou's life fer me. I
+reckon I don't know how ter thank ye, er repay ... but ... my life air
+yourn ter take hit, ef yo' likes."
+
+"Nonsense," was the sharp response. "And as for thanks, why I don't want
+any. I did it for Smiles' sake."
+
+The kneeling body quivered once; but, when the answer came, it was
+uttered in even tones. "Yes, I reckoned so. Yo' hev the right ter do
+things fer her, an' I ... I haint. She ... she warnt fer me ... never. I
+warnt never worthy uv her."
+
+"She isn't for me, either," said Donald. "And besides, I'm no more
+worthy of her than you, Judd. I should have told you long ago--I was a
+fool not to have done so--I'm going to marry another girl,--a girl at
+home whom I have known all my life."
+
+"Do Rose know hit?" came the mountaineer's quick, suspicious query.
+
+"Of course she does; she's known it for a year. Judd ..." he seated
+himself beside the younger man. "I want to tell you that I was
+altogether to blame for ... for what happened up there last summer. I
+should have told you then, and ... and I'm sorry."
+
+"No, hit war I who war ter blame."
+
+"Well, let's both try to forget it, now. You owe me nothing for
+to-night; but you owe Rose a debt of gratitude that you can never hope
+to pay in full, my boy."
+
+"I knows hit. I kaint never pay even part uv hit."
+
+"I think that you can."
+
+"How kin I?"
+
+"I don't pretend to be much of a preacher, but I can say this as a man,
+Judd. By trying to live the kind of a life she would have you live. She
+wants to be your friend."
+
+"I haint fit ter be named friend uv her'n, after what I done," he
+replied, dully.
+
+"But _we're_ going to forget all about that, and certainly she won't
+hold it against you, lad. I heard your Mr. Talmadge talking about ...
+about religious things, once, and I think that, if he were here now, he
+would tell you that Smiles and little Lou, together, have made what ...
+what the Bible calls 'atonement' for what ... for what you did. Smiles'
+love and your baby sister's suffering have brought us together; each has
+had a chance to realize and confess that he was wrong and had been
+wicked; and now the way is clear for us to be ... friends. At least I'm
+willing, if you are, to shake on that."
+
+Judd sprang to his feet, and his lean hand shot out to grasp the one
+which Donald held out to him in the darkness. And their firm clasp was a
+seal to the bond that the quarrel between them was ended for all time.
+
+"Rose will be glad, Judd. I can't let you see Lou to-night; but come
+to-morrow morning ... come early before I leave, and we'll tell them all
+about it, and start things all over again. Good-night, my boy," said
+Donald, heartily.
+
+And there was a new light on the face of each man, as one returned to
+Jerry's cabin, and the other strode, with restored hope, to his own
+abode, which had been once so cheerless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+TWO LETTERS
+
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   THE FIRST
+
+                                                 Big Jerry's Cabin,
+                                                      January 15, 1914.
+
+My dear Dr. MacDonald,
+
+Although this is theoretically only my semi-weekly report, made in
+accordance with your instructions, I feel in the letter-writing mood,
+for a wonder, so I _may_ overstep professional bounds, and become
+loquacious--if one can do that with pen and ink.
+
+Rose talks about you so continually that I am actually myself beginning
+to regard you as an intimate friend, instead of an austere and somewhat
+awe-inspiring "boss." I should probably not be brave enough to say that
+to your face; but I find that my courage rises in adverse ratio to my
+nearness to you.
+
+First, however, for my report. The little patient is still convalescing
+in a highly satisfactory manner, and with a rapidity which speaks
+volumes both for her own strong constitution and this mountain as a
+health resort.
+
+The wound remains perfectly healthy and is healing without suppuration
+or parting--which "speaks volumes" for your skill. I am quite certain
+that the scar will be merely a thin white line, and not in the least a
+disfigurement. The silk stitches are ready to be removed and the others
+nearly dissolved.
+
+Yesterday that funny, countrified doctor, from down in the village, came
+up to see her--fame of your operation having spread. He "reckoned" that
+the child's recovery was nothing less than a miracle, and that he takes
+his hat off to you. I told him that most physicians did.
+
+He also "allowed" that, if I wanted him to take out the stitches, he
+could do it, but I "reckoned" that I could attend to that a little
+better than he. Was that _lèse majesté_?
+
+I did my best to be very humble, and said, "Yes, doctor" constantly, and
+he tried to appear very professional; but I think he stood a little in
+awe of me. You don't know how I enjoyed the feeling.
+
+But, to return to our report. Lou is gaining strength rapidly; I let her
+get up and play about longer each day, and have reduced the bandages to
+the minimum. It was most affecting when they were removed from her eyes.
+I forgot that I was a nurse, and cried with Smiles until the child
+cried, too, without having the slightest idea why. She is such a sweet,
+merry little imp that I do not wonder that you felt more than mere
+professional interest in her case. Every one here loves her.
+
+Indeed, I am enchanted with the place and people, and have made up my
+mind to stay on a week or ten days after I call myself off the case, and
+take a vacation which I really owe to myself.
+
+Poor Big Jerry is wonderful--so pathetically patient under his
+suffering, which is now acute. I am afraid that he cannot last many
+weeks longer, and, more than once, I have had to give him a hypodermic
+to deaden his pain. Somehow he reminds me of a huge forest tree that has
+been struck and shattered by a lightning bolt.
+
+Then there is Judd. Rose says that he has been very, very wicked; but
+that only adds to his fascination in my eyes, and if he should decide
+some day to snatch me up and carry me off bodily to a cave, I don't
+think that I should struggle or scream _very_ hard. However, I'm afraid
+there is no chance of that, as he apparently doesn't know that I exist.
+
+He puts me in mind of a mountain eagle, with those overhanging brows and
+piercing, coal-black eyes of his; but I must admit that he is
+disappointingly tame when he looks at Smiles--as he does most of the
+time, to my furious jealousy. Alas, the eagle then becomes a sucking
+dove. _She_ is apparently oblivious to the obvious fact that he is madly
+in love with her. Poor Judd!
+
+Last, but by no means least, there is Smiles herself. I wish that I
+could adequately express my thoughts about her, but I can't. However, I
+no longer wonder how a mountain child like that could have captivated
+you so, as I did when you first described her to me.
+
+She is adorable. For the life of me I can't understand how a girl, bred
+in this wilderness, could have such a fine soul and personality--not to
+speak of her intellect, which daily startles me more. But, of course,
+she is of cultured stock--she _must_ be--and I have always believed that
+the forces of heredity are paramount to those of environment. Do I sound
+like a school-mar'm? Well, that is what I am.
+
+It may surprise you to learn, as much as it does me to realize, that I
+have turned back to schooldays with an enthusiasm which I never felt
+when I was going through them, and that I spend more time as a teacher
+than as a nurse. Smiles simply _absorbs_ education--I never knew
+anything like it--and I am as confident as she that her dream of going
+through the "C. H." and becoming a trained nurse, will come to pass. And
+won't she make a wonderful one? Be warned that when she _does_ go north
+I intend to dispute with you the right to regard her as a protégé.
+
+I couldn't love her as I do, already, if she were not so completely
+human, and it amuses me immensely the way she wheedles the natives and
+keeps them in good humor by using that comical mountain lingo--although
+she can speak as grammatically as any one, when she wants to. She just
+smiles at one of them, and says, "Now haint thet jest _toe_ sweet of
+ye," and they fall down and worship.
+
+Don't be surprised if you hear me say some day, "Wall, doctor, thet air
+shor' er powerful preety operation, an' I air plumb obleeged ter ye fer
+thet yo' let me holp ye with hit." I'm catching it, too.
+
+I hope that you will forgive the liberties which I have taken in writing
+like this, but I had to do it.
+
+                                                  Sincerely yours,
+                                                       Gertrude Merriman.
+
+P.S. You were right in your conjecture. Since you would not accept the
+whole, or any part of Smiles' precious savings--and your refusal nearly
+broke her heart until I made her understand that physicians never
+charged _members of their family_--she wanted me to take it.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   THE SECOND
+
+                                                 Webb's Gap,
+                                                      Jan. 22, 1914
+
+Dearest Doctor Mac,
+
+My heart is broken. Dear granddaddy died last night. Of course I know
+that it had to be, and that he is so much happier now in the spirit
+body, and with Ma Webb (he talked about her all yesterday, and I really
+think that his soul was speaking with hers); but he was so dear to me
+that I can hardly bear to think that he has gone away.
+
+Wasn't he a splendid man, Don? I am sure that there could not have been
+any better, nobler men, even in the city, and I know that you loved him,
+too.
+
+Before he died he told me all the wonderful things that he had done for
+me, although I did not deserve it--how he had left me all that money and
+made you my guardian. I am so glad for that.
+
+He was in terrible pain toward the end, and I don't know what I should
+have done without dear Miss Merriman who stayed on purpose to help me. I
+think that God sent her here special. And she has helped me in so many
+other ways too--especially with my studying. She is sure that I will be
+able to pass that awful examination, although it frightens me. Oh, if I
+_can_, I can take that hospital training and be a nurse at last, for I
+am rich now. Just think, dear granddaddy left me _more than a thousand
+dollars_--and I have my basket money, besides!
+
+And so, dear Donald, the first part of my great dream is really coming
+true. It isn't just the way I dreamed it, for I didn't mean for
+granddaddy to be dead; but I guess things never happen just as we plan.
+When we look forward to something pleasant, which we want very much to
+happen, we never think that there may be unhappiness mixed with
+it--perhaps it is better that way, for if we did we wouldn't work so
+hard to make it come to pass.
+
+I am afraid that I have not said that very well; but I feel that it is
+so, now. I am going to Boston; I will be near you, and will learn to do
+the work I love; but now I realize that I could never, never have done
+it until granddaddy went away. So that is the shadow on my golden dream.
+
+And last night there came the great sorrow that I have been dreading so
+many months; and yet I know that he is happier, and I have you and Miss
+Merriman, and the work I am going to do, to make me forget--not him, but
+my sorrow--and take the pain from my heart.
+
+Little Lou is almost well again, and both she and Judd are going to stay
+with Mrs. Andrews the rest of the winter. And, oh, Doctor Mac, he has
+promised me never to make white liquor again.
+
+I have saved the best news for the last. _Miss Merriman is going to take
+me to Boston with her._ She says that her family have taken an apartment
+in the city, and that I may live with them until I get into the
+hospital. This makes me very happy, and I hope that you will be pleased,
+too.
+
+I know that everything is going to be very different there in Boston,
+and that you are so busy that I cannot see you very often, and, besides,
+when I do get into the hospital I must be careful to remember that you
+are a very great doctor and I am only one of many probationers (Miss
+Merriman told me the word). But, although we cannot be chums like we
+have been, you must never forget that I am always
+
+                                            Your loving foster-sister,
+                                                 Smiles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+NEW SCENES, NEW FRIENDS
+
+
+So another leaf was turned in the Book of Fate, and Smiles' life
+underwent another metamorphosis as complete as the one fifteen years
+previous.
+
+There was a sudden severance of all old ties, save that of memory, an
+abrupt entrance into a new existence, so utterly different from the one
+that she had known that it could scarcely have seemed stranger to her if
+she had actually been translated into another sphere.
+
+Yet that same Fate, which had tried her heart in its crucible fires, and
+found its gold as unalloyed as her smile, now smiled, in turn, and Rose
+was deeply appreciative of that fact. She knew that in Gertrude Merriman
+she had found a friend who was a blessed comforter for her in her days
+of trial; in truth, the nurse was destined to be more than that, a wise
+counsellor as well. Herself a girl of breeding, a college graduate, and
+a product of the same mill through which the mountain child had set her
+heart and fixed her mind upon going, she would be able to smooth many a
+rough spot from that path which Donald had pictured in his allegory,
+draw the thorns from many a bramble.
+
+For the first time Rose parted from the friends whom she had known
+practically all her life, and from the rugged, picturesque mountain
+which had been home to her, and turned her face toward a new life. Like
+a child venturing into the fairyland of dreams, she journeyed with her
+companion through the teeming cities of the East, Miss Merriman so
+arranging it that they should spend a day in each, for--with wisdom born
+of experience--she realized that such travel was in itself a broadening
+education, and that, moreover, in the new wonders and new delights which
+each hour held, Smiles' grief would find its best assuagement.
+
+There was another reason in Miss Merriman's mind for making the trip a
+leisurely one. She knew that the girl was as far from being ready to
+step into the new existence, without material readjustment in her
+manners, as she was already mentally removed from the old. To be sure,
+she possessed a natural grace of manner which could not but charm any
+one who met her; but she was almost as free from external conventions as
+one of her own wild birds, except for the few which she had
+unconsciously acquired by her association with the older woman, and with
+Donald; and, in her love for, and pride in, her protégé, Miss Merriman
+wanted Rose to be able to fit, without embarrassment, into whatever
+company she might find herself.
+
+Hers was a comparatively easy task, for Smiles took to "manners" as
+readily as a chameleon adapts its exterior to suit the color of its
+surroundings. In the woods she had learned to mimic the note of the
+birds or the chattering of the squirrels; in the hotel dining-room she
+copied the behavior of her companion just as faithfully, and if, on
+occasion, she found herself perplexed as to the proper use of some
+strange implement of eating, she frankly, and without a thought of
+embarrassment, sought information on the subject. People regarded her
+with open amusement, sometimes; but more often their gaze spelt
+admiration, and Rose was happily unconscious of both kinds of glances.
+
+Furthermore, in obedience to instructions from Donald, contained in a
+special delivery letter which reached her just before they started
+North, and in which he purported to be speaking and acting as the
+child's guardian _ipso facto_, Miss Merriman fitted her charge out with
+a simple, but complete, wardrobe, to Smiles' never-failing surprise and
+delight that so many pretty things should be all her own.
+
+When the two were ready to leave the metropolis--whose size, splendor
+and feverish bustle left Smiles mentally gasping--the nurse sent a
+telegram to Donald, and one raw February evening found him impatiently
+pacing the South Terminal Station, awaiting the arrival of the train
+from New York.
+
+Six months before, the prospect of some day being Smiles' guardian had
+seemed vaguely pleasant. Now it was an immediate fact, and the
+responsibilities engendered, the possible difficulties attendant on it,
+lay heavily upon his mind. He, too, thanked Heaven for Miss Merriman.
+
+The train gates were opened at last, and Donald hastened down the long
+platform, his eyes searching eagerly for those whom he sought. They fell
+first upon the nurse, just descending the steps, then turned and stayed
+upon the graceful, slender figure which followed her. Was it really
+Rose? Could that young woman, clad in a simple black traveling dress
+and long coat which, even to his masculine perception, appeared modishly
+stylish and amazingly becoming, be the mountain child whom his memory
+clothed in homemade calico? Her face was unwontedly pale beneath the
+small, close-fitting black hat, yet it was so utterly sweet that Donald
+felt his pulses start again with the old strange thrill.
+
+If his mind harbored any idea that she might run into his embrace, it
+was doomed to disappointment, for, with the habiliments of city
+civilization, Smiles had acquired its reserve. Her greeting was a very
+demure and somewhat weary one,--it both pleased and irritated him,
+somehow. Indeed, she spoke scarcely a word, and it was not until they
+had finished dinner in the quiet, homelike hotel, whither Donald had
+taken them, that her new shyness began to yield to his presence. Then
+the story of the marvels which her eyes had beheld came pouring forth
+with all the old-time childlike eagerness.
+
+When they were nearly ready to leave, Miss Merriman said, with a half
+real, half assumed show of firmness, "Now, Doctor MacDonald, since I am
+off duty I can speak my mind plainly, and I mean to. I know that you are
+Smiles' guardian; but you can't have her. She's mine, and she's going to
+live with my family until she enters the hospital. So there."
+
+Donald breathed a mental sigh of relief, and responded, laughingly, "And
+I, apparently, haven't anything to say about it! Oh, very well. I've
+lived long enough to learn that there is no use arguing with a woman, so
+I yield gracefully, although I'm afraid that it is establishing a bad
+precedent. If I begin to take orders from you like this, it is going to
+be hard to put you back in your place and to act the rôle of stern
+superior myself. I warn you, though, that I mean to get even with you on
+our next case, so prepare yourself to be bullied frightfully.
+
+"You see what a horrible disposition I really have, little sister," he
+added, smiling at Rose, who informed him that she was not in the least
+frightened, and to prove it, slipped her hand into his for a moment with
+the childlike confidence that he loved.
+
+So it was arranged; a taxicab bore them to the homey little apartment in
+the Fenway, where Smiles was taken to Mrs. Merriman's maternal bosom,
+and, after humbly begging his ward from them for the next afternoon,
+when he meant to introduce her to his family, Donald departed,
+whistling.
+
+Tired, but strangely contented, Rose was at last shown to her dainty
+pink and white bedroom, with its inviting brass bed, beside which she
+knelt for a long time in thankful prayer. Nor was it strange, perhaps,
+that her pillow was moist with tears of gratitude and happiness before
+she fell asleep.
+
+Smiles awoke early. The air in the room was very cold, but during her
+trip northward she had learned the mysteries of steam radiators, and she
+sprang up, closed the windows, and turned on the heat with a little
+silent laugh as her thoughts travelled back to the rude cabin on the
+mountain. In memory she saw herself crawl shiveringly from her bed, in
+the cold gray of a Winter daybreak, clad only in a plain nightgown, to
+build a blaze in the big stone fireplace so that the room might be warm
+for Big Jerry when he awoke. The smile faded from her lips, and they
+trembled slightly as she whispered his name. Poor grandpap, he had
+suffered sadly from the cold during those last few months when he could
+not keep the circulation up in his massive body by accustomed exercise.
+
+Below her lay the still sleeping city. Snow covered the untenanted
+portions of the Fens, and hid its ugly nakedness with a soft mantle,
+which seemed to hold a silken sheen, as the first flush of morning
+touched it. How strange all her surroundings appeared. Gone was the far
+sweeping expanse of forest-clad mountain side, stretching off to the
+sunrise; in its place lay a level space closed in by substantial
+buildings of marble, granite and brick--the Art Museum, Latin School and
+clustered hospitals,--their walls changing from ghostly gray to growing
+rose and gold. She drew a comfortable dressing gown--the gift of her new
+friend--about her girlish form, and sat down by the window in the
+familiar posture with her chin on her cupped hands. By Miss Merriman's
+description of the view which the window gave upon she recognized the
+creamy brick building of the Children's Hospital, snuggled like a gentle
+sister by the side of the impressive marble walls of its big brother,
+the Harvard Medical School, and, as the light grew and gave definition
+to its outlines, she felt as though it were actually drawing nearer to
+her. In imagination she went to meet it; she entered its doors and took
+her place among those who toiled there with loving hearts and skillful
+hands; and thus Miss Merriman found her, half an hour later, when she,
+similarly clad, came to bid her little guest good morning. With silent
+understanding, which is born of true companionship, she drew the girl
+into her arms.
+
+"I'm not going to let you do a single thing but rest this morning," she
+said at length. "You look pale and tired still--like a very white
+rose--and I want you to appear your very sweetest when you go to meet
+Dr. MacDonald's family this afternoon, dear. Come, let's decide what you
+shall wear. The black silk that we bought in New York?"
+
+Smiles hesitated. "I think that ... would it be all right if I wore that
+pretty white woollen one?"
+
+"Why, yes, if you like, but it is very plain and simple."
+
+"And so am I," laughed Rose a bit unsteadily. "I want them to see me
+just as I am, and ... Oh, how I hope that they will like me!"
+
+"Never fear. They will," answered Miss Merriman, giving her a reassuring
+kiss.
+
+Nevertheless, it was a very quiet and timid Smiles who sat beside Donald
+in his coupé at four that afternoon, as he drove to the richly sombre
+home on Beacon Street, where had dwelt many generations of Thayers. He,
+too, although he attempted to be jovial, was strangely uneasy.
+
+"You chump!" he said to himself. "You're more disturbed about whether
+this child will make a good impression, than you would be over
+performing a major operation. Supposing that Ethel _doesn't_ go wild
+about her, what of it?"
+
+A trim maid ushered them into the drawing room, where softly shaded
+lights were already burning, for the afternoon was dull and gray, and
+they gave a mellow homelike appearance to the mahogany furniture, rich
+tapestries, oriental rugs and costly paintings. Ethel, Mr. MacDonald,
+Senior, and little Muriel were in the room when Donald entered with the
+girl's slim hand held tightly in his, for she had slipped it there
+impulsively, just as he stepped through the broad doorway.
+
+"This," he said simply, "is Smiles."
+
+They all arose, and Ethel stepped quickly forward with outstretched
+hands. She had told herself that she meant to be very kind to the little
+savage to whom her brother had taken such an astonishing fancy; but
+now, something in the slender form and the half-frightened expression in
+the pale, sweet face caused her to forget everything else except that
+the stranger was alone and ill at ease. Both her arms went out to Rose
+with a motherly gesture, and, as she drew her within them, she said,
+"Why, my dear child."
+
+"Yes, she _is_ a child," broke in Muriel, eagerly seizing one of Smiles'
+hands. "I thought that she was a grown-up woman; but see, she wears her
+hair down on her neck just like a school girl."
+
+Let it be said that Miss Merriman had caught the note struck by Rose
+that morning, and had arrayed her to appear as young and simple as
+possible.
+
+"A child? Of course she is," echoed Mr. MacDonald in a hearty voice. "My
+dear, Donald has told us so much about you that I feel almost as though
+I had known you all your life. But," he added with little wrinkles
+forming at the corners of his kindly gray eyes, "I would like to have
+seen you, as my son did first, in that one-piece calico dress. He
+described the picture that you made very graphically."
+
+"Oh, look, mother. She's going to _smile_. Remember how pretty Uncle Don
+told us she looked when ..."
+
+Rose's shyly budding smile changed to silvery laughter in which all the
+rest joined, and with it was sealed the bond of an enduring friendship.
+Then baby Don was brought down from the nursery for inspection and,
+before he had been contentedly curled in the newcomer's arms many
+minutes, he was actually trying to lisp "Mileth," which Ethel proudly
+pronounced to be the first articulate word in his vocabulary, if those
+universal sounds, which doting parents have ever taken to mean Mother
+and Father, be excepted. He liked it so well that he insisted upon
+repeating it over and over, with eyes screwed up tight and mouth opened
+very wide, which gave him so comical an expression that every one
+laughed, including himself.
+
+Manlike, Donald had planned to get all the meetings over with at once,
+and had asked his sister to invite Marion in for afternoon tea and to
+meet his "protégé and prodigy"--as Ethel had phrased it in her
+invitation. He had, however, purposely refrained from mentioning the
+fact to Rose, and when Miss Treville entered, stately as a goddess, very
+beautiful and a trifle condescending in manner, as she extended her
+white-gloved hand and said, "So this is little Rose," the girl felt a
+sudden chill succeed the warmth of hospitality which had served to
+banish all her timid reserve, had brought a glow of happy color to her
+cheeks and a sparkle to her luminous eyes, and had made her as wholly
+natural as she would have been at home among her simple neighbors of the
+mountains.
+
+Donald felt the psychological change, and sensed the reason for it; but
+although, in a clumsy manner, he did his best to restore the atmosphere
+of comradeship, he knew that he was failing. Marion also tried, and
+tried sincerely, to bring Rose into the conversation; but the girl had
+become embarrassed and silent, and to her own surprise the society woman
+vaguely realized that she, too, was embarrassed and not at her best. She
+tried to shake off the feeling with the thought that it was absurd that
+one who had been at ease in the presence of royalty should feel so in
+that of a simple mountain girl; but she could not wholly banish the
+feeling or the impression that the girl's deep, unusual eyes were
+looking down beneath the surface, which she knew was perfectly
+appointed--had she not, for no reason at all she told herself, taken
+special pains in dressing?--and that, although there was something of
+awed admiration in her frank gaze, it also held a suggestion of
+something which was not entirely approval. Donald felt it, too, and it
+irritated him; so much so that he was frankly glad when his fiancée
+announced that she must depart to attend a social engagement. Perhaps it
+was because he was ashamed of such a feeling that he kissed her with
+unusual warmth, as he handed her into the waiting motor car, and he
+found himself flushing deeply, without reason, when he returned to the
+drawing room and saw Rose standing by one of the windows, looking out at
+the departing limousine with its two liveried attendants.
+
+"She is very beautiful," the girl whispered to him, as he joined her.
+
+There was another guest that afternoon, who came in, unexpectedly--a
+young man, in appearance Donald's antithesis, for, although he was of
+more than medium height, he was slender and almost as graceful as a
+woman. Wavy light hair crowned a merry, boyish face which, with its
+remarkably blue eyes, was almost too good looking for a man, although
+saved from a hint of weakness by a firm, well-rounded chin.
+
+"Called at your office and learned that you were loafing on the job
+again, and that I might find you up here, visiting a baby--for a
+change," he ran on, as he entered after the manner of one who feels
+himself perfectly at home. Then he caught sight of Rose, blushed like a
+girl himself and stammered, "Oh, I beg pardon. I didn't know that I was
+..."
+
+"You're not," laughed Donald, seizing the newcomer's hand with a
+vicelike grasp. "Come in. I've told you about my little mountain rose,
+and now is your chance to meet her, for here she is. Smiles, this is my
+closest friend and associate, Dr. Philip Bentley--the man who steps into
+my shoes when I am summarily ordered to board the next train for the
+Cumberland Mountains, or elsewhere."
+
+"Who steps into his practice, perhaps, but not into his shoes, Miss
+Rose," added the other. "I could not fill _them_, figuratively or
+physically."
+
+"Go ahead, make all the fun of me that you like," answered Donald. "I'm
+not ashamed of having a broad understanding."
+
+"You would not think Dr. Donald's boots large if you could have seen my
+Granddaddy's," interposed Smiles, pretending to think that reflection
+was being cast upon her idol. "I could get _both_ my feet inside one of
+them--really I could."
+
+"I don't wonder," answered Philip with a return to seriousness. And the
+girl hastily tucked her diminutive shoes underneath her chair, as she
+saw the man's gaze fastened upon them.
+
+For nearly an hour she lived in unaccustomed delight, as she listened to
+the merry badinage of this group of educated city dwellers and, although
+it was something new to her, her quick mind soon realized that Philip
+was a most entertaining conversationalist, with a wit like a rapier
+which flashed and touched, but never hurt, and that Donald, in his
+slower way, possessed a dry humor which she had not suspected. At the
+end of that time a telephone call came for Donald which sent him forth,
+pretending to grumble over the lack of consideration of modern children,
+who insisted upon getting sick at the most inconvenient times, and of
+their parents, who permitted it.
+
+"Your loss, my gain," chuckled Philip. "I'll be only too pleased to take
+Miss Rose home."
+
+"Indeed, I'll not allow such a thing," promptly responded Ethel. "Rose
+stays here for dinner, and _you're_ not invited. This is to be strictly
+a family party."
+
+"'Family?' Is Don going to be a Mormon, then?" challenged Philip.
+
+It was Rose, who--blushing prettily--answered, "I hope not, for he is
+my brother, too, by blood adoption." And she told the story.
+
+"Then why can't _I_ be? I'm ready, nay, anxious, to shed quarts and
+quarts of blood to attain a like relationship," persisted Philip. And
+thus the conversation ran on through dinner, for Ethel relented and
+allowed Dr. Bentley to remain, and, as Donald was again summoned away,
+it was he who, after all, took Rose to the Merriman apartment.
+
+"Oh," she cried, in telling Gertrude all about it, "I think that it was
+the happiest evening I ever spent, or it _would_ have been if Big Jerry
+might only have been there, too."
+
+A slight suggestion of a smile passed over the face of the older woman
+as she pictured the mountaineer in a Beacon Street drawing room. Rose
+saw, and interpreted it.
+
+"Grandpap would not have been out of place there, or in a king's palace.
+He _was_ a king, Miss Merriman."
+
+"Yes, dear, he truly was," the other responded seriously.
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"Isn't Dr. Bentley nice," said Smiles, softly. "He must be splendid, for
+Dr. Donald likes him a lot."
+
+"He likes _you_ a lot, too! My, aren't we vain?" smiled Gertrude.
+
+"Oh, I didn't think how that was going to sound!"
+
+Rose's distress was real and the other hastened to say, "Yes, Dr.
+Bentley is splendid. We used to call them 'David and Jonathan,' for
+they were always together, and, before Dr. McDonald become engaged, we
+said that neither would ever marry, since they couldn't marry each
+other. Now I suppose that Dr. Bentley will be looking around for
+consolation. Perhaps...."
+
+"Don't be silly," laughed Smiles. But she became suddenly silent again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE FIRST MILESTONE
+
+
+Three months sped by and were gone like a dream.
+
+Day after day, until should come that longed-for, yet dreaded test, Rose
+studied with a diligence that delighted the private tutor whom Donald,
+through Miss Merriman, had secured for her--a young woman who found
+herself astonished by her pupil's avidity in seeking knowledge.
+
+The passing days were not, however, wholly dedicated to the books which
+held for Smiles the key to the citadel she sought to possess.
+
+Other doors and other hearts were open to her, and, because of her
+simple charm, Donald's family welcomed her as a visitor whose every
+advent in the city home seemed to bring a fresh breath from the hills
+and open spaces. Little Muriel, who had loved her unseen, worshipped her
+on sight, and Ethel, happy in Donald's betrothal to Marion Treville,
+would have been glad to have had her with them far more often than she
+would consent to come.
+
+Long walks she took, too, regardless of weather, swinging freely along
+on voyages of discovery; losing herself often in Boston's impossible
+streets, only to find her way back home with the instinct for direction
+of one bred amid forests, trackless, save for infrequent blind and
+tortuous paths. And soon the historic, homey city cast its strange spell
+over her heart, and claimed her for its own.
+
+Spring came at last, not the verdant, glorious, festal virgin of the
+Southland, but the hesitant, bashfully reserved maiden so typical of New
+England, and Miss Merriman finally reported to Donald that their joint
+protégé seemed to be fairly prepared for the test which she had come so
+far to take.
+
+There are no rules, born of reason, which cannot yield to reasonable
+exceptions, and, although the entrance requirements of the training
+school were as exacting as its course, and as strict as its standard, a
+standard which had long since made it the peer of any in all America,
+some of the purely technical ones were waived upon the request of the
+idolized chief junior surgeon on the staff, for Donald went personally
+to the Superintendent and explained the case to her, and she agreed to
+allow Rose to take a special examination; but she shook her head when he
+mentioned the girl's age.
+
+"Of course you know what the requirements are in that respect, doctor,"
+she said. "We make exceptions, yes; but, if she enters now, she will be
+by far the youngest girl in the school. I think that, before I give you
+my decision, I shall have to see and talk with her."
+
+Accordingly, that afternoon he took the rather frightened Smiles to the
+Superintendent of nurses, and left them closeted together.
+
+"Dr. MacDonald has told me about you, and your ambition, Miss Webb,"
+said the Superintendent kindly. "You have been very courageous; but you
+are very young, even younger than I thought. Now I want you to tell me
+frankly just what your life has been, so that I may judge as to your
+other qualifications, before deciding whether it is wise for you to take
+the examinations."
+
+Rose began hesitatingly; but, as the other drew her out with
+judicious questions, she told her story with simple directness, and,
+before long, the Superintendent had come to a realization that the
+little mountain girl--whose life had, for so long, been one of unusual
+responsibilities--had already acquired an uncommon maturity of
+judgment. Although she was still some eighteen months below the
+prescribed age for entering, she received the other's hesitating
+permission to make the essay.
+
+It would be difficult to decide who felt the greater nervousness during
+the period of Smiles' written examination, and the time which had to
+elapse before word came as to the result--Rose, Miss Merriman or Donald.
+It was the last who heard first. The Superintendent invited him into her
+office, as he was passing through the hospital corridor one day, and
+said, "I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that Miss Webb has
+passed her tests with flying colors, doctor."
+
+A warmth of pleasurable relief passed through Donald; but he managed to
+reply formally, "I _am_ pleased; but I hope that you didn't ease up any
+because of anything ... er ... on my account."
+
+"No, we didn't," was the response. "I'll admit that both your account of
+what Miss Webb had done, and the girl herself, appealed to me so that I
+was prepared to mark a bit leniently, if necessary; but it wasn't. I
+really don't see how she managed to garner so much education in so short
+a time."
+
+"'Where there's a will,'" quoted Donald, with inward satisfaction over
+the fact that his ward had fulfilled his prophecy, and he stole a few
+minutes out of the busy morning to motor to the Merrimans' apartment to
+bear the joy-bringing tidings personally to little Rose, whose eyes
+shone happily and whose lips smiled their thanks, but who--perversely,
+it seemed to him--gave Miss Merriman the reward which he felt should
+have been his.
+
+Dreams do come true sometimes, if they _are_ true, and so at last
+arrived a bright May morning when Smiles folded away her little play
+uniform forever, and--by right of conquest--donned the striped pink and
+white gingham dress and bibless apron of a probationer, within the doors
+of the newly built home of that old and worthy institution which had had
+its inception, more than sixty years before, in the loving heart of
+Nursing Sister Margaret.
+
+There Rose entered into a new life, as different from that of the old
+physical freedom of the hills, and personal freedom from restraint, as
+could well be imagined, for, as Donald had told her, she was now
+mustered, as an untrained recruit, into a great modern army; and
+discipline is the keynote in war, whether the battle be against evil
+nations or evil forces.
+
+From half after six in the morning until ten at night, when with
+military precision came "lights out," her life was drawn to pattern. It
+was not a hardship for her, as with some others, to arise at the early
+hour; and the brief prayer and singing of the morning hymn, in company
+with her fifty-odd sister-probationers and pupil nurses, impressed her
+strongly the first time in which she had part in it, and never failed to
+strengthen and uplift her for the day's toil. Times were to come
+aplenty, to be sure, when the old call of untrammelled freedom stirred
+her senses to mute rebellion; but, as often, her all-absorbed interest
+in the work silenced it speedily.
+
+Right at the outset Rose experienced the same shock which hundreds of
+other would-be nurses have had. She, mistress of a home for years, was
+obliged to learn to clean, to scrub, to make a bed! For two whole months
+of probationary training she had to labor at the bedside or in the
+classroom, doing the commonplace, practical tasks which, to many, seemed
+merely unnecessary drudgery; but, if she occasionally felt that Donald's
+prophecy was coming true with a vengeance, more often her level little
+head held a prescient understanding of how important this unlovely
+foundation was to the structure which should some day be built upon it.
+
+And, although the Superintendent said nothing to Smiles, she noted with
+secret appreciation that her new pupil possessed, in addition to her
+sustaining enthusiasm, a no less valuable thing--the innate ability to
+use her hands by instinct and without clumsy conscious effort. Had not
+this girl, who was scarcely more than a child in years, for a long time
+been both a homemaker and an ever-ready nurse to all those who became
+ill within the confines of the scattered mountain settlement?
+
+The second milestone was reached at last. Rose was one day summoned
+alone into the Superintendent's sanctum, and the door was closed to all
+others. A little later she came out with tears adding new lustre to her
+shining eyes, for the talk had been very earnest and heart-searching;
+but they were tears of happiness, for upon her gleaming curls now sat
+the square piqué cap which was the visible sign that she had safely
+traversed the first stretch of the long, hard road. To be sure, she knew
+well that even this, the so dearly desired cap and pale blue dress which
+went with it, did not make her fully a pupil nurse, yet that afternoon
+it seemed that life could never hold for her an honor more precious.
+
+The afternoon on which this momentous event occurred was one of liberty
+for Rose, and she hastened with the news to her dear Miss Merriman, the
+precious cap smuggled out under her coat; but, after they had rejoiced
+together, and she had admired its reflection in the glass, she suddenly
+became doleful, and wailed in mock despair, "Oh, doesn't it seem as
+though I'd never, _never_ be a real nurse. Why, now I've got to _leave
+the hospital_"--the tragedy in her tone almost caused her friend to
+break into laughter--"and study all sorts of awful Latin things. She
+opened a catalogue and read aloud, 'Physiology, bacteriology,
+chemistry, dietetics,' and goodness knows what else over at Simmons
+College, for _four whole months_. I shall simply die, I just know that I
+shall!"
+
+Miss Merriman gently explained the necessity for each of them; but
+wisely refrained from further frightening her by adding that a full
+year's course was to be crowded into those sixteen weeks.
+
+In due time these, too, were over, the awe-inspiring examination passed,
+and Smiles was accepted as worthy of a place among the pupil nurses.
+Like an athlete she had finished her preliminary training, and was ready
+for the long, gruelling race toward the goal, two and a half years
+distant.
+
+Hard work though it was, Rose found all her days sunny ones, and only
+one cloud partly obscured their brightness. Donald she saw on rare
+occasions only, as the demands upon his time doubled and redoubled, and
+of course their brief meetings at the hospital demanded strict formality
+of intercourse. Deeply as he felt for her, he was a physician first,
+last and all the time, and as uncompromising in his own ethics as he was
+in his requirements of the nurses.
+
+Yet, if she saw him seldom, there was another whom she saw increasingly
+often. Dr. Bentley's attitude towards Rose was also strictly
+professional; but he never failed to bow and speak pleasantly when he
+met her in the corridors or wards, and she instinctively felt that in
+him she had found another real friend.
+
+Rose was too much a child of nature to be given to thinking much about
+men; but there were minutes, just before sleep came at night, when her
+mind would visualize Donald's strong, kindly face, which seemed to look
+down at her with an expression almost fatherly, and she would whisper a
+little prayer that she might help him as she had resolved to, that night
+on the mountain top. And at such times another face, light, where his
+was dark, came, not to supplant, but to supplement it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE CALL OF THE RED CROSS
+
+
+Despite the enthralling interest of her new work and surroundings, it
+seemed to Rose, during the year after she gained entrance to the temple
+of her desire, that her life was standing still, while all things else
+were speeding by her at a breakneck pace.
+
+It had never been so before. Even in the isolation and simplicity of her
+former home she had felt that she was a part of it all. It had seemed to
+her, somehow, as though her existence had been patterned after her own
+turbulent mountain stream, which danced along through sunshine and
+shade, with here and there a ravine and cataract, here and there a rapid
+or impeding boulder in its course; but always moving, moving. Then,
+suddenly, it was as though that swift little river had fallen into a
+broad, quiet basin, walled in, where it moved forward almost
+imperceptibly. True, it was daily gaining greater depth and fulness as
+it gathered to itself the tributary waters of knowledge and experience,
+and Smiles was not insensible to this fact. But it was difficult to
+remember it always, for the outer world of events was moving forward so
+fast.
+
+The very day upon which her probationary period came to an end and, with
+a smile on her lips, a song in her heart, she placed the cherished cap
+upon her gold-brown curls, there came, from the heart of the swiftly
+piled up, lowering clouds, the blinding flash which shattered the peace
+of the world and started the overwhelming conflagration into the
+seething, bloody-tongued vortex into which nation after nation was
+sucked irresistibly. The world had become the plaything of the Gods of
+Wrath.
+
+Black days passed, shuddering things of horror to Rose, when she had
+time to allow her mind to dwell upon them, and her keen imagination to
+picture the atrocities which the fiend was committing upon the helpless
+babies of Belgium and France.
+
+Then, in answer to the cries and lamentations from overseas, the banner
+of the Red Cross was shaken forth anew, like a holy standard, and, like
+crusaders of old, doctors and nurses flocked beneath it for the battle.
+From her own hospital home went physicians and graduate nurses to
+dedicate themselves afresh to service. The call reached and wrung the
+heart of Rose. She could not go as a nurse, she knew; yet the need was
+so great that it seemed to her that somehow she must answer; but she
+resolutely closed her ears to it and fixed her eyes the more steadfastly
+upon the rocky, shut-in path which she had set forth to climb.
+
+It was a raw, bleak evening in late November when she made her final
+resolve. At noon Donald had met her in one of the corridors and stopped
+to speak with her. His face, she thought afterwards, had appeared
+unusually serious and determined, even for him, as he said, "This is
+your afternoon and evening off duty, isn't it, Rose? I want to talk with
+you, if you haven't made any other plans."
+
+As it chanced, she had been eagerly anticipating a visit to the theatre
+with Miss Merriman, who was home for a few days between cases; but
+something about his manner caused her to tell a white lie without
+hesitation.
+
+"Good," he said. "I'll call for you in my car and take you to Ethel's
+for dinner. Be ready at six o'clock."
+
+All the rest of the day Donald's presence had been strangely close to
+her, and she found herself wondering what it portended; but not until
+the pleasant family meal was over, and he was taking her home, did she
+learn.
+
+When they came out of the house they found a baby blizzard sending the
+first snow of the season, as light and dry as tiny particles of down,
+whirling and eddying through the broad street. As Rose stood in surprise
+at the top of the brownstone steps, a dry vagrant, left from one of the
+trees which was tossing its gaunt arms protestingly, came tumbling down
+to become stem-entangled in her hair. With a laugh, she dashed for the
+motor car and, when she had sprung inside it, she was panting a little,
+for the thieving wind had taken advantage of her lips being open in
+laughter to steal away her breath, so that Donald was sensible of her
+quickened heart beats as she leaned against him while his big but deft
+fingers removed the leaf almost tenderly from its imprisoning mesh.
+
+"Doctor Bentley would make a pretty speech about getting caught in my
+hair," challenged Rose with a teasing pout.
+
+The next instant she drew quickly back, for Donald's arms were almost
+about her. He as quickly recovered himself, with the words, "But you
+can't expect pretty speeches from a brother."
+
+"You have been a dear big brother; I don't know why you have been so
+good to me, Donald. Do you know what this snow reminds me of? That awful
+night on the mountain when I went down to Fayville to telegraph for
+you--and you came." For a moment they both sat in silent memories, then
+Rose added, "Dear little Lou, I wonder how she is getting along now ...
+and Juddy, too. Isn't it a strange thing, Donald, that one can forget
+the old things so quickly--no, not forget, either; but have them forced
+into the background of the mind by new surroundings and new friends.
+Sometimes, all those years on the mountain seem to me like a dream. I
+used to see the people there, Grandpap, Mr. Talmadge, Judd and all the
+rest, every day, they were a part of my life, and now they have been
+completely withdrawn and who knows if I shall ever see any of them
+again? They hardly seem real to me."
+
+"Yes, strange, perhaps, but it happens many times in the course of a
+life." He paused, then added hurriedly, "I suppose that in a few months
+you will be saying the same thing about me--'I used to see him every
+day, he was a part of my life, but now he is only in the background of
+my memory, and doesn't seem real.'"
+
+There was a note almost of bitterness in Donald's voice; but Rose was
+too stunned by his words to notice or attempt to analyze the manner of
+their utterance.
+
+"Donald, what ... what do you mean? You're not ..." She gasped, and laid
+her hand with an impulsive clutch on his arm.
+
+"Look out! Don't interfere with the motorman," he laughed more
+naturally, as the car swerved almost into the curbing. "Yes, I am. I'm
+going away ... almost immediately."
+
+"Away? Where?"
+
+"To France."
+
+"Oh, Don, you mustn't; you can't. You're needed here so much."
+
+"They need me over there more, little Smiles. I've realized it, and felt
+the pull, for days; but it didn't become insistent until yesterday, when
+I received a letter from a chap whom I have known for years. He's always
+had a good deal more money than was good for him, and been a sort of
+social butterfly. I liked him, although I didn't believe that he had a
+serious thought in his head, didn't think that he was capable of one,
+but ... here, read what he has written me," he concluded abruptly, as a
+temporary block forced their car to a stop beneath an electric light on
+Massachusetts Avenue. "The first page doesn't matter; it merely contains
+a description of how he happened to be caught in Paris by the outbreak
+of the war, and got mixed up in volunteer rescue work through a spirit
+of adventure."
+
+Rose turned to the second sheet and, holding the pages close to the
+glass in the door, through which came enough snow-filtered light to
+illumine them, read.
+
+     "I am beginning to understand, now, something of what you meant
+     when you used to talk so enthusiastically about your confining,
+     and, as it seemed to me, often thankless work. I never knew what
+     real satisfaction was until I began to get mixed up with this
+     volunteer Red Cross work. Coming from the source that it does, you
+     will probably be surprised and amused at the statement that, when I
+     look back on the old, superficial, utterly useless life that I
+     formerly led, I actually thank God for the foolish whim that
+     brought me to Paris in the fall, and the equally whimsical decision
+     that led me to volunteer my services as an auto driver. The work
+     has stirred something inside of me that I didn't know existed, and,
+     if I come through this scrape (we're working in villages pretty
+     close to the front a good deal of the time), I'll come home
+     'poorer, but wiser.' Yes, they've touched my pocketbook as well as
+     my heart.
+
+     I suppose the papers give you some idea of conditions here; but no
+     verbal description can begin to do it justice; the need is simply
+     overwhelming and hourly growing greater. Think of it, old man,
+     there are thousands upon thousands of babies and little kiddies of
+     Belgium and northern France homeless, many of them orphaned, most
+     of them sick and all helpless and with their lives--which have
+     every right to be carefree and happy--filled with sorrow and
+     suffering.
+
+     France has been glorious in the way she has met the staggering,
+     almost insuperable difficulties which everywhere confront her, but
+     how could she be expected to meet this incidental problem when she
+     was so overburdened with the crushing pressure of the battle for
+     her very existence. It has been a mighty lucky thing for her that
+     the Red Cross was ready to take it off her shoulders, and she has
+     turned to _us_ (How does that sound? Can you imagine me doing
+     anything useful?) with tears of appeal and gratitude. That isn't a
+     figure of speech. I have actually seen the Prefect of this
+     Province, who would rank with the governor of one of our states,
+     and who is a brave, capable man, cry like a woman over the seeming
+     hopelessness of the ghastly problem. I have heard him say that
+     he--that France--was helpless, and beg us in the name of common
+     humanity to do what we could.
+
+     Believe me, we're doing it, and I'm proud of my countrymen and
+     women who have gone into this thing with the typical Yankee pep;
+     proud of the American Red Cross and just a bit proud of myself. You
+     used to make fun of my vaunted ability to stay up half the night,
+     and be fresh as a daisy the next morning. It's serving me in good
+     stead now. I can't begin to tell you about the work we have done
+     already and are doing; it is a task to overwhelm the courage, but
+     we are 'carrying on,' as the Tommies say.
+
+     New children, by the scores and hundreds, are brought into the
+     hospital bases daily, and many of them have been living for weeks,
+     and even months, filthy in cellars of Hun-shattered villages which
+     are almost continually under fire. They are generally sick,
+     naturally, indescribably dirty and, in fact, mere wraiths of
+     childhood. God, Don, it gets me when I imagine my own nephews and
+     nieces in their places!
+
+     We clean 'em up, give them help and something to live for. We have
+     already established hospitals, schools and nurseries in ---- and ----
+     and our ambulances and 'traveling baths' go out daily to give aid
+     to the less needy in the neighborhood. Can you picture _me_ acting
+     as chauffeur for a magnified bath tub for Belgian babies? That's
+     what I'm doing, now!
+
+     Get into the game, old man. We need you over here, and the kids of
+     the disgustingly rich at home will be the better for not having a
+     doctor to give them a pill every time their little noses run a bit.
+     Pack up your saws, axes and other trouble-makers in your old kit
+     bag and climb aboard a ship bound for France."
+
+Donald saw that there were tears in Smiles' deep eyes as she silently
+folded the pages, and replaced them in their envelope.
+
+"Of course you ought to go," she said simply. "I spoke selfishly. But
+oh, Don, I don't know what I shall do without you; you're the only
+'family' I've got. I don't see you very often; but I know that you are
+here in Boston, and I guess that I have got the habit of leaning on you
+in my thoughts. You know I called you a tree, years and years ago."
+
+"Yes, I remember, an 'oak,' wasn't it? I thought that you meant that I
+was tough," he laughed. "The idea of _you_ leaning on any one is funny,
+Rose." Then he added, with some hesitancy, "I've been thinking ...
+Would you like to go over there, too, Rose? I could take you ... that
+is, I am quite sure that I could arrange for you to do so, not as a Red
+Cross nurse, of course, for they have to be graduates; but as a
+volunteer helper in one of those base hospitals. It would be a wonderful
+experience, and you would be performing the kind of service that you
+like best. It would not be time wasted, by any means."
+
+She started, and her lips parted eagerly; then the light slowly faded
+from her eyes and she shook her head slowly.
+
+"I would love it. It would be glorious, Don, and I should be working
+with you, perhaps, but ... No, I must keep on doing as I have planned. I
+can't falter or fail now, Don. There is going to be greater need every
+day, not for helpers, but for trained workers. When this awful war is
+ended and the weary, weary world turns back to peaceful pursuits, its
+hope and salvation will lie in its babies. Won't it, Don? I would like
+to help those babies over in France; sometimes I dream of being a Red
+Cross nurse and helping the poor, wounded soldiers; but I am sure that
+it is better for me to keep on making myself ready to serve the coming
+generations to the best of my fully trained ability. Don't you think so,
+too, Don?"
+
+Her words had rung firm and true until the last question, when there
+crept in a note which seemed to his ears to carry an appeal for him to
+disagree, and argue with her; but the man answered, "Yes, dear. You are
+dead right, and I felt certain that you would say what you have said.
+You have got to stay until you are trained; I have got to go, because I
+am. You see that, don't you?"
+
+"Yes. Oh, I shall miss you awfully, Don; I can't tell you how much. But
+I want you to go. And I mean to pray for you, and the poor little babies
+over there, too. I'll write you as often as I can; as often as you want
+me to."
+
+"That's fine," he answered heartily. "But, as I told you once before,
+don't feel hurt if I answer only occasionally. I have a suspicion that
+there will be plenty of work for me to do over there."
+
+"Yes, I'll understand. Besides, you will have to write to ... to Miss
+Treville more than to me. Are you ... are you going to get married
+before you go?"
+
+"Married? Good Lord, no ... that is, I hadn't even thought of it," he
+said with a forced laugh. "Why, I haven't even told her yet that I am
+going."
+
+"You haven't? You told me, first?"
+
+"Well ... er ... you see I had to tell you, because ... because I ... I
+hold a position of trust in respect to you, and have got to make
+arrangements for your future. Big Jerry told me to use my own judgment
+about your money, and I believe that you are fully competent to take
+care both of yourself and of it.
+
+"Here," he drew a small package from his side pocket, "is a bank
+deposit and check book, for I have already had the account transferred
+from my name, as trustee, to you individually. Now it is up to you to
+prove that you are a careful little business woman. With more than a
+thousand dollars in the bank you may feel quite like an heiress, but I
+warn you that a big city is a glutton and its avaricious maw is always
+open for money. Be warned by one who knows. If you need any advice of
+any nature that a man can give better than Miss Merriman, I want you to
+promise to call on Phil ... Dr. Bentley, that is, for I mean to put you
+in his charge. You can trust him just as you do me."
+
+"I know that," answered Rose frankly.
+
+"Well, here we are, little sister. Don't tell any one what I have just
+told you, for I want to make all my preliminary arrangements before I
+astound the world with the announcement of what I am going to do."
+
+"You needn't laugh," answered Rose. "I guess that it will dismay plenty
+of Back Bay families who have babies."
+
+There was a catch in her voice as she bade him good-night, and she was
+not sorry for an excuse for running into the hospital, offered by the
+mellow notes of a distant church clock tolling the hour of ten. It was
+the signal for "lights out" in the bedrooms, and this was appreciated,
+too, for it made it possible for her to undress in the dark, and the
+pale moonlight which came in through the window, as the moon played
+hide and seek behind the broken masses of storm clouds--for the blizzard
+had ended as quickly as it had come on--was reflected on two glistening
+tear drops on her flushed cheeks. In the darkness her roommate could not
+see them and be led to ask questions.
+
+The two girls, one the self-educated, unknown child of the southern
+mountain side, the other the college-bred daughter of one of New
+England's oldest families, had become fast friends and generally
+exchanged whispered confidences until the sleep which comes of physical
+exhaustion speedily claimed them; but to-night Rose was in no mood for
+conversation.
+
+The last thread which bound the old life to the new was soon to be
+broken, and she felt lonelier, more nearly homesick, than she had since
+leaving Webb's Gap.
+
+"Perhaps I shall never see him again," she half whispered. "But I shall
+never, _never_ forget him, he has been so good and meant so much to me.
+And I shall always love him." She saw that her roommate was asleep,
+softly raised the window-shade to let in the moonlight that she loved,
+and, clad in her simple nightdress, short sleeved and cut low at the
+neck, seated herself before the mirror to brush her wavy mass of hair,
+and, as she leaned forward, and it fell about her face, tear bedewed and
+made almost childlike again by its frame of tumbling curls, she smiled
+faintly in recollection. "I look the way I used to in my homemade,
+one-piece dresses," she breathed. "Just as I did that afternoon when he
+first saw me. 'Yo' looked so funny a-fallin' over thet thar dawg, an'
+a-rollin' on the floor.' What a way to greet a famous physician--only I
+didn't know it then."
+
+For a moment she sat like this, her thoughts far away from the northern
+city; then a faint blush mantled her face, and she hastily jumped up and
+shut out the soft light by pulling down the shade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE GOAL
+
+
+    You cannot, by a bridge of sighs, attain the future's golden years,
+    But try a bridge of rainbow hopes erected on substantial piers
+    Of honest work, and you will find it leads you surely to the goal.
+    'Tis God that gives the dreamer's dreams, as radiant as the morning,
+    But, if the will to work is weak, they often die a-borning.
+
+If this were a romance, instead of the simple account of the pilgrimage
+and development of a girl from childhood to womanhood, it would be
+permissible to say, "three years pass by in swift flight," or "drag by
+on weary feet," as the case may have been, and then resume the action.
+
+But in everyday life, character is built out of everyday incidents, big
+and little, all of which have place in the moulding of it, and, since
+the years of Smiles' training within the Children's Hospital were vital
+ones for her, it is essential to touch briefly upon some of the
+occurrences which filled them.
+
+On the other hand, it is by no means necessary to describe that period
+at length. It is doubtful if, in later life, she will herself look back
+upon the many days so filled to repletion with exacting, though
+interesting, tasks, as other than a dead level, for constant repetition
+of a thing, no matter how gripping it may be, produces a monotony. But
+there were special incidents--sometimes trivial in comparison with the
+importance of her sustained labor--which formed the high lights in the
+picture, and the memory of which will endure through all the after
+years. By recounting a few of these, and letting our imaginations fill
+in the interims, we can accompany Rose on her journey to the goal of her
+desires.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The day after Donald had taken her into his confidence regarding his
+plans, Rose made up her mind to keep a diary.
+
+"Even though he may be thousands of miles away, I mean to keep myself as
+close to him as possible by writing him as I would talk to him, about
+_all_ the things which happen in my life, and, unless I set them down as
+they happen, I shall forget," she told Miss Merriman, after the seal of
+secrecy had been removed from her lips.
+
+"Perhaps _you_ can succeed in keeping one. _I_ never could," laughed her
+friend. "Each January First I start a new one, and register a solemn vow
+to keep it up longer, at least, than I did the one the previous year. If
+I follow that system until I am three hundred and fifty years old, I
+will complete just one before I die."
+
+Smiles accepted the implied challenge, and, day by day, with few
+omissions, the dated pages bore new testimony to her application in
+performing a self-appointed task. The plan bore fruit, too, for Donald,
+in his rare replies to her confidential letters, which went to him each
+fortnight, was able to praise her as the best of correspondents, writing
+once, "You have an exceptional gift for making incidents seem real and
+people alive, in your letters, and of realizing that, with us who are so
+far away from home, it _is_ the little things which count. Ethel, alas,
+is hopeless in this respect. She writes me faithfully; but invariably
+says that nothing has happened except the usual occurrences of everyday
+life, and thereby utterly misses the great fact that it is just those
+very things that the lonely exile most longs to hear about. I would
+actually rather have her write that they had baked beans on Saturday
+night than that so-and-so had given a charity whist at the Vendome."
+
+Yet many a sentence went into the diary that was never copied or
+embellished for Donald's eyes. Some of them had to do with him, or her
+thoughts of him; some were too intimate for another to see.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                    December 6th, 1915.
+
+"My dear Donald has gone. I think that I have not felt so utterly
+lonesome since granddaddy died. And I could not get away to say
+good-by to him--I could have cried, only I didn't have time even to
+do _that_. It doesn't seem right, when he has been so dear to me,
+that I should have had to part from him in the hospital corridor
+with others around, so that all I could do was press his hand an
+instant and wish him a commonplace, 'Good luck and God-speed.'
+Still, it probably wouldn't have been any different if we had been
+alone. I couldn't have done what my heart was longing to do,
+everything is different now. I don't believe that I enjoy being
+'grown-up.' What an unpleasant thing 'convention' is. Why, I
+wonder, must we always hide our true feelings under a mask? I
+suppose it is lest the world give a wrong meaning to them; but if I
+_had_ kissed him, the way I used to, I'm sure that Donald would
+have understood. He knows that I love him as dearly as though I
+were truly his sister, instead of a make-believe one."
+
+Here the page bears a number of meaningless hieroglyphics, and then the
+words, stricken out, "I wonder."
+
+"He looked so manly in his uniform, and so distinguished, although
+I suppose that he isn't really _handsome_--at least, not like Dr.
+Bentley. _He_ isn't so wonderful as Don; but I think that he is
+more understanding. He seemed to realize just how I felt this
+morning, and he was as sweet and considerate as a woman when I
+bungled things awfully in the operating room. The head nurse gave
+me a deserved call down, however, and it was perhaps just as well
+that she did, for my mind needed to be 'brought back.' Only my body
+was in the hospital, and the _real me_, as Mr. Talmadge said, was
+back in the cabin, helping Donald operate on Lou, all over again. I
+cried like a little fool--the first time I have done it here--but
+my tears weren't for the poor baby on the operating table. They
+were memory tears....
+
+"Poor little thing, he had to die, and he was the first one whom I
+have seen pass on to the eternal garden of God's flowers since I
+have been in the hospital. Oh, it hasn't been a happy day at
+all....
+
+"I wonder if Donald could have saved him? My brain answers, 'No.'
+Dr. Bentley did all that lies within the power of science, I am
+sure. But somehow ..."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       Christmas night.
+
+"If Donald might only have been here in person to-day, it would have been
+perfect. I think that he must have been, in spirit, for I 'felt' his
+presence quite near me several times; I confided as much to Dr. Bentley
+and he made an atrocious pun on the word 'presents.' I wish he wouldn't;
+it is the only thing about him that I don't like, but he will make them.
+Wasn't Donald thoughtful and dear to have bought a Christmas gift for me
+during those overcrowded days before he went away?--a whole set of
+books, beautifully bound, but better still, beautiful within. Books are
+the same as people, I think. We like to see both attractively clothed,
+but in each it is the soul that counts....
+
+"What a lot of presents I received--from Miss Merriman and her mother,
+Mrs. Thayer and little Muriel, and, oh, so many of the girls here. I
+don't know why they are all so good to me--because I am looked upon as a
+lonely little savage, I suppose. And then there was that one from Dr.
+Bentley. The idea of a simple mountain girl from Webb's Gap having five
+whole pounds of candy at once!
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+"The funniest thing happened to-day, and I must not forget to write
+Donald all about it. He is sure to remember little red-headed Jimmy, who
+has to spend so much of his time in the hospital. Has he imagination
+enough, I wonder, to picture him sitting up in bed in the snow-white
+ward, with his flaming auburn hair and bright red jacket calling names
+at each other? I love the old custom to which the hospital still clings
+of putting all the little patients into those red flannel jackets on
+cold days, for it makes the wards look so cheerful--like Christmas
+fields dotted with bright berries. Jimmy is a dear, and so imaginative
+that I believe he _lives_ every story that I tell him of the
+Cumberlands--certainly he likes them better than fairy stories. This
+afternoon, I had finished telling him about how grandpappy shot the
+turkey for Dr. MacDonald, and I found him looking up at me with his big
+blue eyes, which can be as serious as a saint's or as mischievous as an
+imp's. 'Your face is most always laughing, Miss Webb,' said he. 'I think
+I shall have to call you Nurse Smiles.' My roommate, Miss Roberts,
+happened to be in the room and heard him, and now it's all over the
+hospital. Everybody is calling me it, unless the superintendent or some
+of the older doctors are around. How odd it is that he should have
+struck on it, and given me my old nickname again....
+
+"Dr. Bentley called me Smiles when he left after his evening visit."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       May 17th, 1916.
+
+"This has been a day of days for me. First I received a long and
+wonderful letter from Donald. It seemed like old times, for it was as
+kindly and simple, too, as those which he used to write to me at Webb's
+Gap. I wonder if he regards me as still a child? I suppose that I really
+am one, but somehow I feel very grown up, and much older than many of
+the girls who are years older than I. They constantly surprise me by
+acting so young when they are off duty ... but I love it in them.
+
+"To-day I entered into the second year of my training. I wish that I had
+the power to set down on paper my feelings when I received that first
+narrow black band for my cap. I suppose that I had some of the same
+'prideful' sensations that dear granddaddy did when he was very young,
+and cut the first notch in the stock of his rifle-gun. But how much
+better _my_ notch is! It means that I am fast getting able to save
+lives, not to take them. I must always remember that--it will give a
+deeper meaning to the symbol. And now my room is going to be moved down
+a story--I'm so glad that Dorothy Roberts is to be with me still--and I
+can move in one table nearer the front wall in the dining room. That
+wall sometimes seems to me like a goal that I have got to reach before I
+will be safe, just as in a children's game of tag, and, when I get tired
+and discouraged--for I do, at times, little diary--it seems as though
+there were many, many things stretching out invisible hands to catch me
+before I get to it. Donald was right about the path being no road of
+roses.... Come, this will never do; I'm supposed to be happy to-night,
+and besides, now I've got to live up to my nickname again.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+I wonder how much I really have changed in the year? a good deal, I'm
+sure. I remember that at first I used to laugh to myself over the 'class
+distinctions,' such as I have just been writing about; that was when I
+was fresh from the mountain, where every one called every one else by
+his or her first name--and also when I was in the lowest class myself.
+Once I was even bold enough to tell Dr. Bentley that I thought they were
+foolish, but he reminded me--as Donald had--that we are an army here,
+and that in an army a private can't eat and sleep with a captain, or a
+captain with a general. Now I don't mind the rules and regulations at
+all, for I have learned the lesson of discipline, and I know that, even
+if we do have to be strict in our conduct toward the older nurses and
+the doctors, we are all--from the senior surgeon down to the lowliest
+probationer--really one in a great spiritual fellowship, as the
+prayerbook says, and all working together in the same great cause."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       August 19th, 1916.
+
+"Little diary, I have been neglecting you lately, but now you and I must
+collect our thoughts, for we have got to write a long, long letter to
+Donald and tell him all about the vacation--the first that I ever had.
+
+It was the first time that I was ever really at the seashore, too,
+except that one afternoon in June when Dr. Bentley took me down to
+Nahant in his car. Weren't the Thayers dear to have me as their guest at
+beautiful Manchester-by-the-Sea? Ethel (I wonder if Donald will be
+pleased to know that his _real_ sister has asked me to call her by her
+first name?) insisted that they did it for my own sake, but I know that
+it was really on his account. They were two weeks of wonder for me; but
+I wish that he might have been there. How they all miss him--even Dr.
+Bentley. I think that there is nothing finer than such a friendship
+between two men. Why, he even calls on Donald's family still. He came to
+Manchester twice in the fortnight that I was there. Dr. Bentley wants me
+to call him 'Philip,' when we are not in the hospital, and I do ...
+sometimes. It seems perfectly natural, even though he is much older than
+I--he is over thirty; but I suppose that is because at home we called
+almost every one by his first name. (We are rambling, little diary. I
+don't believe that Donald would be particularly interested in the fact
+that I call Dr. Bentley, 'Philip.')
+
+He _will_ be interested to know how the sea impressed me, though, and
+again I find myself wholly at a loss for words to express my feelings.
+It was so overwhelming in its grandeur and far-stretching expanse; so
+beautiful in its never-ending procession of colors; so terrible in its
+might, when aroused. I have seen it asleep as peacefully as one of my
+babies (all the hospital babies are children of my heart), and I have
+seen it in anger, like a brutal giant. I wish that I had not seen its
+latter mood, for, when it caught up the little boat that had been torn
+from the moorings, and hurled her again and again against the rocks
+until there was not a plank of her left unbroken--while the wind
+shrieked its horrid glee--my growing love for it was turned to fear. No,
+I can never care for the ocean as I do for my mountains. I cannot forget
+that it was the waters which stole my dearest treasures from me.
+
+Still, the memory of that storm is nearly lost in the abounding
+happiness of those two weeks, and the third one which I spent with my
+Gertrude Merriman, who stole it from her many cases to be with me. When
+I set down each little incident of them in black and white, as I mean to
+in my letter to Don, they will appear commonplace enough, I'm afraid;
+but I shall tell him that their story is written on my heart in letters
+of gold and many colors.
+
+He pretends to be interested in every foolish little thing that I have
+done, but I don't suppose that he would care to read about all the new
+dresses I have bought. I never realized before that a girl could get so
+much pleasure out of buying pretty things, and I am afraid that he would
+scold me if he knew how many leaves I have used out of my checkbook. Not
+that they have been all for clothes, little diary. I did not realize how
+much I had given to war charities, and I was a little frightened this
+morning when I made up my balance.
+
+But I cannot help giving for the poor French and Belgian babies. It
+somehow seems as though I were giving the money to Don to spend for me."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+There follow many entries, in the course of which the name of Donald
+appears, and many more in which that of Philip, from which one might
+reasonably draw the conclusion that the latter was conscientiously
+performing his part as _ad interim_ guardian for Rose. There are also
+several mentions of impish, lovable Jimmy--he of the red hair,
+presumably--and of visits, on her afternoons off, to the cheap and
+somewhat squalid apartment where he lived with his thin, tired, but
+pitifully optimistic mother, and a stout, florid-faced father, who wore
+shabby, but very loud-checked, suits and was apparently a highly
+successful business man of big affairs, but frequently "temporarily out
+of funds." Indeed, it would seem as though there were times when the
+family--which included six other children from one to ten years
+old--would actually not have had enough to eat if Rose had not "loaned"
+the wherewithal to purchase it to the father of the household.
+
+Under date of May 15th, 1916, appears the following.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+"_Two_ black bands on the little white cap! One round table nearer the
+wall! Materia medica, orthopedia, medical analysis, general surgery,
+bacteriology, therapeutics and anæsthesia no longer mere words, whose
+very sound made me weak with dismay; but terms descriptive of new ways
+in which I can help weak and suffering babyhood. It has been hard, but
+soul-satisfying, work. I love it all, and have never regretted the
+decision made, centuries ago it seems, on the mountain. I have just been
+re-reading Donald's first letter to me--the one in which he frankly
+warned me of the hardships which would be mine to face, if I should
+attempt to carry out my plan. It was, I think, the only time that he was
+ever wrong ... no, I had forgotten that afternoon at Judd's still. Work
+may be hard, and yet entail no hardship, especially when it brings the
+satisfaction of winning against odds. I know that he did not really mean
+what he said in that letter. It was written merely as a test of my
+resolve; to deter me, if it wasn't strong enough to carry me through.
+There have been times when I have myself wondered if it would, but,
+thanks to dear old Mr. Talmadge, and his 'sermon on the mount' I have
+always been able to find the help that he told us about. I wonder if
+Donald has, too? Surely he must have, he has been doing such wonderful
+work 'over there.' It is like him to say so little about it in his
+letters, but Dr. Roland gave us a talk about what they have been doing
+in Toul and Leslie, when he returned from France, and he sang Donald's
+praises _fortissimo_. I was so happy, and so proud.
+
+"They all tell me that the coming year is the hardest of all with its
+practical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in the
+Manhattan Maternity in New York. I have a feeling that I am not going to
+enjoy the former. Nursing 'grown-ups' does not appeal to me as the
+caring for the little flowers does. But I shall love the other.
+Motherhood is sacred and beautiful....
+
+"I shall have to be very economical this year, little diary, and
+especially careful when I get to New York. When I paid the final
+installment on my tuition fee, I was frightened to find how little
+remained of what granddaddy left me, and what I had saved, myself.
+Nearly thirteen hundred dollars looked like a huge fortune to me in
+those days, but it is nothing at all in a city, where there is so much
+poverty, and there are so many appeals to one's heart. I know that
+Donald--or Philip--would lend me a little money until the time when I
+get to earning it for myself, if I should ask them. But of course I
+cannot do that. Perhaps I can earn a little during my afternoons and
+evenings off duty. The girls say that I can shampoo and manicure as well
+as a professional. Yes, I will try to do that this year."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       January 15th, 1917.
+
+"Thank goodness my worries about finances are almost over!
+
+"The last few months have been simply terrible, and the hardest part of
+all, I think, has been my not being able to give anything to the number
+of splendid causes which so touch the sympathies these dark days.
+Perhaps I gave too much before; but I am not a bit sorry, especially now
+that some of the seed which I cast upon the waters is soon to bear
+golden fruit for me. I never believe the pessimistic people who say that
+those who receive charity are never really grateful, and now I _know_
+that they are wrong. Jimmy's father has been so appreciative of my
+pitifully small presents to them, that sometimes he has cried over them,
+and I knew that he was in earnest when he promised to repay me as soon
+as he possibly could. Now the chance has come. I was there yesterday and
+he said that he had been thinking about me just before I appeared.
+
+"It seems that he sells stock, and has just obtained a wonderful
+position as agent, or whatever they call it, for a new copper mine which
+he says is better than the 'Calumet and Hecla.'
+
+"He explained to me all about that one and showed me in the paper how
+high it was selling now--for $550 a share. He is the sole representative
+for all of New England, and he says that the company is at present
+selling its stock only to special friends in order to 'let them in on
+the ground floor.' The shares are only ten dollars apiece and are sure
+to be worth a hundred, or more, very soon, because of the war. It seems
+almost impossible! I told him that I had only about a hundred dollars in
+the world, but that, if he really felt that he wanted to do me a favor,
+I _might_ 'invest' it (that word sounds quite impressive, doesn't it?)
+but that I should have to think it over, first. I remembered what Donald
+had told me about asking a man's advice--especially Philip's--in money
+matters. Perhaps it would have been wiser if I had done so before.
+
+"I asked him this afternoon if he knew anything about the King Kopper
+Kompany, and he said that it was a 'get rich proposition' and that he
+had sunk a good deal of his own money into some just like it. I wanted
+to ask him more, but we were interrupted. However, I know that he is
+very well-to-do, so he must have made money in them and certainly I need
+to get rich quick. I'm going to make the investment to-morrow."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       March 11th.
+
+"Stung! I hate slang, but sometimes nothing else is quite so expressive.
+I thought that I was getting to be very wise, but, oh, what a little
+ignoramus I have been. And to think that I thought I was following
+Philip's advice, and did not realize what he really meant until I read
+a story about a man who was called 'Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford.' Now I'd
+rather die than tell him that I have lost practically all of my worldly
+goods!"
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+Finally, late in May, is an entry, longer than any of its predecessors,
+and the last for many a day. Rose made it seated in the soft moonlight
+which came through the window of her hospital room, after her roommate
+had fallen asleep.
+
+"I am in a strange mood to-night, little diary, and not quite sure
+whether I want to laugh or cry--indeed, I think that my heart has
+done both to-day. I don't feel like going to sleep, but perhaps I
+will be able to if I get the many thoughts out of my mind and down
+on paper--now they are like so many little imps beating against my
+brain with hammers.
+
+"Surely I _should_ be happy at the thought that to-morrow is to
+carry me to my goal at the top of the mountain path which Donald
+described. In twelve hours I shall (D. V.) be a graduate nurse;
+but, now that the journey is almost an accomplished fact, I
+positively shiver when I think of the nerve of that child who was I
+five years ago and who, blessed with ignorance, made up her mind to
+become one, or 'bust'--that is the way I put it, then. Friends have
+sometimes told me that they didn't see how I had the courage to
+attempt it; but I tell them, truthfully, that it isn't courage when
+one tackles a thing which she--or he--doesn't know is difficult to
+do, and that few things are insurmountably difficult which she
+tackles with confidence (which is as often the result of ignorance
+as of faith in one's own power). So how can I take any credit for
+succeeding?
+
+"It _has_ been hard work, of course, and I know that I must have
+failed if every one had not been so good to me, and, above all, if
+God had not meant me to succeed. I have never forgotten that night
+when the 'reverend' opened my eyes to the knowledge that I am His
+partner in working out my life. Dear Mr. Talmadge! I am ashamed
+that I stopped writing to him, so long ago, yet I know that he is
+still my friend, although we do not see each other. That is the
+beauty of true friendship--it is a calm and constant star, always
+in its place against the time when we want to lift our eyes to seek
+its light. I know that it is the same with Donald.
+
+"When I think of him to-night, and realize that he cannot
+be near me in my little hour of triumph to-morrow, it is hard for me
+to keep back the tears. Dear God, bless him and bring him
+happiness--with Miss Treville.
+
+"I cannot help feeling worried about Donald, for, although his
+letter makes light of his illness, I have a troublesome
+presentiment that he is worse than he will acknowledge. He is the
+kind to spend every ounce of his wonderful vitality without thought
+of self, and the two and a half years during which he has been
+laboring so hard, and so effectively, must have drained even his
+great strength. Slight, wiry people are like the willows that bend
+easily, but return to normal quickly, after the stress of storm has
+ended; but, when big ones--like Donald--break, it is like the fall
+of a mighty oak.
+
+"Still, this cloud, like all clouds, has its bright lining. _He is
+coming home_, just as soon as he is able to make the trip, so,
+although I shall miss him dreadfully to-morrow, it will not be many
+weeks before I shall see him again.
+
+"But this is not all that is troubling me, diary, and if I were not
+quite sure that no one but I would ever look inside your covers, I
+would not confide it even to you.
+
+"I have a present, a wonderful present,--and I do not think that I
+ought to keep it. Help me make up my mind. When P. gave it to me
+this afternoon, he said that it was just a little remembrance for
+my graduation and that he hoped I would accept it as the gift of a
+semiofficial guardian, just as I would if Donald himself were
+giving it to me. I did take it in that spirit; but, when I found a
+moment to steal away and open the wrapper, and beheld a beautiful
+morocco case containing a _gold watch_ with my initials engraved on
+the case, my heart almost stopped beating. This was his 'little
+remembrance.' Of course it is something that I shall need in my
+work, for it has a second hand, but he must have guessed that I
+would be troubled by such an expensive gift, for he tried to make
+light of it by enclosing a foolish little rhyme, which I must copy
+so that I shall not forget it.
+
+    'When it is _time_ to take _hour_ pulse
+    You'll find a use for what is in it,[A]
+    (On _second_ thoughts, I'd like to add
+    I wish you'd take mine every _minute_.)'
+
+"Conventions are _so_ puzzling, little diary, that I don't know
+what I ought to do. Somehow, I feel quite sure that the
+Superintendent wouldn't approve, for a doctor should not be making
+presents to a pupil nurse; yet P. has been so kind that I hate to
+think of hurting his feelings by giving it back. Besides, I love it
+... and it is engraved R. W. Then, too, if I should return it, he
+might think that I didn't credit him with having done it while
+acting in Donald's place as my guardian, and if it was not that
+thought which prompted him, why ... Oh, I don't know what to do!
+
+"Worse still, Dorothy Roberts came up unexpectedly and saw the
+watch. Of course she wanted to know from whom it came and I
+answered, on the impulse, 'From my guardian.' I'm sure that she
+believes that it was a present from Donald and therefore perfectly
+proper, for I have told her all about his relationship to me, and
+it hurts me to think that I have been guilty of a lie. Of course it
+wasn't one in actual words, perhaps; but I had the spirit to
+deceive, and now I can't confess without involving P. and she might
+think that he is in ... Oh, I can't write it, for of course he
+isn't. How could he be? No, it was just a natural act of his
+generous heart, because he knew that I was without relatives to
+give me a graduation gift.
+
+"I hope that I sleep my uncertainties away, for to-morrow must hold
+nothing but sunshine and smiles."
+
+[Footnote A: Poetical license--meaning 'what is in the box.']
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+"BUT A ROSE HAS THORNS"
+
+
+The May day, the day of fulfilment for Smiles' dreams and the fruition
+of her work, had come. Her healthy, mountain-bred body had enabled her
+to keep well and strong; she had gone through the full three years with
+scarcely a day's illness, and she was ready to graduate with the class,
+some of whom would have to stay longer to make up time lost by illness.
+
+Rose awoke early to a sense of something unusual in prospect. On the
+window of her room the rain was pattering merrily. All nature was one to
+her, and she loved the showers as much as the sunshine, but, when she
+began to realize what day it was, they brought a feeling of vague
+disappointment. Surely _this_ day, which meant so much in her life,
+might have dawned fair! The glimpse of a leaden sky colored her thoughts
+for a moment, as she lay still in the drowsy relaxation of
+half-awakening, when dreams beckon from _dolce far niente_ land, and the
+whispering voice of slumber mingles with the more stirring call of the
+brain to be up and doing. The recollection that Donald was far away, and
+could not be with her to witness her triumph, brought a sense of bitter
+disappointment to her over again. "I must write him everything that
+happens to-day. He will be happy in my happiness, I know," she murmured,
+half aloud, and her roommate awoke and answered with a sleepy, "What,
+dear?"
+
+"Nothing. I guess that I must have been talking in my sleep," laughed
+Rose, as she now sat up energetically, fully awake. By their own request
+Dorothy Roberts and she still occupied one of the few double rooms
+reserved for third-year student nurses, who preferred to share their
+quarters.
+
+The other followed, more drowsily.
+
+"Look," called Rose, from the window. "It's going to clear. Oh, see that
+wonderful rainbow. I don't believe I ever saw one in the morning
+before."
+
+"'Rainbow at morning, sailors take warning,'" quoted Dorothy.
+
+"I don't believe in that, or any other _unpleasant_ 'stupidstition'--as
+my reverend used to call them," Rose retorted, as she hastily began to
+dress, for the last time, in the blue striped costume which had been
+hers for nearly three years, but was, in a few hours, to change to one
+pure white, like a sombre chrysalis to a radiant butterfly. "No matter
+when a rainbow appears it is always an omen of fair promise. It's Mother
+Nature smiling through her tears."
+
+She caught, in the mirror, a reflection of her friend's affectionate
+glance; her own cheek began to dimple and her lips to curve as she said,
+"I can tell by your expression just what you're going to say, and...."
+
+"Egoist," mocked the other. "I hadn't the slightest idea of comparing
+your own smile to a rainbow, so now."
+
+"I can't help it, really." Rose spoke with unfeigned distress in her
+voice, and began angrily to massage the corners of her mouth downward.
+"There's something wrong with the muscles of my face, I think, and
+sometimes I get worried for fear people will think that it's
+affectation. I get frightfully tired of seeing a perpetually forced grin
+on other faces--it reminds me of Mr. William Shakespeare's remark that
+'a man may smile and be a villain still.'"
+
+"Not with your kind, dear. 'There's a painted smile on the lip that
+lies, when the villain plays his part; and the smile in the depths of
+the honest eyes--and this is the smile of the heart.'"
+
+"Or of the cheerful idiot," supplemented Rose. "Do you really think that
+I'm ... shallow? Sometimes it seems to me that the truly wise,
+thoughtful people, who search the deeps of life and are themselves
+strongly stirred, are always serious looking."
+
+"Pooh. It's generally pose, and a much easier one to get away with. I
+always discount it about ninety-nine per cent."
+
+"But, at least, others must think that I am always happy, and I'm
+not--sometimes I wish that I might be; but not often, for one would have
+to be utterly selfish and unsympathetic in order to be so, when there is
+so much suffering everywhere."
+
+"I know, and feel the same way, Rose. But it seems to me that a
+smile--at least one like yours--isn't so much the visible expression of
+joy, as it is a symbol of cheer for others ... like a rainbow. There, I
+vowed that I wouldn't, and now I've 'gone and went and done it.'"
+
+Miss Roberts spoke lightly, to cover a suspicious huskiness in her
+voice, for she worshipped the girl who had been so close to her for
+three years, and whose way and hers would necessarily diverge after that
+morning.
+
+"Don't you _dare_ to forget how to smile. We all love it," she added,
+with an assumption of a bullying tone; and then the two held each other
+very close and laughed and cried, both together, for a moment. They
+finished dressing in unusual silence, for the thoughts of each were busy
+with the things which the day and the future might bring forth for them.
+
+Contrary to custom, Dorothy finished first, and preceded Rose
+downstairs.
+
+When the latter reached the little assembly room, she found a small
+group of pupil nurses standing in the doorway. One was reading something
+from a page of a sensational afternoon newspaper, dated the day
+previous, and, as Smiles joined them, she hastily slipped it out of
+sight behind her. All of them appeared so self-conscious, that the new
+arrival stopped with a queer tightening about her heart.
+
+"Show it to her," said Dorothy, quietly. "She's bound to hear of it
+sooner or later."
+
+The sinking sensation within Rose's breast increased, and she stepped
+forward, saying faintly, "What is it, Dolly? Not ... not Dr. MacDonald?
+Nothing has happened ...?"
+
+"No, dear. That is ... well, it concerns him; but I think that, if
+anything, he is to be congratulated. It is something to find out....
+Here, read it yourself."
+
+She took the paper from the owner, and handed it to Rose.
+
+It was the page devoted to happenings in society, and from the top
+centre looked forth a two-column cut of Marion Treville's strikingly
+beautiful face. Beneath was a stick of text, which read:
+
+     "Back Bay society is buzzing with the rumor, which comes from an
+     apparently unimpeachable source, that the beautiful Miss Treville
+     of Beacon Street, who, since her début seven years ago, has been
+     one of the leaders of Boston's smartest set, is about to announce
+     her engagement to Stanley Everts Vandermeer, the well-known New
+     York millionaire sportsman. Miss Treville was formerly betrothed to
+     Dr. Donald MacDonald, the famous children's specialist of this
+     city, who has been in France for more than two years. No previous
+     intimation had been given that this engagement had been broken."
+
+Rose read the brief article twice, mechanically, and almost without
+understanding. Then a wave of hot anger, akin to that which had
+possessed her on the mountain on the afternoon when her eyes had first
+been opened to the duplicity of human nature, swept over her. It was
+only by a strong effort that she refrained from crushing the sheet, and
+speaking aloud her denunciation of the woman whose behavior so outraged
+her sense of justice.
+
+[Illustration: "READ THE BRIEF ARTICLE TWICE, MECHANICALLY, AND ALMOST
+WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING"]
+
+The call came for the morning prayer, and she handed the paper back
+without a word; but for once the simple exercises, which, on this
+morning, should have meant so much more than usual, wholly failed to
+bring their customary peace. Her lips formed the words of the prayer,
+and joined in the singing of the hymn, but her mind was far away in
+France, and her heart rebellious within her.
+
+Her thoughts did not harbor a doubt of Donald's love for the woman, who,
+it was said on "apparently unimpeachable" authority, had now discarded
+him for another and wealthier suitor. To be sure, he had not married
+her, as he might have, before he went away; but this was not strange,
+under the conditions; indeed, she thought it to his credit, since he had
+left to be away so long in the performance of a hard and hazardous duty.
+And surely Donald had remained true! Anything else was unthinkable, and,
+besides, Ethel often spoke of her sister-in-law-to-be, and of the
+marriage which would quickly follow her brother's return. That Miss
+Treville had apparently remained so faithful, also, had helped to banish
+some of Smiles' uncertain feelings concerning her, and she had begun to
+hope that some day she might succeed in finding the key to the city
+woman's heart and enter the fold of her friendship, for she could not
+bear the idea that Donald's marriage might result in Donald's being
+estranged from her, or cause a break in their wonderful friendship. Now
+her thoughts railed against the woman who had been so unstable, at a
+time when keeping faith with those who went, perhaps to die, had become
+a nation's watchword. This thought completely superseded the one that
+had sometimes been hers--that the woman was not worthy the love of the
+man whom she, herself, worshipped. It was like a mother, suffering for
+her hurt child, and her lips quivered with suppressed hate. It passed,
+and left her almost frightened.
+
+"I guess that I'm still a mountaineer at heart," she whispered, as she
+mechanically bowed her head with the others. "I almost feel as though I
+could kill her. Poor Donald! He has always been so blindly trusting
+where his heart was concerned.... Perhaps Dorothy is right, perhaps he
+is better off, if it is true; but if this embitters him, if it spoils
+his faith in womankind, I shall hate her as long as I live." Then came
+the reflection that the report might not be true. "I shall go and ask
+her, myself, this afternoon!"
+
+Smiles arose from her knees, aged in soul.
+
+She had looked forward to this morning with all the eager anticipation
+of a child; but now, as she donned the white uniform of a graduate
+nurse--the costume which represented the full attainment of the hard-won
+goal,--no smile greeted her as she looked at her own reflection in the
+glass.
+
+"Donald was right," she murmured. "I am just beginning to realize that
+even this fulfilment of my dream is not going to bring me happiness. It
+is born of the heart, or not at all." And her mind travelled back to the
+letter which she had tearfully penned him after Big Jerry's death.
+"Things never happen just as we plan. When we look forward to something
+pleasant which we want very much to happen, we never stop to think that
+there may be unhappiness mixed with it." A solitary tear ran down her
+cheek, and made a moist spot on the front of her new uniform.
+
+The smile, usually spontaneous, had to be forced to her lips when she
+went to take her place, with the score of other happy graduating nurses,
+in the amphitheatre of the Harvard Medical School, next door, where the
+exercises were to be held.
+
+"What is the matter with my Rose?" wondered Miss Merriman, who had
+managed to be present. And, "What is the matter with _my_ Rose?" thought
+Dr. Bentley. He had seen her for just a moment that morning, and,
+through the warm, lingering pressure of her hand, received the thanks
+which she could not speak.
+
+It was, in truth, a very sober Smiles who only half-heard the words of
+the impressively simple exercises, during which the newly made laborers
+in the Lord's vineyard received the diplomas which bore the seal of the
+hospital--a Madonna-like nurse, holding a child. Its original, cast in
+bronze--the work of a famous modern sculptor--hung in the
+administration building of the hospital, and she had often stood before
+it with tender dreams. And it was a very sober Smiles upon whose dress
+was pinned the blue and gold cross, the emblem alike of achievement and
+service.
+
+Miss Merriman spoke her thought aloud, as she took the girl into her
+arms, afterwards. "You looked too sweet for words, dear. But, tell me,
+why that woe-begone expression on this, of all days? One would think
+that all the worries of the world lay on your young heart."
+
+"Perhaps they do," was the non-committal answer. And Rose pleaded a
+previous engagement when the older nurse begged her company for the
+afternoon, and Dr. Bentley for the evening.
+
+The happy laughter, the parting words, both grave and gay, which were
+spoken by those who had been her companions during the long journey,
+fell on ears which heard, but transmitted them to her mind vaguely, and
+her answers were inconsequential, so much so, that more than one friend
+regarded her with troubled surprise and whispered to another that Rose
+was either not well, or was dazed with happiness. And when Dorothy
+ventured to hint at the latter alternative, the girl acknowledged it
+with a strained imitation of her usual smile, and straightway found her
+thoughts scourging her because of this new deception.
+
+It seemed to her that the day, for which she had builded so long, was
+tumbling about its foundations, and yet, when she now and again brought
+her runaway thoughts up with a round turn, she could not assign any
+logical reason for her feeling as she did.
+
+"After all, what is it to me?" she would ask herself, logically, one
+moment. And at the next her heart would reply, "Everything. He is all
+that you have in the world in the way of 'family,' for he _is_ more than
+friend to you." "Yes," Rose would admit, "I am afraid for him, I could
+not be more so if he were really my brother. She isn't worthy of
+him--I've known that, somehow, since the first day that he tried to tell
+me about her. But that isn't the point. Love is blind, and, if her
+faithlessness hurts him, I will hate her always. I hate her _now_. She
+has spoiled my day, and I know that I have hurt Gertrude and Philip, for
+they can't understand what the trouble is."
+
+The idea passed over and over through the endless labyrinth of her brain
+and found no escape, while she ate the noonday meal, and later changed
+from her white uniform to a plain blue serge walking dress, and black
+sailor hat. Ever with it went the accompanying thought, "I _must_ see
+her." To what end she did not know or seriously attempt to analyze. Rose
+was not the first to take up cudgels in a lost cause, spurred thereto by
+a purpose which was incapable of receiving any logical explanation. It
+was the "mother spirit," fighting for its own.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A maid opened the door on Beacon street in response to her ring, and, on
+entering the hall, Rose found herself face to face with Marion
+Treville. She was clad for the street and was at that moment in the act
+of buttoning a long white glove. As she recognized the visitor, a deep
+flush mounted quickly on the patrician face of the older woman and, for
+an instant, her teeth caught her lower lip.
+
+Smiles' face was very pale, so pale that her large eyes by contrast
+appeared almost startling in their depth and color. There was a gossamer
+film of dust on her shoes and the bottom of her skirt, for she had
+walked all the way from the hospital, and she realized this fact with a
+sense of chagrin, when she saw Miss Treville's eyes travel to her feet,
+and mentally contrasted her own appearance with that of the perfectly
+appointed daughter of wealth before her.
+
+Neither spoke for an instant. It was as though each were trying to read
+the thoughts of the other. Then Miss Treville said in a cool, even tone,
+"You may go, Louise."
+
+The maid vanished silently, with one curious backward glance as she
+passed through the door at the end of the hallway.
+
+"Miss ... Webb, isn't it? You wished to see ...?"
+
+"Tell me that it isn't true," broke in Rose, her voice trembling a
+little in spite of her effort at self-control.
+
+"Tell you it isn't ... true?" echoed the other, with lifted eyebrows.
+"I'm afraid that I don't quite underst ..."
+
+"But you _do_ understand, Miss Treville, why do you say that you don't?
+It is in the paper."
+
+"Perhaps I meant to say that I do not understand why you should come
+here to ask such a question, Miss Webb," was the icy response.
+
+Rose was silent. What answer could she make to this pertinent question?
+She felt the hot tears starting to her eyes; but, even as she was on the
+point of turning toward the door, with a little choked sob of bitter
+chagrin, the other continued. Curiosity had unloosed her tongue.
+
+"Well? May I be so bold as to inquire what interest you may have in my
+personal affairs, Miss Webb? Frankly, I am at a loss to understand the
+meaning of this unexpected, and--I might say--somewhat unusual visit."
+
+"I ... I don't know as I _can_ explain," began Rose, hesitantly. "I ...
+I felt that I had to see you, because ... I had a letter yesterday from
+... from Dr. MacDonald...."
+
+"Ah."
+
+"Of course he writes to me, you _know_ that he is my guardian," she
+answered the interruption with a flash of spirit. "He said in it that he
+was coming home just as soon as he was able to ... to get well and ...
+be married, and then that paper.... Oh, Miss Treville, surely it isn't
+so. You wouldn't throw him over, when he is so far away, and ... and
+sick?"
+
+The other's voice was not quite as steady as before, when she answered,
+"I don't see why I am called upon to explain my ... to explain anything
+to you, Miss Webb."
+
+"Then it _is_ true." The sentence rang out sharply. "And he doesn't
+know. He thinks that you are waiting, and ..."
+
+"We need not discuss the matter, in fact I doubt if the doctor would
+appreciate your ... shall we say 'championage'? The matter is between
+him and me, wholly."
+
+"No, it is not, Miss Treville," flared Rose, with the angry color at
+last flooding her cheeks. "I have heard people say that, if that story
+is true, he is lucky to have escaped marrying you; but, just the same,
+those of us who _really_ love him--you needn't look like that, of course
+I love him--don't want to have him hurt, as any man would be who was
+cast off like an old glove while he was far away and had no chance to
+speak for himself. That is why I hoped it wasn't true, and that you
+hadn't, perhaps, killed his faith in my kind. And that is the only
+reason."
+
+Once started, her words had poured out as hot as lava which had broken
+from a pent-up volcano.
+
+"So, that is the reason, the only reason, for your coming to me with
+your impertinent question?" Miss Treville laughed oddly. "Really! Do you
+know, I have always suspected that the little savage whom he brought
+from somewhere in the backwoods regarded him as rather more than a
+guardian, or a brother ... that _was_ the pretty fiction, wasn't it?"
+she added, with honey coating the vinegar in her speech.
+
+Under the lash of the words Rose grew white again. Her hands clenched;
+but, before she could answer, Miss Treville continued:
+
+"It really seems to me that you ought to thank me for stepping aside so
+obligingly."
+
+The occupation of a high level in the civilized world, or in society, is
+no proof of the Christian virtue of self-control,--that has been
+demonstrated, in the case of a nation, all too clearly these last years;
+and individuals are like nations, or vice versa. The feline that lies
+dormant, as often in the finished product of city convention as in the
+breast of the primeval woman, was now thrusting out its claws from the
+soft paws of breeding. And Miss Marion Treville, leader of Back Bay
+society, was rather enjoying the sensation. She had passed not a few
+uncomfortable hours in company with her conscience, even while she was
+yielding to the glamorous flame which surrounded her new suitor. It was
+a real relief for her to be able to "take it out" on some one else, and
+a victim had offered herself for the sacrifice, most opportunely.
+
+Rose shrank back as though she had been struck; then steadied herself
+and said with an effort--for her throat and lips were dry, "I think that
+perhaps you were right when you called me a 'little savage.' I know that
+I feel like one in my heart now, and I think, too, that it would be a
+real pleasure for me to ... to ..."
+
+The other stepped hastily back, and Rose laughed, bitterly.
+
+"Oh, please don't be frightened, I'm not going to scratch you. We wood
+people don't fight with your kind of animal, they're too unpleasant at
+close range." She paused, and then went on more steadily. "I came here
+... I didn't know just why I was coming,--perhaps to plead with you for
+Donald's sake. That doesn't look much as though I loved him ... in the
+way you insinuate, does it? No, if I had, I should have won him away
+from you, long ago. It would not have been difficult, I think."
+
+She spoke so coolly, and with such perfect confidence, that the other
+winced.
+
+"There isn't anything more to be said, is there?"
+
+Was this the simple mountain girl, whose voice was now so suave and who
+was smiling so icily?
+
+There was a pause, during which Miss Treville's trembling hand sought
+behind her and found the servants' bell cord.
+
+"I am really glad that I called, Miss Treville, for you have succeeded
+in convincing me that I have no occasion to be disturbed--on Donald's
+account."
+
+"Miss Webb is going," said Miss Treville, formally, as the maid
+appeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+AN INTERLUDE
+
+
+    All things by immortal power,
+    Near or far,
+    Hiddenly.
+    To each other linked are
+    That thou canst not stir a flower
+    Without troubling a star.
+
+                     A. QUILLER-COUCH.
+
+Life is so largely a thing of intermingling currents, of interwoven
+threads, of reacting forces, that it is well-nigh impossible
+understandingly to portray the life story of one person without
+occasionally pausing to review, at least briefly, incidents in the lives
+of others with which it is closely bound up.
+
+So it is with the story of the pilgrimage of Smiles.
+
+While, following her graduation, she was taking a course in district
+nursing, giving freely of her new powers to the poor and suffering of a
+great city, and taking, and passing, the State examination which gave
+her the right to place the epigrammatic letters "R.N." after her name,
+something was happening more than three thousand miles away, of which
+she had no inkling, and yet which was closely linked with her
+existence.
+
+Donald had, indeed, written in a manner to minimize his illness, which
+had been a prolonged and serious one; so much so that he had, greatly
+against his will, finally come to realize the necessity of his taking a
+rest from his unremitting toil, and he had agreed to return home for a
+vacation as soon as he should be well enough to make the long trip.
+
+Depressed by his wholly unaccustomed weakness the doctor sat, a
+convalescent in his own hospital in Toul, one stifling July day. To his
+physical debility was added the dragging distress of mind which comes at
+times to those who are far away and receive no word from home. No
+letters had reached him for weeks. Removed from the sphere of the
+abnormal activity which had been his, and with nothing to do but sit and
+think, Donald had, for some time, been examining his own heart with an
+introspective gaze more searching than ever before. He felt that he had
+been, above the average, blessed with happy relationships, deep
+friendships and a highly trained ability to serve others--and he knew
+that he could honestly say that he had turned this to full account.
+
+Besides, he was betrothed to a beautiful woman whom many coveted. When
+his mind reached Marion Treville in its consideration, it stopped to
+build a dream castle around her, a castle not in Spain, but in America.
+He had earned the right to rest beside the road awhile, and enjoy the
+good things of life. Marion was waiting for him at home, and whatever
+doubts had, at one or another time, entered his mind as to their
+perfect suitability, one for the other, they had long since been
+banished. Distance had lent its enchantment, and he had supplied her
+with the special virtues that he desired. His was a type of mind which
+held to one thought at a time, and he had always possessed a fixedness
+of purpose of a kind well calculated to carry through any plan which
+that mind conceived. Combined, these characteristics made a form of
+egotism, not one which caused him to overrate himself, but to plough
+ahead regardless of the strength of the possible opposition. When he
+returned to America he would marry Marion Treville immediately. No other
+idea had seriously entered his mind since they had plighted their troth;
+they had not been quite ready before, that was all, he told himself.
+
+It was in such a frame of mind, and with a growing eagerness for the day
+when he might start for home to claim his reward, that he received her
+long-delayed letter. What it said does not matter; but one paragraph
+summed up her whole confession. "You cannot but agree with me that ours
+was never the love of a man and woman whose hearts were attuned to one
+another, and sang in perfect unison. We really drifted into an
+engagement more because of propinquity than anything else. I am a
+drone--the product of society at its worst--and you are one of the
+workers, Donald. I feel quite sure that you will always gain your truest
+happiness in your work. Although I know how you love children (and I
+don't), I cannot think of you in the rôle of a married man, so I do
+not, deep in my heart, believe that this is going to hurt you very
+much--certainly I hope not. Indeed, I have a somewhat unpleasant
+suspicion that some day you are going to bless me for having given you
+back your freedom."
+
+Donald read the letter through, without allowing his expression to
+change. Then he started to reread it, stopped, and suddenly crumpled it
+up in his big fist. A low curse escaped his lips. It was heard by a
+passing nurse, who hurried to him with the question, "Did you call,
+doctor? Are you in pain?"
+
+"No. Let me alone," was his harsh answer, and the patient girl moved
+away, with a little shake of her head. The great physician had not been
+his cheerful, kindly self for some time. Perhaps she surmised, too, that
+the mail which she had laid in his lap had not been all that he had
+anticipated.
+
+With scarcely a move, he sat, staring in front of him, until the evening
+shadows had turned the landscape to a dull monotone. Then he slowly
+arose, and, with his mind so completely bent upon one subject that his
+body was a thing apart and its weakness forgotten, stepped out into the
+darkening city.
+
+Time had ceased to exist for him, as he walked the almost deserted
+streets of Toul like a flesh-and-blood automaton. But the physical
+exercise brought a quota of mental relief at last, and the cool night
+air soothed his first burning pain and anger with its unconscious balm.
+At length he was able to face the truth frankly, and then he suddenly
+knew that all the time it was not his heart, so much as his pride, which
+had been hurt.
+
+An hour earlier he would not have admitted a single doubt of his real
+love for Marion Treville. Now he could not but admit that the initial
+stab of bitterness was being healed by a real, though inexplicable,
+sense of relief. He could even say that she had been right. His
+affection for her had, indeed, been merely the outgrowth of life-long
+intimacy. It was never the mating call of heart to heart; he had never
+felt for her the overwhelming passion of a lover for the woman in whom,
+for him, all earthly things are bound up.
+
+His walk became slower; he stopped. The deep blue-black sky had, of a
+sudden, become the background for a softly glowing mind picture, and
+there seemed to appear before him the glorious misty eyes, and
+bewitchingly curved lips of ... Smiles.
+
+Her memory swept over him like a vision, and, even while he felt like a
+traitor to self, came the wonderful realization that in his home city,
+toward which his thoughts had so lately been bent, still lived the girl
+whom he had loved--and had held apart within a locked and closely
+guarded chamber of his heart--for years. It was as though scales, placed
+before them by his own will, had dropped from his eyes. He almost cried
+aloud his self-admission that he had loved her all the years from the
+first moment when he saw her, a barefoot mountain girl, in Big Jerry's
+rude cabin.
+
+And he was _free_! Free to be honest with his own soul, free to tell his
+Rose of his love, and throw aside the masquerading cloak of adopted
+brotherhood. How strange it was! The woman whom he had thought to marry
+was gone from his life like a leaf torn from the binding, and the one
+whom he had pretended to regard as a sister would become his mate. That
+such would be the case he did not doubt now, even for an instant. That
+she had always loved him, he was certain, and, with the warmth of his
+wooing, he would fan that steady glow of childish affection into the
+flame of womanly love which should weld their hearts together forever.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The days which followed before he was strong enough to journey to
+Bordeaux, there to embark for America, seemed to drag by like eternity;
+but Donald was Westbound at last. He was going home, home to a new life,
+made perfect by a great love. The deadly submarines of the world's
+outlaw, lurking under the sea like loathsome phantasies of an evil mind,
+held no terrors for him, nor could the discomforts caused by the tightly
+closed hatches and enshrouding burlap, which made the ship a pent-up
+steambox, until the danger zone was passed, depress his spirits.
+
+The steamer crept as had the days on shore; but there came an afternoon
+when she made port at last, and, spurred by a consuming eagerness, he
+hastened to his apartment.
+
+He had cabled the news of his departure, and in the mail box were many
+letters awaiting him. Feverishly, he looked them over for one in _her_
+dear handwriting. To his unreasonable disappointment there was none, but
+there were several which required immediate reading--among them one from
+his sister Ethel, and one from his old friend, Philip Bentley.
+
+The first contained disquieting news. His little niece, Muriel, had been
+very ill with typhoid fever and, although Dr. Bentley had pulled her
+through the sickness successfully, she was still far from well, and
+apparently not gaining at all.
+
+He opened the other, expecting it to concern the case. But the note did
+not mention it. It was only a few lines and read:
+
+     "Dear old Don:
+
+     I hear that you are 'homeward bound.' Bully! As soon as you reach
+     Boston, and can spare me a moment, I want to talk to you about an
+     important matter.
+
+     Call me by telephone, like a good fellow, and I'll run over to your
+     apartment at once and tell you what is on my mind.
+
+                                                      Yours,
+                                                           P. B."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+DONALD'S HOMECOMING
+
+
+"By the Lord Harry, but I'm glad to see you back again, safe and sound,
+you good-for-nothing old reprobate."
+
+True to his written statement, Philip had come to Donald's apartment as
+fast as a taxicab could bring him, after he had heard his old friend's
+voice over the wire. Now the two men gripped hands, hard, and then--for
+just a moment--flung their arms around each other's shoulders in a rare
+outward display of their deep mutual affection.
+
+Then Philip held his senior away at arms' length and said, with
+masculine candor but with a look of sympathy in his eyes, "Don, you poor
+devil, you've been killing yourself over there. Don't tell _me_. I've a
+mind to appoint myself your physician and order you to bed for a month."
+
+"Good Lord, do I look as bad as that?" laughed the other. "If I do,
+looks are deceitful, for I feel fit as a fiddle. I need only one thing
+to make a complete new man of me."
+
+"And that is ...?"
+
+"A secret, at present."
+
+The two seated themselves opposite each other, and Philip continued,
+"I've managed to keep myself pretty well posted on the work that you've
+been doing, without knowing any of the details of your life--you're a
+rotten correspondent. Come, did you have any 'hairbreadth' 'scapes or
+moving accidents by field and flood?"
+
+"Nary one. My life has been one dead, monotonous waste."
+
+"Like ... the deuce it has. Come, I've got just ten minutes to stay;
+tell me the whole detailed history of your two years and a half. Knowing
+your natural verbosity, I should say that it would take you just about
+half that time, which will leave me the balance for my own few remarks."
+
+"Five minutes? I could tell you the whole history of my life in that
+time. But, before I start, I want to ask you about my little niece,
+Muriel? I've just been reading a letter from Ethel, which seems to
+indicate that they are rather worried about her; but, when I called her
+by long distance, she either couldn't, or wouldn't tell me anything
+definite."
+
+"I don't think that there is any real occasion for being disturbed,"
+answered Philip, quietly. "Although I'll confess frankly that things
+haven't been going just right, and I'm not sorry to have you back and in
+charge of the case. Muriel made the acquaintance of a typhus bug--the
+Lord knows how--and, although I succeeded in getting the best of the
+fever fairly quickly, thanks to the able assistance of that nurse whom
+you swear by ..."
+
+"Miss Merriman?"
+
+"Yes, she's a wonder, isn't she? Well, as I said, we took care of the
+fever, all right; but the cerebral affection has been more persistent,
+and she hasn't convalesced as you would expect in a twelve-year-old
+child. She seems to be laboring under a sort of nervous depression, not
+so much physical as mental ... in fact, a psychos. It's common enough in
+older people, of course; but hanged if I ever saw anything just like it
+in a perfectly normal, and naturally happy child."
+
+"H-m-m-m. What are the symptoms?"
+
+"Psychological, all of them. She mopes; seems to take no healthy
+interest in anything, and, as a result, has no appetite; bursts out
+crying over the most trivial things--such as the chance of you're being
+blown up by a submarine on the way home--and frequently for no cause at
+all. Of course I packed the family off to the shore, as soon as she was
+able to be moved, in the belief that the change of scene and the sea air
+would effect a cure, but it hasn't. I can't find a thing wrong with her,
+physically, nor could Morse. I took him down on my own hook, in
+consultation, one day. It's a rather unusual case of purely
+psychological depression, and in my opinion all she needs is ..."
+
+"A generous dose of Smiles," interrupted Donald.
+
+"By thunder, you've struck it," cried Philip, as he gave the arm of his
+chair a resounding thump. "What an ass I've been not to have thought of
+that before, particularly as she has been so constantly in my thoughts.
+It's another case of a thing being too close to one for him to see it."
+
+Donald stiffened suddenly. He held the match, with which he was about to
+light a cigar, poised in mid-air until the flame reached his fingers,
+and then blew it out, unused.
+
+"In fact, it was about her, Don, that I was so anxious to see you," the
+other went on. His own nervousness made him unconscious of the effect
+which his words had produced on Donald. "Of course, she's practically of
+legal age now; but I know that she still regards you as her guardian and
+that in a sense you stand _in loco parentis_ toward her. Certainly she
+regards your word as law. So I thought that, as she is practically alone
+in the world, it would be the only right and honorable thing to ... to
+speak to you, first."
+
+"To speak to me ... _first_?" echoed Donald, a trifle unsteadily, as he
+struck another match and watched its flame, with unseeing eyes, until
+it, too, burned his fingers.
+
+"Yes. Great Scott, can't you guess what I'm driving at? The plain fact
+is ... is that I love her, Don. I ... I want to marry her."
+
+The words smote the older man's senses like a bolt from a clear sky, and
+they reeled, although he managed, somehow, to keep outwardly calm.
+
+"You ... you haven't told her ... yet ... that you love her?" he managed
+to say, after a moment.
+
+"No. At least, not directly; but I guess that she knows it. I wanted,
+first, to be sure that you would approve ... perhaps even sponsor my
+suit, for, although I mean, of course, to stand or fall on the strength
+of my own case, I know that she worships you, as a brother, and might be
+influenced by your attitude. You understand, don't you, old man?"
+
+Donald nodded, then asked slowly, "Does ... does Smiles love you, Phil?"
+
+"Yes, I think that I can honestly say that I believe she does. Of course
+no word of love has ever passed between us, but ... well, you know how
+it is."
+
+With a mighty effort of his will, Donald conquered the trembling that
+had seized upon his body, and--on his third attempt--calmly lit the
+cigar. But his thoughts were running like a tumultuous millrace. "Blind,
+egotistical, self-confident fool," they shouted. "That something like
+this should have happened is the most natural thing in the world, and it
+has been farthest from your mind."
+
+He remained silent so long that Philip was forced to laugh, a bit
+uneasily.
+
+"I know well enough that I'm not half worthy of her--no man could
+be--but I hope that I'm not altogether ineligible, and I'm sure that I
+love her more than any one else could." At his words Donald winced.
+"I'll do my best to make her life a happy one, if she'll have me--you
+know that, old fellow. Well," he laughed again, "say something, can't
+you? I should almost get the idea that you were jealous, if I didn't
+also know that that is absurd. Your engagement to Marion Treville ... I
+suppose that you don't want to talk about that, but you know how deeply
+I feel for you."
+
+Donald shook himself together, mentally, and made an effort to respond
+with convincing heartiness, although he found that his words sounded
+unnaturally, even to his own ears.
+
+"Of course, you have my consent, if it's worth anything. If our little
+Rose does love you, I am sure that you can make her happy--you're a
+splendid chap, Phil, and I--and I appreciate what you have done for her
+while I was away. She wrote me all about it."
+
+He stretched out his hand, and the other started from his chair, and
+wrung it heartily.
+
+"Thanks, old man. You give me an added quota of courage, and I wish that
+I might go to her this minute; but I've been called out of town on an
+important case. I really shouldn't have taken the time even to stop
+here, but I simply had to see you to-night. Love is an awful thing,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, dully. "Love is always impatient ... I know that
+myself. Perhaps I ... that is, if I can get her ... Rose, I think that I
+will take her down to Ethel's with me, to-night, and you can ... can see
+her there. Where is she staying now?"
+
+"With Miss Merriman's family, if she hasn't been called out on a case
+since morning. She's been doing district nursing, principally; but
+she's already had two private cases, you know."
+
+Donald did not, and the realization of how far he had drifted away from
+his old, intimate association with Smiles' affairs, brought his heart an
+added stab of pain.
+
+"The number is Back Bay, 4315." He glanced at his watch and then
+exclaimed, "Heavens, I've got to catch a train at the Trinity Place
+station in five minutes. Be ready to furnish bail for my chauffeur as
+soon as he is arrested for over-speeding. 'Night. I'll see you at
+Manchester in a few days ... that is if ..."
+
+His words trailed off down the corridor, the front door closed and
+Donald was alone. No, not alone. Philip had gone, but the room was
+peopled with a multitude of ghosts and haunting spectres which he had
+left behind. The doctor had only to close his eyes in order to see them,
+gibbering and dancing on his hopes, which had been laid low by his
+friend's eager disclosure. Another loved her, another wanted to marry
+her, and that other could truthfully say that he believed she cared for
+him. No spoken words of love may have passed between them, but Donald
+knew well how unessential these were when heart called to heart.
+
+This was his homecoming!
+
+It were as though the eyes of his soul had been permitted, for a brief
+time, to behold a dazzling celestial light, which had suddenly failed,
+leaving the darkness blacker than before. The words which he had
+planned to utter had turned to bitter ashes in his mouth. He had to face
+the truth squarely. Rose was not, had never been, for him. It had been
+mere madness for him even to dream of such a thing. Had she not accepted
+him as a brother, and given him the frank affection of such
+relationship, which precludes love of the other sort?
+
+His heart hurt and he felt old and weary again. Somewhere, hidden in a
+cabinet, was a bottle of whiskey, he remembered, and he sought it out
+and poured himself a generous glassful. But, when he raised it to his
+lips, the vision face of Smiles, as she had looked that first night on
+the mountain, when she told Big Jerry and Judd that "nary a drap o' thet
+devil's brew would ever be in house of hers," appeared before him, and,
+with a groan, he set it down, untasted.
+
+Returning to his living-room, he sat a long time in mental readjustment,
+which was brought about with many a wrench at his heart; and when, at
+last, his old iron will--which had been weakened a little by illness and
+further softened by love--had once again been tempered in the crucible
+of anguish, the lines on his prematurely seamed face were deeper, and in
+his dark gray eyes was a new expression of pain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In compliance with his telephoned request, Rose had packed her suit
+case, and was all ready to accompany him when he arrived at the
+Merrimans' apartment in a taxicab, to take her with him to the North
+Station to catch the nine o'clock train. She was irrepressibly the
+child, for the time being, and in her cheeks bloomed roses so colorful
+that Gertrude Merriman accused her of painting, while knowing well
+enough that joy needs no artistry.
+
+"I'm almost _too_ happy," she cried after hearing his voice over the
+wire, and proceeded to dance around the room, to the impromptu chant,
+"Donald, dear, is here, is here. Donald, dear, is here."
+
+"Are you going to kiss him?" laughed her friend. But Rose was not to be
+teased, and answered, "Kiss him? I'll smother him with kisses. Isn't he
+my brother, and isn't he home again after being away two and a half
+years?"
+
+When the apartment bell rang, it was Rose who ran to answer it, and
+whose sweet young voice, saying, "Oh, come up _quick_," Donald heard
+thrilling over the wire. His heart leaped, but his will steadied its
+increased pulsations. It leaped again when he reached the third floor,
+and the girl of his dreams threw herself upon him with laughter which
+was suspiciously like weeping, and with the smother of kisses, which she
+could not restrain nor he prevent, although each burned and seared his
+very soul.
+
+She backed into the room and pulled him after her by the lapels of his
+coat; but, as the brighter light struck upon his face, she stopped with
+widening eyes, through which he could read the troubled question in her
+mind.
+
+"Oh, my poor big brother. I didn't realize ... I mean, how you must have
+suffered. Poor dear, you don't have to tell me how ill you have been, so
+far away from all of us who love you."
+
+Her pitying words drove the last nail in his crucified hopes. Not only
+were they, all too obviously, merely those of a child who loved him with
+a sister's love, but they told him how changed, wan and aged he was; one
+who was, in fact, no longer fitted to mate with radiant youth.
+
+"'Old, ain't I, and ugly?'" He imitated Dick Deadeye with a laughing
+voice, but the laugh was not true.
+
+"Old and ugly?" she repeated, in horror. "Donald, how _can_ you? You're
+tired out, that is all; and as for this--" she lightly touched the sheen
+of silvery gray at his temples, where the alchemy of Time and stress had
+made its mark--"it makes you look so ... so distinguished that I am
+ashamed of my frivolously familiar manner of greeting you. But I just
+couldn't help it, and I promise not to embarrass you again. Yes, you
+_were_ embarrassed. I could read it in your face."
+
+There was but a moment for conversation with the others, and they were
+whirled off to catch the train for the North Shore resort.
+
+When they were seated, face to face, in the Pullman chair car, there
+came a moment of silence, during which each studied the other covertly.
+Donald decided that, physically, the girl had not greatly changed from
+the picture of her which he had borne away in his heart. The passing
+years had merely deepened the charm of the soft, waving hair, whose rich
+and glinting chestnut strands swept low on her broad forehead and
+nestled against the nape of her neck; the slender patrician nose and
+wonderfully shadowed eyes; the smooth contour of cheek and rounded chin;
+and the tender glory which still trembled, as in the old days, on her
+sensitive lips. But, in her poise and speech, after the first rush of
+impetuous childlike eagerness had spent itself, he discovered a new
+maturity, and he realized that, where he had left a child, he found a
+woman, whose heart was no longer worn upon her sleeve. True, her
+gratitude and affection for him were unaltered. They showed in every
+word and look, and once the thought came to him that he might yet win
+the castle of Desire, if he should only determine to enter the lists
+against Philip. The primal man in him cried out against, and might have
+overcome, his better nature, which whispered that this would be
+treachery to a friend who had played fair, and was worthy, if there had
+not always been before his mind the consideration that the fight would
+be hopeless. Rose was not for him; she loved another.
+
+And the girl? She cheered him with her smile, and loved him for the
+dangers he had passed as he, in the hope of in that subject finding a
+vent for his emotions, told her of the work he had been doing. But in
+her heart she was deeply disturbed. The tired, drawn look on his strong
+face would pass away, she felt; but the sight of the expression of pain
+in his eyes gave her thoughts pause. Had Marion Treville's faithlessness
+struck so deep? At the memory of her interview with the woman, Smiles'
+own eyes changed, and lost their quiet tenderness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Morning had come, and the sunlight danced like a myriad host of tiny
+sprites, clad in cloth of gold over the broad blue bosom of the Atlantic
+and into the windows of little Muriel's cheerful bedroom. The door
+opened softly, and Rose, in trim uniform and cap, with its three black
+bands, slipped into the room, silently motioning the man in the hall
+outside to keep back out of sight. The child, thin and pale on her snowy
+bed, turned her head listlessly and looked at the intruder.
+
+Suddenly the suggestion of a smile touched her colorless lips, and
+lighted her unnaturally heavy eyes. She sat up with a glad cry of
+surprise and welcome, "Why, it's my own Smiles! Wherever did you come
+from; are you going to make us a visit? Oh, I'm so glad."
+
+"Yes, darling. I got so tired and grumpy up in the hot city that I just
+had to come down here to be cheered up. Will you help do it?"
+
+"'Course I will. Why, just _seeing_ you makes me want to cheer." She
+quickly swung her slender legs over the bedside. "Oh, now if dear Uncle
+Don were only safe home again it would be perfect. I've worried and
+worried about his getting hit by a bomb or being blown up by a
+submarine. I wish ..."
+
+"And, presto! your wish is granted," laughed Donald, as he ran into the
+room and caught his small niece up in an old-time bear hug.
+
+"Oh, oh, oh. It's better than a fairy tale. I'm so happy I could die,
+but instead I'm going to get well right off. I'm well _now_; where are
+my clothes?"
+
+The little bare feet sought for bedroom slippers, and the light curls
+bobbed energetically as she enunciated, "Now that I've got you two I
+mean to keep you forever and ever. If you, Uncle Don, would only mar
+..."
+
+The man made haste to clap his hand over the offending mouth; but he was
+too late. Rose had heard, and, with glowing cheeks, replied quickly,
+"But you forget that Uncle Don adopted me as a little sister, long ago."
+
+She slipped her hand through his arm and pressed it close to her for a
+moment, before laughing gayly, "Run along, man. Milady is about to dress
+and this is no place for you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE VALLEY OF INDECISION
+
+
+Early evening it was, several days later, evening of a sultry, stifling
+day, which had escaped the bounds of longitude and invaded even the
+North Shore. The open ocean, itself, seemed to have forgotten its
+habitual unrest and yielded to the general languor. From the Thayers'
+summer home--a glorified bungalow, broad of veranda and shingled
+silvery-olive, atop a long, terraced bank--it had the appearance of a
+limitless mirror, reflecting the unblemished blue infinity of the sky.
+Only the never-ceasing series of vague white lines which ever crept up
+the shelving beach, to vanish like half-formed dreams, showed that,
+although the mighty deep slept, its bosom rose and fell as it breathed.
+
+The sky was a hazy horizon blue, unblemished save for a few vaporous
+clouds far in the west; the sun, well toward the end of its journey, was
+hazy, too, a thing of mystery; in the far eastern distance the broad
+Atlantic softened to a hazy violet-gray which, in turn, blended, almost
+without a line of demarcation, into the still more distant heavens.
+
+Far out, above the waters, a solitary gull circled with slow, sweeping
+curves, and now and again planed to the surface of the sea and struck
+from it a faint white spark.
+
+On the screened-in veranda, the members of the family, which now
+included Rose, sat or reclined, in attitudes of indolence, the men in
+negligee shirts and white flannels, the women in light dresses.
+Rose--who had, the day before, officially declared herself "off" the
+case; but had stayed on, a guest, at the general solicitation--wore a
+white dimity faintly sprinkled with her favorite rosebuds.
+
+Her ex-patient sat on a little stool close by her side, a book of fairy
+stories resting on her elevated bare knees. The companionship of her
+beloved Smiles had already brought the warm color of health back to her
+cheeks and banished the listless look from her eyes. Her mother and Mr.
+MacDonald, Senior, were reading. Rose, chin resting on her cupped palm,
+was gazing seaward with a dreamy, far-away expression in her eyes, as
+blue as the sea itself. Donald sat back of her, and scarcely turned his
+gaze from the even contour of her cheek and neck and the shimmering
+glory of her hair, as he pulled leisurely at his cigar.
+
+Only little Don showed signs of activity; for, with the boundless energy
+of four-and-a-half years, he was skidding and rolling industriously from
+one end of the porch to the other on a kiddie-car--a relic of the year
+before, and now much too small for him. With more or less dexterity he
+was weaving his way in and out among the various obstacles, animate and
+otherwise.
+
+After looking for many silent minutes at the girl he loved, Donald said,
+tritely, "A penny for your thoughts, Smiles."
+
+"Sir, you value them too high. I was thinking about you," she laughed.
+
+"A likely story! I know well enough that your mind was far away from the
+present spot--the far-off expression on your face is indication enough
+of that. Furthermore, I'll wager that I can guess pretty nearly where
+they were."
+
+It was a random shot, but he was disquieted to observe that it brought a
+faint blush in her cheeks. The added color, soft and lovely in itself,
+was darkly reflected on his heart.
+
+Jumping up, Smiles cried, with a mock pout, "I shan't stay here to be
+made the subject of a demonstration of clairvoyancy. My thoughts are my
+own, and I mean to keep them so, sir."
+
+As she ran into the house Donald's eyes followed her, moodily. And if he
+had, indeed, possessed the power of divination which he had laid
+pretence to, the expression in them, and the shadow on his spirit, would
+have been justified.
+
+Rose ran lightly upstairs, and, as she approached her room, drew from
+within her waist a letter. There was something both mysterious and
+childlike in the manner that she next opened one of the drawers of her
+dressing table and, taking out a box which held almost all of her modest
+treasures, started to place the letter with them.
+
+Instead, however, she paused to lift out a neat little package
+containing a score or more of other epistles, tied together with a white
+ribbon. For a moment she hesitated, as though she were both mentally and
+physically weighing the objects held in either hand. A shadow of strange
+uncertainty came into her eyes, the outward expression of an inward
+uncertainty foreign to her nature. Slowly, she turned from her
+reflection in the mirror and dropped down on the edge of the daintily
+counterpaned bed. With hesitating fingers she untied the ribbon from the
+package and began to glance through the unbound letters, pausing at
+intervals to read stray paragraphs from them. Each one began and ended
+almost the same--"Dear little Smiles" and "Affectionately your friend,
+Donald."
+
+There was the one which contained the allegory of the steep path--which
+now lay behind her; the one in which he told her of little Donald's
+advent into the world and of his own betrothal to Marion Treville, and
+as she read that sentence which held so much of import in the lives of
+both of them, she sighed, "Poor Don. He hasn't mentioned her; but her
+faithlessness must have struck deep, for he is, oh, so changed and more
+reserved." There were other letters filled with the spirit of
+_camaraderie_, and then the later ones, strong, simple, with their
+stories of others' sacrifice in the great cause of humanity.
+
+When the last one was read and laid upon the others, she sat with them
+in her lap for a moment, musing. The suspicion of tears shone in her
+eyes as she finally shook her head, and, evening them carefully, retied
+them.
+
+"No," she whispered, half aloud, "I mustn't be foolish. He's just my
+brother, that is the way he cares for me. It has always been like that.
+And I ... I mustn't be foolish."
+
+Almost angrily she brushed away the single tear which had started its
+uncertain course down her cheek.
+
+With a gesture of resolution, she stood up and placed the package in its
+box. The other letter was about to follow; but, as she started to lay it
+down, she changed her mind, and, with the flush again mounting her
+cheeks, took it from the envelope, which bore a special delivery stamp,
+postmarked in Boston that very morning.
+
+Opening it, she read:
+
+     "My dearest Smiles:
+
+     Will you be the bearer of a message from me to your kind hostess?
+     As you know, she has invited me down to Manchester-by-the-Sea for
+     the week-end, as a surprise for Donald, and I have heretofore been
+     unable to give a definite answer. Now I have banished everything
+     else from my mind and shall arrive about seven-thirty.
+
+     You wonder, perhaps, why I haven't written this direct to her? In
+     answering my own question I have a confession--yes, _two_
+     confessions to make. A poor excuse is better than none, and I have
+     sent the message to Ethel, through you, merely as an excuse for
+     writing you.
+
+     To my own surprise I have discovered that I have suddenly become a
+     moral coward, and am obliged to descend to subterfuges in order to
+     bolster up my courage. This isn't a usual thing with me, I think,
+     but neither is the occasion. I've been wanting and planning to tell
+     you something, face to face, for a long time; but at the crucial
+     moment my courage has failed each time. I could not nerve myself to
+     bear the possibility of the wrong answer.
+
+     Now I cannot put it off any longer and I am forced to tell you that
+     'something' in this manner. It is a simple message, dear, but it
+     has meant more than any other to the world through all ages, and it
+     means more to me than all the world, now. I love you, Rose,--I want
+     to marry you.
+
+     There is not anything more that need be said; you can imagine all
+     the rest that I would say if I were with you in person, as I shall
+     be with you in spirit as you read those words. I suspect that even
+     they were not necessary. You must have guessed my love, which has
+     grown steadily during these past three years, and have understood
+     why I could not speak it before. It was not merely that the ethics
+     of our relation forced me to keep silent; but I have felt, since
+     you are situated as you are, and Donald is still morally, if not
+     legally, your guardian and protector, I should speak to him first.
+     I have done so. My love for you was almost the first thing that he
+     heard about, on reaching home. And Smiles, dearest, he has gladly
+     given his consent to my suit and wished me luck.
+
+     Now that I have written the fateful message, my courage is
+     restored, in part at least, and I want to hear the answer from your
+     own sweet lips. I can scarcely wait to hear it, for presumptuous as
+     it is--I cannot help hoping that it will be the one I so desire. I
+     cannot help believing that you do care for me.
+
+     Please don't run away, dear. I want to see you, alone, as soon as I
+     reach Manchester.
+
+                                        With all my heart and soul I am
+                                             Your lover, Philip."
+
+
+Smiles slowly replaced the note, her first love letter, in its envelope,
+laid it in the box and locked this in the drawer. With her hands resting
+on the dresser she leaned forward and looked searchingly into her own
+eyes, as though trying to read her very heart. Her lips moved and formed
+the words, "He cannot help hoping that the answer will be the one he
+desires. He knows that I _do_ care for him. Yes, he cannot help knowing
+it; I am too simple to hide my feelings, and he has been so sweet that I
+could not help ... but ... oh, I wish that I hadn't got to tell him ...
+to-night."
+
+Meanwhile Donald had been sitting for many minutes in the silence born
+of laboring thoughts. He had guessed Smiles' secret in part, but not in
+its entirety, and the bitter unhappiness, which had had its inception in
+Philip's disclosure, lay over his soul like a pall.
+
+His father was the first to speak, and his words caused Donald to start,
+for they seemed to be the result of telepathic communication.
+
+"You told us, once, that she wasn't a witch, but, by Jove, there's both
+witchery and healing in that smile of hers, Don. Look at Muriel now.
+It's nothing less than a miracle what the very presence of Rose has done
+for her."
+
+"I was wrong," answered Donald, shortly, whereupon Ethel laid aside her
+book and joined in the conversation in a low voice, so that the absorbed
+Muriel might not hear.
+
+"You love her, Don, it's perfectly obvious. What are you waiting for?
+Now that Marion has behaved so shamefully, it is my dearest hope that
+you will marry Rose. I didn't mean to speak of it; but, really, you are
+changing, Donald, and I don't want to think of your becoming a
+self-centred old bachelor."
+
+"Ethel's right," supplemented his father. "I'm only surprised that you
+haven't asked her before. You've been in the same house with her for a
+whole week. Don't let one ... er ... unfortunate experience discourage
+you."
+
+Donald carefully knocked the ashes from his pipe, got up, walked to the
+railing, and stood with his back toward them.
+
+Then he laughed, a trifle bitterly.
+
+"Thanks for the advice. I won't pretend that I don't ... care for her;
+but I can't ask her to marry me, as you suggest--that is, not now."
+
+"Why not, I should like to know?" demanded his sister, impatiently.
+
+"I can't explain, either; but there is a reason. I am bound in honor.
+Please don't say anything more about it."
+
+But Ethel was not to be silenced so easily.
+
+"I don't know what you are talking about; but it's nonsense, anyway,"
+she answered. "Why, she worships you. Any one can see that."
+
+"Worships me!" echoed Donald, with sarcastic inflection. "What's the
+sense in exaggerating like that, Ethel? I suppose that she is fond of me
+in a way; the way you are, but ..."
+
+"I never suspected you of lacking courage before," interrupted the
+other. "If you haven't the nerve to ask that child yourself, _I_ will. I
+guess that I'm a better judge of feminine nature than you, Donald."
+
+"You failed to prove it once before," he retorted, and instantly added,
+with a tone of unusual contrition, "I am sorry I said that. It was
+unnecessary and unworthy. But, really, I can't allow you to play Mrs.
+John Alden to my Miles Standish. There is a reason ..."
+
+"Oh, you men. You're all alike, when you climb on some sort of a high
+horse and become mysterious. I don't know what you are talking
+about--perhaps you are deluding yourself with an absurdly chivalrous
+notion about being her guardian--but I tell you this. A normal girl, who
+is as full of life as Rose, can't be expected to be like the wishy-washy
+heroines of some murky novel, remain faithful unto death to her first
+unrequited love, and turn into a sweetly spiritual old maid, waiting for
+the hero to come and claim her. ''Tain't accordin' ter huming nater,' as
+Captain Jim says. The mating call is too strong, and she is sure to
+respond to the love note of another sooner or later;--don't flatter
+yourself that you are the only man in Smiles' creation. She's as sweet
+and pure as any girl could be, but she's human, like the rest of us ...
+that's what makes me love her so, and, unless 'you speak for yourself,
+John' ..."
+
+"I can't, Ethel, I ... s-s-sh."
+
+The girl's light footsteps on the descending stairs caused him to break
+off with a low note of warning, and hardly had he resumed his seat
+before she was sitting on the arm of the chair and rumpling his wavy
+hair, as naturally as a child, or a sister.
+
+Watching him closely, Ethel saw the veins begin to swell on the back of
+his muscular hand, as his fingers gripped the other arm of the chair.
+She sighed, and then a look of wondering distress came into her face as
+the thought flashed unbidden through her mind, "I wonder if it is
+possible that he made some unfortunate, entangling alliance in France,
+after he heard from Marion? It isn't impossible. Men are often caught on
+the rebound like that."
+
+Donald was the first to make an effort to introduce a new subject into
+the thoughts of all, by saying, "Doesn't the _Water Witch_ look pretty
+in this light?" as he pointed to a trim little eighteen-foot race-about,
+whose highly polished mahogany sides, free from paint, reflected the
+water which reflected them. "I don't know as I have properly thanked you
+for having her put in commission for me, Ethel."
+
+"I thought that it would please you, and I had them overhaul and rig her
+as soon as I learned that you were coming home."
+
+"Please me! Well, I should say 'vraiment.' Come, Smiles, let's run away
+from all the world beside, and I'll show you my skill as a skipper."
+
+Ethel sent a meaning glance in the direction of her father, but he was
+laughing; "'Skill as a skipper,' indeed, on such an evening as this! He
+would be an amateur, for certain, who couldn't steer with one arm free.
+Whew, there isn't a breath."
+
+"There is going to be, and not many minutes from now. Unless I miss my
+guess we'll have a thunderstorm, and a west wind which will make short
+work of this humidity. There, feel that breeze? Ouch, you little devil,
+get off my foot. It may be large but it wasn't built for a kiddie-car
+racetrack."
+
+The obstacle had caused an upset, and baby Don, more angry than hurt, to
+be sure, set up a howl and ran to Smiles' arms for comfort.
+
+"You'll spoil that baby," growled his uncle. "Well, what do you say, are
+you coming?"
+
+He stood up, and stretched his powerful frame in anticipation of the
+exercise that he loved.
+
+"If you don't mind, Donald, I'd ... I'd rather not ... to-night,"
+answered Rose.
+
+"I'm afraid that you don't like the ocean; I rather thought that you
+wouldn't," he responded gently, for he had in mind the fact that both of
+her parents had met their death by drowning. The girl sat silently for a
+little while, with her eyes fixed upon the waters, here and there upon
+the surface of which had begun to appear shadowy streaks of varying
+tones, as though the Master Painter were deftly sweeping a mighty,
+invisible brush across the pictured surface. Interblending shades of
+soft green, gray and violet came and disappeared.
+
+Without turning her head, she answered, pensively, "It is very, very
+beautiful and I love it--in a way. But I am afraid of it, too. Yes, I
+like the lordly mountains better, Don. To me there is always something
+sinister about the sea, even when it is in as peaceful a mood as this;
+storms come upon it so swiftly, and it has taken so many precious
+lives."
+
+Donald laid an understanding hand upon her shoulder for a brief moment.
+
+"I won't urge you," he said. "Let's go for a little walk, then."
+
+"I ... I can't do that, either, Donald. It was meant to be a surprise,
+but ... Dr. Bentley is coming down from Boston to-night, and I promised
+... that is, he has asked me to ... to go somewhere with him." Rose was
+blushing again.
+
+"Oh, I see. I didn't know that Phil was coming, although, of course, he
+has a standing invitation, and knows that I'm always delighted to see
+him," answered Donald, in a tone which he made natural with an effort.
+
+"I invited him especially," broke in Ethel. "And he accepted in a letter
+to Rose."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE
+
+
+Baby Don put an end to the moment of strained silence which succeeded.
+He laid hold of two of Smiles' fingers and began to pull at her, while
+saying insistently, "Come down to the beach with me, Aunty Smiles, and
+hear the waves ro-er." This was a favorite pastime with him.
+
+His grandfather smiled. "The waves are 'ro-ering' as gently as any
+sucking dove, to-night."
+
+But the baby was not to be turned from his design, and tugged
+persistently until Rose was obliged to rise, laughing. Muriel also
+started up.
+
+"I'll go down with you and try out the _Water Witch_ alone--unless, that
+is, either of you want to come along," said Donald.
+
+His father and Ethel refused, with a show of indignation over the
+begrudging form which the invitation had taken, and he was not sorry.
+Neither man nor girl could find anything to say as they walked side by
+side to the beach, and the former launched the dory tender. As he put
+off she waved him a cheery good-by, and sent her low voice across the
+broadening water:
+
+"Come back to us soon. And be careful. It is beginning to get rough
+already."
+
+With a note in his voice which she did not understand, he called back,
+"Perhaps I'll sail straight over to France. You wouldn't care."
+
+"Foolish man. You know that I would," she cried, and then turned to join
+the children in their game of skipping pebbles.
+
+Donald sent the skiff through the choppy waves with vigorous strokes and
+shot her around at the last moment for a perfect landing. The mainsail
+and jib went up with rapid jerks while the rings rattled their protest.
+The strenuous physical exercise brought him temporary relief; but, when
+he had cast off, taken the tiller and after a few moments of idle
+jockeying back and forth in the light puffs, squared away for the run
+seaward before the rising wind, his gloomy thoughts returned, to settle
+like a flock of phantom harpies and feast on his brain.
+
+Out of nothing grew a vision of Judd's chalky, troubled face, and he
+felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the crude mountaineer, who had
+likewise loved and lost. "Smiles wasn't to blame then. She isn't to
+blame _now_. She never led either of us on," he said aloud; but his
+clenched teeth cut through the end of his cigar, nevertheless. With only
+his moody thought to bear him company, Donald steered seaward.
+
+Starting slowly, the racing craft was momentarily given new impetus by
+swelling wind and following wave; but the man paid no heed to the things
+which should have served him as a warning--the higher heaving of the
+waters, now as gray and as cloudy green as a dripping cliff, and touched
+with flecks of milky spume; and the uneven tugging of the sail. When he
+did become aware of the swift change which had taken place, hardly five
+minutes had passed from the time he had started out, yet a quick glance
+behind him disclosed a new heaven and a new earth and sea; the old had
+passed away.
+
+Where else is nature's stupendous power so evident as in the sinister
+speed with which the armies of the tempest make their swift advance,
+company on company, regiment on regiment, division on division?
+
+In the moments which had passed unmarked by him in his absorption, the
+whole western sky had become overcast and blackened by the vaporous army
+of invasion, whose forecoursing streams of cavalry skirmishers were
+already high over his head. The earth had lost its laughing colors, and
+seemed to lie cowering, with its head covered with a dull mantle, and
+the sea had accepted the challenge of the storm clouds and was beginning
+to leap forward in swirling, gloomy waves.
+
+With a strong steady pull on the tiller, Donald brought the little craft
+around in a sweeping curve and headed into the wind, which had suddenly
+become chill and moist. The boat tilted sharply, and a dash of spray
+leaped the bow and, changing back to water, ran down the leeward side of
+the cockpit. A drop of rain splashed on his bared forearm, and then
+another and another. Through the dark, serried clouds came a dagger
+thrust of fire, to be followed by a distant detonation which bore his
+heart back to the shuddering fields of France.
+
+The new picture was impressed on his mind as on the sensitized film of a
+camera, and simultaneously the action of distant figures were registered
+upon it. Toiling up the steep bank to the cottage was a marionette made
+recognizable as Muriel by a tiny dash of red at the waist and on the
+head. For an instant he wondered if Smiles and his little namesake had
+already reached the house. Then he caught sight of them, still on the
+beach. There was fully a quarter of a mile of water between him and the
+shore, but the distance was being cut down bravely by the race-about,
+whose specialty was going to windward in a blow. Steadied by her racing
+keel, she cut through the waves like a knife.
+
+The child, a mere gray dot, was apparently fleeing as fast as his sturdy
+little legs could carry him from the pursuing girl.
+
+In spite of his bitterness of soul, Donald's lips curved into a smile as
+they formed the words, "Ah, the battle is on, once more. Rose has
+insisted that they hurry up to the house and Don has said, 'I won't.'
+Jerusalem, look at him kite it!"
+
+At that instant a tremulous curtain of light was let down from heaven,
+momentarily, and the two tiny figures were disclosed as clear as by day.
+He saw the baby dodging adroitly under Smiles' outstretched arms, and
+heading out onto the narrow pier, to which was attached a float for
+rowboats.
+
+"He's got his 'mad' up," thought the man, as he veered off a point so as
+to get a better view. "He isn't afraid of thunder, lightning or of
+rain--or anything else, and it would be just like him to run right off
+the ... Great God in heaven, he's done it!" he shouted aloud and sprang
+to his feet, and almost lost his grip on the straining tiller. Even as
+he had been thinking, the light had grown again, and he saw the child,
+halfway down the pier, with a rebellious jerk tear himself loose from
+the clutching grasp on his blouse, lose his balance, stumble and roll
+from the incline into the now surging water.
+
+The _Water Witch_ luffed sharply, and her sail snapped with a report
+like a pistol shot. Without taking his horrified gaze from the unreal
+picture which the ghastly lightning illumined, Donald instinctively
+steadied the boat, and, with his powerful body strained forward as
+though he were urging the craft to greater effort. "God, God, God." The
+words came through his clenched teeth, half prayer, half curse at the
+Fate which held him helpless to act--and the wind snatched them from his
+lips and bore them away, shrieking in malicious madness.
+
+The darkness fell, blotting out the scene. Then the lightning flared
+again, and, in the brief white second that it lasted, he saw Rose climb
+onto a bench against the railing of the pier, and leap into the water.
+
+"God, she can't swim a stroke," groaned the man, as he pounded his left
+hand against the gunwale until the blood came through the abraded skin.
+Plunged in darkness again, the man, whom Rose had called unimaginative,
+suffered all the untold agony of soul which had been hers during the
+moment in which she had been forced to make up her mind and carry out
+the act, only his anguish was the more intense, for hers was the quick
+action and his the forced inaction of a man bound to a stake, within
+full sight of a tragedy being enacted upon a loved one. The distance
+between the boat and shore was not so great but that he could see
+everything that was occurring; but, with the wind dead ahead and blowing
+viciously, he might as well have been in another world for aught that he
+could do.
+
+The spell of darkness, doubly black after the flash, seemed like an
+eternity to Donald. In reality it was as brief as the others, yet, when
+the light came, it disclosed other forms in action. A youth, whom he had
+vaguely noticed working around a rowboat on the beach as he put out, was
+plunging into the water, and down the steeply terraced bank, with
+leaping strides, was running a tall, slender figure clad in light gray.
+Minute as it was, seen from that distance, Donald recognized it. It was
+Philip, and his bursting heart gave voice to a cry of welcome and hope.
+Philip would save Smiles!
+
+[Illustration: "HOLDING THE GIRL IN CLINGING WHITE CLOSE TO HIM"]
+
+True, he would save her for himself. He could not keep the thought out
+of his surge of hope; but the erstwhile bitterness was swept away.
+Nothing else mattered, if Rose could be saved. Measured by the ticking
+of a clock, the action was taking place with dramatic speed; but, to his
+quivering mind, it dragged woefully, and the periods when the light
+failed caused him to cry aloud.
+
+Suddenly the searchlight of the sky was turned on, dazzlingly, and he
+saw the unknown youth wading ashore, bearing in his arms a tiny form
+whose animated arms and legs told the story of baby Don's timely rescue;
+he saw Ethel running wildly toward them, to gather her offspring into
+her outstretched arms; he saw Philip on the float, in the act of casting
+himself prone. Then the picture faded once more and he railed at the
+ensuing blackness as though it had been a wilful, animate thing. This
+time it lasted longer, and the man's deep breath came in rasping sobs
+before the scene was again revealed. Now there were two forms standing
+unsteadily on the float; two forms that were almost one, for the man in
+gray was holding the girl in clinging white close to him. Still, she
+could stand; Smiles was alive, she was saved! And the watcher's lips
+gave vent to a shout of relief and joy, a shout which ended in a groan.
+All the power of his masterful will was not enough to make him do that
+which he longed to--turn his tortured eyes from the picture which spelt
+life to Rose, and death to all his golden dreams.
+
+Now he saw them moving slowly up the pier, the girl still leaning
+heavily against the man, and supported by his encircling arm. They
+paused, and Rose half turned, and slowly waved her hand toward the sea
+in a reassuring gesture, and Donald whispered, "God bless her. She knows
+that I have been a witness to the whole thing, and she remembers, thinks
+of me, even at ... at this time. I cannot see her face, but I know that
+she is smiling."
+
+The lingering effulgence from a final wave of light vanished; the two
+forms toiling up the shore blended into the returning shadows; the
+curtain of darkness fell, and the drama was ended.
+
+"Why could it not have been I?" groaned Donald. The wind, already spent
+from its brief fury, chortled softly among the shrouds as though it was
+laughing at him, another mortal made the victim of capricious Fate.
+Surely it knew that he would have served as well as its agent and would
+only too gladly have given his very life for Smiles, but it had wilfully
+sent him away and sent Opportunity to Philip.
+
+Heroes and martyrs; what are they, after all, but the creatures of that
+whimsical goddess? Most men and most women have within them the courage
+to dare all things if the occasion comes, but to a few only, chosen, it
+often seems, by chance, is that occasion granted. Yet, how often has the
+history of life, both racial and individual, been changed by such an
+event!
+
+Donald knew his star had sunk below the far horizon and that Philip's
+had been carried to its zenith. The lover was likewise the rescuer. It
+were as though the play had been written and the stage set for no other
+purpose than to bring the romance to its culmination, and, now that this
+had been accomplished, the useless properties were being removed. The
+storm was over, ending as quickly as it had begun; the cloud-legions
+were hurrying eastward overhead to form the setting of another tragedy
+or farce somewhere else, or to return to the nothing which had given
+them birth. A few faint flashes and a distant rumble or two marked their
+passing.
+
+Along the western edge of the world appeared a narrow streak of ruddy
+light, like burnished copper beneath the blackness above. Blazing forth
+with the glory of a conqueror, the sun appeared within it, and seemed to
+poise immovable for an instant 'twixt heaven and earth, while its
+dazzling rays turned the living waters to molten gold. Then it slowly
+sank from sight, and, like wraiths of the dying day, the night-shadows
+began to creep out from the shore, deeper and deeper, nearer and nearer,
+until they engulfed the little craft and its owner.
+
+With a sudden decision, Donald played out the sheet and put the tiller
+over. The boat swung around into the path of the wind and fled seaward
+again. He could not go home, now. He must fight out the battle with
+self, as it is always fought, alone, and what place could be more
+fitting than out there in the darkness, on the face of the troubled
+waters?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+WHAT THE CRICKET HEARD
+
+
+Two hours later Donald stumbled, like a strong man physically played
+out, up the path to the cottage.
+
+Ethel saw him coming, and ran part way down the steps to meet him. With
+her arms around his neck, she half-sobbed out the words in a choked
+voice, "Oh, Don. Do you know what has happened? Could you see from your
+boat? Little Donny? Smiles? Could you see, Don?"
+
+He nodded, dumbly; but his sister kept on, "She couldn't swim, but yet
+she jumped, instantly, to save him. You see, she thought that she was
+alone, she didn't know about that boy. Oh, Donald, we must do something
+for him, something splendid. He saved my baby's life."
+
+Ethel was crying now, and the man forgot his own misery in comforting
+her.
+
+"But why didn't you come, Donald? You didn't know...."
+
+"Yes, I knew that everything ... was all right. Rose waved to me and
+called. I ... I _couldn't_ come, Ethel. I can't make you understand."
+
+With the light of understanding breaking in upon her mind, and bringing
+a flood of sympathy with it, his sister once more drew close and
+encircled his neck with her arms.
+
+"Where ... where is she?" he asked, as though the words were wrung from
+him against his will.
+
+"Smiles has gone for a little walk with ... Dr. Bentley, dear," answered
+Ethel in a manner which she strove to make commonplace. She felt his
+frame quiver, and, with a motion that was almost rough, he shook off her
+comforting arms, and mounted the steps, holding to the rail as he did
+so. He went directly indoors, and to his room, with the instinct of a
+wounded creature to seek its cave or burrow. Save for a cold, cheerless
+patch of moonlight on the floor it was dark, and he felt no desire to
+turn on the lights. For a while he sat, silent and motionless, on the
+edge of the bed. But he could not stand the closed-in solitude. The
+place seemed filled with the fragrant presence of the girl who was not
+there; would never be there. He wanted to smoke, and went to the bureau
+to fumble blindly for a pipe which he remembered he had left on it. His
+hand touched something small and glazed, and he drew it sharply away.
+The something was the little rose jar. Smiles' first gift to him, which
+had travelled far since that morning on the mountain side, five years
+before.
+
+The thoughts which would not be stilled repossessed his mind, and drove
+him out-of-doors again,--through a side door, so that he would not have
+to speak to his father and Ethel, whose voices he heard in low
+conversation on the front porch. They ceased for a moment, as though
+the speakers had heard the sound of his footsteps, and paused to listen.
+The night was still, so still that the chirp of a cricket under the
+piazza sounded loudly. It was a cheerful little note, and Donald hated
+it for its cheer, and started hastily away toward the beach.
+
+High above, to the south, the moon was sailing through a sea of clouds,
+in silent majesty. Moonlit nights he had seen aplenty since that one in
+the Cumberlands, four summers previous, when he had climbed the
+mountain, impatient to see once more the strange, smiling child who had
+so stirred his imagination. In the old days he had loved the soft and
+majestic radiance. Now he hated it. Had he not lived long in war-ridden
+France, where every clear night illumined by that orb, which once had
+been the glory of those who loved, had meant merely the advent of the
+Hunnish fiends, whose winging visits brought death and devastation to
+the sleeping towns below?
+
+He had fled from the darkness of his room, but now he craved the
+darkness again, for, perchance, it might blot out the memory of other
+nights, beautiful as golden dreams, or hideous as nightmares, when the
+moon had shone as it did now.
+
+As he made a quick turn about a rocky obstruction in his rapid path, he
+came almost full upon two others, a man and a woman. On the yielding
+sand his footfalls had made no sound, and they were unaware of his
+sudden approach. Donald stopped, and stepped hastily back out of sight;
+but not before he had seen the man's arms gather the slender form of the
+girl in close embrace, and seen her lift her sweet young
+face--tear-bejeweled, but smiling with the tenderness of love--for his
+kiss.
+
+With the rocks put between him and the two, Donald stood for a moment
+with clenched fists pressed brutally against his eyes as though to grind
+out the picture recorded there. Then, with blind but nervous strides, he
+fled from the spot which, at the one time, held such happiness and such
+despair.
+
+It was close to midnight when his steps bore him instinctively back to
+the unlighted house; but this time the exercise and the cool night air
+had failed to bring relief to his heart. He could not face the idea of
+tossing for hours on a sleepless bed, and so passed the front door and
+seated himself within the dark shadows of a corner of the piazza.
+
+"Chirr-r-p, chirr-r-p, chirr-r-p," began a pleasantly shrill little
+voice beneath him. Over and over it repeated the sound, until the man's
+feverish imagination had made it into "cheer-up," and he cursed the
+cricket for its silly advice. So busy was his mind with introspection
+that he did not hear the door open gently, and the first intimation that
+he was not alone was brought to him by the sound of a light footstep
+directly behind him. He turned his head, and saw a dim, ethereally white
+figure,--Rose.
+
+"I thought that you would never come, Donald," she whispered, as she
+sank down close by his side on Muriel's little stool, and laid her cool
+hand on his fevered one. "I have been watching from my window for an
+hour. I couldn't go to sleep until I had told you something."
+
+With an effort he answered evenly, "I ... I think that I know what it
+is, Rose."
+
+"You know? But how ...?"
+
+"I saw you ... and Philip, on the beach," he replied, dully.
+
+"You saw ... Oh! And you heard what ...?"
+
+"No. I went away at once, of course. But I did not need to hear. I ... I
+am glad if you are happy, Smiles."
+
+She was silent for a long moment; then whispered with a note of joy in
+her low voice that wrung his heart, "Yes, I am very happy, Donald."
+
+"Philip is a splendid fellow."
+
+"You wanted me to ... to marry him, Don?"
+
+"I _wanted_ you to?" He barely succeeded in checking, unspoken, the
+burning words on his tongue; but this time his voice betrayed him, and,
+if he had not been resolutely keeping his face turned away from her, he
+might have seen, even in that dim light, an odd change come into the
+expression of her lovely face, and seen a wonderfully tender and
+somewhat mischievous smile touch her lips. All that he did know,
+however, was that she gave a low, happy laugh, which was like a
+knife-thrust to his soul.
+
+"Don," she said at length, "I have told no one else of my great secret
+yet, for I wanted to tell you, first of all. I couldn't go to sleep
+without telling you, for you have been such a dear confidant and father
+confessor to me that it seems as though I must tell you everything. I
+... I've just got to tell you what has happened. May I?"
+
+The man barely smothered a groan. Must he hear this girl, in her
+simplicity, talk on and on about the man she loved, and had promised to
+marry? It struck him, too, as strange that she should be willing to lay
+bare anything so sacred in a woman's life, but then she was her natural
+self, and quite different from most girls, in her attitude toward him.
+
+But Rose was speaking quietly, and as though to herself, "Philip has
+been so sweet and good to me while you were away. You remember that you,
+yourself, told me that you meant him to take your place as my unofficial
+protector, and that I should go to him with my perplexities. It would
+have been better for me if I had followed your advice closer, but now I
+can laugh at spilt milk."
+
+Rose had already confessed to Donald about her "investment" and been by
+him cross-examined into an admission of her little charities, which, in
+their aggregate, had so nearly wiped out her bank account. She could
+laugh about them now, for she had won to her goal, and already begun to
+earn a livelihood, but she had carefully hidden in her heart the story
+of the bitter struggle in which she had engaged to make both ends meet
+during the last few months of her course, when her mysterious refusals
+to accept any invitations from Ethel, Miss Merriman or Philip for her
+free afternoons and evenings, had left them wondering what on earth she
+was doing. No one guessed that they were spent in earning the few sadly
+needed dollars which her pride forbade her to borrow from any of them.
+
+"Now I can laugh at spilt milk," Smiles' words echoed in Donald's brain,
+and hurt. He knew that Philip was fairly well-to-do, and, of course,
+Rose would want for nothing when she married him. This was the thought
+which brought the poignant stab.
+
+"It was not strange that I began ... that he became very dear to me, was
+it, Donald?"
+
+The man shook his head dumbly. He could not answer her in words.
+
+"Perhaps I should not say it; but some time ago I began to guess that
+... that he loved me. Not that he said a word, Donald, that is, not
+until to-day,--and then he didn't say it," she laughed a little. "He
+_wrote_ it and he ... he asked me to marry him. He said, besides, that
+he had spoken to you, first, and that you had given your brotherly
+consent. It was a very sweet letter, Don; the first real love letter
+that I ever received, think of that!"
+
+Only by clinching his teeth and gripping the arms of the chair could the
+man repress a groan.
+
+"It was after he had ... had saved my life that ..." She stopped, and
+broke into her thought with the words, "Oh, Donald, I can never, never
+forget to-night, and the awful feeling that I had when little Don went
+into the water. You see, you were far away, and I didn't know about that
+brave boy on the beach, so I thought that I had got to save him if I
+could, and I didn't know _how_ I could. And then those black, cold waves
+going over my head! I was quite sure that I was going to die, and I
+almost hoped so for ... for I couldn't find Donny."
+
+She leaned her head against his knee and cried a little; but, when he
+tried to speak, and tell her what had been in his heart, she interrupted
+hastily with, "Oh, please, let's not speak of it, ever again. I know how
+you felt, too.
+
+"It was after that that Philip asked me for my answer. I knew what it
+was going to be, but ..."
+
+Donald could not stand it any longer. "I know. You love him, you are
+going to marry him, Smiles. It's all right, he is a splendid fellow,
+dear," he repeated mechanically.
+
+"Yes, he is, and I do love him," she replied quietly; but she could not
+contain her secret any longer and added, "But a girl can't marry her
+_brother_, Donald."
+
+"Her brother? Please, Rose, don't joke."
+
+"It's true!"
+
+"You! Philip's sister? It's impossible, unbelievable!" Yet a surge of
+mad, uncontrollable joy swept over him, and his heart burst into song.
+
+"Unbelievable, yes. But it's _so_, Donald, although I can hardly credit
+it yet, myself."
+
+"But how? Tell me how you found out. What happened?"
+
+"Don't, you're hurting my hand, Donald. I'll tell you all about it as
+soon as I can, but please don't ask so many questions all at once, and
+please tell me first that you are glad, that my great secret makes you
+happy, as it does me."
+
+"Happy? Oh, great heavens! But you? Are you really pleased? You said
+that you loved him!"
+
+"And so I did, and do ... dearly. But, you see, Donald, although I have
+cared for him for a long, long while, there was something about my
+affection that I could not explain, even to myself. It was ... was
+different, somehow, from what ... from what I felt it must be for the
+man whom I might marry. Now I know that it was the subconscious call of
+the blood, the love of a sister for a brother, and never anything else."
+
+Lifted and swayed by a great happiness and reborn hope, Donald laughed
+aloud.
+
+"Oh, you're a strange little girl, Smiles. I had not realized that you
+were fully grown up until to-night; but now I know that you are a
+woman,--a child no longer. My little Rose would never have tried to be
+so dramatic, nor would she have tried to analyze her love, and label it
+the call of kin, rather than that of a mate. I used to think that you
+were a clear crystal in which I might see reflected your very heart and
+soul, but now you have become a woman and therefore a mystery. Oh,
+woman, what do you know about love? Not the kind that Philip inspired in
+you; but the name which burns unquenchable--which purifies and
+strengthens, or consumes the one who ..." he stopped, surprised at his
+own rush of words,--and abashed.
+
+The hand, which she had slipped unconsciously into his, trembled and
+thrilled him.
+
+"Perhaps ... I do ... know it, Donald," came the words, barely audible.
+
+"Smiles! It isn't possible that you ... that I ... Oh, my dear one,
+don't say anything to make me hope anew, after what I have endured
+to-night unless ..."
+
+"Do you really care, Don? In that _other_ way, I mean."
+
+He stood unsteadily up; things had become unreal and he could not speak.
+Smiles, still holding his hand, rose also. The top of her head came just
+below the level of his eyes; the moonlight across it set her wavy hair
+to shimmering. She could not lift her eyes to his, but with a brave, low
+voice, she went on, when she saw that he would not answer.
+
+"All this past week I have been the most brazen of girls, and
+deliberately given you a hundred chances to tell me, if it were so. I
+was quite sure that it couldn't be, and besides, you told Philip...."
+
+"I know; but I thought ... you see he told me that he loved you, and
+that he was sure that you cared for him."
+
+"I did, just as I do now. Oh, man, you have been so blind, or so noble.
+Have I got to _ask_ you to marry me?"
+
+For the barest instant she looked up at him, and he saw that the smile
+he loved was whimsical as well as madly appealing.
+
+"No," almost shouted Donald. "I won't hear of such a thing as your being
+one of these 'new women.' You're a siren out of the olden days of mystic
+legend, and I have kept my ears stopped up against your witching song,
+which I was afraid to hear. But now I want to hear it, day and night,
+through eternity. Wait, not yet. First ... Smiles, will you marry me?"
+
+"Oh, what an anticlimax! Why did you have to become so practical and
+unromantic, after such a splendid start," she laughed happily. "No lover
+is supposed to ask that question with such brutal bluntness. Come, I
+will teach you the romance of love."
+
+It was dark on the veranda. The moon had suddenly slipped out of sight
+behind one of the laggards in the retreating cloud army; but Donald
+needed no earthly light in order to realize that Rose was holding out
+her arms to him, as simply and frankly as she had five years before.
+
+"Chir-r-r-p, chir-r-r-p, chir-r-r-p," thrilled the cricket underneath
+the porch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+A LOST BROTHER
+
+
+How long it may have been before the man, eager as he was to hear the
+full explanation of the seeming miracle through which his happiness had
+been made possible, was ready to urge Rose to tell the story which she
+had promised, and what whispered words the cricket heard in the interim,
+concern only the three of them.
+
+When, at last, he was able to bring his winging thoughts down from the
+clouds to earth, it was to discover still another unsuspected trait in
+the woman who had become his all; for Smiles, eager and excited, was
+still dwelling in a world of romance, and she insisted upon recounting
+what had happened, almost verbatim, and in a dramatic manner quite
+unlike the simplicity which naturally characterized her speech.
+
+Nor could Donald's commonplace interruptions, during the course of which
+he affirmed that fact _was_ stranger than fiction and that the world
+_was_ a small place after all, check her narrative.
+
+"I don't know whether I can make you understand why I acted as I did,
+when Philip asked me for my answer, dear. Indeed, I hardly know,
+myself," she began. "It wasn't that I didn't know what I had got to
+tell him, for I had made up my mind long ago--at least, it seems long
+ago, although it was only this morning, when I got his letter. Much as I
+cared for him, my heart knew that there was only one man in the world
+for me--even though he appeared not to want me!"
+
+The digression caused a further and wholly natural delay.
+
+"Perhaps it was because I hated to hurt him, and wanted desperately to
+postpone the evil moment; but, at any rate, I begged him to wait, and
+said that he didn't know all the facts about me. I told him that I
+wasn't sure that I ought to marry any one. And that was true, Donald.
+I've often worried about it, for I didn't know anything about my
+parents, and heredity counts for so much, doesn't it?
+
+"Of course he replied, just as I might have expected, that he didn't
+know what I meant, but that nothing else could possibly matter to him,
+if only I ... I cared.
+
+"But I said that I had to explain,--I guess that I was a little
+panic-stricken, he seemed so deadly in earnest,--and then I told him
+that I wasn't Big Jerry's grandchild really, but only a little waif whom
+he had taken in. 'So, you see, I am a nameless girl, Philip,' I said. 'I
+don't mean it in a bad sense, for I know that I had a dear father and
+mother, whom I just barely remember, but....'
+
+"I don't know exactly what I was going to add, but he broke in with,
+'What earthly difference do you think that could make to me, dear?' And
+then he told me that he _knew_ I was ... was good and pure, that _any
+one_ who was acquainted with me could see that I must have come from
+sterling stock, even if my parents were simple mountaineers.
+
+"'But they weren't, Phil,' I answered. 'I was a poor little city waif,
+who had lost her parents and didn't know where she came from, or even
+her name.' And then I told him the story which Big Jerry told you that
+first night on the mountain.
+
+"And then, Donald, then it was my turn to be surprised, for Philip
+grasped my arm until he hurt me, and cried, 'I can't believe it, Rose. I
+_won't_ believe it!'
+
+"I didn't know what to say, and somehow I felt both hurt and a little
+angry that it should make any difference in his love--yes, I did, in
+spite of the fact that I couldn't marry him anyway. Yet, at the same
+time, I had an impression that it wasn't that, but something quite
+different, which was troubling his heart. So I said, 'What is it,
+Philip? I do not understand why you are acting so strangely.'
+
+"His only reply was to ask me, in an odd voice, when it happened; how
+long ago.
+
+"I told him 'eighteen years, when I was a baby about three years old.'
+Don, I can't tell you how I felt then, for he looked so peculiar--almost
+as though he were stunned. And he could not seem to say anything. I was
+frightened. I begged him to speak to me, and told him that he looked as
+though he had seen a ghost. 'I have ... at least I have if my suspicion
+is true. But it can't be; oh, it is unbelievable, impossible,' he broke
+out.
+
+"I didn't know what to say or do, he looked almost as though he were ...
+were not in his right mind; and, when I put my hand on his arm and
+begged him to tell me what the trouble was, he shook it off, and began
+to speak ... oh, I cannot tell you how. It sounded as though some one
+else were speaking, and uttering the words hesitatingly.
+
+"'Try and remember, Smiles. Call on your memory of the long ago, if
+there is a single spark of it still lingering in your mind. Oh, it means
+so much, dear, so much that I am almost afraid to ask the question, but
+I have got to, I have got to!'
+
+"He waited until I thought I should go mad, Don, and then said, in
+little more than a whisper, 'Did you ever, back in your babyhood, hear
+the name, Anna Rose Young? Think, Smiles, think hard.'
+
+"Perhaps you will not believe it; but it seemed as though something long
+forgotten were actually stirring in my heart, and as though it were
+groping blindly in the mists of memory. I could not be sure, yet
+something forced me to answer, uncertainly, 'Yes, I think, I believe
+that I do remember that name; but I don't know where I could have heard
+it. What do you mean, Philip?'
+
+"His answer surprised me as much as the first question, for he said,
+'Was it in ... Louisville?'
+
+"'Louisville? I have never been there, Philip. And yet....' There was
+the strange stir in my memory again. Oh, it was all so puzzling.
+
+"'Anna Rose Young,' he repeated insistently. 'They called her Rose,
+because ... because her mother's name was the same.'
+
+"'They called _her_ ... Philip, I do remember, now. It's my own name!
+Oh, Philip, you know who I am! But how, Phil?' I was clinging to him as
+though I must draw the truth from him physically; but he went on, almost
+mechanically, and his breath came hard, I could feel him tremble, Don."
+
+Now her own low voice was trembling excitedly.
+
+"'A tall, slender man, who stooped a little, Smiles,' he said. 'His face
+was thoughtful and kindly. He had a close-clipped, pointed beard, and
+wore gold-rimmed spectacles, and his eyes were very blue, as blue as
+your own, Rose. Tell me, does the picture mean anything to you?'
+
+"I tried to visualize it, Don, and I could, as though it were some one
+far, far off whom I could see through the mist.
+
+"'My daddy, Philip,' I whispered; I could hardly speak at all, for my
+throat was aching and I was crying."
+
+She was crying, now, but did not realize it.
+
+"'A sweet-faced woman, with wavy brown hair in which were golden glints
+like yours,' he went on, monotonously; but this time I could not answer
+at all."
+
+Smiles stopped, and, for an instant, sobbed without restraint, with her
+head against Donald's arm, and he ran his hand tenderly and unsteadily
+over her hair.
+
+Then she lifted her face, bathed in tears, and whispered, "You
+understand, don't you, Don? After all the years, to remember, ever so
+vaguely; but, still, to remember my former life, and to know my own
+name! Oh, I can't help it ... I couldn't when he told me."
+
+"Yes, yes. I understand, dearest."
+
+"Philip went on, desperately, it seemed to me. 'Another picture, Smiles.
+Can you see a spindle-legged, mischievous boy of ten, who loved his
+little sister dearly; but teased her from morning until night. His name
+was ...'
+
+"'Tilly! Oh, I remember. At least, that was what baby Rose called him.'
+
+"'Yes, she called him Tilly. She called him that because ... because she
+couldn't say ... "Philip." Oh, little Rose, don't you understand? I came
+to find a wife, and I have found ... a sister!'"
+
+"But, his name ..." interrupted Donald.
+
+"I know. I will tell you. But first, Donald, my poor father and mother.
+I thought that perhaps I was to find them, too; but God willed
+otherwise. Big Jerry was right. They ... they were both drowned."
+
+Eager as he was to hear the rest of the story, the man could not but
+keep silent, in understanding sympathy, until she was ready to proceed
+of her own accord. It was once more as Smiles herself had written in her
+letter to him, after Big Jerry's death. Happiness was tinged with grief,
+for the night's strange disclosures had re-opened an old wound, long
+since closed.
+
+Finally she went on.
+
+"I won't try to tell you the explanation in Philip's words; but it seems
+that we used to live in Louisville. Philip's own father was a well-to-do
+physician, named, of course, Dr. Bentley. He died when Phil was a baby,
+and, when he was seven years old, mother married Mr. Robert Young, a
+mining engineer. I was born a year later--I am really his half-sister,
+you see."
+
+"But," interrupted Donald, "I should think that the name Philip Bentley
+might have stirred a responsive chord in your memory before this--no, I
+don't suppose that it would have, after all, for you were so small that
+you didn't remember your own last name."
+
+"Yes, and not only that, but Philip was always called 'Young'--when he
+was a boy, anyway. Well, it seems that, when he was ten, and I was
+three, he was sent all alone to visit an uncle, a brother of his own
+father, who lived in Richmond. It was while he was away for the summer
+that my dear father was sent into the Cumberland Mountains between
+Kentucky and Virginia, prospecting for coal on behalf of the company in
+the employ of which he was. He took mother and me with him for a
+camping vacation, and ... and you know as much as I about the tragedy
+which separated us, and made such changes in our lives."
+
+Rose paused again, a prey to memory.
+
+"And then?" prompted Donald, gently.
+
+"Then, Philip said, when no word came from his parents for several
+weeks, his uncle left no stone unturned to find them, and at length the
+Federal Revenue authorities located the bodies of my dear mother and
+father, and part of their wrecked canoe, in the swift river, almost at
+the foot of the mountains. Of course every one assumed that I had ...
+had been drowned, too."
+
+"Oh, thank God that you were not, my dear," breathed Donald, so softly
+that she could not hear him.
+
+"Then Philip went to live permanently with his uncle, who raised and
+educated him as one of his own sons. Of course he took his real name
+again. Oh, Donald, isn't it too wonderful?"
+
+"Yes, dear heart, wonderful, indeed." There was a long silence. Then
+Donald asked, softly, "And Philip? How does he feel?"
+
+"He ... he is happy, too," came her reply, somewhat haltingly. "Of
+course, just at first ... oh, please don't ask me, Don. But now he is
+content, for he knows that I ... I couldn't ever have been anything else
+to him, because I loved ano.... I loved _you_."
+
+"He knows that? Rose, you didn't tell him?"
+
+"Yes, I did," she answered, bravely. "And let me tell _you_, sir, that
+it is lucky for you that ... that you asked me; for, if you hadn't, you
+would have had my big brother to deal with!"
+
+And what the cricket heard _then_, has nothing to do with this story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE HALLOWED MOON
+
+
+They were to be married early in September--just a month from the day
+when Smiles so nearly gave her life to save another's.
+
+During the days which must pass before she became Donald's in
+the full trinity of body, mind and soul, his family kept her at
+Manchester-by-the-Sea and each hour bound her more closely to the heart
+of each.
+
+For her, Ethel planned and purchased, sewed and supervised, putting as
+much loving thought into the making of her simple outfit as though it
+was she herself who was to be wedded. The days were busy ones, the
+evening hours rich in love and contentment, for Donald came down from
+the city each night, and the two learned the way to many a secret
+chamber in each other's heart.
+
+Early in the week which was to bring to a close the separate stories of
+the man and maid, and write the first chapter in the single history of
+man and wife, Donald left them to make a brief, but important, trip
+which, he said, could not be postponed; and oh, how empty life seemed to
+Smiles during those few days.
+
+But they were ended at last, and the marriage evening came,--still and
+mellow, with the voices of both shore and sea tuned to soft night
+melodies.
+
+Below in the hall, hidden within a bower of palms, an orchestra of
+Boston Symphony players drew whispering harmonies from the strings of
+violins, harp and cello, and, at the signal, swept into the dreamy,
+enchanted notes of Mendelssohn's marriage song.
+
+Little Don, very proud and important--and somewhat frightened--picked up
+the train which he was to bear as page, and down the winding stairway,
+by the side of her new-found brother, moved Rose, gowned in traditional
+white, made with befitting simplicity, her shimmering hair no longer
+crowned with the square of a nurse cap, but by a floating, misty veil
+and the orange-blossom wreath of a bride. Never had her warm coloring
+been so delicate and changeful, her expressive eyes so deep, or the
+fleeting sweetness of her translucent smile so wonderful.
+
+At the foot of the stairs stood Muriel, and three other girl companions,
+each with a woven sweetgrass basket--made years ago by little Smiles
+herself--filled with rose petals to be strewn in her path, and the
+bride's lowered eyes rested tenderly for a moment upon the child that
+she so loved. Then she started, and paused. One of them, as tall as
+Muriel and more slender, had hair of spun gold, and she was looking up
+with an eagerness which she could hardly restrain.
+
+With a low, surprised cry, Smiles hurried downward, drawing her hand
+from Philip's arm and extending both her own.
+
+"Little Lou. Can it really be you? Oh, my dear."
+
+And, heedless of the cluster of waiting friends beyond, she caught the
+flushing, bashful, happy child into her arms.
+
+"Oh, Smiles, haint hit all too wonderful. Hit's like dreamy-land, an'
+I'm plumb erfeered thet I'll wake up an' find hit haint real. But
+_yo're_ real, my Smiles, an' oh, how I loves ye."
+
+There was a suspicious moisture in more eyes than those of Rose, as she
+released the child and moved forward again, following the flower girls
+into the room where waited the man who was all in all to her.
+
+Donald stood just to one side of a canopied altar made of white roses
+and interwoven ferns, and before it was a tall, slender man in the
+vestments of the Episcopal Church, whose thin, saintlike face was topped
+by hair of the purest silver-white.
+
+Smiles felt her heart swelling almost painfully with a great new
+happiness; her lips parted, and she wanted to draw her hand across her
+eyes and brush away the sudden tears which she knew were there. For the
+rector was her own dear Mr. Talmadge.
+
+Now Donald was at her side, and his strong fingers were returning the
+grateful, loving pressure of her own. _He_ understood how full of
+gratitude was her heart, and was repaid.
+
+The low, clear voice, tuned to the winds of the forest, began the words
+of the beautiful service. It was, indeed, all a dream, and she felt the
+unreality of it until the benediction had been spoken, and the hidden
+orchestra struck the first joyous chords of the triumphant march from
+Lohengrin. Then, from her husband's arms she turned to the embrace of
+the mountain minister, and of Philip, and little Lou, and Gertrude
+Merriman, and Dorothy Roberts, and of all those other friends, old and
+new, who were so dear to her.
+
+No explanations were possible for many minutes to come; but at length
+she heard the story of the secret trip "which could not be postponed,"
+of how "the reverend"--now well and strong at last--had gladly consented
+to leave his beloved mountain home, for the first time in many, many
+years, and come north on this sacredest of missions; of how Judd had
+yielded to the request that Lou accompany them, too; and finally of how
+her mountain lover of the old days was now himself married--to none
+other than the youngest daughter of the kindly agent at Fayville.
+
+And when this news was told, Donald cried, "Why, Smiles, for shame! I
+actually believe that you are jealous," and she replied, "Of course I am
+... horribly." Whereupon every one laughed at her, and her husband
+punished her with a kiss.
+
+It was ended at last, the lights, merry voices and laughter; and, as the
+two ran the ancient gantlet, the orchestra, prompted thereto by Mr.
+MacDonald, struck up a lively popular air, and the guests caught up the
+words.
+
+They paused a moment on the path below the veranda, to quiet their
+hurried breathing, and look into each other's happy eyes.
+
+"Where do we go from here?" _They_ knew. There had been but one spot in
+all the world whose name both their hearts had spoken, when Donald first
+mentioned the honeymoon to be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Evening again--twilight on the Cumberland mountains. The moon had not
+yet risen; but, through the black lacework of the forest trees which
+stretched above Big Jerry's cabin to the mountain's summit, shone the
+beaming radiance of the evening star.
+
+Within the soft shadow of the doorway stood two figures, close
+together--one tall, broad of shoulder and heavily built, the other of
+medium height, slender and very graceful--and their arms were about each
+other's waists. A man and a woman,--as it was in the beginning.
+
+For a long time they stood thus, without speaking,--there was no need of
+speech, for their thoughts were one.
+
+"So old and well remembered; yet so new and strangely beautiful,"
+whispered the woman, as she let her gaze travel over the broken,
+far-stretching skyline of the forest-clad mountain side, now fading
+into the sky, where a memory of the sunset's afterglow still lingered,
+as though loath to depart and leave the world to darkness.
+
+"Like love: as old as the hills, yet ever new," answered the other.
+
+"Yes. I cannot yet understand, Don, how this new life can be so
+strangely natural to me. We have been married only three all-too-short
+days, yet I can scarcely think of the other life as real. Some people
+speak of their honeymoon as a golden dream. To me it is the sweet
+reality, and all that went before the dream. Isn't it odd?"
+
+"All of nature's laws are inexplicable, dear heart. But we should not
+forget that the Almighty's plan for the world did not deal with man and
+woman as separate entities, but man and woman as counterparts of a
+single unit, in which His laws should find full expression, if the two
+were truly mated--not merely married. You remember what Mr. Talmadge
+said that night."
+
+"I know. We have found, not each other, but the other part of
+ourselves--ourself. Dear, when did you first realize that it was so?"
+
+"My mind, not until it was free to face the truth; my subconscious soul
+the first moment that I saw you, I think."
+
+"I know I loved you from that moment too," she answered simply, lifting
+her lips for his kiss.
+
+There followed another spell of enchanted silence, broken only by the
+low lullaby of the night wind in the trees, and then the man spoke
+again.
+
+"Smiles, are you still greatly afraid of the sea?"
+
+"No, dear, I should not be, if you were with me. It is strange; but I
+lost most of the old, unreasoning fear the moment that I made up my mind
+to jump into it that afternoon. But, why do you ask that now, Donald?"
+He did not reply at once, and she continued, "I think that I know, and
+the same thought was in my own mind. Is it that you want to go to France
+again, to renew the saving work there,--and want me with you?"
+
+He nodded slowly.
+
+"If you hadn't suggested it, I should have, Don; for now I am doubly
+prepared for the work I began to long to do, so many years ago. I am not
+only trained for it, but I have you beside me, to comfort and strengthen
+me, always.
+
+"Yes, dear," she went on softly. "Some day, God grant, we shall have
+little ones of our own to care for; but, until that beautiful time
+comes, there are no less precious babies throughout all the world--and
+there, especially--crying for us to help them. We must give of our best
+to them, for, weak, tender and helpless as they are, the hope of the
+world is in its babies."
+
+Through the dark tree-tops the new-born moon appeared on the breast of
+night, around it a misty halo like that about the head of the Infant
+who came nineteen centuries ago, typifying the hope of all mankind.
+
+"Look," said Donald. "Our honeymoon wears a halo."
+
+"Because it is a hallowed moon," answered Rose.
+
+The soft white radiance floated in, flooding the little porch and
+illuminating the wife's sweet face as she lifted it again, now touched
+with a smile, more meaningful and more ethereal than ever before.
+
+For, to the smile of courage, hope and love, had been added the quality
+of rich, deep contentment.
+
+THE END
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE
+
+A Romance
+
+By Eliot Harlow Robinson
+
+Author of "Smiles: A Rose of the Cumberlands," "Smiling Pass," "The
+Maid of Mirabelle," etc.
+
+Cloth, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+"What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh."
+
+Mr. Robinson's distinguished success came with the acclaim accredited to
+his novel, SMILES, "The Best-Loved Book of the Year," and its sequel,
+SMILING PASS. With delicate humor and a sincere faith in the beautiful
+side of human nature, Mr. Robinson has created for himself a host of
+enthusiastic admirers. In his new book he chooses a theme, suggested
+perhaps by the old proverb quoted above ("Pilpay's Fables"). His setting
+is a Quaker village, his theme the conflict between grave Quaker ideals
+and the strength and hot blood of impulsive Mark Gray.
+
+Here is a book that is worthy of the reception accorded SMILES by all
+readers who appreciate a story of deep significance, simply yet
+powerfully built upon fundamental passions, wrought with a philosophy
+that always sees the best in troubled times.
+
+The enthusiastic editor who passed on MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE calls
+it--hardly too emphatically--"A mighty good story with plenty of
+entertainment for those who like action (there is more of that in it
+than in any other of Mr. Robinson's novels). The reading public will
+unquestionably call it another courage book'--which they called the
+SMILES books, you know. The language is both strong and smooth. The
+story has a punch!"
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+POLLY THE PAGAN
+
+Her Lost Love Letters
+
+By Isabel Anderson
+
+With an appreciative Foreword by Basil King
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+Isabel Anderson, who heretofore has confined her literary talents to
+writing of presidents and diplomats and fascinating foreign lands,
+contributes to our list her first novel, POLLY THE PAGAN, a story of
+European life and "high society." The story is unfolded in the lively
+letters of a gay and vivacious American girl traveling in Europe, and
+tells of the men whom she meets in Paris, in London or Rome, her
+flirtations (and they are many and varied!) and exciting experiences.
+Among the letters written to her are slangy ones from an American
+college boy and some in broken English from a fascinated Russian Prince
+(or was he disillusioned, when after dining at a smart Parisian café
+with the adorable Polly he was trapped by secret police?); but the chief
+interest, so far as Polly's _affaires d'amour_ are concerned, centers
+around the letters from a young American, in the diplomatic service in
+Rome, who is in a position to give intimate descriptions of smart life
+and Italian society.
+
+The character drawing is clever, and the suspense as to whom the
+fascinating Polly will marry, if indeed the mysterious young lady will
+marry anybody, is admirably sustained.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+UNCLE MARY
+
+A Novel for Young or Old
+
+By Isla May Mullins
+
+Author of "The Blossom Shop" books, "Tweedie," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75
+
+Since the great success of POLLYANNA there have been many efforts to
+achieve the "GLAD BOOK" style [Trade Mark] of fiction, but none so
+successful as Mrs. Mullins' UNCLE MARY.
+
+Here is a story, charming in its New England village setting, endearing
+in its characters, engrossing in its plot, and diverting in its style.
+The PAGE imprint has been given to many books about beautiful characters
+in fiction,--Pollyanna, Anne Shirley, Rose Webb of "SMILES," and Lloyd
+Sherman of the "LITTLE COLONEL" books. To this galaxy we now add "Uncle"
+Mary's protégé, Libbie Lee.
+
+Mrs. Mullins is an author gifted with the ability to appeal to the young
+in heart of whatever age. Her characters are visually portrayed. Her
+situations have the interest of naturalness and suspense. The reader of
+UNCLE MARY will become in spirit an inhabitant of Sunfield; will
+understand the enjoyment of the sudden acquisition of wealth, a
+limousine, and--an adopted child (!), by the sisters, "Uncle" Mary and
+"Aunt" Alice; will watch with interest the thawing and rejuvenation of
+"Uncle" Mary, the cure of Alice, and the solving of the mystery of the
+wealth of sweet little Libbie Lee.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE RED CAVALIER
+
+Or, The Twin Turrets Mystery
+
+By Gladys Edson Locke
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+Here is a mystery story that is different! The subtlety and strangeness
+of India--poison and daggers, the impassive faces and fierce hearts of
+Prince Bardai and his priestly adviser; a typical English week-end house
+party in the mystery-haunted castle, Twin Turrets, in Yorkshire; a vivid
+and contrasting background.
+
+And the plot! Who is the mysterious Red Cavalier? Is he the ghost of the
+ancestral portrait, that hangs in Sir Robert Grainger's strange library?
+Is he flesh and blood, and responsible for the marauding thefts in the
+neighborhood? Is he responsible for Prince Kassim's murder? Or is it
+only coincidence that one of the guests at the masked ball happened to
+wear the costume of the Red Cavalier?
+
+Miss Locke has been able to weave a weird and absorbing tale of modern
+detective romance, the strangeness of India in modern England.
+
+There is Lady Berenice Coningsby, a bit _déclassé_; Ethelyn Roydon, more
+so; Princess Lona Bardai, "Little Lotus-Blossom," sweet and pathetic;
+Mrs. Dalrymple, the woman of mystery; Miss Vandelia Egerton, the
+spinster owner of Twin Turrets. There is dashing Max Egerton and the
+impeccable Lord Borrowdean; Captain Grenville Coningsby; Prince Kassim
+Bardai, with the impenetrable eyes, and Chand Talsdad, his venerable
+adviser. Which of them is the Red Cavalier?
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Selections from The Page Company's List of Fiction
+
+WORKS OF
+ELEANOR H. PORTER
+
+POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book (510,000)
+Trade Mark     Trade Mark
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+Mr. Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist, in an editorial for the
+_Philadelphia North American_, says: "And when, after Pollyanna has gone
+away, you get her letter saying she is going to take 'eight steps'
+to-morrow--well, I don't know just what you may do, but I know of one
+person who buried his face in his hands and shook with the gladdest sort
+of sadness and got down on his knees and thanked the Giver of all
+gladness for Pollyanna."
+
+POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book. Mary Pickford edition
+Trade Mark     Trade Mark
+
+Illustrated with thirty-two half-tone reproductions of scenes from the
+motion picture production, and a jacket with a portrait of Mary Pickford
+in color.
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25
+
+While preparing "Pollyanna" for the screen, Miss Pickford said
+enthusiastically that it was the best picture she had ever made in her
+life, and the success of the picture on the screen has amply justified
+her statement. Mary Pickford's interpretation of the beloved little
+heroine as shown in the illustrations, adds immeasurably to the
+intrinsic charm of this popular story.
+
+POLLYANNA GROWS UP: The Second GLAD Book
+Trade Mark (253,000)           Trade Mark
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+When the story of POLLYANNA told in The _Glad_ Book was ended, a great
+cry of regret for the vanishing "Glad Girl" went up all over the
+country--and other countries, too. Now POLLYANNA appears again, just as
+sweet and joyous-hearted, more grown up and more lovable.
+
+"Take away frowns! Put down the worries! Stop fidgeting and
+disagreeing and grumbling! Cheer up, everybody! POLLYANNA has come
+back!"--_Christian Herald_.
+
+MISS BILLY (93rd thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+G. Tyng, $1.90
+
+"There is something altogether fascinating about 'Miss Billy,' some
+inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to demand the individual
+attention of the reader from the moment we open the book until we
+reluctantly turn the last page."--_Boston Transcript_.
+
+MISS BILLY'S DECISION (78th thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+Henry W. Moore, $1.90
+
+"The story is written in bright, clever style and has plenty of action
+and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are her friends."--_New
+Haven Leader_.
+
+MISS BILLY--MARRIED (86th thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+W. Haskell Coffin, $1.90
+
+"Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss Billy is
+just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just as much gladness.
+She disseminates joy so naturally that we wonder why all girls are not
+like her."--_Boston Transcript_.
+
+SIX STAR RANCH (95th thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell, $1.90
+
+"'Six Star Ranch' bears all the charm of the author's genius and is
+about a little girl down in Texas who practices the 'Pollyanna
+Philosophy' with irresistible success. The book is one of the kindliest
+things, if not the best, that the author of the Pollyanna books has
+done. It is a welcome addition to the fast-growing family of _Glad_
+Books."--_Howard Russell Bangs in the Boston Post_.
+
+CROSS CURRENTS
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50
+
+"To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its sorrows as
+well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal."--_Book News
+Monthly_.
+
+THE TURN OF THE TIDE
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50
+
+"A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to the
+development of the life of a dear little girl into a true and good
+woman."--_Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio._
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVELS BY
+
+ELIOT HARLOW ROBINSON
+
+Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+A book which has established its author in the front rank of American
+novelists.
+
+SMILES, A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS (29th thousand)
+
+E. J. Anderson, former managing Editor of the Boston _Advertiser_ and
+_Record_, is enthusiastic over the story and says:
+
+"I have read 'Smiles' in one reading. After starting it I could not put
+it down. Never in my life have I read a book like this that thrilled me
+half as much, and never have I seen a more masterful piece of writing."
+
+SMILING PASS: A Sequel to "SMILES," A Rose of the Cumberlands
+
+The thousands who have read and loved Mr. Robinson's earlier story of
+the little Cumberland mountain girl, whose bright courage won for her
+the affectionate appellation of "Smiles," will eagerly welcome her
+return.
+
+"Applied sociology, mixed with romance and adventure that rise to real
+dramatic intensity. But the mixture is surprisingly successful. The
+picture impresses one as being faithfully drawn from the living models
+with sympathetic understanding. The book is effective."--_New York
+Evening Post_.
+
+THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance of Lorraine
+
+Illustrated with reproductions of sketches made by the author, and with
+a portrait of "The Maid of Mirabelle," from a painting by Neale Ordayne,
+on the cover.
+
+"The spirit of all the book is the bubbling, the irrepressibly
+indomitable, cheerful faith of the people, at their very best, against
+the grave Quakerism from the United States standing out grimly but
+faithfully. The tale is simply, but strongly told."--_Montreal Family
+Herald and Weekly Star_.
+
+MAN PROPOSES; Or, The Romance of John Alden Shaw
+
+"This is first of all a charming romance, distinguished by a fine
+sentiment of loyalty to an ideal, by physical courage, indomitable
+resolution to carry to success an altruistic undertaking, a splendid
+woman's devotion, and by a vein of spontaneous, sparkling humor that
+offsets its more serious phases."--_Springfield Republican_.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE ROMANCES OF
+
+L. M. MONTGOMERY
+
+Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (364th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus.
+
+"In 'Anne of Green Gables' you will find the dearest and most moving and
+delightful child since the immortal Alice."--_Mark Twain in a letter to
+Francis Wilson_.
+
+"I take it as a great test of the worth of the book that while the young
+people are rummaging all over the house looking for Anne, the head of
+the family has carried her off to read on his way to town."--_Bliss
+Carman_.
+
+ANNE OF AVONLEA (259th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs.
+
+"Here we have a book as human as 'David Harum,' a heroine who outcharms
+a dozen princesses of fiction, and reminds you of some sweet girl you
+know, or knew back in the days when the world was young."--_San
+Francisco Bulletin_.
+
+CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (45th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs.
+
+"The author shows a wonderful knowledge of humanity, great insight and
+warmheartedness in the manner in which some of the scenes are treated,
+and the sympathetic way the gentle peculiarities of the characters are
+brought out."--_Baltimore Sun_.
+
+ANNE OF THE ISLAND (68th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by H. Weston Taylor.
+
+"It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of Anne, and the
+privilege of being on intimate terms with her throughout the process has
+been properly valued. The once little girl of Green Gables should have a
+permanent fictional place of high yet tender esteem."--_New York
+Herald_.
+
+FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (20th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by John Goss.
+
+Nathan Haskell Dole compares Avonlea to Longfellow's Grand Pre--and
+says, "There is something in these continued chronicles of Avonlea like
+the delicate art which has made Cranford a classic."
+
+"The reader has dipped into but one or two stories when he realizes that
+the author is the most natural story teller of the day."--_Salt Lake
+City Citizen_.
+
+ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: The Mary Miles Minter Edition
+
+Illustrated with twenty-four half-tone reproductions of scenes from the
+motion picture production, and a jacket in colors with Miss Minter's
+portrait.
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25
+
+"You pass from tears to laughter as the story unfolds, and there is
+never a moment's hesitation in admitting that Anne has completely won
+your heart."--Joe Mitchell Chapple, Editor, _The National Magazine_.
+
+"Mary Miles Minter's 'Anne' on the screen is worthy of Mark Twain's
+definition of her as the 'dearest and most moving and delightful child
+since the immortal "Alice."'"--_Cambridge Tribune_.
+
+KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (52d thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+"A purely idyllic love story full of tender sentiment, redolent with the
+perfume of rose leaves and breathing of apple blossoms and the sweet
+clover of twilight meadow-lands."--_San Francisco Bulletin_.
+
+"A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the sweet and
+simple life of the primitive environment."--_Boston Herald_.
+
+THE STORY GIRL (46th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+"It will be read and, we venture to predict, reread many times, for
+there is a freshness and sweetness about it which will help to lift the
+load of care, to cheer the weary and to make brighter still the life of
+the carefree and the happy."--_Toronto, Can., Globe_.
+
+"'The Story Girl' is of decidedly unusual conception and interest, and
+will rival the author's earlier books in popularity."--_Chicago Western
+Trade Journal_.
+
+THE GOLDEN ROAD (28th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+In which it is proven that "Life was a rose-lipped comrade with purple
+flowers dripping from her fingers."
+
+"It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now and then, by
+delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos. Any true-hearted human
+being might read this book with enjoyment, no matter what his or her
+age, social status, or economic place."--_Chicago Record-Herald_.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVELS BY
+
+ISLA MAY MULLINS
+
+Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75
+
+THE BLOSSOM SHOP: A Story of the South
+
+"Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and lovable--as is a fairy
+tale properly told."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_.
+
+ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP: Or, the Growing Up of Anne Carter
+
+"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing as
+a breeze that blows through a pine forest."--_Albany Times-Union_.
+
+ANNE'S WEDDING
+
+"Presents a picture of home life that is most appealing in love and
+affection."--_Every Evening, Wilmington, Del_.
+
+THE MT. BLOSSOM GIRLS
+
+"In the writing of the book the author is at her best as a story teller.
+It is a fitting climax to the series."--_Reader_.
+
+TWEEDIE: The Story of a True Heart
+
+"The story itself is full of charm and one enters right into the very
+life of Tweedie and feels as if he had indeed been lifted into an
+atmosphere of unselfishness, enthusiasm and buoyant optimism."--_Boston
+Ideas_.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVELS BY
+
+DAISY RHODES CAMPBELL
+
+THE FIDDLING GIRL
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65
+
+"A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful vein of
+sympathetic comprehension."--_Boston Herald_.
+
+THE PROVING OF VIRGINIA
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65
+
+"A book which contributes so much of freshness, enthusiasm, and healthy
+life to offset the usual offerings of modern fiction, deserves all the
+praise which can be showered upon it."--_Kindergarten Review_.
+
+THE VIOLIN LADY
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65
+
+"The author's style remains simple and direct, as in her preceding
+books."--_Boston Transcript_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Smiles', by Eliot H. Robinson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'SMILES' ***
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Smiles", by Eliot H. Robinson.
+    </title>
+  <style type="text/css">
+    /*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+    <!--
+    p                 {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;}
+    body              {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    table             {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;}
+    h2                {text-align: center; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 2em; clear: both;}
+    h3                {text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; font-weight: normal; clear: both;}
+    a                 {text-decoration: none;}
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+    .center           {text-align:center;}
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+    hr.major          {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;}
+    hr.minor          {width: 35%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;}
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Smiles', by Eliot H. Robinson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: 'Smiles'
+       A Rose of the Cumberlands
+
+Author: Eliot H. Robinson
+
+Illustrator: H. Weston Taylor
+
+Release Date: August 9, 2007 [EBook #22287]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'SMILES' ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:300px'>
+<a name="illus-000" id="illus-000"></a>
+<a href="images/illus-cvrf.jpg">
+<img src="images/illus-cvr.jpg" alt="" title="" width="300" /></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center' style='margin: 2em'><span style='font-size:x-large'>&#8220;SMILES&#8221;</span><br />
+<span style='font-size:large'>A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS</span></p>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<table summary="" style="font-size: smaller; border-collapse:collapse; border: 1px solid black;">
+<tr><td style="text-align:center; font-size: 160%; border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:1em 3em 1em 3em;">By ELIOT H. ROBINSON</td></tr>
+<tr><td>
+    <div style='padding-left:2em; padding-top:1em; padding-bottom:1em;'>
+    <table summary="">
+    <tr><td style='text-indent:-2em;'>"SMILES": A Rose of the Cumberlands</td><td align='right'>$1.90</td></tr>
+    <tr><td style='text-indent:-2em;'>SMILING PASS: Being a Further Account<br />of the Career of "Smiles": A Rose of the<br />Cumberlands</td><td>$1.90</td></tr>
+    <tr><td style='text-indent:-2em;'>MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE</td><td>$1.90</td></tr>
+    <tr><td style='text-indent:-2em;'>THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance<br />of Lorraine</td><td>$1.90</td></tr>
+    <tr><td style='text-indent:-2em;'>MAN PROPOSES; or, The Romance of<br />John Alden Shaw </td><td>$1.90</td></tr>
+    <tr><td style='text-indent:-2em;'>GO GET 'EM! The True Adventures of an<br />American Aviator of the Lafayette Flying<br />Corps</td><td>$1.50</td></tr>
+    <tr><td>By Eliot H. Robinson and Lieutenant<br />William A. Wellman.</td></tr>
+    <tr><td style=' text-indent:-2em;'>WITH OLD GLORY IN BERLIN; or, The<br />Story of an American Girl's Life and<br />Trials in Germany and Her Escape from<br /> the Huns</td><td>$2.00</td></tr>
+    <tr><td>By Eliot H. Robinson and Josephine Therese.</td></tr>
+    </table>
+    </div>
+</td></tr>
+<tr style=" border-top:1px solid black; text-align:center; font-size:120%;"><td><span style='font-size:larger'>THE PAGE COMPANY</span><br />
+53 BEACON STREET, BOSTON</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:300px'>
+<a name="illus-001" id="illus-001"></a>
+<a href="images/illus-fpcf.jpg">
+<img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" alt="&#34;A MAN AND A WOMAN&mdash;AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING&#34; (See Page 374)" title="" width="300" /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">&#34;A MAN AND A WOMAN&mdash;AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING&#34; (See Page 374)</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<table style="margin: auto; border: black 1px solid; width:30em" summary=""><tr><td>
+<p style=" font-size:2.2em; margin-top:2em;">&#8220;SMILES&#8221;</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.6em; margin-bottom:3em;">A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.0em;">BY</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.4em;">ELIOT H. ROBINSON</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.0em; margin-bottom:4em;">Author of "Man Proposes"</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.0em;">ILLUSTRATED BY</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.3em; margin-bottom:2em;">H. WESTON TAYLOR</p>
+<p style=""><img src='images/illus-emb.png' alt="" /></p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.4em; margin-top:2em;">THE PAGE COMPANY</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.0em; margin-bottom:4em;">BOSTON<span style='letter-spacing:2em'>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>PUBLISHERS</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center'>
+<i>Copyright, 1919, by</i><br />
+<span class="smcap">The Page Company</span><br />
+</p>
+<hr style='width:10%' />
+<p class='center'><i>Entered at Stationers' Hall, London</i></p>
+<hr style='width:10%' />
+<p class='center' style='margin-bottom:2em'><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
+
+<table summary="">
+<tr><td>
+First Impression, May, 1919<br />
+Second Impression, June, 1919<br />
+Third Impression, July, 1919<br />
+Fourth Impression, August, 1919<br />
+Fifth Impression, September, 1919<br />
+Sixth Impression, October, 1919<br />
+Seventh Impression, December, 1919<br />
+Eighth Impression, February, 1920<br />
+Ninth Impression, September, 1920<br />
+Tenth Impression, August, 1921<br />
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center'>
+<span style='font-size:1em;'>TO MY BOYS</span><br />
+<span style='font-size:0.8em;'>THIS STORY OF A GIRL</span><br />
+<span style='font-size:0.8em;'>WHO LOVED CHILDREN</span><br />
+<span style='font-size:1em;'>IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED</span>
+</p>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<table summary=""><tr><td>
+<span class="smcap">The Keynote of Life is Love&mdash;<br />
+Lacking it, naught is worth while&mdash;<br />
+The Symbol of Service, the Cross<br />
+And the Sign of Courage, A Smile.</span><br />
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center'>AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT</p>
+
+<p>I wish to acknowledge, most gratefully, the valuable assistance rendered
+to me, in the preparation of the chapters dealing with the medical and
+hospital incidents, by Robert W. Guiler, M.D.; by Alonzo J. Shadman,
+M.D., to whom I am indebted for my description of the unusual operation
+in Chapter XXI; and by Miss Elizabeth E. Sullivan, Superintendent of
+Nurses at the Boston Children's Hospital. And, above all, I desire to
+make acknowledgment of the debt of gratitude that I owe to Mr. Henry
+Wightman Packer for his helpful criticism throughout the writing of this
+story.</p>
+
+<p style='text-align:right'><span class="smcap">Eliot Harlow Robinson</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<h2 class="toc"><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2>
+<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents" class='smcap' style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+<col style="width:15%;" />
+<col style="width:5%;"  />
+<col style="width:70%;" />
+<col style="width:10%;" />
+<tr>
+    <td align='right'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAPTER</span></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td align='right'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">I.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Donald MacDonald, M.D.</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#DONALD_MACDONALD_MD_168">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">II.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Enter Big Jerry</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#ENTER_BIG_JERRY_452">12</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">III.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">An Innocent Serpent in Eden</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#AN_INNOCENT_SERPENT_IN_EDEN_788">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">IV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">"Smiles"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#SMILES_1022">34</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">V.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Giving and Receiving</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#GIVING_AND_RECEIVING_1337">46</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">VI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">An Unaccepted Challenge</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#AN_UNACCEPTED_CHALLENGE_1637">57</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">VII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">"Smiles'" Gift: and the "Writing"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#SMILES_GIFT_AND_THE_WRITING_1909">66</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">VIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Some of Several Epistles</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#SOME_OF_SEVERAL_EPISTLES_2221">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">IX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The High Hills, and "God's Man"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_HIGH_HILLS_AND_GODS_MAN_2739">91</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">X.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">"Smiles'" Consecration</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#SMILES_CONSECRATION_3008">101</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Adoption by Blood</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#ADOPTION_BY_BLOOD_3329">113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Three of Hearts</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_THREE_OF_HEARTS_3552">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Gathering Clouds</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#GATHERING_CLOUDS_3768">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Sowing the Wind</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#SOWING_THE_WIND_4104">142</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Reaping the Whirlwind</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#REAPING_THE_WHIRLWIND_4408">153</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XVI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Aftermath</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_AFTERMATH_4719">164</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XVII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Parting Pledge and Passing Days</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_PARTING_PLEDGE_AND_PASSING_DAYS_4898">171</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XVIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Added Burden</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_ADDED_BURDEN_5110">179</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XIX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">"Smiles'" Appeal</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#SMILES_APPEAL_5418">190</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Answer</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_ANSWER_5690">200</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">A Modern Miracle</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#A_MODERN_MIRACLE_6127">216</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Vicarious Atonement</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#VICARIOUS_ATONEMENT_6378">225</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Two Letters</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#TWO_LETTERS_6649">235</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">New Scenes, New Friends</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#NEW_SCENES_NEW_FRIENDS_6853">241</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The First Milestone</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_FIRST_MILESTONE_7233">256</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXVI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Call of the Red Cross</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_CALL_OF_THE_RED_CROSS_7434">264</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXVII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Goal</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_GOAL_7776">277</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXVIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">"But a Rose Has Thorns"</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#BUT_A_ROSE_HAS_THORNS_8289">294</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXIX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">An Interlude</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#AN_INTERLUDE_8706">309</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">Donald's Homecoming</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#DONALDS_HOMECOMING_8897">316</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXXI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Valley of Indecision</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_VALLEY_OF_INDECISION_9249">329</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXXII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Storm and the Sacrifice</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_STORM_AND_THE_SACRIFICE_9597">341</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXXIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">What the Cricket Heard</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#WHAT_THE_CRICKET_HEARD_9838">350</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXXIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">A Lost Brother</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#A_LOST_BROTHER_10149">361</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align="right">XXXV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align="left">The Hallowed Moon</td>
+  <td align="right"><a href="#THE_HALLOWED_MOON_10385">370</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<h2 class="loi"><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations</h2>
+<table border="0"  width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+<col style="width:80%;" />
+<col style="width:20%;" />
+<tr><td></td><td align='right'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>&#34;A man and a woman--as it was in the beginning&#34;</span><br />(See Page 374)</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#illus-001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>&#34;One dusty, but dainty, foot was held between her hands&#34;</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#illus-002">6</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>&#34;She was kneeling beside a low, rounded mound&#34;</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#illus-003">48</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>&#34;Read the brief article twice, mechanically, and almost without understanding&#34;</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#illus-004">298</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>&#34;Holding the girl in clinging white close to him&#34;</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#illus-005">346</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center' style='padding-top:1em; letter-spacing:0.2em; font-size:2.3em'>&#8220;SMILES&#8221;</p>
+<hr style='width:20%' />
+
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_1" id="page_1" title="1"></a>
+<a name="DONALD_MACDONALD_MD_168" id="DONALD_MACDONALD_MD_168"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<h3>DONALD MACDONALD, M.D.</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The man came to a stop, a look of humiliation and deep self-disgust on
+his bronzed face. With methodical care he leaned his rifle against the
+seamed trunk of a forest patriarch and drew the sleeve of his hunting
+shirt across his forehead, now glistening with beads of sweat; then, and
+not until then, did he relieve his injured feelings by giving voice to a
+short but soul-satisfying expletive.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of his deep voice the dog, which had, panting, dropped at
+his feet after a wild, purposeless dash through the underbrush, looked
+up with bright eyes whose expression conveyed both worship and a
+question, and, as the man bent and stroked his wiry coat, rustled the
+pine needles with his stubby tail.</p>
+
+<p>The picture held no other animate creatures, and no other sound
+disturbed the silence of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>By the hunter's serviceable nickeled timepiece the afternoon was not
+spent; but the sun was already swinging low over the western
+mountaintop, and its<a class="pagenum" name="page_2" id="page_2" title="2"></a> slanting rays, as they filtered through the leafy
+network overhead, had begun to take on the richer gold of early evening,
+and the thick forest foliage of oddly intermingled oak and pine, beech
+and poplar, was assuming deeper, more velvety tones. There was solemn
+beauty in the scene; but, for the moment, the man was out of tune with
+the vibrant color harmonies, and he frankly stated the reason in his
+next words, which were addressed to his unlovely canine companion, whose
+sagacity more than compensated for his appealing homeliness.</p>
+
+<p>"Mike, we're lost!"</p>
+
+<p>City born and bred though he was, the man took a not unjustifiable pride
+in the woodcraft which he had acquired during many vacations spent in
+the wilds; hence it was humiliating to have to admit that fact&mdash;even to
+his dog. To be sure, the fastnesses of the border Cumberlands were new
+to him; but his vanity was hurt by the realization that he had tramped
+for nearly an hour through serried ranks of ancient trees and crowding
+thickets of laurel and rhododendron&mdash;which seemed to take a personal
+delight in impeding the progress of a "furriner"&mdash;and over craggy rocks,
+only to find, at the end of that time, that he was entering one end of a
+short ravine from the other end of which he had started with the vague
+purpose of seeking the path by which he had climbed from the valley
+village.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, a subtle change was taking place in the air. Faint breezes,
+the sighing heralds of advancing<a class="pagenum" name="page_3" id="page_3" title="3"></a> evening, were now beginning to steal
+slowly out from the picturesque, seamed rocks of the ravine and from
+behind each gnarled or stately tree, with an unmistakable warning.</p>
+
+<p>There was clearly but one logical course for him to pursue&mdash;head
+straight up the mountainside until he should arrive at some commanding
+clearing whence he could recover his lost bearings and establish some
+landmarks for a fresh start downward. With his square jaw set in a
+decisive manner, the man picked up his gun, threw back his heavy
+shoulders, and began to climb, driving his muscular body forcibly
+through the underbrush.</p>
+
+<p>The decision and the action were both characteristic of Donald
+MacDonald, in whose Yankee veins ran the blood of a dour and purposeful
+Scottish clan. Aggressive determination showed in every lineament of his
+face, of which his nearest friend, Philip Bentley, had once said, "The
+Great Sculptor started to carve a masterpiece, choosing granite rather
+than marble as his medium, and was content to leave it rough hewn."
+Every feature was strong and rugged, which gave his countenance an
+expression masterful to the point of being almost surly when it was in
+repose; but it was a face which caused most men&mdash;and women over
+thirty&mdash;to turn for a second glance.</p>
+
+<p>To-day, the effect of strength was further enhanced by a week's growth
+of blue-black beard. But his eyes, agate gray and flecked with the green
+of the<a class="pagenum" name="page_4" id="page_4" title="4"></a> "moss" variety, were the real touchstones of his character, and
+they belied the stern lines of his mouth and chin and spoke eloquently
+of a warm, kindly heart within the powerful body, a body which, to the
+city dweller, suggested the fullback on a football team. Indeed, such he
+had been in those days when great power counted more heavily than speed
+and agility. Not but that he possessed these attributes as well, in a
+degree unusual in one who tipped the scales at one hundred and ninety.</p>
+
+<p>To some it seemed an inexplicable anomaly that a man of his type should
+have selected, as the work to which he had dedicated his life, the
+profession of medicine, and still more strange that he had become a
+specialist in the diseases of children. Yet such was the case, and many
+a mother, whose heartstrings were plucked by the lean fingers of
+Despair, had cause to bless the almost uncanny surgical skill which his
+highly-trained brain exercised through the medium of his big, spatulate,
+gentle fingers.</p>
+
+<p>As "Mac" had, in the old days, smashed his way through the opposing line
+of blue-jerseyed giants on the football field, and as he now plowed
+through the laurel and rhododendron, so had he won his way to the
+forefront of the younger generation of his profession until, at the age
+of thirty-five, he had become recognized as one of the most able
+children's specialists in America. A "man's man," blunt of speech to the
+point of often offending at first the cultured women with whom his
+labors brought<a class="pagenum" name="page_5" id="page_5" title="5"></a> him into contact, he was worshipped in hundreds of homes
+as an angel of mercy in strange guise, and was the idol of hundreds of
+little folk to whom he had brought new health and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>The toilsome upward climb brought its reward at length, and Donald's eye
+caught sight of a clearing, and unmistakable signs of near-by
+civilization, if a scattering mountain settlement of primitive dwellers
+in that feudal country which lies half in West Virginia, half in
+Kentucky, may be so designated.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had he stepped into the partially cleared land, and caught
+sight of a small, isolated cabin beyond, so toned by wind and weather
+that it seemed almost an integral part of its natural surroundings, than
+his own presence was detected, as the sharp and surly barking of an
+unseen dog evidenced. Mike made answer to the challenge, and instantly
+other, more distant, canine voices joined in the growing clamor.</p>
+
+<p>As man and dog advanced across the clearing, not one, but half a dozen
+gaunt curs, summoned to the spot by a warning which meant the approach
+of a stranger, much as their clannish masters might have been in other
+years, mysteriously appeared from all sides and rushed forward, their
+lips drawn back from threatening teeth, their bristling throats rumbling
+ominously.</p>
+
+<p>Donald sharply commanded the likewise bristling Mike to keep to heel,
+threw his rifle to hip and backed<a class="pagenum" name="page_6" id="page_6" title="6"></a> hastily toward the cabin. He had no
+wish to employ his weapon, and as retreat was the other alternative, for
+his companion's sake, if not his own, indeed, discretion seemed to be,
+by all odds, valor's better part.</p>
+
+<p>A noisy and exciting moment brought him to the cabin's door, still face
+to the enemy. Fumbling behind him with his left hand, Donald found and
+lifted the latch. The door swung suddenly open under his weight, Mike
+scurried between his legs, and the combination resulted in his downfall,
+precipitate and sprawling.</p>
+
+<p>Simultaneously came a startled exclamation in a treble voice, the
+clatter of a fallen kettle and then a quick cry of pain.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant Donald had scrambled ungracefully to his feet and found
+himself face to face with a picture that he was destined never to
+forget.</p>
+
+<p>Backed by a big stone fireplace, in which the embers were glowing
+ruddily, stood a young girl clad in a simple one-piece dress, which left
+neck, arms and legs bare. One dusty, but dainty, foot was held between
+her hands, while she balanced on the other. A tumbling mass of rich
+brown curls, shot with gleaming threads like tiny rays of captive
+sunshine, fell, unbound, over her shoulders, and partly veiled a
+childlike face, tanned to an Indian brown and now twisted with pain, but
+nevertheless so startlingly sweet and appealing that the man gasped in
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:300px'>
+<a name="illus-002" id="illus-002"></a>
+<a href="images/illus-006f.jpg">
+<img src="images/illus-006.jpg" alt="&#34;ONE DUSTY, BUT DAINTY, FOOT WAS HELD BETWEEN HER HANDS&#34;" title="" width="300" /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">&#34;ONE DUSTY, BUT DAINTY, FOOT WAS HELD BETWEEN HER HANDS&#34;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="page_7" id="page_7" title="7"></a>As
+it is with many who wear bluntness like a cloak, Donald possessed a
+deep-seated appreciation of the beautiful, without being capable of
+expressing it. But now he vaguely realized that here, where he would
+last have looked for it, he had blundered upon a child whom Mother
+Nature had designed lovingly and with painstaking care, perhaps in order
+to satisfy herself that, in the bustle of creation which nowadays left
+her little time for attention to fine detail, her hands had not wholly
+lost the cunning which was theirs when the world was young and women
+were few and fair.</p>
+
+<p>Her face had the qualities of a sweet wild-flower, delicate of form yet
+hardy enough to stand up under the stress of a storm. A critic might
+have declared the sensitive mouth a shade too broad for the tapering
+lines which formed the firmly rounded chin; he might have said that the
+upper lip, against which its companion was now tightly pressed to check
+its trembling, was too short for classic beauty; but he would hardly
+have been able to find a flaw in the molding of the straight, slender
+nose or the broad forehead, or the cheeks which curved as symmetrically
+as the petals of a damask rose, or&mdash;if he were human&mdash;with the faint
+shadows at the corners of the lips which were not dimples, but
+fascinatingly suggested them. But, above all, it was the child's eyes,
+heavy with a sudden rush of unshed tears that merely added to their
+appealing charm, which left the strongest impression on the man. They
+were remarkable<a class="pagenum" name="page_8" id="page_8" title="8"></a> eyes, long of lash and of a deep blue with limpid
+purple shadows and golden highlights.</p>
+
+<p>Her form, untrammelled by confining clothing and bending naturally, was
+slender and lithesome, but full of curves which told that the bud of
+childhood was just beginning to open into the blossom of early
+maturity&mdash;about fifteen or sixteen years old, Donald guessed her to be.</p>
+
+<p>At her feet lay an overturned kettle the contents from which, a simple
+stew, was sending up a cloud of steam from the rough floor, and
+explained the reason for the misty eyes and tenderly nursed ankle.</p>
+
+<p>The whole picture was graven on his mind in a single glance; but, the
+next instant the sunniest, most appealing of smiles broke through the
+girl's pain-drawn tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' ... yo' looked so funny a-fallin' over thet thar dawg, an'
+a-rollin' on the floor," her words bubbled forth.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad that you have something to laugh about, but dev ... deucedly
+sorry that I made you burn yourself, child," answered Donald, awkwardly.
+"It must hurt like the ... the mischief," he added, as he stepped
+forward to examine the injury with a quick return to his professional
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, hit <i>do</i> burn, kinder. But taint nothin'." She sniffed bravely,
+but a tear overflowed its reservoir and made a channel through a smudge
+on her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I happen to be a doctor&mdash;when I'm not on a vacation&mdash;so I can do
+a little toward repairing<a class="pagenum" name="page_9" id="page_9" title="9"></a> the damage I caused." He was already
+unfastening the small first-aid kit which experience had taught him
+never to go without.</p>
+
+<p>"Taint nothin', sir, really. I'll jest put some lard on hit, an' ..."
+began the girl, timidly backing away.</p>
+
+<p>Donald did not stop to argue, but placed his strong hands on either side
+of her slender waist and lifted her lightly to the homemade table, while
+she gasped and again the wonderful smile, more shy this time,
+transformed her tear-stained face. In silence, and with flying,
+experienced fingers, the physician applied a soothing salve to the
+blotchy red, fast-swelling burn on the ankle, and deftly bandaged it.</p>
+
+<p>"There," he said. "You won't know, in a few minutes, that anything has
+happened."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank ye, sir," said the girl, as he lifted her again and allowed her
+to slip gently to the floor. "Yo' shore knows how ter do up a foot."</p>
+
+<p>She hopped gingerly over to the fireplace, and began to clear up the
+wreck of supper, first calmly lifting the dog away from the steaming hot
+meat which his quivering nose was inquisitively approaching.</p>
+
+<p>"Be careful. Mike might ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he won't bite <i>me</i>." She broke into his warning, and gave a playful
+tug at the coarse hair on the animal's neck. Somewhat to Donald's
+surprise, the dog wiggled ecstatically at the friendly advances and paid
+his lowly homage by licking her bare foot.<a class="pagenum" name="page_10" id="page_10" title="10"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that mess, I'll clean it up if you'll get me a shovel. And
+of course I mean to pay for it," said Donald hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"In course yo' won't do no sech thing. We-all's got plenty uv
+pertaties,&mdash;I growed 'em myself,&mdash;this yere meat haint hurt a mite, an'
+water's cheap," she responded. "Yo' jest take a cheer, mister, an' yo'
+kin hev supper along with us as soon as grandpap comes, which'll be
+right soon, I reckon. We-all don't see stranger folks much up yere, an'
+he'll be plumb glad thet ye drapped in." She tossed a morsel of meat to
+the expectant Mike; then added shyly, "An' so be I."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I certainly 'drapped,'" laughed Donald. "It looked as though all
+the dogs south of the Mason-Dixon line had gathered to give Mike and me
+a warm, if not cordial, welcome, so we didn't stop to knock before
+coming in."</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky fer ye thet yo' struck a cabin whar the latch string air allus
+out," she answered, her silver laughter echoing his. "I hadn't a' ought
+ter hev been so skeered, but I warn't payin' no attention ter all the
+barkin', fer I jest allowed thet the dawgs hed treed a coon, er somep'n.
+Yo' see they haint exactly fond o' strangers, an' they be powerful
+fierce. I reckon they'd hev gobbled Mike right up."</p>
+
+<p>Donald glanced affectionately at the wiry mass of bone and sinew which
+went to make the police dog every inch a warrior, and doubted it. The
+child had finished her task, and started the stew to<a class="pagenum" name="page_11" id="page_11" title="11"></a> heating again over
+the fire, and now she turned, swept back the mass of curls from her
+heated face with a graceful motion of her shapely arm, and stood
+regarding him with frank curiosity. Donald had no intention of remaining
+longer, or accepting the hospitable invitation, but there was a touch of
+romance in the adventure, and a strong appeal in the girl herself, which
+caused him to hesitate, and linger to ask a few questions about the
+neighborhood and her life. When he did regretfully pick up his cap and
+rifle, and call the dog, who turned protestingly from
+her-who-dispensed-savory-pieces-of-meat, he found that he had suffered
+the fate of all who hesitate, for a glance through the window showed him
+that, although the glowing, iridescent reflection from the western sky
+still lingered in the mountain top, embroidering its edge with gold, it
+was fast fading, and already Night had spread her dusky mantle over the
+eastern slope. Already darkness had blotted out the lower reaches.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_12" id="page_12" title="12"></a>
+<a name="ENTER_BIG_JERRY_452" id="ENTER_BIG_JERRY_452"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h3>ENTER BIG JERRY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>As Donald stopped, uncertain, there came the sound of measured, heavy
+footfalls on the beaten dirt path outside the cabin. The girl's face
+lighted up joyfully; she hopped to the door, flung it open, and a
+slightly stooping, but gigantic, form stepped in out of the darkness,
+caught her up in his huge arms and submitted with a quizzical smile
+while she pulled his face toward hers by tugging at his long beard, and
+kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>Across the tumbled masses of her hair the newcomer's still piercing dark
+eyes, blinking a little under their shaggy brows as the fire leaped in
+the draft from the open door, caught sight of Donald as he stood back
+among the shadows. He straightened up suddenly, and his brows drew
+together in a suspicious scowl.</p>
+
+<p>The city man knew enough of the primitive code of the mountain people to
+understand that the presence of a man,&mdash;especially a strange man,&mdash;alone
+in the house with a young woman, was fraught with unpleasant
+possibilities. But, before he could speak, the child-woman had launched
+into a vivacious, if ungrammatical, explanation and story of what had<a class="pagenum" name="page_13" id="page_13" title="13"></a>
+occurred. In substantiation she now raised her short skirt and lifted
+the bandaged foot, with utter freedom from embarrassment, and laughed
+deliciously until an answering smile crept slowly into the eyes of the
+old mountaineer.</p>
+
+<p>With a simple courtesy, which seemed to hold something of innate
+majesty, he stepped forward, and extended a weatherbeaten hand, several
+sizes larger than Donald's, and boomed out in a deep voice that matched
+his physical proportions, "Yo're suttinly welcome, stranger. What
+happened warn't no fault o' yourn, and I'm plumb obleeged ter ye fer
+fixin' up my granddarter's hurt. Draw up a cheer fer the stranger,
+Smiles, he'll jine us in a bite er supper. The fare's simple, but I war
+raised on't, and 'pears ter me thet I top ye some."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say that you did. You make me feel small, and it's not often
+any man does that ... physically, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>The two clasped hands, and Donald winced as his own powerful fingers
+cracked under the crushing pressure of those of the older man, who
+seemed to take a boyish delight in this display of his tremendous
+strength.</p>
+
+<p>"What a colossus he is," thought Donald, as he gritted his teeth to keep
+back the involuntary exclamation of pain, for, although the massive
+shoulders and Jovian head of the mountaineer were stooped forward, he
+towered fully three inches above the six foot city athlete, and his
+iron-gray beard, rusted<a class="pagenum" name="page_14" id="page_14" title="14"></a> with tobacco juice about his mouth, swept over
+his chest almost to his waist.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for the invitation," he said aloud, as he covertly nursed his
+right hand. "It's mighty kind of you, but I don't want to impose longer,
+and, besides, I'd better start back to Fayville before it gets dark
+altogether. If you'll just tell me the most direct way, ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, I reckon the most <i>dee</i>rect way air ter go straight through the
+woods thar a piece, an' then jump off'n a four hundred foot cliff," the
+old man chuckled titanically. "But I likewise reckon taint pra'tical;
+leastwise, not onless yo' happen ter be one o' them new-fangled
+aviationeers I've hearn tell on. However, here ye be, an' here yo're
+goin' ter stay twill atter supper. Come, child. Sot on another plate fer
+the doctor man."</p>
+
+<p>"Donald MacDonald's my name, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Peers like yo'r paw stuttered when he give yo' thet name," laughed the
+giant. "Mine's Jerry Webb&mdash;'Big Jerry,' they mostwise calls me
+hyarerbouts." There was simple pride in the nickname evident in his
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, if you really want me to stay, I'd be glad enough to do it,
+Mr. Webb, although I don't like to cause any more trouble for Miss ..."</p>
+
+<p>"'Rose' air the given name of my leetle gal, but folks gener'ly calls
+her Smiles, fer short." The old man spoke with a noticeable tenderness
+toning his big voice.<a class="pagenum" name="page_15" id="page_15" title="15"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And there's no need of explaining the reason," answered Donald in a low
+aside so that the child, who was busy over the stewing kettle on its
+primitive crane, might not hear. "I never expect to see another to equal
+hers."</p>
+
+<p>His host sent a sharp glance at him, then, softening, it travelled to
+the graceful form of the girl silhouetted against the ruddy glow of the
+open fire, whose reflection outlined her warm flesh with a tint of
+burnished copper.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he responded simply. "Seems like, when thet leetle gal's sweet
+face lights up with a smile, hit's like a sunbeam a-breakin' through the
+leaves an' playin' on a waterpool in the quiet woods."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," interrupted Rose with a cry. "I done plumb ferget ter git the milk
+from Uncle Perly's, but 'twon't take more'n a minute. Kin I take Mike?"
+she added, pleadingly, as she buried her slim fingers in the rough hair
+on the dog's neck, while he stood sniffing acquaintance with the huge
+boots and homespun pantaloons of the giant.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure; that is if you're not still afraid that the neighbors' dogs will
+make a meal of him," smiled Donald, and the object of the conversation,
+who seemed to sense its meaning, sprang eagerly erect and placed his
+forepaws on the girl's breast.</p>
+
+<p>"No dawg haint a-goin' ter tetch him whilst he's with me," she responded
+with quiet assurance. "Come, Mickey."</p>
+
+<p>"Which air a fact," supplemented her grandfather,<a class="pagenum" name="page_16" id="page_16" title="16"></a> as girl and dog
+disappeared with a rush and a bark. "Dumb beasts an' children worships
+Smiles&mdash;an' hit haint scarse to be wondered at, fer she love 'em all.
+An' she's more rememberful than her grandpappy. Yo' see, we don't
+gener'ly hev milk fer our coffee, 'ceptin' when company comes."</p>
+
+<p>In some distress at this frank announcement, Donald said, "But I don't
+like to have you put yourselves out for me. I wouldn't have stayed
+if...."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, don't let thet idee disturb ye a mite. We're glad ter hev ye with
+us, an' what fer air friends ef hit haint ter be an excuse fer a leetle
+extry celebration? Set down, set down thar."</p>
+
+<p>Donald obeyed, and, while his host moved ponderously about, depositing
+the contents of a bundle which he had brought, studied his surroundings
+curiously. It was his first experience within a real "feud country"
+cabin, and he was interested to see how closely its appearance coincided
+with what his imagination had painted from reading fiction woven about
+them. To his quiet delight he found that it might almost have served as
+an illustration for such a book, as, one by one, he mentally checked off
+the salient features. There were the hand-hewn timbers of wall and
+unsheathed ceiling; the yawning rough stone fireplace with its wrought
+iron crane, and, above it, a rifle whose unusual length proclaimed its
+ownership; the strings of dried herbs and red pepper pods&mdash;few, to be
+sure, and dusty with age&mdash;suspended<a class="pagenum" name="page_17" id="page_17" title="17"></a> from the rafters; and, in one
+corner, a crude ladder leading into the loft.</p>
+
+<p>Only one thing was missing, the wall-beds or bunks, for the hand of
+civilization had pointed to one improvement, and doors, obviously not a
+part of the original simple structure, opened into a small addition,
+roughly partitioned into two sleeping rooms. They were of equal size,
+but there was no need of labels to proclaim their occupants, for one was
+so nearly filled with a bed which would have served for Golden Locks'
+biggest bear, that the rough clothing which was suspended from wooden
+pegs on the opposite wall hung against it, whereas the other contained,
+besides a narrow bed, a small chest of drawers with a cheap mirror above
+it, and a chair. The one window was draped with a daintily-flowered
+material, which Donald decided was calico, a cover of the same material
+lay across the chest, and on it&mdash;in the place of honor between an old
+comb and brush stood a small blue-and-white jar, whose cheaply glazed
+surface caught the flicker of the fire and winked at him as though it
+were aware of the absurdity of anything so trivial being held in such
+high esteem. More of the "calico," which really was an inexpensive but
+tasteful chintz, hung against the wall and served to hide from prying
+eyes the child's meagre wardrobe, and a bow of it was perkily tied to
+the back of the chair.</p>
+
+<p>Donald smiled his amusement and caught an answering grin on Big Jerry's
+face. "She haint<a class="pagenum" name="page_18" id="page_18" title="18"></a> like we-all," he said. "Wants ter hev bright an' purty
+things erbout, an' ..." he lowered his voice, "durned ef she didn't make
+me a <i>necktie</i> of thet thar stuff&mdash;seen one on a 'furriner' once." The
+visitor felt a warm satisfaction over the thought that his own costume
+didn't include such excess adornment.</p>
+
+<p>"I put hit on ... once, ter please her, but I reckon hit didn't make
+much of a showin' under <i>this</i>." He ran his fingers reflectively through
+his heavy beard for a moment; then, with his voice still a forte
+whisper, he added, "Say, stranger, I've got a leetle drap o' white
+liquor hid out in the woodshed whar Smiles kaint find hit, an' ef yo'd
+delight ter wet yo'r throat afore she comes back, why ..."</p>
+
+<p>The door flew open with a bang, and Rose and Mike tore in, panting and
+a-glitter with diamond drops of rain. Instantly the expression of simple
+guile on the old man's face changed so ludicrously to one of overdone
+innocence that it was all Donald could do to keep from laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Storm's a-comin'," cried the girl, gayly, while the dog rushed madly
+around the room, with his nose to the floor and barking hilariously,
+until his master seized him by the back and held him, squirming. A flash
+of distant lightning substantiated the announcement, and a few seconds
+later their ears caught the crescendo reverberations of thunder as it
+echoed down the valley.</p>
+
+<p>Mike growled uneasily and crouched close to his master's legs, but Rose
+ran again to the door and<a class="pagenum" name="page_19" id="page_19" title="19"></a> stood, heedless of the rain which beat in
+upon her wind-whipped skirt, peering out with evident delight. A still
+more vivid, zigzag flash rent the serried masses of black storm-clouds
+which were rolling up over the mountain's top, edging the nearer one
+with fire, and she laughed merrily and clapped her hands like a child.</p>
+
+<p>"Shet thet door, yo' young vixen," bellowed Big Jerry, plainly
+disturbed. The girl obeyed, and gave him a kiss, and the whining dog a
+reassuring pat, as she hurried back to finish setting the table&mdash;a
+simple matter, for there was no spotless damask, glittering silver and
+cut glass to deck the white-scoured top of the plain slab which formed a
+substantial table for many purposes.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment she had announced, quite informally, that supper was served;
+but, just as the two men arose to take their places, there came a long
+"hulloo-oo" above the sound of wind and rain. Again Rose dashed to the
+door, with the cry, "Why, thet's Judd Amos; I knows his call."</p>
+
+<p>Without reason or warning Donald experienced a quick tightening about
+his heart, the absurdity of which caused him to smile. What on earth was
+it to him if this mountain child's color heightened a shade at a
+familiar call in a masculine voice?</p>
+
+<p>The next instant a tall youth, as lean and sinewy as an Indian, stumbled
+into the room, with his rough coat about his head, and water streaming
+from his drenched clothing and the barrel of a gun, which was every whit
+as modern and efficient as Donald's own.<a class="pagenum" name="page_20" id="page_20" title="20"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Gosh a'mighty," he said. "Thought I'd be drownded, shore. Hit's a-goin'
+ter be a rip-snorter ... worst storm er the summer, by the way hit's
+started." Then, as he dashed the rain from his eyes, and, for the first
+time caught sight of the visitor, he stopped short in none too pleased
+surprise, if the black look which went toward Donald from beneath his
+lowering brows meant anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Make ye acquainted with Donald MacDonald, a doctor man from the city,
+Judd," boomed the giant's hearty voice. "Doc, shake hands with a
+neighbor uv ourn, Judd Amos."</p>
+
+<p>As Donald stood up he managed to silence Mike's throaty growl with a
+warning shove with his foot. The men formally clasped hands, their eyes
+looking steadily into each other's from the same level, and this time,
+primed by his earlier experience, the city man exerted all of his
+strength, and felt a glow of childish satisfaction as the other winced.</p>
+
+<p>"Set ye down, Judd. Draw a cheer up by the fire, yo're soaked," said Big
+Jerry. "Honey-rose," he added, addressing the girl in a wheedling tone,
+"Judd 'pears ter be powerful soaked an' cold. Kaint he ... kaint we-all
+hev jest a drap o' white liquor?"</p>
+
+<p>He stroked his beard and pushed aside his drooping mustache in
+anticipation, but to no avail, for her answer, uttered firmly and with
+no suggestion of a smile in her deep eyes this time, was, "'Deed yo'
+kaint; nary a drap. Yo' know, an' Juddy, <i>he</i><a class="pagenum" name="page_21" id="page_21" title="21"></a> knows ..." to Donald
+there seemed to be some special significance in her words, "thet thar
+haint a-goin' ter be nary a drap o' thet devil's brew in house o' mine.
+Why, I be plumb s'prised at ye, grandpap."</p>
+
+<p>The tremendous old man rubbed his whiskers faster and hemmed
+apologetically. "In course I haint got none ... in the cabin ..." he
+glanced quickly at Donald, "an' I didn't mean nothin', Smiles. Come,
+swing yo'r cheer erround ter the table, Judd, we'll jest fergit the
+eeliments, an' enjoy a dry celebration in the doctor's honor ... all
+'cept Judd, he air plenty wet," he added, in a jocose attempt to turn
+his mistake into a jest. "Rose hurted her foot, an' doc, he done hit up
+fer her real nice."</p>
+
+<p>More bashfully than before, the girl extended the injured member in its
+now mud-bedraggled bandage for the newcomer's inspection.</p>
+
+<p>Donald had been watching the scene with quiet amusement over the child's
+assurance, and had noticed not only the look of sorrowful resignation on
+her grandfather's face, but the dull flush which mounted the swarthy
+cheeks of the younger man. Judd's mouth retained the straight line for
+some time, but a quick burst of light-hearted song on Smiles' lips, as
+she turned to dish up the savory stew, showed that the incident was
+forgotten by her as soon as it was ended.</p>
+
+<p>"Better let me lift it down for you," said Donald,<a class="pagenum" name="page_22" id="page_22" title="22"></a> as she swung the
+crane with its heavy iron kettle from the fire. "We don't want any more
+burns here to-night."</p>
+
+<p>He jumped up and acted on the words without giving the matter a thought,
+but it seemed to him that the girl's pleased, "Thank ye, sir," was a bit
+embarrassed, and that the men regarded him with blank surprise. Not for
+a minute did it dawn upon him that his act had not been according to the
+code of the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>They were all seated at last, but yet another surprise was in store for
+the visitor, for Rose folded her hands, bent her head until the curls
+veiled the glowing face, and began a simple blessing. Big Jerry sat bolt
+upright with his eyes screwed up ludicrously, and, although Judd bent
+his head the merest fraction, it was with obvious embarrassment, and his
+flashing optics kept sending suspicious glances at the "furriner" as
+though to discover if he were laughing at them all. In fact, nothing was
+further from Donald's mind. It had been long since he had partaken of a
+meal at which grace was said, but the simple, homely words touched a
+chord of memory and made it vibrate to a note which brought both pain
+and pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>The host's stentorian "Amen" was the signal for attack, and for a time
+the business of satisfying the demands of healthy hunger was paramount
+to all things else. It was no feast of wit and wisdom, but of something,
+for the time being, more desirable,<a class="pagenum" name="page_23" id="page_23" title="23"></a> and the application of the other
+three gave Donald an opportunity to study covertly the unusual group of
+which he had so unexpectedly become a part.</p>
+
+<p>Although he was essentially a man of action, his brusqueness of manner
+was, in part at least, a pose which had become unconscious, and, deep
+within his heart, in a chamber carefully locked from the gaze of his
+fellow men, dwelt Romance and Imagination&mdash;the spirit gifts of a mother,
+whose death, five years before, had brought him his first black grief.
+Had this visioning power been lacking in him he could never have
+accomplished the modern miracles which he had already wrought many times
+in constructive and restorative surgery. Now, the spirit of imagery in
+his soul was stirred by something in the romantic unreality of his
+surroundings&mdash;the rude, yet interesting room which served all family
+purposes save that of slumber; the mellow radiance from a crude lamp and
+the ever-changing light of the open fire; the long, wavering shadows
+within the cabin; and, without, the banshee wailing of the storm wind
+around the eaves, the occasional crash of thunder, the creaking of limbs
+and fitful dashes of rain. He found himself leaning back in his chair
+and mentally attempting to dissect and study not the bodies, but the
+personalities, of the three who were the representatives of a type, in
+manners and customs at least, new to him.</p>
+
+<p>In his boyhood, and before the pressing demands of his profession had
+enslaved him, Donald had been<a class="pagenum" name="page_24" id="page_24" title="24"></a> an insatiate reader, and now he
+endeavored to recall to memory some of the stories which he had read
+about this strange people, whose dwelling place was within the limits of
+the busy, progressive East, yet who were surprisingly isolated from it
+by natural barriers, and still more so by traditions slow to perish.
+Pure of stock he knew them to be, for their unmixed blood had had its
+fountain source in the veins of some of America's best and earliest
+settlers; primitive in their ideals, strong in their simple purposes and
+passions, the products of, and perhaps even now factors in, blood feuds
+whose beginnings dated back generations. And, although he laughed at
+himself for his imaginings as he remembered that the twentieth century
+was ten years old, he found himself assigning both the men places in his
+memory picture.</p>
+
+<p>Big Jerry, slow of speech, patriarchal in looks and bearing, powerful in
+body, became, to his mind's eye, the venerable chieftain of a mountain
+clan. Judd, with his aquiline face, which was undoubtedly handsome in a
+dark, brooding way, beneath its uncombed shock of black hair which swept
+low over his forehead, sinewy with the strength, quickness and muck of
+the natural grace of a panther, was the typical outlaw of the hills.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_25" id="page_25" title="25"></a>
+<a name="AN_INNOCENT_SERPENT_IN_EDEN_788" id="AN_INNOCENT_SERPENT_IN_EDEN_788"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h3>AN INNOCENT SERPENT IN EDEN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Donald turned his appraising gaze upon the child, and here the illusion
+yielded to another, quite different.</p>
+
+<p>Even her primitive dress, her unbound hair, her crude forms of speech
+and soft, drawling intonation&mdash;such as the throaty, unvarying
+pronunciation of "the" as though it were "ther," and "a" like
+"er"&mdash;which sounded so deliciously odd to his New England ears, could
+not erase from his mind the impression that she did not belong in the
+picture. To be sure he had, during his tramps, already seen many a wild
+mountain flower so delicately sweet that it seemed out of place amid its
+stern environment. But Rose affected him differently, although the
+difference was subtle, indefinable.</p>
+
+<p>In the company of the men he was conscious of the reserve which one of
+his type instinctively feels when first in the presence of people of
+another race or class. With her he was already wholly at his ease.
+Donald finally attributed this to the fact that she was, after all,
+merely a child&mdash;one of a class which is akin the world over, and which
+he understood better than any other.<a class="pagenum" name="page_26" id="page_26" title="26"></a></p>
+
+<p>As the simple meal progressed, Big Jerry began to ply the visitor with
+questions, and press him to talk on many subjects connected with the
+wide world of men; and, as Donald's natural reticence yielded to the
+na&iuml;ve interrogations, he answered with a readiness which somewhat
+surprised even himself. The child ate little; but sat with her elbows on
+the table, her firmly rounded chin resting on her clasped hands, and
+drank in his words. Her luminous eyes were fixed on his face, and
+expressions of wonder and delight chased each other across her own
+countenance, like wavering light and shade on a placid pool.</p>
+
+<p>Judd, too, remained silent, ill at ease, and his dark, morose eyes ever
+shifted from the face of the man to that of the girl. Once, while Donald
+and his host were engaged in an animated discussion, he awkwardly
+attempted to draw Rose into personal conversation; but he relapsed again
+into moody silence when he received a frank, though smiling, rebuff.
+Clearly the meal was not an enjoyable one for him.</p>
+
+<p>All things of human invention come to an end, and at last Big Jerry
+lifted his towering frame from his chair to indicate that the supper was
+over. With obvious relief Judd crossed to the door and, opening it,
+announced that the storm had nearly passed. It was still raining,
+however.</p>
+
+<p>"Ef yo' air goin' back ter the village, stranger, I'll be pleased ter
+sot ye on yo'r way," he announced<a class="pagenum" name="page_27" id="page_27" title="27"></a> as he drew on his coat, and to
+Donald's mind the sentence carried an unmistakable <i>double entente</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless he answered promptly, "Thanks, I'd be much obliged if you
+would. Perhaps Mr. Webb can spare me a lantern, too, since these paths
+are unfamiliar to ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Sho, yo haint a-goin' out er this house ter-night, friend," broke in
+the old man. "Leastwise, ef yo'r willin' ter put up with sech
+accommodations as the loft room offers ye. Thar haint no sense of yer
+takin' er five-mile walk through them drenched bushes, an' gittin'
+soaked yerself."</p>
+
+<p>"In course yer goin' ter stay," echoed the girl, with childlike delight.
+"Besides, I wants ter hear lots more erbout the city an' city folks."</p>
+
+<p>"But I have already imposed enough on your hospitality," protested
+Donald, hesitatingly, since the invitation held a strong appeal for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' haint imposed at all. Set yo'rself down. I shore appreciates yo'r
+company."</p>
+
+<p>Judd scowled from the doorway, then flung back over his shoulder a
+short, "Wall, I reckon I'll be startin' home now," and, without further
+words, he went out, closing the door behind him with unnecessary
+violence. Donald said nothing, but he was frankly amused; for it was
+very apparent that the young mountaineer felt that he had a proprietary
+interest in Rose, and was undisguisedly jealous of the stranger who was
+held in such high favor.<a class="pagenum" name="page_28" id="page_28" title="28"></a></p>
+
+<p>Rose, however, lost no time thinking of her lover,&mdash;if lover she regarded
+him,&mdash;but flew about the final household duties, humming happily, and
+now and then breaking into unfinished snatches of song like a wild wood
+bird. Evidently the slight burn no longer troubled her and was already
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Her work finished, she joined the two men, who were smoking their pipes
+before the blazing fire, and seated herself crosslegged at her
+grandfather's feet. Mike got up leisurely from his post beneath his
+master's chair, stretched forward and back, yawned prodigiously, and
+then lay down with his shaggy head on the girl's bare legs. As Donald
+talked, Rose played with the dog, rolling him over and rubbing his
+underbody until his mouth opened in a grotesque animal imitation of her
+own wonderful smile, which constantly flashed to her lips like a ray of
+light, only to vanish as swiftly, and leave its slowly fading afterglow
+in her deep eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Mac," said the child timidly, during a moment of contented silence,
+her natural use of his intimate nickname, both startling and pleasing
+Donald, "yo-all allowed thet yo' doctored children mostly. I loves
+babies more'n anything else in the world, 'ceptin' only grandpap;
+they're so purty an' sweet an' helpless-like, thet I reckon the Lord
+loves 'em powerful, an' the' haint nothin' finer then takin' keer of
+'em."</p>
+
+<p>Donald nodded with pleasure, and the girl continued, dreamily:<a class="pagenum" name="page_29" id="page_29" title="29"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I allows thet, when God made people an' put the breath o' life inter
+them, he hadn't quite got outer his mind what he done on an earlier day,
+an' was jest improvin' on hit; fer hit sorter seems ter me thet big men
+an' women air like growin' trees, fashioned fer ter stand up agin ther
+eliments an' storms most times; but babies air like tiny leetle
+flowers&mdash;so weak an' tender thet we hev ter take mighty good keer of
+'em. Don't yo' never feel, somehow, like yo' was tendin' a gyarden of
+purty flowers, an' a-drivin' away the grubs an' bugs what would make 'em
+wilt an' die?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure I do, my child," he answered, wondering if she realized how
+apt was her simile, since most disease is, indeed, caused by "bugs an'
+grubs." "And many people, with imaginations like yours, have felt
+exactly the same. Did you ever read a poem called 'The Reaper'? No, I
+suppose not," he added, as the girl shook her curls, while a wistful
+look crept into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"It was written by Longfellow, a very famous poet who used to live near
+my home city of Boston, and no man ever loved little children better
+than he did. I had to learn the verses years ago when I was a schoolboy,
+and I remember the first of them still:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p style='margin-left:2em;'>
+"'There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, with his sickle keen,</span><br />
+He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the flowers that grow between.'</span><br />
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_30" id="page_30" title="30"></a></p>
+
+<p>"For&mdash;he has the Reaper say&mdash;the Lord has need of the pretty flowers to
+make his garden in Heaven more bright and fair."</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought er thet," said the girl seriously, "but I reckon hit's
+so. Grandpap's bearded like the grain, but somehow he 'pears ter me more
+like er big pine tree, fer grain bends before ther wind, an' he haint
+never bent ter no storm."</p>
+
+<p>"And I? Am I a tree, too," queried Donald with amusement.</p>
+
+<p>She studied him judiciously and then answered with quiet assurance,
+"Yo're the oak. Hit don't bend, neither."</p>
+
+<p>"And yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why," she laughed, "I'm jest a rose like my name. A rose jest growrn'
+inter er bush."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure you are. Except that roses have thorns."</p>
+
+<p>"I hev thorns, too," she said with conviction, and Donald doubted
+it&mdash;then.</p>
+
+<p>"I should plumb love ter take keer of babies an' make 'em well an'
+strong like yo' do," she went on pensively.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you may, someday. You'll have babies of your own."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," was her simple reply, "I shall have babies ter love an' keer for,
+but I meant thet I wanted ter help all little children."</p>
+
+<p>"A children's nurse, perhaps, like those who work with me," and he went
+on to tell her graphically of<a class="pagenum" name="page_31" id="page_31" title="31"></a> the wonderful things done at the
+Children's Hospital, upon the staff of which he was.</p>
+
+<p>Rose listened, as enchanted as a child with a fairy story,&mdash;and indeed
+such it was, a modern fairy tale wherein medicine was a magic potion,
+and the merciful knife a magic wand. Told in simple language which she
+could understand, his story of the work in which his very life was bound
+up seemed to her like an epic, and, when he paused, she drew her breath
+with a sigh of keen delight, and cried, "Oh, granddaddy. Haint thet a
+wonderful thing fer ter do? I shorely wants ter be a trained nurse like
+thet when I grows up."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will, some day, who knows?" said Donald thoughtlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"An' what would this hyar old pine do without the rosebush blossomin'
+close beside him? What would the leetle wild mountain flowers hyarabouts
+do without thar Smiles ter take keer o' them?" asked the old man
+tenderly, but with a hidden undercurrent of distress.</p>
+
+<p>"But ef I could larn ter take <i>better</i> keer o' them ..." began the girl.</p>
+
+<p>The old man moved uneasily, then said, "Wall, yo're only a leetle
+rosebud yerself now, an' hit's more'n time yo' closed up fer the night.
+Run erlong ter bed, hon."</p>
+
+<p>Obedient, but a little rebellious, Rose got up slowly, kissed the
+strong, weather-scarred cheek of the old man and turned toward the door
+of her room.<a class="pagenum" name="page_32" id="page_32" title="32"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Smiles," called Donald. She hesitated a moment, then ran
+back to him with childish impetuosity, flung her slender arms about his
+neck and kissed him, too, whispering, "I loves ye, Dr. Mac, fer thet yo'
+loves little children."</p>
+
+<p>The frank embrace embarrassed him a little, and he felt the thrill of an
+almost unknown glow in his heart. Many a time his patients&mdash;even those
+as old as Rose&mdash;had kissed him thus; but something in her act left a new
+impression. Judged by the standards of the mountain folks she was almost
+a woman, and he knew it.</p>
+
+<p>Mike pattered to her door as it closed, scratched upon it with a low
+whine, and then lay down close against it.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence in the room as the men, each busy with his
+own thoughts, puffed steadily. Then Big Jerry carefully knocked the
+ashes from his pipe and remarked, "Hit haint no fault er yourn,
+stranger; but I haint altergether pleased at ther thoughts yo'r comin'
+hes placed in my leetle gal's head. She won't easy ferget what yo' done
+told her, an' ... an' I couldn't bear fer ter lose her."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry. I spoke without thinking that it might result in her
+becoming discontented," answered Don. "To-morrow I'll try to make her
+understand&mdash;what is a fact&mdash;that although her loving heart might be ever
+so eager, her ways and those of the city are so utterly different that
+she couldn't possibly<a class="pagenum" name="page_33" id="page_33" title="33"></a> hope to go there and become a nurse such as I
+described. You understand what I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, an' I'd be powerful obleeged ter ye, friend," replied the old man
+with evident relief. "Hit's es yo' say. Rose air er mountain gal by
+bringin' up, ef not by birth, an' 'tis hyar thet she rightfully belongs
+now."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_34" id="page_34" title="34"></a>
+<a name="SMILES_1022" id="SMILES_1022"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h3>"SMILES"</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>"'Not by birth?'" echoed Donald, in surprise. "But I thought that she
+was your granddaughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"An' so she be&mdash;or perhaps my darter," hastily answered Jerry, realizing
+his error too late. "I reckon I shouldn't hev told ye," he added in
+distress.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let any such idea worry you, Mr. Webb. Where she came from is
+nothing to me, and, indeed, after to-morrow I shall probably never see
+her again. I've got to admit, though, that you have aroused my
+curiosity, and I'd like to hear the story that's behind her presence
+here, if you are willing to tell it."</p>
+
+<p>The giant hesitated, then said slowly, "Wall, I kaint think of no reason
+why yo' shouldn't hyar hit. Hit happened this erway.</p>
+
+<p>"Twar one mornin', thirteen summers ergone, an' I war ergunnin' down in
+ther woods er piece, not fur from ther Swift River. I rekerlect hit war
+er purty mornin', with ther dew still er-clingin' ter ther grass, an'
+sparklin'&mdash;like jewels, an' ther wood birds war singin' like they war
+special happy. I clumb erround er big rock, an' all of er sudden I
+seen&mdash;I seen er leetle mite of er gal, standin, thar, jest es still es
+still. She warn't more'n three year<a class="pagenum" name="page_35" id="page_35" title="35"></a> old, I jedged, an' she suttinly
+come from ther city, fer her leetle dress warn't like none I'd ever
+seen&mdash;hit hed sorter loose panterloons ter hit, an', although her legs
+war bare&mdash;an' all scratched an' bleedin'&mdash;thar war tiny socks an' shoes
+on 'em. Thar war tears in her big blue eyes an' on her purty cheeks, but
+she warn't cryin' none, then. No, sir; she war jest erstandin' an'
+erlookin' up ter whar a robin war singin' in an oak tree, an' her leetle
+mouth war open fer all ther world like a rosebud. Wall, es I stood thar,
+erwatchin' like I'd seen er fairy, she smiles&mdash;yo' know thet smile of
+her'n, like a rainbow breakin' fer er minute through the rain, an' then
+fadin' erway slow?</p>
+
+<p>"I calls ter her sorter soft-like, an' dang me ef she didn't come
+walkin' right up ter me, not a mite erfeered. She made a funny leetle
+bow, held out her chubby hand an' says, 'How do ye do, big man. Hev ye
+seen my pappa an' mamma?'</p>
+
+<p>"I tuck her on my knee, an' leetle by leetle&mdash;fer she couldn't talk
+much&mdash;she told me thet they come from a great, big city whar war
+'lectric and steam cyars an' policemen, fer ter play in the woods, an'
+thet her pappa an' mamma hed gone out on the water in a boat ter ketch a
+fish fer baby's breakfast. Thar boat hed runned erway with her pappa an'
+mamma, she said, an' they war settin' in hit cryin'.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckoned what hed happed ter them, fer tharerbouts the Swift River
+air a most deceevin', treetcherous stream, what looks innocent, but hes
+a powerful<a class="pagenum" name="page_36" id="page_36" title="36"></a> swift current what don't show. City folks haint no business
+ter go campin' in woods thet they don't know nothin' erbout," he
+interpolated.</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, I left the leetle gal ersettin' on the rock, an' runned es fast
+es ever I could down stream ter the rapids. Her folks warn't nowhar ter
+be seen, but I found part of thar canoeboat, smashed ter splinters, an'
+I guessed the rest." He paused, and smoked steadily for some time before
+continuing.</p>
+
+<p>"In course the baby couldn't tell us much, 'ceptin' thet her name war
+Rose. She didn't remember the name of the city whar they come from, but
+she said thet erfore they come inter the woods, she slept all night on a
+train.</p>
+
+<p>"We found ther campin' outfit of her paw an' maw, an' whar hit stood I
+built up a leetle mound with a sorter cross on hit, in thar memory.</p>
+
+<p>"In course, I tried ter find out arterwards whar they come from, but hit
+warn't no sorter use. Thar war no address on anything in the tent or
+thar spare-close, and no one hed seen them in Fayville or tharerbouts,
+so I reckoned thay come clar ercross the mountains from Kentuck. Mebbe,
+ef I hed hed more money, I mought hev found out erbout them; but us war
+powerful po'r them days. An'&mdash;mebbe, again, hit war wrong&mdash;but maw an'
+me couldn't holp thinkin' thet the leetle gal war sent us by the good
+Lord, fer we didn't hev no children, hevin' lost a leetle gal jest
+erbout es old es Smiles, ten years back."<a class="pagenum" name="page_37" id="page_37" title="37"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that you have any cause for reproaching yourself, Mr.
+Webb," broke in Donald, reassuringly. "It seems to me that you did all
+you could do, under the circumstances. Certainly the child was
+fortunate, for you have been very kind to the little waif."</p>
+
+<p>"We war mostly kind ter ourselves," was Big Jerry's simple rejoinder.
+"She shorely hes been a ray of sunshine in this hyar cabin&mdash;'specially
+since maw died three years ergone, since when Rose hes taken keer of
+hit, an' me. She air a leetle mite of a tyrant, et times, but I reckon
+I'm ther better fer hit.</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, we brung her up like our own flesh an' blood, but altho' she
+called my woman 'Maw', she allus called me 'Grandpappy.' An' we didn't
+never try ter make her fergit her real paw an' maw, an' every
+birthday&mdash;leastwise we calls ther day she come ter us her birthday&mdash;she
+puts wild flowers on the mound I made. She's growed up like the other
+children hyar, and 'twar them what fust called her Smiles; but 'twarnt
+long erfore maw an' me sorter got inter the habit of doin' hit too, fer
+hit suits her right well."</p>
+
+<p>The speaker became silent, his memory dwelling in scenes of the dimming
+past, while Donald's thoughts were busy with the story which he had just
+heard. The inherent difference between <i>her</i> personality and that of the
+average mountain girl was explained. The curtsy which she&mdash;a
+three-year-old baby&mdash;had<a class="pagenum" name="page_38" id="page_38" title="38"></a> made Big Jerry, seemed to indicate that she
+had been a flower of city hothouse culture before being transplanted to
+the wilds, and there growing up, in outward semblance at least, in
+conformity with her environment. But, Donald felt, within the child lay
+an ineradicable strain of breeding, making her different from these
+others, an inherited fineness of soul of which her peculiar charm was
+evidence.</p>
+
+<p>A little later his host arose, and said with native courtesy, "I reckon
+yo're tired enough ter want ter go ter bed, stranger, an' I'll show ye
+ter yo'r loft room."</p>
+
+<p>The pair bade each other good-night, and Donald climbed the homemade
+ladder to his resting place beneath the roof, on which the rain was
+still keeping up a continuous patter. He felt that he was weary enough
+so that no rocking was needed to induce slumber, but it was nevertheless
+some time before he really fell asleep. And when he did it was with the
+mental picture of the child's smile, like a quickly vanishing sun-rift
+in the mist, before his closed eyes.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Donald was awakened the next morning by the sound of laughing voices,
+and Mike's hilarious barking, outside his little window. Looking through
+it he beheld a delightful picture. On the dew-sprinkled grass of the
+little clearing about the cottage were merrily romping the dog, Rose and
+a small child. Beyond, lay the mountain's wooded descent, rich in<a class="pagenum" name="page_39" id="page_39" title="39"></a>
+variegated greens and seemingly rising like an island shore from a sea
+of pearly vapor, tinted with delicate mauve, rose and amber by the sun,
+which had itself not yet risen above the valley mist. Scrambling into
+his outer garments, the man ran down to join them in their game.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, er yo'll git yo're feet wetted, Mr. doctor man," cried Rose
+gayly, as she drew her own bare foot through the grass and held it
+forward shining with dew.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think a little thing like wet feet would stop me from getting
+into the game?" he answered. "And you called me a sturdy oak! Who is the
+little buttercup?" he added, looking at the child whose shock of bright
+golden curls made his nickname an apt one.</p>
+
+<p>"She's Lou, Judd's leetle sister, an' her house air jest over thar
+beyond ourn. Yo' guessed rightly, she <i>air</i> one er my flower children,
+ain't ye, honey-sweet?" Rose dropped to her knees in the wet grass, and
+gathered the bashful child against her tenderly. The baby buried her
+face in her friend's neck without speaking, and in a moment Rose stood
+up, saying, "We-all thinks a heap er Lou, 'specially Judd."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a little niece at home just about Lou's age. Her name is
+Muriel. Would you like to hear about her and her playthings? She's got a
+tiny pony and cart," he said, and soon the child was sitting in his lap,
+listening wide-eyed to the description<a class="pagenum" name="page_40" id="page_40" title="40"></a> of dolls who opened and shut
+their eyes, and wonderful mechanical toys which walked and turned
+somersaults, monkeys which climbed poles and other equally incredible
+things.</p>
+
+<p>"He air a funny man, an' he tells funny stories," giggled the child,
+when Donald had exhausted his memory and imagination. "In course thar
+hain't no sech things."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed thar <i>air</i>, ef he says thar air," chided Rose with implicit
+faith in her friend.</p>
+
+<p>"What, doll babies thet open an' shet thar eyes, an' say 'maw' an' 'paw'
+like weuns, Smiles?" asked the baby, unconvinced.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait until I go back home, and I'll send you one that can do every one
+of those wonderful things," laughed Donald. "I mean to send Rose a
+present, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," cried the latter, "I shall be more'n obleeged ter ye."</p>
+
+<p>"What would you like best," he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She thought seriously a moment, then said, "I reckon I should like best
+a white dress an' cap, like the nurses wear."</p>
+
+<p>Donald experienced a pang of regret, but responded lightly, "Very well,
+that shall be yours, and I'm also going to send you a little book of
+poems called 'The Child's Garden of Verses', written by another man who
+looked on babies as flowers, too."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the sound of quick footsteps caused them to look up. Judd
+Amos was coming<a class="pagenum" name="page_41" id="page_41" title="41"></a> around the side of the cottage, and the night had
+apparently not taken the black look from his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Juddy," cried the baby, wriggling free of Donald's arms. "Thet man
+thar air er goin' ter send me er doll baby thet opens an' shets hits
+eyes, Juddy."</p>
+
+<p>"We're obleeged ter ye; but I reckon thet I kin buy Lou all the presents
+she needs," said Judd gruffly. "Yo' maw wants ye ter come ter breakfast,
+sis," he added, and picked the baby up in his long arms, giving her an
+undoubtedly affectionate hug as he saw that the tears had sprung to her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"That's nonsense," snorted Donald angrily, as Judd disappeared with his
+burden. "I'll send the doll to you&mdash;along with the dress and book&mdash;and
+he can't stop <i>you</i> from giving it to her."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon he <i>kaint</i>," Rose responded with eyes flashing. "I kin make
+Judd Amos do jest whatsoever I tells him." And Donald thought that she
+probably spoke the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"Haint we a-goin' ter hev no breakfast this mornin'?" came Big Jerry's
+deep voice, toned to assumed anger, as he appeared with an armful of
+wood, and, laughing merrily, Rose blew him a kiss and disappeared
+within-doors.</p>
+
+<p>During the morning meal, which was quickly prepared, the girl talked
+continually of the delights of being a children's nurse, and as he
+observed the look of worry on the old man's face, Donald determined<a class="pagenum" name="page_42" id="page_42" title="42"></a> to
+put an end to the child's rosy, but impossible, dream as soon as
+possible. His duty was plain enough, even if he had not given his
+promise to Rose's grandfather; yet the more he saw of her the stronger
+grew the unbidden thought of what a wonderful woman she would make if
+she could be taken to the city and given the advantages of education.</p>
+
+<p>His opportunity came when, breakfast over, Big Jerry started for the
+door, announcing that he would be back in a few moments.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wait for you to return before I go, and talk to the child as I
+agreed," said Donald, in an undertone. The old man nodded his
+understanding.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly knowing how to commence, Donald turned to the girl and said
+hesitatingly, "Little Rose, I've got to go along in a few moments, but
+first I must tell you something which I'm afraid will cause you
+disappointment."</p>
+
+<p>Smiles stepped close to him, with her large eyes filled with a surprised
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"It is this. I wish, indeed, that you might grow up to be a nurse for
+little children, such as my story last night set you to dreaming of
+being, but, although I'm sure you would be a splendid one, it is
+impossible, you know, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Why haint hit possible?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, dear child, nurses of that sort have to study and know
+almost as much as doctors. They have to train&mdash;go to school in the
+hospital, that is&mdash;for three years."<a class="pagenum" name="page_43" id="page_43" title="43"></a></p>
+
+<p>"But I haint erfeered ter work. I <i>wants</i> ter study, an' larn," she
+cried eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know, but ... well, it costs a lot of money in the first place;
+nurses don't get any pay while they're learning, and they have to
+deposit three hundred dollars before they can take the course, one
+hundred each year. Besides that, they have to have a good education to
+start with. Probably you don't know what is meant by a 'High School,'
+but a girl must have gone through one&mdash;studied steadily for twelve or
+thirteen years&mdash;or at least have an equivalent amount of education,
+before she can hope to enter the Children's Hospital."</p>
+
+<p>"Wha ... what do 'equivalent' mean?" she asked, with her lips beginning
+to tremble a little from disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>"It means that you would have to know as much as though you had gone
+through a High School, and be able to pass an examination proving that
+you do."</p>
+
+<p>Very slowly Rose turned back to recommence her work, and Donald sensed,
+rather than saw, that the tears were very near to the surface. Another
+roseate dream of childhood had been ruthlessly shattered, and he hated
+himself for having witlessly engendered it in her mind, since it could
+only be born to die unrealized.</p>
+
+<p>When she spoke again, it was to say with a telltale quaver in her
+subdued voice, "I reckon thet us mountain folks kaint never do
+worthwhile things, fer all sech take er mighty lot er larnin'."<a class="pagenum" name="page_44" id="page_44" title="44"></a></p>
+
+<p>"There are two kinds of learning in this world, Rose, one of the mind,
+and the other of the heart. And without the benefits which come from the
+latter, the things of the former would be of little use. You may be sure
+that helping one's neighbors, as you are always helping yours; being
+happy yourself and making others contented and happier, and bringing
+smiles to the lips of friends by the example of your own sweet smile;
+are things very much worth while," said Donald, haltingly, but with
+sincerity. He placed his arm about her slender shoulder, with the
+half-hope that she would accept his comfort, and perhaps cry out the
+last of her disappointment with her head on his breast. Instead, she
+turned sharply away and went on with the work she had started, and the
+man followed her grandfather outside, realizing that hers, like most
+battles within the soul, must be fought out alone.</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments, and while he was still talking to Big Jerry, Rose
+joined them on the stoop. A quick glance at her flowerlike face told
+Donald that her childish&mdash;but none the less real&mdash;grief was banished,
+for a smile of victory curved her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Ef ye haint a-goin' ter the city right away, doctor," said his host,
+"we would be downright pleased ter hev ye come up ergin. I've come ter
+like ye right well."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I shall&mdash;come every day if I may, for you and little Rose seem
+like old friends of mine already. And, when I do go back next week, you<a class="pagenum" name="page_45" id="page_45" title="45"></a>
+may be sure that I shall not forget either of you, or your hospitality."</p>
+
+<p>He picked up his rifle regretfully, whistled to Mike, who came bounding
+to him, but whose tail drooped ludicrously when he understood by canine
+instinct that the call meant separation from his new comrade, and with a
+final good-bye wave, struck off into the woods.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_46" id="page_46" title="46"></a>
+<a name="GIVING_AND_RECEIVING_1337" id="GIVING_AND_RECEIVING_1337"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<h3>GIVING AND RECEIVING</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The call of the Jungle Folk, "Good hunting," was not fulfilled during
+Donald's day in the forest. Game there was aplenty, but he made clumsy
+work of following the fresh tracks in the wet wood mould, and missed the
+one wild creature that he saw, for he shot at it rather by instinct than
+design, and was not sorry that his bullet went wide. Indeed, love of the
+out-of-doors and the thrill of the chase, rather than the wish to slay,
+drew him into the woods for his brief respites from work and for
+recreation each summer. He seldom killed except for food; the convulsive
+pain-drawn death struggle, the cry of mortal agony, and the despairing
+look in the glazed eyes of dumb, stricken animals held no fascination
+for him. He saw too much of such things among human beings.</p>
+
+<p>The day, truly, was a glory. The storm of the previous night had cleared
+and revivified the air, which, for many days, had been oppressively
+sultry; the irregular patches of sky, glimpsed through the branches,
+were a transparent blue; the springy ground was bright with wild
+blossoms and colorful berries,&mdash;dogwood and service berry,&mdash;adder's<a class="pagenum" name="page_47" id="page_47" title="47"></a>
+tongue, bleeding heart and ferns in rich profusion. His subconscious
+senses drank in the manifold beauties, but his active mind was otherwise
+engaged.</p>
+
+<p>To-day the solitude, usually so appealing, so restful after fifty
+work-filled weeks amid the noisy turmoil of the city's life, lacked
+something of its customary charm and satisfaction. The man found himself
+with a real longing for the companionship of the simple old man and the
+intimate appeal of the child, whose acquaintance he had enjoyed for a
+few hours only. It was on them, rather than on his present occupation,
+that his thoughts were bent.</p>
+
+<p>At last approaching night found him safely back in the valley village,
+where the keeper of the primitive boarding house expressed her
+solicitation over his prolonged absence, as she handed him several
+letters which had arrived the day previous. One epistle, from his
+associate physician, Dr. Bentley, carried a pressing plea that he return
+to Boston as soon as possible, and perform a difficult operation. The
+call was so urgent that Donald regretfully concluded that duty demanded
+his compliance.</p>
+
+<p>He determined, however, not to leave without paying a final visit to his
+new friends, and, soon after sun-up the following morning, set forth for
+Big Jerry's cabin, carrying, as a present for Rose, a woven sweetgrass
+basket filled with such simple confections as the general store
+afforded. Nor had he forgotten a generous supply of pipe tobacco for her
+grandfather.<a class="pagenum" name="page_48" id="page_48" title="48"></a></p>
+
+<p>Donald plunged into the woods and headed for Swift River, whose broken,
+winding course he followed upward until he reached the rapids of rushing
+molten silver and the low, but dangerous, fall which marked the spot of
+the early tragedy in the child's life. As he stood there, cap in hand,
+the sound of a low treble voice in song fell on his ears, coming from a
+place not far distant.</p>
+
+<p>Some one, alone under the cathedral arches of the forest, was softly
+chanting the words of the simple, familiar hymn, "Nearer, My God, to
+Thee," and, impelled by the unusualness of the thing at such an hour and
+in such a place, Donald moved quietly forward until the solitary singer
+was in view.</p>
+
+<p>It was Rose. She was kneeling beside a low, rounded mound covered with
+fresh-gathered forest vines, and sprinkled with wild flowers.</p>
+
+<p>The meaning of the picture flashed at once into the man's mind. This was
+the "birthday" of little Smiles&mdash;the anniversary of her advent to a new
+life&mdash;and this her yearly pilgrimage of love and filial homage to those
+barely remembered two who had given her being.</p>
+
+<p>Donald waited in silence, leaning against a concealing tree trunk, until
+the child had ended her act of simple devotion by throwing an unaffected
+kiss from her finger tips, not towards the dead earth, but upwards to
+the spirit world above.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:300px'>
+<a name="illus-003" id="illus-003"></a>
+<a href="images/illus-048f.jpg">
+<img src="images/illus-048.jpg" alt="&#34;SHE WAS KNEELING BESIDE A LOW, ROUNDED MOUND&#34;" title="" width="300" /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">&#34;SHE WAS KNEELING BESIDE A LOW, ROUNDED MOUND&#34;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="page_49" id="page_49" title="49"></a>Then,
+as she arose and moved slowly away, her light step barely
+disturbing the grass, Donald followed and overtook her. The girl's
+greeting, although more subdued than on the morning before, was none the
+less delighted, and, with her hand snuggled warmly in his, they made
+their way to the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>"I bids ye welcome, doctor," sang out Big Jerry, as he caught sight of
+them. "Hit shor' air a fine day fer ter spend in ther woods."</p>
+
+<p>"And I cannot spend it there," answered Donald, ruefully. "I've been
+called back to the city to attend a little sick patient, and leave
+Fayville on the noon train."</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, now, thet air too bad, an' hit's mighty kind er ye ter come way
+up hyar erfore yo' left," said the old man, while the girl's new
+disappointment, caused by the announcement, was evident enough without
+verbal expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I brought you a package of tobacco, a little token of my appreciation
+for your kindness to me night before last, Mr. Webb; and Rose a
+'birthday' gift, just a few sweets in a basket which I found at the
+store, and which struck me as pretty."</p>
+
+<p>Jerry stumblingly expressed his gratitude for the present, and Rose
+unconsciously curtsied, much as she must have thirteen years before. Her
+lips and eyes smiled her shy thanks, but it appeared to Donald that
+mischievous amusement struggled with appreciation in her look.</p>
+
+<p>"Something seems to be amusing you, little lady. Let me into the
+secret," said Donald.<a class="pagenum" name="page_50" id="page_50" title="50"></a></p>
+
+<p>Her silvery laughter broke from her lips, as she answered, "I'm shor'
+obleeged fer the compliment yo' paid thet basket. I made hit myself."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> did? Why, it's wonderful, but it looks as though I'd been
+carrying coals to Newcastle. Newcastle is the name of a town in England
+where a great deal of coal comes from," he hastened to add, in
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"Like kerryin' water ter the river. I makes them leetle baskets odd
+times, an' sells 'em ter the storekeeper in Fayville, but I never hev
+none fer myself, somehow, an' I haint never a-goin' ter part with this
+hyar one, leastwise ef I kin keep hit."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you may. It's my present to you just the same; but don't be
+afraid that it is meant to take the place of the other things I have
+promised you."</p>
+
+<p>While he had been talking to the child, Big Jerry had picked up Donald's
+rifle, and now stood caressingly running his hand down the blue-black
+barrel, and over the polished black walnut stock.</p>
+
+<p>Its owner watched him with inward amusement, yet fully understanding the
+woodman's love for a perfect weapon. As an ordinary man would lift a
+child's airgun, the giant tossed the rifle to a firing position,
+snuggled the butt against his shoulder, and leaned his gray-bearded
+cheek on it affectionately. Finally he lowered it regretfully to the
+ground, and remarked, with the suggestion of a sigh, "This hyar shor'
+air a mighty purty weepon, doctor. I reckon<a class="pagenum" name="page_51" id="page_51" title="51"></a> she'll drap a bullet purty
+nigh whar hit's aimed ter go."</p>
+
+<p>"Try it," encouraged Don, catching a look of almost boyish delight cross
+the old man's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Air she loaded? I haint right familiar with these hyar repeatin' guns,
+with thar leevers an' sich."</p>
+
+<p>The other threw a cartridge into the breech, and handed the weapon over,
+with the remark, "She shoots a trifle high, compared with the average
+rifle, I've found&mdash;perhaps an inch at a hundred yard range."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank ye, sir," replied Jerry, and added simply, "I reckon I'll jest
+chip the top off'n thet big rock erfore the oak tree, yonder." With the
+last word came the gun's flash, and to Donald's amazement he saw a tiny
+cloud of white dust rise from the peak of the boulder.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was already running lightly towards the target accompanied by the
+excited Mike, and her twinkling legs held such fleetness that the
+trained athlete barely caught up with her as she finished the dash, and
+triumphantly laid her finger on a leaden mark across the stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Good Lord," gasped Donald, as Big Jerry approached more sedately, "I
+thought that I could shoot some, but that ... that beats anything I ever
+saw in the West, or on the stage. And with an unfamiliar gun, too."</p>
+
+<p>"She shoots erbout ther same ter the left, too,"<a class="pagenum" name="page_52" id="page_52" title="52"></a> commented the marksman
+judiciously. "But et thet she air a moghty fine rifle-gun, an' I shor'
+would be pleased ter own her, only I reckon yo' haint anxious ter sell."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd as soon think of selling Mike, or any other of my good friends,"
+promptly responded Donald, whereat a quick shadow of disappointment
+crossed the old man's countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"I erpreciates the feelin' thet ye hev fer hit," he said as he handed it
+back. "Er gun air mighty nigh like blood kin ter a hunter."</p>
+
+<p>"But we sometimes part even with certain of our kindred when the right
+man comes along whom we can trust to love, honor and cherish them,"
+laughed the younger man. "And, since I feel that I would be insulting
+that gun to fire it again after the way <i>you</i> fired it, I'm going to
+honor it by giving it to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why ... why, in course I'm mightily obleeged ter ye, doctor; but I jest
+couldn't think of acceptin' hit from ye," stammered Big Jerry,
+struggling between the dictates of honor and insatiate desire.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't say another word, my good friend; she's yours and I have several
+others at home. Only please don't use it in any shooting feuds&mdash;if there
+are such things still in existence nowadays. Since my profession is to
+save human lives, I mustn't have a part in the taking of them even by
+proxy, you know." Don's eyes were laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' hev no cause fer worriment erlong thet line,"<a class="pagenum" name="page_53" id="page_53" title="53"></a> earnestly answered
+Jerry, as he patted the rifle, cradled in the crook of his arm like a
+child. "My fightin' day air over, praise ter Gawd. Thar war a time when
+I war sorter proud of ther notch thet's cut in the stock er my fust gun;
+but now ... wall, I'd give a good deal ef 'twarn't thar. I figgers,
+nowerdays, thet hit haint the Lord's purpose thet humans should spill
+each other's blood, leastwise onless thar's somethin' bigger et stake
+then spite er revengement."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him erbout the shootin' matches at the County Fairs whar yo' used
+allus ter bear erway the prize, grandpap," interposed Smiles hurriedly,
+with the obvious design of changing the current of the old man's
+thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>The latter seated himself on the rock, his face lighting with
+reminiscence, as he complied, with the words, "Wall, ef I does say hit,
+thar warn't many in Kentuck er West Virginny could handle a shootin'
+iron with Big Jerry in them days, an', come County Fair time, I mostwise
+allus kerried off the money prize an' the wreath give by ther queen.
+'Twarn't fancy shootin', like they hes on the stage yo' war er-speakin
+of, p'raps, but hit took a stiddy hand an' a clar eye ter do the trick.
+Gener'lly the spo't ended with the pick er the rifle shooters a-trying
+ter cut down ten weighted strings et a hundred paces, an' more times
+then once I done hit in as many shots."</p>
+
+<p>Then, as though somewhat ashamed at the boastfulness in his words, he
+added hastily, "But I take no<a class="pagenum" name="page_54" id="page_54" title="54"></a> credit fer thet Gawd give me the skill
+ter do hit, an' I might hev used hit ter better purpose then ofttimes I
+did, fer I was overproud er my skill.</p>
+
+<p>"I shor' thanks ye fer this hyar rifle-gun, an', come Thanksgiving time,
+I hopes ter send ye a wild turkey bird killed by hit."</p>
+
+<p>"If you do that I shall be more than repaid," responded Donald. "Well,
+good friends of mine, I must be on my way; but don't think that you have
+seen the last of me. I've found the ideal spot in which to spend a
+vacation, and next summer I'll be back here again, D. V."</p>
+
+<p>"What's 'D. V.'?" asked the girl, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"It stands for <i>Deo Volente</i>&mdash;Latin words which mean, 'God willing.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I hopes thet yo' <i>does</i> come back, an' we-all will be here ter welcome
+ye, D. V." said Rose; then added, shyly, "I hev a gift fer yo' ter take
+back home ter leetle Muriel, ef yo're willin'. Hit's in the cabin, an',
+ef yo'll wait, I'll run an' git hit fer ye."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I'll be glad to take it to her, my child, and I know that
+she'll be delighted both with it and the stories I shall tell her about
+Smiles. But wait, I will go with you, for there is one thing more I want
+to do before I leave, if you can find me a piece of string."</p>
+
+<p>With a question in her wide-eyed glance, Rose led him back to the little
+mountain homestead and, as soon as they were inside, hurried to produce
+the desired article.<a class="pagenum" name="page_55" id="page_55" title="55"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Now then, hold up your arms," commanded Donald lightly.</p>
+
+<p>Rose obeyed, and, slipping the string about her yielding waist, he drew
+it taut and tied a knot to mark the resultant measurement. Following the
+same procedure, he took the circumference of her chest, the length of
+her arm, and from her neck to a few inches above her slender ankle.
+Suddenly her puzzled expression gave place to one of understanding, and
+the starry smile broke over her countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"You've <i>guessed</i>," cried Donald with feigned disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>"Ef hit's a secret, I won't even whisper hit ter no one," the child
+responded gayly.</p>
+
+<p>"Good. It <i>is</i> a secret, but not a dark one."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon thet hit's all white," she gurgled. "An' now I hev a secret
+fer <i>yo</i>' ter keep&mdash;leastwise till ye gits ter the city. Yo' promise,
+too?"</p>
+
+<p>"I solemnly swear," said Don, and, breaking away, the girl ran into her
+own room and bashfully brought out a paper bundle through the top folds
+of which protruded the twisted reed handle of a basket, somewhat similar
+to the one of her own manufacture which he had given her. "This hyar
+basket's fer the little girl; but, inside hit's something fer yo' ter
+remember leetle Rose by. Also thar's a writin', askin' ye ter do
+something fer me an' ef yo' kin do hit I will shor' be mightily obleeged
+ter ye."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't guess what on earth it is, but you may<a class="pagenum" name="page_56" id="page_56" title="56"></a> be sure that I will do
+it if it can be done," he answered earnestly. "Good-by, Smiles. Even
+without your gift as a reminder I shouldn't have forgotten you, and I
+shall not think of the Cumberlands without seeing your dear little
+face."</p>
+
+<p>Donald took both her small hands in his big ones, and, yielding to a
+sudden impulse, bent down and drew her towards him. For just an instant
+she held back slightly, and the color swiftly mantled her cheeks. Then,
+as he was on the point of releasing her, a little ashamed of his
+intention, she freed her hands and, flinging them about his neck, kissed
+him warmly again.</p>
+
+<p>With the fresh, childlike pressure of her young lips on his, Donald went
+hurriedly out, and, after a last hearty handclasp from Big Jerry, turned
+towards the woods, an unaccustomed song in his heart.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_57" id="page_57" title="57"></a>
+<a name="AN_UNACCEPTED_CHALLENGE_1637" id="AN_UNACCEPTED_CHALLENGE_1637"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<h3>AN UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I wants ter hev speech with ye, stranger."</p>
+
+<p>The words, spoken in a harsh voice, fell gratingly on Donald's ears, and
+brought to an abrupt end the happy thoughts with which his mind was
+occupied. He stopped, forcing the growling Mike behind him, as Judd
+stepped out from the bushes, squarely across his path.</p>
+
+<p>"I would be glad to stop and talk with you, Judd, but I'm due in
+Fayville before noon, and have already stayed too long at Big Jerry's."</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' hev," was the prompt and surly reply.</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil do you mean by that?" snapped Donald, with rising ire.</p>
+
+<p>"What I says, goes," was the reply. "This hyar place air a powerful good
+one fer yo' ter keep erway from, stranger."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed? Well, you don't own it."</p>
+
+<p>The younger man's color heightened, and his lean jaws clamped together.</p>
+
+<p>"I warns ye fair," he said, after a brief pause.</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't accept such a warning from any one," shot back Donald,
+momentarily growing more angry. "It's no business of yours, whether I go
+or stay."<a class="pagenum" name="page_58" id="page_58" title="58"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I makes hit my business," replied the other sullenly. "Big Jerry air
+growin' old an' foolish, I reckon; but I seen what I seen, an' thar
+haint no city man ergoin' ter come up hyar an' make trouble fer a gal uv
+our'n."</p>
+
+<p>"Judd, it's you who are the fool. I don't admit your right to discuss
+this, or any matter, with me, but Rose is nothing to me but a very good
+friend. Besides, she's only a child."</p>
+
+<p>"She's nigh onter old ernough ter wed," was the uncompromising answer.
+"An' ef she haint nothin' ter ye, the more shame on ye fer tryin' ter
+make her love ye, an' mayhaps break her heart."</p>
+
+<p>"But I haven't tried to make her love me," broke in Donald impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Then fer what did yo' put yer arms erbout her an' kiss her, like I seen
+ye through the winder awhile back, I wants ter know?" demanded the
+other, as he hastily frustrated Donald's attempt to step by him.</p>
+
+<p>The man felt his own face flush hotly, and was angry over this visible
+display of feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you she's only a child. I kissed her as I would any little girl
+of whom I was fond."</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' love her, an' yo' haint the man ter say hit."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then. Supposing I admit that I love her, what is it to you?"
+replied Donald, with a flash of heat.</p>
+
+<p>"I loves her, too. I've loved her since she come ter these hyar
+mountains, a leetle baby; an' I don't<a class="pagenum" name="page_59" id="page_59" title="59"></a> calkerlate ter hev yo', er any
+city man, make a plaything uv her. Hit's man ter man, now. Air yo', er
+haint yo', a-goin' ter leave hyar, an' keep erway?"</p>
+
+<p>"As I told you before, it's none of your business," replied Don shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"An' es I told ye before, hit air. Now I tells ye thet yo' haint
+a-comin' back."</p>
+
+<p>"That ... remains to be seen," Donald answered wrathfully as he stepped
+past Judd, this time unimpeded.</p>
+
+<p>He had not gone more than a score of swinging strides, keeping the
+bristling dog close beside him, when he heard the staccato crack of a
+rifle, and simultaneously the high-pitched whine of a bullet past his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>Once before, in the Maine woods, he had been an unwilling target, on
+that occasion for an overanxious deer hunter. Then he had sprung up,
+waving his arms and shouting a warning, but now instinct told him that
+the opposite procedure was the proper one, and he threw himself
+precipitately into the enveloping rhododendrons. As he did so, from the
+path above him came a derisive laugh which set his blood boiling.</p>
+
+<p>It awakened in Donald all the blind, fighting spirit which, in gridiron
+days, had driven him with clinched teeth into the thick of the battering
+m&ecirc;l&eacute;e. He sprang into a crouching posture, face turned toward the
+taunting sound, every muscle taut, every nerve tingling, and with but
+one thought surging<a class="pagenum" name="page_60" id="page_60" title="60"></a> through his brain&mdash;the desire to charge back and
+attack Judd, barehanded.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the red demons of primitive passion vanished before the returning
+light of wisdom, born of maturity and the restraining power of
+civilization. He quickly realized that he had no right to make a fool of
+himself for the sake of such a cause, and in such a childish manner. His
+duty was paramount to the satisfaction of an atavistic impulse, and,
+placing a strong mental grasp upon his nerves, which cried for drastic
+action, Donald turned downward into the footpath again, and broke into a
+run.</p>
+
+<p>Haste was doubly essential, for little time remained before the hour for
+the departure of his train, and, even in Virginia, it <i>might</i> leave
+according to schedule. As he crashed impetuously through a bush whose
+branches blocked the path, he heard again the laughter from above him
+and caught a new note therein&mdash;that of exultation.</p>
+
+<p>Donald stifled an oath, while an additional reason for returning to the
+mountain burned its way into his heart.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On the path above, Judd deliberately blew the fouling smoke from his
+rifle barrel, turned about, and, with a satisfied smile mingling with
+the expression of hate on his lips, climbed back towards Jerry's cabin.</p>
+
+<p>In its doorway stood Rose. The happy flush still<a class="pagenum" name="page_61" id="page_61" title="61"></a> lingered delicately on
+her cheeks, and her limpid eyes were full of a soft, dreamy light.</p>
+
+<p>"What war yo' ershootin' at, Judd?" she cried, as the man came into
+view, carelessly swinging his long weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"Et a pole-cat," was his brief reply, as he removed his broad straw hat
+and sank with the unconscious grace of a wild animal onto the stoop at
+her feet.</p>
+
+<p>Neither broke the silence for several minutes, but the man scarcely took
+his burning gaze from the child's lovely face. At length she sighed ever
+so gently, and, seating herself beside him, dropped her firm chin into
+her cupped hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Smiles," began Judd, with all the harshness gone from his voice, "I
+don't enjoy fer ter hear yo' sigh thet erway, er ter see ther fur-off
+look in yo'r purty eyes, 'cause I fears thet hit means thar's some one
+else then me in yo'r heart."</p>
+
+<p>Instantly she sat up straight, and turned her eyes, full of surprise,
+upon him. "Why, Juddy!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Ef hit's thet doctor man, I likes hit least uv all, Smiles," the man
+continued, speaking bitterly. "He haint come fur no good, leetle gal,
+an' I don't want fer yo' ter think on him."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I thinks on whom I likes," she responded briefly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go fer ter git angry with me, Rose gal. Hit aint thet I wants ter
+be selfish er onreasonable, but ..." Judd stopped. Words of passionate
+love<a class="pagenum" name="page_62" id="page_62" title="62"></a> trembled on his lips, but were held there by a barrier of
+inherited reticence in matters of the heart. Iron reserve and laconic
+speech were essentially typical of his breed; but, at length, the eager
+utterances strained against the fetter of his will, and broke them.</p>
+
+<p>"I kaint speak as I desires to, Smiles. I fears I kaint make ye
+understand what's in my heart; but I've keered mightily fer ye, dear,
+ever since yo' war a smilin' leetle baby gal, an' now ... now yo'r most
+a woman grown, an' I love ye, want ye more come each new day an' each
+new night. Thar haint one ef them passes but thet I make excuse fer ter
+see ye, an' jest ther sight o' yo'r sweet face somehow kindles a light
+inside me that burns, 'thout scarcely dimmin', till I sees ye agin.
+Thet's ther reason I said what I done, a moment back.</p>
+
+<p>"I jest kaint bear fer ter think uv yo' lovin' some one else then me. I
+... I keers so much thet I believes I'd rather see ye dead then thet,
+Rose gal."</p>
+
+<p>Fairly trembling with the sweep of his unloosed emotion, the reserved,
+strong-willed man paused, and, as the girl stood up hastily, she was
+trembling, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Juddy," she cried softly, distress in her voice, "I didn't rightly
+understand thet yo' felt thet erway. I likes ye, in course, but I'm only
+a leetle gal, an' I haint keerin' fer any one ... thet erway. I ... I
+don't enjoy fer ter hyar yo' say sech words ter me now, Juddy."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon yo'r right, an' I shouldn't hev told ye<a class="pagenum" name="page_63" id="page_63" title="63"></a> yet, Rose," answered
+the man, almost humbly. "I kin bide my time, but I wants ye ter know
+thet I feels es I does. I'm a-goin' ter keep right on lovin' ye more an'
+more, and, when yo'r older, I plans ter ask ye ter marry with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I likes ye ... indeed I likes ye, Judd, but ... oh, please don't ever
+go fer ter do that. I kaint never marry ye, Judd."</p>
+
+<p>The man stiffened, and his face grew black again. "I believes thet yo'
+air in love with thet doctor man, atter all," he shot out.</p>
+
+<p>"I haint neither," cried the girl, angrily stamping her bare foot, "I
+does love him, but I haint <i>in</i> love with nobody, 'ceptin' grandpap."</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' submitted ter his takin' ye in his arms an' kissin' ye," burst out
+the mountaineer.</p>
+
+<p>"Judd Amos, yo'r a mean, spyin' sneak, an' I hates ye!" stormed Rose,
+while her eyes filled with angry tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't go fer ter spy on ye, Smiles," he protested, "I seen ye by
+chance. But, whether yo' love him er not, yo' might jest as well fergit
+him. He keered fer ye jest because yo' air er purty mountain flower, an'
+he haint never ercomin' back hyar ergin."</p>
+
+<p>"He air, too," contradicted the girl rebelliously. "He air ercomin' back
+an' he's promised ter help me git edercation."</p>
+
+<p>Judd laughed shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"I warned him fair ter keep erway, an' p'inted my warnin' with a rifle
+ball."<a class="pagenum" name="page_64" id="page_64" title="64"></a></p>
+
+<p>Rose's eyes widened in horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' ... yo' means yo' shot him, Judd?" she whispered, with both hands
+pressed to her breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Shot him? No. I didn't aim fer ter hurt him, an' 'twarn't in nowise
+necessary. I jest put a bullet past his head an' he run like a skeered
+rabbit."</p>
+
+<p>"Taint so. He never run from no one," she cried staunchly.</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, hit shor' appeared like hit ter me," was the gloating answer.</p>
+
+<p>Feminine instinct gave Rose an intuitive insight into the real reasons
+which underlay Donald's apparent flight; but pride sealed her lips, just
+as she was on the point of explaining triumphantly that the doctor had
+been called back home that day, and that it was the following summer
+when he would return.</p>
+
+<p>"Juddy," she said gently, after a moment, "yo' hed no reason fer doin'
+what yo' done. Hit war mighty wrong, but I fergives ye. I wants ter
+still be friends with ye. I wants ye ter help me, Juddy."</p>
+
+<p>The last words were breathed softly, and the na&iuml;ve appeal in her voice
+brought the hostile man quickly back to submissive and worshipful
+fealty.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' know thet I'd do enything in the world fer ye, Smiles," he answered
+simply.</p>
+
+<p>"I believes thet yo' <i>think</i> yo' would, Judd, but I wonders ef, deep in
+yo'r heart, yo' really keers ernough fer me ter ... I kaint scarcely
+explain what I means. I reckon I air powerful ignerrant in
+speecherfyin'."<a class="pagenum" name="page_65" id="page_65" title="65"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I don't rightly know what yo' means, Smiles, but I give ye my promise
+ter do whatsoever yo' wants, ef hit takes my life," he declared
+earnestly, his former selfish desire to bend her will into compliance
+with his own for the moment yielding to his blind eagerness to prove his
+love.</p>
+
+<p>Youthful and unsophisticated in worldly wiles as she was, the eternal
+feminine in Rose sensed her victory and power, and, still maintaining
+her half commanding, half tenderly appealing tone, she outlined her
+plan, for the accomplishment of which his aid was all essential.</p>
+
+<p>Judd protested, pleaded and stormed&mdash;all to no avail. He felt himself
+like a man caught in a snare of his own weaving&mdash;a snare strengthened by
+fair, yet unbreakable, silken threads added by the child.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, miserable at heart, he yielded, and departed with his hand
+tingling from the impulsive affectionate pressure of Smiles' fingers
+upon it. But, as the conscious thrill which it caused in his being
+lessened, his thoughts became immersed in gloom, through which no
+encouraging light made its way. He realized that he had lost the first
+battle for her heart, and the loss brought closer the dark spectre of
+ultimate defeat.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_66" id="page_66" title="66"></a>
+<a name="SMILES_GIFT_AND_THE_WRITING_1909" id="SMILES_GIFT_AND_THE_WRITING_1909"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<h3>"SMILES'" GIFT: AND THE "WRITING"</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Now, my boy, let us hear an account of your trip. Did you enjoy it, and
+find anything of especial interest in the mountains of the feud
+country?"</p>
+
+<p>The doctor's father lighted his after-dinner cigar, and leaned back with
+the indolent satisfaction which a man ripe in useful years may feel when
+surrounded by his family. Since the death of his wife, he and his
+children had been more inseparably attached one to another than ever,
+and each drew a full measure of happiness from these all-too-infrequent
+reunions, when Donald could be with them. Even little Muriel was not
+left out of the group, for she had been granted the exceptional
+privilege of sitting up an extra hour, and listening to the wonderful
+hunting tales told by her beloved Uncle Don, upon whose lap she was now
+contentedly curled. Her mother and father sat near by.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to both questions," responded Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you shoot any bears?" queried his little niece, expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>"No bears this trip, although I almost scalded to death a bare-legged
+little girl," was the reply. And with Rose thus made the central figure
+of his<a class="pagenum" name="page_67" id="page_67" title="67"></a> recital at the very outset, Donald proceeded to tell of his
+experiences and new friendships; but consciously refrained from
+mentioning the unpleasant incident with which his trip ended, and
+Smiles' parting embrace.</p>
+
+<p>His faithful reproduction of the soft mountain dialect brought frequent
+smiles from his listeners, and filled the child with delighted
+amusement.</p>
+
+<p>"I just love Smiles," she cried, as he finished his story.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, so does every one who knows her. <i>You</i> do, don't you, Mike?"
+added Donald, and the dog beat a tattoo on the rug with his stumpy tail.</p>
+
+<p>"Witchery," laughed his father. "Even your clumsy description has
+strangely stirred my youthful blood, and 'I longs fer ter see this hyar
+wonderful child dryad of ther primeval forest.' If you ever go back
+there, you had better wear magic armor as protection against that
+illusive smile which seems to have cast a spell of enchantment over your
+civilized senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw, you needn't be concerned about my feelings for her. She's no
+siren, but a very real little person. I'll admit that she's amazingly
+attractive; but she's merely a child."</p>
+
+<p>"Children grow up," teased his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm aware of that natural phenomenon," answered Donald, somewhat
+curtly. "But ... Great Scott, can't I describe a fifteen&mdash;no,
+sixteen-year-old little savage, without all you people imagining that
+I'm<a class="pagenum" name="page_68" id="page_68" title="68"></a> going to be such a fool as to fall in love with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes it isn't what one says, but the way he says it, that
+incriminates," put in his brother-in-law, adding his voice to the
+general baiting which had apparently disclosed a tender spot.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it all, I believe that I'll go back and ask Smiles to marry me, if
+only to put an end to your teasing," cried Don with a laugh not entirely
+natural. "At least I might perhaps succeed in frustrating <i>your</i> obvious
+designs, Ethel. Oh, I'm not blind!"</p>
+
+<p>"I've almost concluded that you <i>are</i>&mdash;or hopeless," answered his
+sister. "However, I'm perfectly willing to admit that I would like to
+see you married to Marion Treville&mdash;she's my closest friend, and would
+certainly make you a perfect wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Too perfect, by far. Can you imagine me hitched with that proud and
+classic beauty? I should go mad."</p>
+
+<p>"But I want my pretty basket that little Smiles made for me," broke in
+Muriel, to whom the present remarks held no interest, and who emphasized
+her demand by seizing his cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure you do, and I want to see my present, too. I'll bring them
+right down."</p>
+
+<p>Not at all ill pleased at this opportunity to escape from his family's
+jesting, which, for some indefinable reason, aroused his belligerency,
+Donald jumped up hastily and departed for the sanctuary of his<a class="pagenum" name="page_69" id="page_69" title="69"></a> bedroom,
+to get the bulky bundle with its mysterious enclosure. Minutes slipped
+by, and he failed to return to the group downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>At last his absorption was broken into by the arrival of Muriel, whose
+entrance into the room, with the traces of tears on her cheeks, brought
+him back to the present with a remorseful start.</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't come down, an' you <i>didn't</i> come down, Uncle Don, an' now
+mother says it's bedtime, an' I want Smiles' basket to take with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I'm terribly sorry that I've been so long, sweetheart-mine. I
+stopped to read the letter she wrote to me, and, I'm ashamed to say,
+forgot that you were waiting for me. But see, here's your present.
+Little Rose made it all herself for you. Isn't it pretty?"</p>
+
+<p>With a cry of delight the child gathered the simple basket into her
+chubby arms and bent her head over it. "Oh, don't it smell sweet, Uncle
+Don. Does Smiles smell like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not exactly," he replied, chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>"Now please show me what she sent to you. Was it a basket, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not a basket. It's a very great secret; but, if you'll promise not
+to tell a soul, no matter how they tease, I'll show it to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Cross my heart, an' hope to die," said the child earnestly, making
+across her pinafore the mystic sign, so potent to the childish mind.</p>
+
+<p>Donald opened a drawer in the chiffonier and<a class="pagenum" name="page_70" id="page_70" title="70"></a> took out a small and
+obviously cheap glazed blue-and-white vase. The child took it
+wonderingly and, removing the cover, sniffed audibly and deeply.</p>
+
+<p>"My. <i>This</i> smells like Rose," she said with conviction.</p>
+
+<p>"You're right, it does, indeed, because it <i>is</i> roses&mdash;dried wild rose
+petals which she gathered and preserved herself. I saw it in her little
+cabin, and know that it was her most precious possession, yet she gave
+it to 'Uncle Don' as a keepsake, so that he might remember her whenever
+he smells of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wasn't she just <i>too</i> sweet to do that. My, how I would like to see
+her, Uncle Don."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps you may, some day."</p>
+
+<p>The sentence echoed out of the past, carrying his recollection back to
+the night when he had heedlessly spoken the identical words to Smiles,
+and there entered his mind the sudden realization of what amazing
+potentialities for good or evil often lie hidden in the simplest
+utterances.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of his sister's light tread in the hallway caused Donald to
+return his homely gift to its hiding place hurriedly, and little Muriel,
+with roguishly twinkling eyes, imitated his action as he laid his finger
+on his lips as a seal of secrecy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you <i>two</i> kids," laughed Ethel, as she caught sight of the
+picture framed by the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad that I haven't wholly forgotten how to be one," answered her
+brother, as he kissed first his little niece, and then the basket which
+she held<a class="pagenum" name="page_71" id="page_71" title="71"></a> up with the demand that it be paid similar homage, and bade
+them good-night.</p>
+
+<p>Rejoining the diminished group in the living-room, Donald was
+preoccupiedly silent, until his father asked,</p>
+
+<p>"Well, have you read your little friend's 'writing'? I confess to a mild
+curiosity as to what sort of a letter a girl like her would write, and
+what sort of a request she would be likely to make of you."</p>
+
+<p>Don drew from his pocket the letter, painfully scrawled on cheap, and
+not overclean paper, and handed it over. Adjusting his eye-glasses the
+older man read aloud:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"'Dear Dr. Mac,</p>
+
+<p>Truly I want to be a nurse like you told me about some day.' </p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well," commented the reader, "at least she starts right off with the
+business in hand, without any palavering.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"'And I reckon that even a little mountain girl like me can be one
+if she wishes hard enough and works hard, too.' </p></div>
+
+<p>"Why," he interpolated again, "there doesn't seem to be any evidence of
+your weirdly wonderful spelling and grammar here."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," answered Donald, smiling slightly.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"'I reckon it will take me a long, long time to get education and
+earn all that money, but I can do it, Dr. Mac. I am sure I can do
+it. I told my grandfather all that I mean to<a class="pagenum" name="page_72" id="page_72" title="72"></a> do, and he won't try
+to stop me none. Of course he does not want for me to go away from
+him, but I explained that I <i>had</i> to, and of course that made it
+all right.</p>
+
+<p>When you was telling us what those nurses done, something seemed
+like it went jump inside my heart, and straightways I know that the
+dear Lord meant for me to do it, too. I read a story once about a
+girl in france named Jone of Ark and I reckon I felt like she done
+when she see the angel.</p>
+
+<p>I know I can do it, Dr. Mac, if you will help me a little bit like
+you promised. Most of all I figures I need a heap of book learning,
+and it is books I wants for you to get me. You know the books I
+need to have, Dr. Mac, and in this letter I am going to put $10.</p>
+
+<p>It is an awful lot of money; but I reckon books cost a good deal,
+and you can bring me the change next summer, for I have not got no
+use for money here. Don't be afeared. It is my own money. It was in
+my father's pocket among the camp things granddaddy found, and
+there was some more. Grandfather, he kept it for me until I was a
+big girl and now I am keeping it for a rainy day, like the copy
+book says, although I don't think money would be much use to keep
+off the rain.</p>
+
+<p>Their is a preacher man who lives on our mountain winters, when he
+can not travel about none, and I know I can get him to help me
+learn if I help his wife with her work, and I can read pretty well
+now and write pretty well when I have a spelling book to study the
+words out of, although I have to go sorter slow, for they do not
+allus spell words like they sound, and sometimes I cannot find them
+at all. I guess my book is not a very good one.</p>
+
+<p>I reckon it will take me a long while to earn more than $300; but I
+am going to work awful hard, making baskets and other things, and I
+am going to get Judd Amos,<a class="pagenum" name="page_73" id="page_73" title="73"></a> our naybor, to sell them for me at the
+village store, for he goes down their trading every week, and he
+will do anything I ask him, like I told you.</p>
+
+<p>This is a pretty long letter and it has taken me all the evening to
+right. I hope that you can read it. Well, I guess that is all now
+from your loveing little friend.</p>
+
+<p>I most forgot to say please give my love to Mike.</p>
+
+<p style='text-align:right'><span class="smcap">Rose Webb</span>.' </p></div>
+
+<p>"Well, I've got to admit that I have seen many a letter, written by a
+grown-up, that fell a long ways short of that one in clarity of thought
+and in accomplishment of a definite object," said Mr. MacDonald, as he
+handed it back. "Do you suppose that her eagerness to become a nurse is
+just a passing childish whim, or has she really got sand enough to put
+her almost impossible plan through?"</p>
+
+<p>"Clairvoyancy was not included either in the Harvard or Medical School
+curriculum," responded Donald, with a shrug.</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning that the things of the future are in the laps of the gods. Of
+course, but I was merely asking for your personal opinion. I'm not
+jesting now; that letter really aroused my interest in the child."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I believe that Smiles really possesses the strength of
+purpose to go through with even so difficult a task as she has set for
+herself. Remember, she comes of city stock, and hasn't the blood of
+those unprogressive mountaineers in her veins."</p>
+
+<p>"And you? Are you going to help her as she asks? What about your promise
+to Big Jerry?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_74" id="page_74" title="74"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I lived up to both the spirit and letter of that, when I tried to
+explain to the child the almost unsurmountable difficulties which lay
+between her and the accomplishment of her dream. Besides, I know that
+she has told the truth in her letter, and has somehow managed actually
+to win over the old man. I can't help feeling mighty sorry for him, if
+the foster birdling is really going to fly away from his nest after he
+has reared and loved her so tenderly, but, after all, it is only the
+history of the human race. Still, I can't blame him if he looks on me as
+a serpent who stole into his simple Eden, carrying the apple of
+discontent."</p>
+
+<p>"There have been, of course, plenty of cases similar to this, where the
+adventurer's spirit was really big enough and the vision strong enough
+to carry him or her through to victory," mused Donald's father. "Such a
+one was the immortal Abe Lincoln, who came from just such surroundings.
+But the task is doubly hard for a young girl, and the experiment of thus
+breaking away from the ties and traditions of many years, and seeking a
+place in a wholly new, wholly dissimilar life, cannot but be fraught
+with dangers. There, in that simple environment she naturally appealed
+to you as not only an attractive child, but as a somewhat unusual
+personality. Tell me, lad, how will, or would, she measure up, if
+transplanted a few years hence into city life, where the standards of
+comparison are so utterly different; so much more exacting?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_75" id="page_75" title="75"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Frankly, I don't know," responded Donald. "Since I read her letter I
+have been asking myself that question, and the answer worries me, since
+I feel in a way responsible for having opened the gates before her
+untrained feet. Somehow I cannot disassociate little Rose from her
+present environment, and, although she certainly <i>has</i> an unusual charm
+for such a child, I must admit that, in part, at least, it was the
+result of&mdash;no, not that, but made more obvious by&mdash;her surroundings."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she has apparently decided to take the moulding of her life into
+her own hands and, without knowing the quotation, determined to be 'the
+master of her fate and captain of her soul.' However, a little more
+education can scarcely hurt her, and, if she succeeds in saving up some
+money, it will come in handy enough as a 'dot,' in case she marries your
+friend, Judd Amos, and raises a family of mountain brats."</p>
+
+<p>Donald's reply was unnecessarily positive.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wager that she'll never do that." And with that the conversation,
+as far as it concerned Smiles, ended.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>During purloined hours in the next few days the eminently successful
+young physician might have been seen engaged in strange errands, which
+took him into such places as a dressmaker's establishment, and several
+stores which sold textbooks. It was<a class="pagenum" name="page_76" id="page_76" title="76"></a> also a noteworthy fact that the
+decidedly soiled and crumpled ten-dollar bill, with which he had been
+commissioned to purchase the means through which education might be
+acquired, was never taken from the special compartment in his bill
+folder.</p>
+
+<p>Then the flood of fall practice engulfed him, and gradually the memory
+of little Smiles faded from his busy mind, although it never quite
+vanished, and from time to time fresh breezes from the distant
+Cumberlands fanned it to life like a glowing ember.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_77" id="page_77" title="77"></a>
+<a name="SOME_OF_SEVERAL_EPISTLES_2221" id="SOME_OF_SEVERAL_EPISTLES_2221"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<h3>SOME OF SEVERAL EPISTLES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p class='center'>I</p>
+<div class='smcap'>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 6em;'>Commonwealth Avenue</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Boston, Massachusetts.</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>September 15, 1912.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear little Smiles:</p>
+
+<p>If you had been able to look inside of my heart when I opened your
+present and read your letter, you would have beheld as many different
+lights and shadows there as you can see in your own eyes when you look
+in the glass over your bureau.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of that little jar, and the scent of the spiced rose-petals,
+brought you so near to me that I thought I could almost see you by just
+closing my eyes&mdash;which may seem to you a funny way of "seeing" a person.
+It made me very happy.</p>
+
+<p>The letter, too, pleased me a great deal; but I must tell you that it
+also troubled me. That is when the shadow fell on my thoughts of you.</p>
+
+<p>The reason? I will tell it to you, because I feel that I should,
+although please do not think that I want to croak like an old black crow
+in one of your pine trees.</p>
+
+<p>If you have really set your whole heart upon becoming a nurse when you
+grow up, and your granddaddy has consented, it is not for me to say that
+you cannot do it. But I <i>do</i> know the path which you must travel. I
+know<a class="pagenum" name="page_78" id="page_78" title="78"></a> that it is much steeper, much more rocky and full of briary bushes
+than any one your feet have ever climbed on your mountain, and you will
+have to keep a very brave little heart inside you, if you hope to reach
+the summit. And then, if you succeed, instead of finding a fairy castle
+filled with all sorts of pleasant things, you will only discover another
+long and weary road which must be traveled until your tired little body,
+and heart, made heavy by the sufferings of little children, long for the
+quiet restfulness of your dear old mountain home.</p>
+
+<p>Am I still trying to discourage you? I suppose that I am, for, you see,
+<i>I</i> can look back along that road which lies <i>before</i> you, and I can
+remember the rocks I had to climb over, and the bushes I had to struggle
+through, and yet I know that it was far easier for me than it will be
+for you.</p>
+
+<p>You have read parables in the Bible. Well, I am preaching a modern
+parable. "Book learning" is a sword and buckler&mdash;or perhaps it would be
+better to say that it is a suit of strong hunting clothes and thick
+leather knee-boots, and I was pretty well clad like that when I started
+my trip, while you are dressed only in thin gingham, with your legs and
+feet bare&mdash;as I first saw you. Please shut your eyes, dear child, and
+try to see the parable picture I have drawn for you.</p>
+
+<p>Have you done it? The picture is not as pretty as the one I painted the
+night I told about how fine it was to be a nurse, is it? But it is more
+nearly true to life.</p>
+
+<p>Now, think hard before you make up your mind as to whether or not you
+really mean to go ahead, for&mdash;after all, little Smiles&mdash;each boy and
+girl has soon to decide, all alone, what he or she is going to do with
+that strange thing which we call life.</p>
+
+<p>If your courage is really as strong as that of the wonderful Joan of
+Arc, I, too, believe that you can succeed and<a class="pagenum" name="page_79" id="page_79" title="79"></a> make your dream come
+true, and of course I will help you, gladly&mdash;in every way that I can.</p>
+
+<p>Now I am all through preaching. It is out of my line, and I promise not
+to do it again. Within a few days you will, I hope, get a boxful of the
+books which I have sent you as you asked me. Most of them are just what
+you wanted&mdash;school books&mdash;but on my own hook I added one or two not
+strictly for study&mdash;like plums in a dry bread pudding. And, of course,
+there is something else in the box and <i>I</i> guess that <i>you</i> can guess
+what it is.</p>
+
+<p>This, little Smiles, is the longest letter I ever wrote to anybody, I
+think. Don't you feel proud? It must end now, however; but not before I
+ask you to give my best regards to your kind granddaddy.</p>
+
+<p>Don't let the cold winter that is coming, chill your warm affection for</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your sincere friend,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Donald MacDonald</span>.</p>
+
+<p>P.S. I told Mike what you wrote to him, and he wigwagged a message of
+love back to you with his tail.</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'>II</p>
+<div class='smcap'>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 6em;'>Big Jerry's Cabin</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>in Webb's Gap, Virginia</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>Sep't. 20, 1912.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dear Doctor Mac:</p>
+
+<p>Oh, dear doctor, can you ever forgive me for waiting two whole days
+before I wrote you back to thank you with all my heart for the many
+wonderful things which came in that box? It was like a fairy's treasure
+chest. And most of all I am obliged for that letter you wrote me. It was
+the first letter I ever got from any one and I shall keep it as long as
+I live. I think, of all the things I got, I like that the best. Those
+others you could <i>buy</i>, but<a class="pagenum" name="page_80" id="page_80" title="80"></a> you had to <i>make</i> that yourself, and it
+seemed like I could almost hear you talking the words in your strong
+voice, like the sound of the falls in the Swift River.</p>
+
+<p>When I looked inside that box I could not make up my mind what I liked
+best. The many books kind of scared me when I opened them and remembered
+I had got to know all that much; but the book of beautiful poetry I just
+love. I have read all of the poetrys and know some of them to speak
+already.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is that nurse's dress. O how I love it, and how I wish for
+you to see me in it. I plans to put it on a little while everyday and
+pretend that I am a real nurse <i>like I am going to be</i>. I done it
+yesterday, and somehow when I shet my eyes and run my hands over its
+crackely stiff whiteness, it seemed to me that the room was full of
+sweet little babies for me to take keer of.</p>
+
+<p>And now, doctor, I must tell you that I done what you said for me to do.
+I closed my eyes up tight like granddaddy does when I say prayers, and I
+saw little Smiles acliming that rough path, and walking along that rough
+road you wrote about, but by the side of that long road I kept aseeing
+beautiful little flowers what were fading and drooping and calling out
+in tiny voices like baby chickens for Rose to keer for them. So doctor,
+the picture did not scare me none.</p>
+
+<p>The Lord give Joan of Arc (I know how to spell it now) a silver armor to
+protect her, and I reckon the white nurse's dress that you give me is my
+armor.</p>
+
+<p>Now doctor I must tell you about little Lou and the wonderful doll you
+sent to her. She was so funny when I give it to her that I got a chreek
+in my side laughing. First thing, she held it up tight against her and
+when it went Ma-a-a-like a calf, she dropped it quick and run and hide
+under the bed. But pretty soon she crep out again and I showed her how
+to make it shut its eyes.<a class="pagenum" name="page_81" id="page_81" title="81"></a></p>
+
+<p>Then she jumped around and cried. 'O Smiles, hit <i>kaint</i> do them things
+but hit <i>does</i> do them.' Well, pretty soon, Judd Amos, her brother, come
+in and, when he saw it in Lou's arms, his face got as black as a storm
+cloud and he went for to take it away from her.</p>
+
+<p>I just stepped in front of him, and said, 'Judd Amos, if you ever go for
+to take that doll baby away from her, or even <i>touch</i> it, I won't never
+speak to you again.'</p>
+
+<p>He was powerful mad with me, but he seen that I meant like I said, so
+Lou can keep her doll. And what do you think she has named it? She has
+named it Mike. Even Judd had to laugh a little when she said that was
+the doll baby's name.</p>
+
+<p>I am making baskets as fast as ever I can and Judd is going to take them
+to the store at Fayville for me. I went down with him and seen the
+storekeeper man myself last week, and he promised me to buy all that he
+can from me.</p>
+
+<p>Granddaddy shoots with your rifle gun most every day. He can hit a
+string like he used to, but he would not shoot a apple off my head like
+a man did in the book that had about Joan of Arc in it, although I
+wanted him to.</p>
+
+<p>I have ritten a piece of poetry like Mr. Eugene Fields did, and this is
+it</p>
+
+<p style='margin-left:2em;'>
+The cold may make my lips turn blue,<br />
+But it can't freeze my love for you.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your happy and loving little friend</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Smiles</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'><a class="pagenum" name="page_82" id="page_82" title="82"></a>III</p>
+
+<div class='smcap'>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 6em;'>Commonwealth Avenue</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Boston, Massachusetts.</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>October 24, 1912.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Proprietor of the General Store,<br />
+Fayville, &mdash;&mdash; County,<br />
+West Virginia.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir:</p>
+
+<p>I am informed that you are occasionally purchasing, through one Judd
+Amos, of Webb's Gap, sweetgrass baskets made by a little mountain girl
+of that settlement.</p>
+
+<p>I am interested in her work, and herewith enclose a money order in the
+sum of ten dollars ($10.00) with which I will ask you to purchase at a
+rate reasonably in advance of the one you are now paying, all the
+baskets which she sends to you. You may express them to my address each
+month, and I will forward further funds upon request.</p>
+
+<p>Please do not mention my name in connection with this transaction; but,
+if any questions are asked, merely say that you have obtained a city
+market for them.</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Very truly yours,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>(<span class="smcap">Dr.</span>) <span class="smcap">Donald MacDonald</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'>IV</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'><span class="smcap">Webb's Gap. Vir</span>. </p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>November 24, 1912.</p>
+
+<p>Dear Dr. McDonald:</p>
+
+<p>How many letters do you guess I have written to you so far this month?
+24. Yes, I have written you a long letter every day, telling you all the
+things I did, and thought, but of course I did not mail them, for I knew
+that you would get tired of reading them.<a class="pagenum" name="page_83" id="page_83" title="83"></a></p>
+
+<p>But this one I am going to send, for grandfather has asked me to let you
+know that he has shot that wild turkey bird for your Thanksgiving&mdash;which
+is Thursday&mdash;and has sent it to you by express package from Fayville. I
+was with him when he did it.</p>
+
+<p>Evenings come right early now and we went into the woods just before sun
+down. It was right beautiful, and I wished that you could have been with
+us. I will try and tell you what I saw like I do in my daily letters
+that my teacher says are practice themes. (I could not have spelled that
+to save my life a month ago.)</p>
+
+<p>Well, except for the big pine trees which never seem to change, just
+like granddaddy, all the tall forest people and the half grown-up
+children-bushes, had put on bright new dresses in honor of Thanksgiving
+time. They were red, made of many colored patches like Bible Joseph's
+coat,&mdash;yellow green and brown, some as bright as God could paint the
+colors, some soft, like they had been washed and washed.</p>
+
+<p>Granddaddy thought it was beautiful too&mdash;although he called it "purty."
+But he did not like the brown grass and fallen pine needles, and called
+the marsh near the river an ugly mudflat; but <i>I</i> thought it was
+beautiful, for that oozy mud was deep purple (the reverend told me the
+word), and the little pools of water were all gold. Those are the colors
+that kings dress in, yet that old mudflat wore them, too.</p>
+
+<p>Well, finally, when it began to grow dusk, we found a wild turkey bird
+roosting on a tree limb and granddaddy said, 'Hush, I aims ter shoot hit
+right thru ther head.' When you get it look where the bullet went.</p>
+
+<p>Now perhaps you would like to hear about what I have been doing. Well, I
+have been doing many things, but most of all I have been studying.</p>
+
+<p>The minister, whose name is Reverend John Talmadge, came back to our
+mountain when it began to get<a class="pagenum" name="page_84" id="page_84" title="84"></a> cold, for he is in not very good health
+and can't go about much, although he sits out doors most of the time.</p>
+
+<p>He is my very good friend, and I have found out a lot about him. One
+thing is that he went to college like you did, and he knows a great deal
+more than there is in all those books, even. So you see he can help me a
+good deal. He is even going to teach me some Latin, <i>D. V.</i> I think that
+God must have sent him to our mountain.</p>
+
+<p>Every day I study the books you sent, first with him and then at home,
+and I am getting along so nice that last week, when the teacher in our
+little school was away, they let me be the teacher.</p>
+
+<p>And who do you think was one of my pupils? It was Judd Amos. He has
+bought some books and is learning, too. I reckon he does not want a girl
+to be smarter than he is at book learning, which he says is nonsense for
+girls. But I know that it is not nonsense. Why, I can travel in far-off
+lands and see things that I did not even know <i>were</i>, by just reading
+books, and the reverend has lent me some to read.</p>
+
+<p>Then I am still making my baskets, and what do you think? The storeman
+is buying all I can send him, and paying me more than he used to for
+them! He says that city folks like to buy them for they smell so sweet
+and like the woods. I am saving all my money and, with what I had, have
+nearly $75 already, and, by next summer, will have over $100. Isn't that
+wonderful? Granddaddy pays me 10 cents a week for keeping house for him,
+too. Isn't he good?</p>
+
+<p>Don't you think I ought to be a very happy little girl? Well, I am, and
+I guess my face is getting all out of shape, I find so many things to
+smile about.</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your affectionate friend,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Rose</span>.</p>
+
+<p>P. S. Please give my love and a turkey drumstick to Mike.</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'><a class="pagenum" name="page_85" id="page_85" title="85"></a>V</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 6em;'><span class="smcap">Commonwealth Avenue</span></p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Boston, Massachusetts.</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>December 23, 1912.</p>
+
+<p>Dear little Smiles:</p>
+
+<p>Although I am very busy, for the Winter has given colds to many little
+folks here, I can not let Christmastide go by without writing a letter
+to you, little forest friend. It was very dear of you to send me that
+basket of holly, which I found waiting for me when I returned, tired
+out, last night.</p>
+
+<p>Its dark green leaves and bright red berries looked up at me when I
+undid it, almost as though they were your personal messengers and were
+trying eagerly to say, "Smiles wishes you a Merry Christmas through us."
+The basket was indeed a work of art, but to me it seemed even more than
+that&mdash;a labor of love.</p>
+
+<p>I could almost imagine you tramping through the snow-covered mountain
+woods and gathering the holiday berries, and the picture which my mind
+painted was so attractive that I heartily wished I might have been
+there, too.</p>
+
+<p>I am delighted with the accounts of the progress you are making in your
+studies, and your all-too-infrequent letters themselves tell the story.
+I'm afraid that I shall not know you next summer. Write me just as often
+as you feel like doing so, dear, and if I do not always reply you may
+know that it is only because I am so very busy.</p>
+
+<p>Now I have two pieces of news to tell you. I am sure that you will be
+very much pleased with one of them and I hope will be with both.</p>
+
+<p>First, Muriel's mother had a wonderful present just a little ahead of
+Christmas day&mdash;not from Santa Claus, but from Old Father Stork. It is a
+fine baby boy, whose eyes are almost the color of yours, and his name is
+to be<a class="pagenum" name="page_86" id="page_86" title="86"></a> "Donald MacDonald Thayer." I suppose I have now got to be extra
+good in order to set my namesake the right example.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing how dear all little ones are to your heart, I am sure that you
+will be almost as pleased as we are over this happy event, and I can
+almost see your sweet face light up with its wonderful smile as you read
+this.</p>
+
+<p>Second, I am engaged to be married some day, if I can ever find time.
+<i>Her</i> name is Marion Treville and she is very good and kind, and every
+one thinks she is very beautiful, too.</p>
+
+<p>I hope that you have by this time received the little friendship box
+which I sent to you and your grandfather. The dress is a present from
+Muriel, who loves your basket more than any of her toys, and continually
+speaks of you as her "dear friend Smiles"; the hair ribbon is from Mike
+and the book from</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your sincere friend,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Donald MacDonald</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'>VI</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'><span class="smcap">Webb's Gap</span></p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>January 7, 1913.</p>
+
+<p>Dear Dr. MacDonald:</p>
+
+<p>When I tell you that there has been a great deal of trouble here, you
+will understand why I have not written you long before this, to thank
+you for those lovely Christmas presents.</p>
+
+<p>Grandfather was delighted with his tobacco, although he has not smoked
+it yet, and all my gifts made me very happy. The dress dear little
+Muriel sent me is so lovely that I don't believe I shall ever dare to
+wear it, especially as, when grandfather saw me in it, he looked so
+sorrowful as he said, 'Hit's powerful purty, but hit haint my Smiles no
+more,' that he almost made me cry. I wonder if I<a class="pagenum" name="page_87" id="page_87" title="87"></a> can really ever leave
+him? He needs me very much now.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I was so happy for all of you when I read about Muriel having a dear
+little baby brother. I sat right down and wrote a verse. The reverend
+helped me with some of the words, but still I'm afraid that it is not
+very good and I am afraid you will laugh at it. It is the best I can do
+now, and I guess I will send it to you in this letter.</p>
+
+<p>Now I must tell you that your friend, my grandfather, has been very sick
+since Christmas. The doctor from Fayville has been to see him several
+times and he says the trouble is&mdash;I know that you will laugh at me now,
+but I can only write what it sounds like to me&mdash;'Aunt Jina pecks her
+wrist.' He has pains in his heart and has to keep very still, which he
+does not like to do, so I am the nurse and, whenever I feed him, or give
+him the medicine that the doctor left, I put on my nurse's dress.</p>
+
+<p>Of course I have not been able to go to the reverend's for my lessons,
+and I have not been able to study much, except when grandfather is
+asleep; but he&mdash;the reverend, I mean&mdash;comes to our house as often as he
+can, and we take turns in reading aloud to grandfather, sometimes from
+the book you sent me, but most times from the Holy Bible, which he likes
+best.</p>
+
+<p>The reverend says that it is better than medicine to sooth a troubled
+heart, and I reckon it must be so, for it almost always puts grandfather
+to sleep, and the trouble is with his heart, like I told you.</p>
+
+<p>Then, beside that, a little wild mountain flower was born to a neighbor
+of ours last week. We tried&mdash;oh, so hard&mdash;to make it live, but the cold
+was so bitter here that God took pity on it and took it back to his
+garden in Paradise.</p>
+
+<p>At first I could not help crying, and I came home and tore up the verses
+that I wrote, but then I remembered what you told me about the Reaper,
+and I went back to<a class="pagenum" name="page_88" id="page_88" title="88"></a> the poor, sorrowful mother and told her. And I
+remembered what you said about making people smile by smiling myself, so
+I did that, too.</p>
+
+<p>This is not a very happy letter, but grandfather is getting better every
+day, and summer will soon be here now. The new year seems to me like the
+top of a snow covered mountain. When we have climbed over it, it is not
+long before we can hurry down into the valley where the sun is warm and
+the flowers bloom.</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your affectionate friend,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Rose Webb</span>.</p>
+
+<p>P. S. I am very glad that you are going to be married.</p>
+
+<p style='margin-left:8em;'>(The Enclosure)</p>
+
+<p style='margin-left:4em;'>
+Deep the world with snow was covered,<br />
+Cold and barren was the earth,<br />
+Low the Christmas angels hovered<br />
+As a little babe had birth.<br />
+<br />
+Just a tender little flower,<br />
+Dropped upon the world below<br />
+Out of God's eternal bower&mdash;<br />
+Pink as sunrise, white as snow.<br />
+<br />
+But the little blossom stranger,<br />
+As its earthly life it starts,<br />
+Need fear neither cold nor danger,<br />
+For 'tis planted <i>in our hearts</i>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'>VII</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 6em;'><span class="smcap">"Thayerhurst"</span></p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'><span class="smcap">Manchester-by-the-sea</span>.</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>August 15, 1913.</p>
+
+<p>My dear little Smiles:</p>
+
+<p>This is going to be a very short letter, and can you guess why? Early
+next month I am going to run away<a class="pagenum" name="page_89" id="page_89" title="89"></a> from my work and everything here, and
+hurry down to your mountain for two whole weeks of wonderful vacation.
+So the next time you hear from me the words will come from my lips
+instead of my pen.</p>
+
+<p>I have been very glad indeed to hear that Big Jerry has been so well
+this summer, and I am sure that he has many more years of virile health
+ahead of him. I am keenly looking forward to seeing him cut a string
+with the new rifle.</p>
+
+<p>The weather has been terribly hot in Boston this month and caused much
+suffering, but it is quite cool and very pleasant here by the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>Every night that it is possible, I spend here with my sister's family,
+partly because I love to see my little namesake, even for a moment,
+partly to escape the city's heat and obtain some really refreshing rest.
+It makes me almost ashamed sometimes, when I think how comfortable I am,
+and how uncomfortable are the little children in the crowded city, most
+of whom have no woods, fields and streams like yours to play in, and
+many of whom never see anything out of doors except dirty, paved streets
+which get so hot that they burn the feet, even though the fire engine
+men frequently send rushing streams of water through them.</p>
+
+<p>But I know that a fighter must always keep in the best possible
+condition, and we doctors <i>and nurses</i> have declared war on an enemy who
+has killed millions and millions, and never takes a day off.</p>
+
+<p>I wonder how you will like the ocean when you see it. Very much, I am
+sure, it is so immensely big&mdash;like the sky&mdash;so beautiful, and more full
+of ever-changing colors than even your mountains.</p>
+
+<p>They tell me that little Muriel plays beside it all day long on the fine
+white sand and over the rocks, while baby brother lies near by on a
+blanket, kicking and gurgling,<a class="pagenum" name="page_90" id="page_90" title="90"></a> and holding long, wordless conversations
+with the white clouds and sea birds high overhead.</p>
+
+<p>This has been a much longer letter than I expected it to be, and now I
+must chop it off short with just five more words,</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your affectionate friend,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Donald MacDonald</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_91" id="page_91" title="91"></a>
+<a name="THE_HIGH_HILLS_AND_GODS_MAN_2739" id="THE_HIGH_HILLS_AND_GODS_MAN_2739"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<h3>THE HIGH HILLS, AND "GOD'S MAN"</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p style='margin-left:4em;'>
+Sun hath sunk in radiant splendor,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now the colors fade away</span><br />
+And the moon, with light more tender,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sheds its silver on the bay.</span><br />
+<br />
+Eventide is softly casting<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er the earth a magic spell,</span><br />
+And a love-song, everlasting,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the night wind seems to swell.</span><br />
+<br />
+Deeper grow the lengthening shadows,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Darkening the heaven's blue,</span><br />
+One by one the stars are gleaming,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Night is nigh, would you were, too.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Donald hummed the words in his not unmelodious baritone, as he climbed
+up the forest path down which, twelve months before, he had rushed
+headlong, in blind anger.</p>
+
+<p>The spell of the high, forest-clad hills, and the new-born night was upon
+his spirit. Pleasant anticipations filled his heart, and left no room
+for painful recollection as he hastened over the needle-strewn pathway
+on which the white radiance of the full moon, shining through the
+branches, made a tracery of silver and black.</p>
+
+<p>Let men whose minds are governed wholly by<a class="pagenum" name="page_92" id="page_92" title="92"></a> cold commonsense, and whose
+souls hold no spark of vitalizing imagination, scoff at moon-witchery
+and lunar madness. Let them declare that the earth's haunting satellite
+is merely a dead world which cannot even shine with its own light. Magic
+it <i>does</i> wield. And, just as it distorts and magnifies all commonplace,
+familiar objects, so it twists the thoughts of men; just as it steals
+away the natural colors from the things of earth, and substitutes for
+them those of its own conception, so it alters the hues of man's
+meditation.</p>
+
+<p>The usually exuberant Mike trotted in silence, close to his master's
+heels, and now and then cast suspicious glances aloft at the tall
+spectre things which he knew to be trees.</p>
+
+<p>Donald knew that it was rather absurd of him to be toiling up the
+five-mile mountain path that night, when the next morning would have
+done just as well; but he had thankfully thrown off the shackles of
+civilization along with its habiliments. For two free, full weeks he
+meant to live like a child of the out-of-doors, and to draw a brimming
+supply of new energy from Mother Nature's never-failing breasts. Every
+moment was precious.</p>
+
+<p>As he neared the Gap, his winging thoughts flew ahead to Big Jerry's
+cabin and to the child-woman who had so attracted him a year before.
+Once more he told himself that she was nothing to him, and that now,
+especially, he had no right to allow her, child though she were, to hold
+so large a place<a class="pagenum" name="page_93" id="page_93" title="93"></a> in his heart. Yet what chance has reason in
+competition with moonlight?</p>
+
+<p>The clearing, with the cabin beyond it, came into view. The little house
+was likewise a victim of the prevailing necromancy, for its rough,
+hand-split and weatherbeaten shingles were now a shimmering
+olive-silver.</p>
+
+<p>Mike gave voice to a joyful yelp, and tried to crowd past his owner's
+legs, for he had seen, or sensed, Rose even before the latter became
+aware of the presence of their little friend. She was standing, alone,
+on the outer edge of the tiny stoop, whose darkened doorway formed a
+black background, against which her figure appeared, cameo-like. The
+flooding brightness lifted her form and face, seen in profile, into
+sharp relief, and the shadow which it cast on the grass made her appear
+the more tall and slender. Grown and subtly altered she undoubtedly was,
+thought Donald. The girlish curves and lithesomeness had not departed;
+but they carried a suggestion of approaching maturity. Her wavy hair no
+longer hung unbound about her face, but was dressed in two braids, one
+of which had fallen forward across her breast. Shoes and stockings
+covered her legs; but the simple dress still left her neck and arms
+bare, and the flesh was robbed of its color and made alabaster, the
+golden threads stolen from the dark hair and replaced by a silver sheen,
+so that there was something ethereal, but startlingly beautiful, in the
+picture.<a class="pagenum" name="page_94" id="page_94" title="94"></a></p>
+
+<p>Holding the violently wriggling Mike in check, one hand on his collar,
+the other grasping his jaws, Donald stole silently forward until he had
+passed the corner of the cabin, and his own shadow had crept forward,
+and laid itself at the girl's feet.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she perceived it, and turned with a question in her shadowy
+eyes. Her lips parted, then curved into the familiar magic smile, as she
+cried, "Oh, Doctor MacDonald. You've <i>come</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mike twisted free, and, with a mad bound and wiggle, threw himself on
+the girl, who caught him in her arms. Then, holding him against her, she
+somehow succeeded in extending one hand, shapely and slender, to meet
+the man's two eager ones.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, grandpap," she thrilled through the doorway. "Hurry out hyar. Dr.
+Mac hes come fer ter see ye."</p>
+
+<p>A sense of vague disappointment possessed Donald as he heard her lapse
+into the musical, but provincial, dialect; but, seeming to read his
+thought that the year of study had not been able to alter it, she
+whispered, "I always talk like I used to, to him, for he likes it best."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, and you're quite right, too," was his low-voiced reply, as he
+heard the old man's heavy tread crossing the bare floor within.</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, wall, stranger. We air shor'ly powerful pleased fer ter welcome
+ye ergin," came in Big Jerry's deep and hearty voice, as he emerged from
+the darkness,<a class="pagenum" name="page_95" id="page_95" title="95"></a> and caught Donald's hand in the old, crushing vise.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments they all chatted happily, and then Jerry said, "Erfore
+I fergits hit, us wants ye ter stay up hyar this trip. Ther loft-room
+air yourn, an' leetle Rose hes fixed hit up special fer ye&mdash;curtains et
+ther window, er rag rug on ther floor, an' ther Lawd knows what else."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really want me to?" cried the newcomer in pleased surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we really want you," answered the happy girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, by Jove, I'll be only too glad to, although I had not thought of
+such a thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I allows thet yo' kin regard this hyar cabin as yo'r home whenever
+yo're hyarerbouts, an' we wants fer ye ter feel thet hit <i>air</i> home,"
+said the giant with simple courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you how much that means to me&mdash;real hospitality like
+that," began Donald, hesitatingly. "You know I ... I haven't any real
+home and haven't had ... since mother left us, and my sister was
+married. Of course," he added hastily, "my rooms are pleasant and
+comfortable, and all that; but they're only a place to work, sleep and
+eat in, and there isn't any of that indefinably vital something&mdash;a soul,
+perhaps&mdash;which makes a <i>real</i> home a sacred spot, no matter how big or
+how small it may be. I get frightfully lonely there, sometimes."<a class="pagenum" name="page_96" id="page_96" title="96"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I didn't allow thet a man could git lonely in the city," replied Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"'In the city?' My dear man, one can be <i>twice</i> as lonely there as any
+place I know of. The very life makes for shut-inness, in mind as well as
+body, and there are thousands and thousands of men, and women, too,
+there, who know scarcely a soul outside of the very few with whom their
+daily work brings them in contact; and <i>they</i> are mere acquaintances,
+not friends. They see only the four walls of the rooms in which they
+work and sleep, and the walled-in streets between the two.</p>
+
+<p>"These very streets seem to me to typify the city's life&mdash;so hard, so
+filled with hurrying, jostling crowds of people, all equally intent upon
+their own narrow, selfish affairs, people who would think a fellow crazy
+if he spoke to them pleasantly, as you did to me the first time I saw
+you. There are thousands who never even lift their eyes to the narrow
+strips of sky between the tall buildings. <i>They</i>&mdash;and they only&mdash;know
+what real loneliness is.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I'm not one of those unfortunates," he added quickly, "for I
+have many friends, and am making new ones daily; but that is the
+atmosphere I live in fifty weeks of the year. Do you wonder that it gets
+on my nerves at times, and that I long to run away from it all and get
+into the big, open spaces in the warm heart of friendly nature?</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think that I can ever feel lonesome in the forest and fields,
+with living things always<a class="pagenum" name="page_97" id="page_97" title="97"></a> about me which are ready to share themselves
+with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I haint never thought uv thet. This hyar mountain country
+air's whar I hev lived in contentment all my life, an' I allows thet
+hit's good ernough fer me ter keep on livin' in, twill I dies."</p>
+
+<p>Rose remained silent, although obviously disturbed by Donald's words;
+but, before she could voice her thoughts, another figure quietly joined
+the group&mdash;a tall, stooping man, clean shaven, and with an &aelig;sthetic
+countenance seemingly out of its natural environment.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it's my minister man," cried Rose joyfully. "Wherever did you come
+from?"</p>
+
+<p>"My wanderings brought me close home, and I could not pass by without
+calling on my two good friends in Webb's Gap."</p>
+
+<p>"An' we air downright glad fer ter see ye, reverend," answered the host.
+"This hyar air the doctor man from the city, what leetle Rose hes told
+ye so much erbout."</p>
+
+<p>Donald already felt drawn to the strange divine, their common interest
+in the girl acting as a lode-stone, and he clasped his hand with
+friendly pressure. The other returned it less vigorously, but no less
+sincerely, and Donald experienced a peculiar mesmeric thrill which
+startled him a little.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I should apologize," began Mr. Talmadge in a low voice, the
+timbre of which still retained the resonance of early culture. "I came
+on<a class="pagenum" name="page_98" id="page_98" title="98"></a> this happy scene&mdash;or at least to the corner of the house&mdash;while you
+were speaking of life in the city, and I could not very well help
+pausing and listening.</p>
+
+<p>"I know your feelings only too well, Dr. MacDonald. I was born, bred and
+worked in New York until my health became undermined by just such
+influences as you mentioned; and I was forced to run away, too, and seek
+the hills 'whence cometh my help.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And deep in your inner consciousness you don't regret the change, do
+you?" asked Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"No. Perhaps I am selfish&mdash;a shirker&mdash;and there are times when the old
+call to get back where I know that the need is greatest comes like a
+clarion. But for myself, the disaster&mdash;which once seemed like a
+curse&mdash;has turned out to be a blessing, as is so often the case. I have
+learned a great lesson, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"What lesson?" queried Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"God's," responded the minister, quietly. "It may seem strange to you,
+my dear, but, although I was reared in a religious family, went through
+a great theological school, and was the rector of a city church for ten
+years, I never fully knew Him until I came here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mr. Talmadge!" gasped the girl in astonishment, while Donald said
+bluntly, "Do you really believe that you know Him, now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do. Not, of course, in all the fullness of His<a class="pagenum" name="page_99" id="page_99" title="99"></a> mysterious majesty,
+but as a friend whose ways are no longer hidden from my eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Frankly, I wish I might say as much," said the doctor. "I, too, was
+brought up in a religious household, but small good it did me, for, when
+I became old enough to think for myself, the glaring errors and
+inconsistencies in my childhood belief became so apparent that I became
+hopeless of ever understanding the truth which might lie within that
+astonishing maze. I quit going to church long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctors are generally regarded as an atheistic lot," smiled the
+minister.</p>
+
+<p>"That's slander. We may&mdash;in the aggregate&mdash;be agnostic.... I suppose
+that I am."</p>
+
+<p>"I ... I don't understand," said Rose in distress, "but I don't like for
+to hear yo' say that, Dr. Mac."</p>
+
+<p>"It may not be as bad as it sounds, my child," laughed Mr. Talmadge. "An
+atheist is indeed a terrible person, who doesn't believe in our heavenly
+Father, but an agnostic is only one who confesses that he doesn't know
+... but may be quite willing to learn."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, learn ... I mean teach him, then," she said earnestly. "You are
+God's man and know everything about Him, Mr. Talmadge."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I don't&mdash;far from it, and I imagine that your friend doesn't
+want to hear a sermon on the mount."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> do," she cried, "there's lot of things I want<a class="pagenum" name="page_100" id="page_100" title="100"></a> to hear about, but
+I've always been afraid to ask you, till now."</p>
+
+<p>Rather gruffly Donald added his word, "I hope that I am broad-minded
+enough not only to receive, but to welcome, any light on a subject which
+is, I imagine, the most vitally important one in life."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, suppose we hold a little spiritual clinic for our Rose's
+benefit primarily, remembering that where two or three are gathered
+together in His name, God will be with them. And, after all, what time
+could be more fitting than this silent, holy night; what place more
+suitable than this great temple of the out-of-doors, for us simple
+children of His to seek understanding?"</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_101" id="page_101" title="101"></a>
+<a name="SMILES_CONSECRATION_3008" id="SMILES_CONSECRATION_3008"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<h3>"SMILES'" CONSECRATION</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>If, half an hour previous, Donald had been told that, during the first
+evening of his long anticipated visit to his forest of enchantment, he
+was to play the part of patient in a spiritual clinic, conducted by a
+wandering backwood preacher for the instruction of a seventeen-year-old
+mountain girl&mdash;as well as for his own enlightenment&mdash;he would have
+scoffed at the idea; yet, oddly enough, he felt no sense of displeasure
+or antagonism.</p>
+
+<p>In the company of this unaffected man of God, the simple old mountaineer
+and the equally simple girl only, vanished all the self-conscious
+reserve and reticence which usually attacks the modern city dweller when
+called upon to speak of things spiritual and eternal, and which had so
+often bound Donald's tongue, even when his inner being cried aloud for
+expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly blame you for your attitude of mind, doctor," began Mr.
+Talmadge. "Although it is certain that the knowledge of God starts from
+Himself a ray of pure white light, the dogmas, creeds and
+theologies&mdash;invented by many men of many minds&mdash;have raised between it
+and our spiritual<a class="pagenum" name="page_102" id="page_102" title="102"></a> eyes a glass clouded with earthly murkiness, through
+which we now see darkly. Only as mankind grows in spiritual stature, and
+lifts his head above the clouds, can he hope to see the ray in all its
+purity and glory."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose that's so," assented Donald. "But I'm afraid that my
+difficulties lie deeper than the unessential differences in dogma.
+However, since our little friend is the one who has questions to ask,
+let her conduct the catechism."</p>
+
+<p>Rose was speechless with embarrassment, but finally managed to say, "I
+reckon I'm so ignorant, that I can't say the things that are in my
+heart. Please, Dr. Mac, you ask the reverend the questions and let me
+just sit and listen. Only don't use too big words, for I want to
+understand."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, I'll be cross-examiner, but please believe, Mr. Talmadge,
+that what I may say is not intended to be argumentative, but rather
+honestly inquisitive. I really would like to find out if any one can
+reasonably explain some of the many things in religion to the acceptance
+of which I have been unable to reconcile myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do it gladly, if I can. But, before you begin, let me apologize
+for what I said in ill-timed jest about doctors being atheists. I
+suppose that, in one sense, there isn't a more truly religious class of
+men in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't agree to that, either," said Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps not, but tell me this. Isn't the structure<a class="pagenum" name="page_103" id="page_103" title="103"></a> and functionings of
+the human body infinitely more wonderful to you, who have made an
+intimate study of it, than it can be to us who have not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly. It's the most marvellous thing on God's earth," answered
+Donald, unthinkingly employing an expression heard in childhood.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" cried Mr. Talmadge. "He's convicted out of his own mouth, isn't
+he, Rose? 'God's earth', he says."</p>
+
+<p>"A mere figure of speech," the physician laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"A statement of fact, sir. There are mighty few of you doctors who will
+not, within your hearts of hearts, agree that a Supreme Being must have
+designed this earthly temple which we call our body, the world we dwell
+in, and established the laws that govern both. And, knowing, as none
+others can, <i>how</i> wonderfully the former is constructed, is not a
+doctor's appreciation of the Almighty's power bound to be sincere?"</p>
+
+<p>"Granted. But that isn't being religious," Donald protested.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the foundation of all true religion," was the quiet answer.</p>
+
+<p>The physician was still dubious. "Well, perhaps. Still, I doubt if many
+ministers would agree that merely because a man may believe in a
+superhuman creative power, he is religious, if, at the same time he
+says&mdash;as I must&mdash;that he doesn't and can't subscribe to many of the
+things which we were taught as children to believe as 'gospel truth.'"<a class="pagenum" name="page_104" id="page_104" title="104"></a></p>
+
+<p>There was the sound of a shocked and troubled "Oh," from Rose, but the
+minister's composure was in no wise ruffled.</p>
+
+<p>"The trouble is, I imagine, that you have mentally outgrown the
+willingness to accept certain statements blindly, as children and
+primitive minds do, and yet have made no really earnest endeavor to lift
+the veil and look behind it with the intent of finding out if a simple
+and understandable truth may not lie hidden there."</p>
+
+<p>"But how is one going to get behind a plain statement of what is
+apparently meant to be fact, such as the description of the creation in
+Genesis?" demanded Donald, somewhat impatiently. "Science is absolute,
+and I, for one, know that the Darwinian theory of life, or one
+substantially like it, is true. Why, a study of human anatomy proves it,
+even if we did not have conclusive evidence in anthropology and geology.
+So, in the very first words of the Bible, we start off with a conflict
+between its tenets, and what human learning shows us to be an
+indisputable fact."</p>
+
+<p>"Do we?" smiled the minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't we?" answered Donald.</p>
+
+<p>Rose sat looking first at one, then at the other, with a puzzled look in
+her eyes, for it was all Greek to her.</p>
+
+<p>Noticing this, Mr. Talmadge said, "I guess that we've started a bit too
+strongly for our little listener, but we want her to accompany us from
+the start," and he briefly, in simple words, outlined the Darwinian<a class="pagenum" name="page_105" id="page_105" title="105"></a>
+theory, which brought an outraged grunt from Big Jerry. Then he turned
+back to Donald, and said, "Take the story of ... well, say the prodigal
+son, for an example. Was that the account of real happenings, think
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. Merely a parable." The other's mind reverted to the one
+which he himself had preached by letter to little "Smiles."</p>
+
+<p>"The Bible is filled with parables," said Mr. Talmadge, simply. "Why
+should we regard certain stories as allegories merely, and others as
+historically accurate statements of fact when they are difficult to
+credit as such? Especially why should we do so in the face of the
+obvious fact that the earlier part of the Old Testament is simply
+tradition, handed down, orally at first, by an intensely patriotic and
+rather vain race? <i>Sacred</i> tradition it is, to be sure; but that should
+not deter us from endeavoring to analyze it in the light of reason.
+Besides, hasn't it ever occurred to you that in a translation from the
+original Hebrew, some of the finer meanings of the old words are sure to
+have been lost or distorted?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose that is so."</p>
+
+<p>"As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word '<i>Y[=o]m</i>,' which, in the story of
+the Creation, has been translated 'day,' also means 'period.' And it is
+a rather interesting thing, in this connection, that the biblical
+account mentions an evening to each of the first six 'days,' but not to
+the seventh, which shows that <i>it</i> isn't finished yet. Science tells us
+that this last<a class="pagenum" name="page_106" id="page_106" title="106"></a> period, since the creation of mankind, has already
+lasted many thousands of years&mdash;although the length of time ascribed to
+it varies greatly&mdash;and this gives us some idea of how long those other
+'days' might have been. Besides, in this case, we do not have to be
+'finicky' about the meaning of the ancient word, for in the Psalms there
+is a verse which says that a thousand years in <i>His</i> sight are ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Are but as yesterday," Rose completed the quotation in her gentle
+voice. "You see, those were God's days, not ours."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll be ... blessed," said Donald. "It is logical enough, isn't
+it? The trouble in this case, at least, was that I never consciously
+tried to reconcile what I regarded as the old and new beliefs."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Mr. Talmadge," Smiles' perplexed voice broke in. "If human beings
+just developed from a kind of monkey ..."</p>
+
+<p>"The anthropoid ape wasn't exactly a monkey, although he may have looked
+and acted like one," laughed Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but how could the Good Book say that God created man in His own
+image?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember what Paul said, in his wonderful epistle to the
+Corinthians? He answered your question when he wrote, 'There is a
+natural body, and there is a spiritual body ... and as we have borne the
+image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly.'
+What does the Bible say that God is, Rose?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_107" id="page_107" title="107"></a></p>
+
+<p>"'God is a spirit,'" whispered Smiles, reverently.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. And Dr. MacDonald will tell you that 'spirit' comes from a
+Latin word which means 'breath.' When God perceived that some of the
+earth creatures had, according to His plan, developed sufficiently in
+mind so that they could rule the world, He breathed into them some of
+His own spirit, and thus created them in His own image&mdash;for of course a
+spirit hasn't form and shape like beings of flesh and blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Hasn't He?" gasped the girl. "Why, there is a picture of Him, like a
+great big man with long beard, in my Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"Merely symbolic, dear child, and I have always felt that it was a vain
+symbolism, in both senses of that word. You look them up in your new
+dictionary to-morrow. In trying hard to picture God, men have made Him
+in the likeness of the most wonderful things their eyes had ever
+seen&mdash;themselves&mdash;and just increased His size. As for the beard, that is
+supposed to be a sign of power and strength.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, in fact, God isn't a man or even a super-man, but a spirit,
+combining the spiritual elements of both male and female."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I jest hev ter think of er somebody fer ter worship," broke in
+the hitherto silent Jerry. "Jest something like ther wind air er bit too
+onsartain fer me."</p>
+
+<p>"And for millions of others," answered the minister<a class="pagenum" name="page_108" id="page_108" title="108"></a> quickly. "Of course
+there isn't the slightest bit of harm in people thinking of Our Heavenly
+Father as a Being with a form which our eyes might see if they were only
+given the power to behold heavenly, as well as earthly, things. The
+conception of the Omnipotent as a physical embodiment has in the past
+been of incalculable advantage in making an appeal to an aboriginal type
+of mind, since it really requires some sort of material personification,
+which it can at least visualize, the conception of which serves as an
+incentive for well-doing, and a deterrent from evil doing. It is
+therefore infinitely preferable as a working basis to an unembodied
+force."</p>
+
+<p>Big Jerry brought a smile to the lips of the other two men by bursting
+out, "Durned ef I understand. Them words air too powerful ederkated fer
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Rose, "what you say kind of frightens me, Mr. Talmadge. If
+we can't ever see God, even in Heaven, how can we be sure that He <i>is</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you ever seen ... love?" queried the minister softly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet you know that <i>it</i> is. You've never seen, tasted, touched or
+smelled thought, but you know that it exists. In the same mysterious way
+we know, and we shall know more perfectly hereafter, that the Great
+Spirit&mdash;I've always loved that beautiful Indian expression&mdash;<i>is</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, somewhat uncertainly. "I <i>think</i> that I understand. But
+it's powerful hard to understand<a class="pagenum" name="page_109" id="page_109" title="109"></a> how I can be His little child if He
+isn't a person."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wonder that it puzzles you, dear. It is hard for even the
+oldest of us to try to imagine something entirely different from what we
+have actually seen with our mortal eyes, and we can hardly conceive of a
+spirit, or even a ghost, as something without some sort of a form, even
+though it be a very misty one. But the <i>real</i> you isn't the flesh that
+we can see and touch, but the spirit that dwells inside, and, just as
+some of your earthly father and mother is in your body, so you have
+something of God within you, which was given you at birth. We call it
+..."</p>
+
+<p>"My soul."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And as that was part of Him you are His child ... so are we
+all&mdash;spiritual children."</p>
+
+<p>"And Jesus? Was He His son in the same way?" whispered the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly, only to a far greater degree than we can hope to be, for to
+Him the Heavenly Father gave His spirit in fuller measure than He ever
+had before to mankind, so that He might set an example to the world and
+teach us the way we should try to live."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for a moment, and then Smiles spoke the thought that
+had been troubling her. "But, Mr. Talmadge, if God hasn't any body and
+our spirits are like him, why heaven ..."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Talmadge sent a glance of smiling appeal at the doctor as though to
+say, "Now I'm in for it.<a class="pagenum" name="page_110" id="page_110" title="110"></a> How can I explain heaven as a spiritual
+condition?" Aloud he said, "I won't pretend to know just what heaven is
+like, but, of course, our spirits won't need an earth like this to walk
+on."</p>
+
+<p>"But," persisted the child, "the Good Book says that there are many
+mansions there, and golden streets, and also that it is a land flowing
+with milk and honey."</p>
+
+<p>"So it does, and very likely there are, in the realms of the spirit,
+things which correspond to those that we have known on earth, but I am
+quite sure that they are not <i>material</i> things."</p>
+
+<p>"Ef thar haint no real heaven, thar haint no real hell," broke in Big
+Jerry, whose mind had been slowly grasping the meaning of the minister's
+words. "I reckon thar must be a place uv punishment fer sinners."</p>
+
+<p>Painstakingly, as though explaining to a child, Mr. Talmadge answered,
+"Mr. Webb, did you ever do something wrong, because of which your
+conscience troubled you later?"</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon I hev. Reckon I suffered the torments uv the damned fer hit."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever burn your hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I done thet, too; powerful bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Which caused you the most suffering, your conscience or your hand?"</p>
+
+<p>"I erlows thet my conscience done hit."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the answer to your implied question. God doesn't need to give
+us new bodies, and send<a class="pagenum" name="page_111" id="page_111" title="111"></a> them into a place of fire and brimstone to
+punish us for our sins. If the soul suffers, it is in hell, even though
+it may still be in our mortal bodies. That it must suffer, when we do
+wrong, we know. But, Mr. Webb, I do not think that it is meant to be
+punishment in the sense of retribution&mdash;getting even&mdash;so much as it is
+for correction. You know that men put gold through the fire to purge it
+of the dross that makes it dim and lustreless. That is what the fires of
+the spirit are for; that is why the Bible speaks of Hell as a place of
+fire. It is another parable."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see," said Rose, but the old man shook his head, unconvinced.
+Then the girl asked suddenly, "But why was God so good as to give us
+part of Himself and let us make it impure and suffer, Mr. Talmadge?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, now you are getting into the depths of religion and I'd rather not
+discuss that until you have had a chance to think over what we have
+talked about already. All that I wanted to do to-night was to get both
+you, and the doctor, to thinking for yourselves. Come and see me,
+doctor, if you want to continue this discussion. I've got theories on
+any subject that you may mention, I guess," he laughed. "But I won't
+count the evening wasted&mdash;even leaving out the pleasure I have had&mdash;if I
+have helped to open your eyes, ever so little, to the light."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you have ... and mine, too," answered Rose. "I mean to think
+<i>hard</i>, but if I get very<a class="pagenum" name="page_112" id="page_112" title="112"></a> puzzled, I'll come to see you about it. But,
+anyway, I mean to be God's little child all my life&mdash;as well as a
+trained nurse. And I mean to help Dr. Mac, always, to be a child of our
+heavenly Father, too," she added, simply. As Donald arose to bid the
+minister good-night, his eyes were a little misty, for the girl's
+unaffected declaration had moved him more deeply than he had ever been
+moved in his life.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_113" id="page_113" title="113"></a>
+<a name="ADOPTION_BY_BLOOD_3329" id="ADOPTION_BY_BLOOD_3329"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<h3>ADOPTION BY BLOOD</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>For a little while Donald lay awake under the eaves in his loft room,
+but his sleeplessness was the result neither of worry or nervous
+tension. His mind, indeed, was unusually contented. None of the
+disturbing thoughts of difficult tasks on the morrow assailed it; he
+felt only an unwonted peace and contentment. The impressions left by the
+evening's talk still swayed and uplifted his soul. Yet, deep within his
+consciousness, there was a vague realization that it would be long, if
+ever, before he could hope to pattern his life by the precepts of the
+man of God who had so stirred him. Happily, he could not foresee how
+soon mortal passions were to repossess him wholly, to blot out the new
+spiritual light which was his.</p>
+
+<p>In her little room below, Rose, too, lay awake, her youthful mind
+teeming with wonderful, new ideas garnered from the seeds sown by the
+"reverend"; but the insistent call of slumber to her tired, healthy body
+in time lulled her busy thoughts to rest.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Oh, Doctor Mac, come <i>quick!</i> Grandpappy's hurted."<a class="pagenum" name="page_114" id="page_114" title="114"></a></p>
+
+<p>Sound asleep, and even then visioning the girl whose terrified voice
+suddenly wove itself into the figment of his dream, when the first word
+fell upon his ears, Donald was wide awake, and he was half out of bed
+before the last was spoken.</p>
+
+<p>He paused only long enough to draw on his hunting breeches and thrust
+his bare feet into their tramping boots&mdash;which left a hiatus of
+unstockinged muscular calf&mdash;hurriedly dropped down the ladder, and in
+two strides was out of doors.</p>
+
+<p>Near the wood pile stood the old mountaineer, on his countenance
+expression of mingled pain and chagrin, the latter dominating. His right
+hand still grasped the keen-edged axe, while Rose stood beside him,
+clasping his brawny left forearm with both of her small but sinewy
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>As Donald approached them on the run he noticed that the girl had
+sacrificed her treasured hair ribbon to make a tourniquet halfway up the
+old man's arm, and that blood was running down his hand and falling from
+the finger tips with slow, rhythmical continuity.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit haint nothin' et all, Smiles," Big Jerry was rumbling forth. "Hit
+air jest er scratch. I don't know how I come fer ter do hit an' I reckon
+I ought ter be plumb ershamed. Why, Smiles, I been erchoppin' wood fer
+nigh onter fifty year, an' I haint never chopped myself erfore. Hit war
+thet tarnation knot. But hit haint nothin', this hyar haint."</p>
+
+<p>"Come over to the well where we can give it a<a class="pagenum" name="page_115" id="page_115" title="115"></a> wash," was Donald's curt
+command, and Big Jerry followed him obediently, while the girl hastened
+ahead and drew up a bucket full of pure, sparkling, ice-cold spring
+water. The doctor tipped it unceremoniously over the giant's arm, and,
+as the already coagulating blood on the surface was washed away, made a
+hasty examination of the slanting, ugly gash beneath.</p>
+
+<p>"Superficial wound. No artery or major muscle severed," he announced, as
+though addressing a class. "Still, you were right in taking the
+precaution of applying that tourniquet, Rose. I suppose it was bleeding
+pretty merrily at first."</p>
+
+<p>"Hit war spoutin' powerful," she answered, in her stress of excitement
+lapsing into the language of childhood.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose so. That is in a way a good thing in such cases,
+however. It automatically cleanses the wound of any infectious matter.
+Look, Rose," he added, as though explaining to a clinic, "see how the
+blood is thickening up into a clot? That is chiefly the work of what we
+call 'white corpuscles'&mdash;infinitely tiny little organisms whose sole
+purpose in life is to eat up disease germs which may get into the veins,
+and to hurry to the surface when there is a cut, cluster together and
+die, their bodies forming a wall against the wicked enemies who are
+always anxious to get inside the blood for the purpose of making
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I told ye 'twarnt nothin'," said Big Jerry, not<a class="pagenum" name="page_116" id="page_116" title="116"></a> without a note of
+relief in his voice, however. "A leetle blood-lettin' won't do me no
+hurt. I'll jest wind a rag eround hit, an' ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so fast," laughed Donald. "In all probability 'a rag just wound
+round it' would do the business, for your blood is apparently in
+first-class condition, with its full share of the red corpuscles; but
+you might just as well have the benefit of the hospital corps since we
+are on the ground. The red corpuscles," he added, addressing Smiles,
+"are the other good little chaps who continually go hurrying through the
+body, feeding it with oxygen and making it strong. Run into the house
+and get my 'first aid' kit, from my knapsack, child. You'll remember it
+when you see it, for I had to dig it out the very first time that I saw
+you."</p>
+
+<p>The girl hurried cabinwards, fleet as the wind, and, as the two men sat
+down on a woodpile to wait for her, Donald had an opportunity to take
+note of his ludicrously inadequate costume.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed little more than a minute before Rose returned with his kit,
+but it was not brought by a mountain maid. In that almost incredibly
+short time the child had changed her gingham dress for the immaculate
+costume of a trained nurse, and the transformation in apparel had been
+accompanied by one in mien no less noticeable. Dainty and fair as a
+white wild rose she was, yet seriously businesslike in expression.
+Donald was startled for a moment. It came to his mind that he was
+looking upon a vision<a class="pagenum" name="page_117" id="page_117" title="117"></a> of the years to come, and the picture caused his
+heart to beat a little faster; but, although the light of appreciation
+shone in his eyes, his only comment was, "Are your hands as clean as
+that dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"Now how the deuce did she come to use that stereotyped response?" he
+wondered; then said, aloud, "Then undo that roll of gauze bandage and
+tear off a piece about six feet long ... be careful! Don't let it touch
+the ground."</p>
+
+<p>Then he immediately gave his attention to Big Jerry, and smiled with
+professional callousness as he caught the giant's wince when the
+antiseptic fluid which he poured on the wound started it smarting.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for your first lesson in the scientific application of a bandage,
+Smiles," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Very carefully she followed his directions, and at length the split end
+was tied with professional neatness. But, as his fingers tested the
+knot, the girl seized one of his hands and exclaimed, with solicitude,
+"Why, you're hurt, too, Doctor Mac!"</p>
+
+<p>She indicated on one of his fingers a small jagged tear from which the
+blood was slowly oozing.</p>
+
+<p>"How the dickens did I do that?" he demanded in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Sliding down the ladder from the loft-room, I reckon. See, there's a
+piece of splinter in it still."</p>
+
+<p>"Right-o, Miss Detective." He turned to the old man and remarked, "It
+looks as though your<a class="pagenum" name="page_118" id="page_118" title="118"></a> blood and mine had been mixing, this morning. Why
+not complete the ceremony and make it an adoption by blood; the way they
+used to do in some of the Indian tribes, you know?" he added, half
+jestingly, and acting on a sudden impulse. "You can take me into the
+clan as ... well, as your foster-son."</p>
+
+<p>"Thar haint no clan nowadays, I reckon, but ef yo' wants fer ter be my
+foster-son I'd shor' be pleased fer ter hev ye es such, lad."</p>
+
+<p>"Great. I feel like 'one of the family' already, and if you <i>will</i> adopt
+me as a new son&mdash;with all the privileges and obligations of one&mdash;I'll
+appreciate it, no joking."</p>
+
+<p>As a pledge of their compact the city and mountain man clasped hands
+solemnly, while Rose stood by, delightedly smiling her benediction upon
+their act. "Why," she cried, "that makes me your little foster sister,
+Doctor Mac. Oh, I'm so glad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so it does." Donald answered with a cheery voice, but no sooner
+were the words spoken than a sense of rebellion took possession of him.
+"Idiot!" he muttered, shaking off the feeling with an effort of his
+will.</p>
+
+<p>"But haint ... aren't you going to do up your hurt finger, too?" she
+queried anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>The man seized the broken sliver with his fingers and jerked it out,
+examined the tiny incision and then thrust the wounded member into his
+mouth. "Don't ever tell any of my patients that you saw<a class="pagenum" name="page_119" id="page_119" title="119"></a> me do this," he
+laughed, with a return to good humor, "but that is my way of treating a
+minor injury ... then I forget it. It's a fearful secret," he added,
+lowering his voice, "but nature, aided by sun and air, are wonderful
+healers, and just ordinary saliva, if a person is healthy, is both
+cleansing and healing."</p>
+
+<p>"Thet air the way anumals cures thar hurts," remarked Jerry.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is nature's way, and if the blood is pure, and the cut not so
+deep as to make infection likely, there isn't a much better one, after
+all. However, Miss Nurse, you may practice your art on my finger, too,
+if you want."</p>
+
+<p>He held his hand out, and, flushing with childish happiness, Rose bound
+up the little scratch painstakingly, answering Donald's brief word of
+commendation with a flashing smile. Indeed, experience with many nurses
+of many grades of ability made him aware that her untrained fingers held
+an unusual degree of natural knack which augured well for the future.</p>
+
+<p>During a simple breakfast, leisurely eaten, the trio talked over in
+detail the varied happenings of the year that had passed, and Donald was
+as astonished as he was pleased to discover what diligent application
+the girl had exercised in her studying, and what results she had
+attained, despite the manifold handicaps under which she had labored.
+Her ministerial friend and mentor had truly guided her feet far along
+the lower levels of learning. Yet the old and<a class="pagenum" name="page_120" id="page_120" title="120"></a> well-remembered childish
+charm had been in no wise lessened, and the unaffected simplicity with
+which she dropped into the mountain tongue, when speaking to her
+grandfather, caused Donald to glow with sympathetic appreciation.</p>
+
+<p>As they finished eating, Big Jerry remarked, "Hit air a powerful fine
+mornin' fer ter spend huntin', my boy. I reckon yo'll wish ter git inter
+the woods right smart, an' ef yo' desires ter make a day uv hit,
+Smiles'll fix ye up er leetle lunch ter take erlong."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm not exactly sure what I shall do," answered Donald, with slight
+hesitation. "Perhaps what I need most, to start with, is just plain
+rest, and I rather guess I'll laze around this morning, and maybe go
+down to Fayville to get my grip this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, thet air a good idee. Jest make yo'rself ter home. I've got a
+leetle bizness ter attend to up the mountain a piece, an' I allows yo'
+kin git erlong 'thout me fer a while." He departed, disappearing with
+surprising rapidity, and left the man and girl together.</p>
+
+<p>Donald sank onto the doorstep, leaned against the side post, and sucked
+away at his pipe with lazy contentment, alternately watching Rose as she
+flew busily about her simple household duties, and sending his gaze out
+over the broad stretch of peaceful mountainside, which lay dozing in the
+warm morning sun.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_121" id="page_121" title="121"></a>
+<a name="THE_THREE_OF_HEARTS_3552" id="THE_THREE_OF_HEARTS_3552"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<h3>THE THREE OF HEARTS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>At length Donald said, abruptly, "You haven't asked me anything about
+Miss Treville, Smiles."</p>
+
+<p>There was a perceptible pause in the girl's dish-drying, and the simple
+mountain ballad that she was happily humming broke off in the middle of
+a minor cadence. The man regarded her with curiosity as she slowly
+approached him, saying, "I didn't mean to be so forgetful, doctor, and
+I'm plumb ashamed. I should be pleased to have you tell me all about
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I don't know as there is much to tell," he replied, a little
+nonplussed by the unexpectedness of the implied question. "Of course she
+is very nice and very lovely, as I wrote you."</p>
+
+<p>"What does she look like?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid that I cannot hope to give a very accurate description of
+her, Rose. It would perhaps be easier if you had ever visited an art
+museum, and seen statues of some of the Greek goddesses, for people say
+that she looks like one of them. You see she is quite tall for a
+woman&mdash;almost as tall as I am myself&mdash;and ... well, her form and the way
+she carries herself is queenly. Then she has<a class="pagenum" name="page_122" id="page_122" title="122"></a> hair darker than yours,
+and ... her eyes are gray, I guess, although, come to think of it, I
+never noticed particularly. She isn't pretty like a wild-flower, but
+very beautiful, more like a stately cultivated bloom. When you have seen
+conservatory blossoms you will know better what I mean. She is very
+serious, too. Even when she is quite happy it is sometimes a bit hard to
+tell it, for she seldom really smiles.... I wish she would," he added,
+as though to himself, "she has wonderful teeth."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she must be very lovely," mused Rose, and added with slight
+hesitancy, "I reckon you must love her powerful."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course," Donald answered, and then added, as though a logical
+reason for his affection was necessary, "You see, I have known Marion
+all her life. She is my sister's closest friend, and almost grew up in
+our house."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had," said Rose, the note of envy in her voice being
+outweighed by the childlike sincerity which her words carried. "What
+does she do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do? Why, I don't know, exactly&mdash;what all society girls, with plenty of
+money at their disposal, do, I suppose. Of course she has clubs which
+she belongs to, and she goes to dances and theatres and ... I think she
+is interested in some sort of charity, too." He had an uncomfortable
+feeling that he was failing to make out a very strong case for the woman
+to whom he was engaged, and at the same time wondering why any
+vindication of her should seem necessary,<a class="pagenum" name="page_123" id="page_123" title="123"></a> since he had always regarded
+her as a bit too perfect, if anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that is lovely, for the Bible says that the greatest of all is
+charity," cried Rose, her eyes sparkling. "And does she go about helping
+poor, lonesome city people, and the dear little poor children? It must
+be wonderful to have lots of money, so that you can do all sorts of
+things to make them happier and better."</p>
+
+<p>"Confound the child," thought Donald, although his exasperation was
+directed rather at himself, than at her. "It's positively indecent the
+way she gets inside one. Judged by the standards of her class, Marion is
+a splendid girl&mdash;head and shoulders above the average&mdash;yet these
+unconsciously searching questions of Smiles' are ... Hang it all, I wish
+I had had sense enough not to open the subject."</p>
+
+<p>Aloud he said non-committally, "Yes, of course it is wonderful and I
+know that you would do it if you were able."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>shall</i> do it," was the confident answer. "I can't give money but I
+can give myself." There was a moment of silence; then Rose added softly,
+"I guess she loves you a lot, too, you are so good to ... to people, and
+do such wonderful things. When do you calculate to get married to her,
+Doctor Mac?"</p>
+
+<p>"Married?" he repeated in a startled voice, "Oh, some day, of course;
+but you know how terribly busy I am, and ..." He stopped, visualizing<a class="pagenum" name="page_124" id="page_124" title="124"></a>
+himself at that moment as he lolled indolently in the doorway of that
+mountain cabin, and wondering if the same thought were in her mind as
+was in his. At the same time came a welcome interruption in the
+appearance of a small child, brown as the proverbial berry, and bearing
+in her arms a large and rather dilapidated appearing doll. For an
+instant Donald failed to recognize her, and said, "Hello, here comes one
+of your little friends to see you, Smiles. Why, I do believe ... yes,
+it's Lou. Come along. You're not afraid of the doctor man who sent you
+that doll."</p>
+
+<p>Lou advanced, one finger in her mouth, the corners of which were lifting
+in a shy smile. Sensing the approach of another old friend, Mike bounded
+out of the doorway where he had lain panting in the shadow, and so
+energetic was his greeting that the child was very nearly upset by it,
+although as soon as she could regain her equilibrium she flung her
+little arms around the roughly coated neck, without a trace of fear.</p>
+
+<p>"Mike's got er broken leg," she announced. The words gave Donald a start
+until he saw that she was holding out to him her doll, one of whose
+limbs flapped about in piteous substantiation. "Kin yo' make hit well
+ergin?"</p>
+
+<p>Examining the injured member, whence the sawdust blood had issued
+through a deep incision in the cloth, Donald replied seriously, "It will
+require a rather serious operation, but I guess that I can mend<a class="pagenum" name="page_125" id="page_125" title="125"></a> it with
+the assistance of Nurse Smiles. We will have to sew up the wound and put
+the leg in splints."</p>
+
+<p>"Hit haint ergoin' ter hurt her much, air hit?" begged Lou, with all
+the solicitude of a young mother.</p>
+
+<p>"No. We'll give her an anesthetic&mdash;something to put her sound
+asleep&mdash;and I guess that she won't know anything about it." Rose joined
+them laughingly, bringing a threaded needle and some bits of cloth for
+stuffing and in a few minutes the operation was complete, even to the
+application of splints, roughly shaped by Donald's jack-knife.
+Throughout the process the physician explained each step to Rose, who
+cried as they finished, "Oh, I love to do it. It's lots more fun than
+book studying or weaving baskets."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we might have a real lesson in 'first aid' this morning, if Lou
+can stay and be your little patient. Bring out that roll of bandages
+again."</p>
+
+<p>What a merry hour they spent, helped by Mike, who insisted in doing his
+share by licking the patient at every opportunity. The air was so warm
+that Lou's little dress could be taken off, and as she giggled or
+screamed with merriment, Donald and Rose treated her for every
+conceivable fracture, sprain or injury, the former all the while
+explaining in the simplest language at his command the major facts of
+human anatomy.</p>
+
+<p>Rose proved to be an astonishingly apt pupil, and after each
+demonstration insisted on going through both the procedure and
+explanation alone.<a class="pagenum" name="page_126" id="page_126" title="126"></a></p>
+
+<p>Finally, in the course of demonstrating an unusually intricate piece of
+bandaging, Donald put his arms about Smiles, the better to guide her
+hands, and impulsively drew her close against him. He could not see her
+face, but he perceived that a quick flush mantled her neck and
+delicately rounded cheek. She moved away hastily, saying in a low voice,
+"I reckon you oughtn't do like that, Doctor Mac."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Smiles!" came his response in a hurt tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean for to hurt you, and of course I cares for you like I used
+to, but I guess it ain't ... isn't ... just right for you to put your
+arms around me ... that way now. I'm most grown up now, and ... and ...
+you're pledged to ... to some one else." During her speech the color had
+flamed brighter and brighter.</p>
+
+<p>The man was both surprised and chagrined. He realized, of course, that
+in many respects Rose was indeed, 'most a woman now'&mdash;that she was far
+more mature in certain ways than city-bred girls of the same age; for,
+while they might be infinitely more sophisticated in worldly ways than
+she, they are still children, whereas she had already entered into the
+problems of life and for several years had not only been in full charge
+of a home, but in intimate touch with the issues of life and death in
+the little community. Understanding all this, he nevertheless looked
+upon her as a child because of the childlike simplicity which
+characterized her still.<a class="pagenum" name="page_127" id="page_127" title="127"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I see," he answered slowly and a little ashamed, then added lightly,
+"but you have apparently forgotten that you adopted me as a
+foster-brother this morning."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment she said nothing; then the old misty smile touched her
+lips, and she replied, "I shor' most forgot that, and it makes it all
+right. Please, Doctor Mac, don't think that I didn't enjoy for you to do
+it."</p>
+
+<p>There succeeded another brief, awkward silence. Then Smiles slipped her
+arm about Donald's neck with frank, childlike affection, and leaned
+close to him, her young, warm being thrilling his senses, as he full
+well realized Marion's infrequent embraces never had.</p>
+
+<p>Shocked and distressed by his own emotions, Donald was the first to
+withdraw his encircling arm, with an intent to continue the lesson. But
+it was ended.</p>
+
+<p>During the brief interlude Lou had stood regarding the man and girl
+uncomprehendingly. Now she piped up, "Smiles loves ye er heap, I reckon,
+doctor man, an' so does I. Ef she don't marry with ye, I'll do hit when
+I gits bigger."</p>
+
+<p>"My, but I'm a fortunate man to have <i>three</i> fair ladies love me, and I
+won't forget your promise," Donald laughed merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"But my brother Juddy don't love ye none," said the child, innocently
+bringing a cloud over the friendly sunshine in her hearers' hearts.
+Donald looked at Rose uneasily as he answered.<a class="pagenum" name="page_128" id="page_128" title="128"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I hope he will like me some day. We should be the best of friends,
+for we both care for the same two dear girls."</p>
+
+<p>"Where <i>is</i> Juddy?" came Smiles' somewhat troubled query.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he air away ergin; up in ther mountain."</p>
+
+<p>The shadow deepened on Rose's face and Donald caught the sound of a
+distressed, "Oh."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" he asked without special thought.</p>
+
+<p>"It haint ... it isn't anything ... leastwise it isn't anything that I
+can tell you about, doctor Mac. I ... I just don't like for him to go up
+there."</p>
+
+<p>A feeling closely akin to jealousy stirred Donald's heart. Did that
+uncouth young mountaineer really mean something to her after all?</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_129" id="page_129" title="129"></a>
+<a name="GATHERING_CLOUDS_3768" id="GATHERING_CLOUDS_3768"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<h3>GATHERING CLOUDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Despite Smiles' ingenuous proffer of a sister's affection, Donald was
+troubled with an unreasonable dissatisfaction over the course which the
+events of the morning had taken, and he knew that it was unreasonable,
+which made it worse. Now he suddenly announced that he guessed he would
+not wait until the afternoon before going down to Fayville to get his
+small amount of baggage.</p>
+
+<p>The girl was troubled, also, without knowing just why, and she watched
+his departure with an unhappy feeling that somehow the changes which the
+year had made in both their lives had raised a misty barrier between
+them&mdash;intangible, but not easily to be swept away. Furthermore, young as
+she was, she intuitively sensed that hers was the necessity of
+reconstructing their friendship on a new foundation, because she was a
+woman. The man could not do it.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Donald performed his downward journey with none of the
+lightness of heart which makes a long walk a pleasure, rather than a
+task. Going down the wooded descent, where the dew still lay wet beneath
+the heaviest thickets, was not so bad; but, when he had obtained his
+grip and gun,<a class="pagenum" name="page_130" id="page_130" title="130"></a> and started on the back trail, his discomforts commenced.
+As the main street of the little village changed its character, first to
+a road and then a cart path through the fields, it grew deep with dust,
+and, although no air stirred, it seemed to rise, as water does by
+capillary attraction, until his clothing was saturated and his mouth and
+nose overlaid with a film of it. Overhead the sky burned, and from the
+brown fields, which stretched to the wooded base of the mountain, heat
+waves rose as though the dry earth were panting with visible breath. An
+insect chirped half-heartedly in the grass, and then left off as though
+the effort were too great, and a small striped snake leisurely wove a
+sinuous path through the dust ahead of him, and vanished with a faint
+hiss.</p>
+
+<p>It was better when he struck the woods, for there was shade; but the air
+was more sultry and the added exertion of climbing started the
+perspiration and turned the coating of dust to sticky grime. Still the
+breeze delayed, and the fragrant odors of the woods were cloying. His
+luggage grew heavier and yet more heavy; his arm and back began to ache
+painfully.</p>
+
+<p>When physical discomfort is accompanied by morose introspection, the
+result is certain to be unpleasant, and Donald's thoughts were in dismal
+grays and browns, which ill-matched the radiant colors of external
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly Smiles was not to blame, he thought,<a class="pagenum" name="page_131" id="page_131" title="131"></a> as he trudged up and up.
+The fact still remained that they lived on utterly different planes, and
+that he had not the slightest idea of falling in love with her, or, even
+mentally, violating his pledge to Marion. Pshaw, she was nothing but a
+child! It was foolish, absurdly so, yet somehow he felt that his world
+was out of joint, and, since he could not, or would not, determine just
+what the trouble was, he could not take active measures to bring about a
+readjustment.</p>
+
+<p>With a conscious effort of his will he put the mountain child out of his
+thoughts, and attempted to analyze his real feelings for the city girl,
+to whom he was betrothed. He could assign no reason to the vague, but
+persistent, feeling which frequently possessed him, when he was apart
+from her, that she was not his natural mate. Her poise and reserve,
+which sometimes irritated him, he knew to be really virtues, in a way as
+desirable as they were rare in women, even of her class; her unusual
+beauty fully satisfied his eye; she was a reigning queen, the desired of
+many men and he had won her, although he hesitated a little over the
+word "won." Finally, he was certain that she loved him, after her
+fashion. Why should he, a man as reserved as he was, and one who had
+little time to spend on the romantic embellishments of life, ask for
+more? Yet there was mute rebellion in the depths of his heart, and even
+the memory of that milestone night, eight months before, when the spirit
+of Christmastide had added its spell to the influences of life-long
+propinquity,<a class="pagenum" name="page_132" id="page_132" title="132"></a> and they had, almost without spoken words, crossed the
+border and pledged themselves to one another, brought no thrill.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>know</i> that she is a wonderful woman, and a real beauty," mused
+Donald, half aloud. "The trouble must be ... yes, <i>is</i>, with me. She's
+too wonderful for my simple tastes; that's the truth, as I told Ethel.
+Oh, well, perhaps I can learn to live up to her ... but I hate this
+society stuff."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Donald's return to the cabin, weary and uncomfortable in body and mind,
+found Big Jerry sitting heavily in a chair, with Smiles hovering about,
+and, from the expression on the face of each, he sensed at once that
+something was wrong. The old man was saying, somewhat laboriously, "Hit
+don't pain me ... much, Rose, gal. Hit haint nothin' ... ter mention.
+I'll jest set still hyar erwhile, an' ..."</p>
+
+<p>As the girl caught sight of Donald's big form in the doorway, her face
+brightened momentarily; but it clouded again with swift pain when he
+touched his heart with a significant gesture, accompanied by a
+questioning look. She nodded, then said aloud, "Here's our Doctor Mac
+back ergin, grandpappy. I reckon he kin do somethin' fer ter help ye."</p>
+
+<p>The newcomer attempted a cheery laugh, and said, "Well, I'm not much
+good unless we can turn<a class="pagenum" name="page_133" id="page_133" title="133"></a> Time's flight backward, and make him a child
+again temporarily. Kiddies are my specialty, you know, and although I've
+a few grown-up patients, left over from the time when I took whatever
+came, and was thankful, I am killing them off as fast as I can."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke facetiously, with the design of instilling a lighter element in
+the conversation; but, although Jerry smiled wryly, the girl looked so
+shocked that Donald hastened to add, "Please don't be alarmed, dear, of
+course I didn't mean that literally. And you know that I will do
+anything in my power to help. I only wish that I knew more about
+troubles affecting the heart," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon the doctor down in Fayville hed ought ter say the same thing,"
+interposed the old man. "I erlows he didn't do me no good, fer I got
+better es soon's I quit takin' the stuff he left me."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too hard on him, foster father. After all, what you probably
+needed most was to give that big heart of yours a rest, and that is what
+did the business then, and will now. Well, I'll look you over anyway. I
+guess professional ethics won't be outraged, with the other physician
+five steep, uphill miles away."</p>
+
+<p>While he talked he had been opening his suitcase, and now took out a
+compact emergency bag which experience had taught him never to go away
+without, and at whose shining, unfamiliar contents Smiles' eyes opened
+with fascinated amazement. Taking out a stethoscope, Donald bade the
+giant<a class="pagenum" name="page_134" id="page_134" title="134"></a> open his soft, homemade shirt, and planted the transmitting disk
+against the massive chest, padded with wonderful, bulging muscles.</p>
+
+<p>"O-ho," he said under his breath, as he finally laid the instrument
+aside; for his intently listening ears had caught the faint, but clearly
+discernible sound of a systolic murmur, deep within.</p>
+
+<p>"Air the trouble 'Aunt' ... what the other doctor said hit was?"
+questioned Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Angina pectoris? He may have had a touch of that last winter of course,
+but my guess is that it's something a bit different now."</p>
+
+<p>"I haint erfeered ter hyar the truth," rumbled Jerry, straightening up
+like a soldier before the court martial.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," answered the doctor, "I should say that you have a touch of
+another jaw-breaking Latin phrase, namely, an aneurism of the thoracic
+aorta."</p>
+
+<p>"Hit shor' sounds powerful bad," grunted Jerry. "But then I reckon thet
+doctors likes ter use big words."</p>
+
+<p>"Right. For instance, we prefer to call an old-fashioned cold in the
+head, 'Naso-pharyngitis.' The worse it sounds, the more credit we get
+for curing it, you see. Well, 'sticks and stones may break our bones,
+but <i>words</i> will never hurt us,' so don't let that Latin expression
+worry you. Just take things a bit easy, don't overdo physically or get
+overexcited, and you'll be good for many a moon yet," he added lightly.<a class="pagenum" name="page_135" id="page_135" title="135"></a></p>
+
+<p>Jerry fastened up his shirt with big, fumbling fingers and walked slowly
+outside, while Rose, tears of pity shedding a misty luminousness over
+her eyes, stepped close to Donald and laid her hand appealingly on his
+arm, "Is it something pretty bad, Doctor Mac?" she breathed.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's apparently a mild case ... so far."</p>
+
+<p>"But the trouble ... is it ... is it dangerous?"</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated an instant, then responded quietly, "Nurses have to know
+the truth, of course, and I am sure that you have a brave little heart,
+so I'm not afraid to tell you that it <i>is</i> bad. It is almost sure to be
+fatal, in time, but not necessarily soon. If he will take things easy,
+as I told him to, he'll live for a considerable time yet; but we mustn't
+allow him to get very greatly excited, or do any very heavy work."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly very white, but calm and tearless, Smiles answered, "I reckon I
+can help him better if I know all about it, doctor. I <i>got</i> to help him,
+you know. He's all I have now in the whole world."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you're going to help him&mdash;we both are&mdash;but ... you have me,
+little sister, and your life work," he answered with awkward tenderness.
+"Now let us see if I can make you understand what I believe the trouble
+to be. In its incipient&mdash;that is, its early stages, it would be rather
+hard to tell from angina pectoris, for the symptoms would be much the
+same&mdash;pain about the heart and shortness<a class="pagenum" name="page_136" id="page_136" title="136"></a> of breath. But one can get
+over the latter, and feel perfectly well between attacks."</p>
+
+<p>He picked up from his open suitcase a folded newspaper which he had
+tossed in half read, on leaving the city, and drew for her a crude
+diagram of the heart and major arteries.</p>
+
+<p>"This biggest pipe which goes downward from the heart is called the
+great artery, and it and its branches&mdash;just like a tree's&mdash;carry the
+blood into all parts of the body, except the lungs. Another name for it
+is the descending thoracic aorta, and that is where grandfather's
+trouble is. If you knew something about automobile tires I would explain
+it by saying that he had a blow-out, but it's something like this. The
+pipe has an outer surface and an inner lining. At one time or another
+something happened to injure and weaken the former&mdash;disease does it
+sometimes&mdash;perhaps it may have been a severe strain or crushing blow on
+his chest."</p>
+
+<p>"A big tree fell on him early last winter," cried Rose, with sudden
+enlightenment. "His chest is so big and strong that he didn't think that
+it hurt him, 'cept to lame him considerable."</p>
+
+<p>"That may have caused the trouble. Well, what happens is this. The blood
+is pumped by the heart through that weakened pipe, and, little by
+little, it forces the lining out through the weakened spot, making
+something like a bubble filled with blood. In time that might grow until
+you could actually see the swelling, and all the time, the containing<a class="pagenum" name="page_137" id="page_137" title="137"></a>
+tissue is getting thinner and thinner. Now you can yourself guess the
+reason why he mustn't do anything to over-exert his heart. Hard work, or
+great excitement, makes our hearts beat faster, and sends the blood
+through that big artery with extra force and ..."</p>
+
+<p>"The bubble might ... break," whispered "Smiles," with a frightened look
+on her young face.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. We call it a rupture of the aneurism, and when that happens mortal
+life ends."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she shuddered slightly. "I must keep him very quiet, Doctor Mac. I
+am strong and can do all the work. You tell him that he mustn't do
+anything, please, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure that that would be the wisest plan, Rose. He has been so
+strong and active all his life it would break his great heart to be tied
+down like an invalid. I'm sure that he would be happier doing things,
+even if as a result he didn't live quite so long. Don't you think so,
+yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded, and he continued, "Of course he is so big and strong he can
+do common, simple tasks without anything like the amount of exertion
+required by an ordinary man, and, so long as he doesn't strain himself,
+or get very much excited, we may reasonably expect him to live for a
+good while yet. Besides, as the aneurism progresses there will come a
+steady, boring pain and increased shortness of breath, which will
+themselves help to keep him quiet."<a class="pagenum" name="page_138" id="page_138" title="138"></a></p>
+
+<p>"But can't I give him some medicine?"</p>
+
+<p>"The best medicine that he can possibly have will be your happy,
+comforting smile and tender love, my child."</p>
+
+<p>She furtively wiped a stray tear from her cheek and smiled bravely up
+into his face, in a wordless pledge that to the administration of this
+treatment she would devote herself without stint.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ... may I have that paper," she answered appealingly, as he
+started to crumple it up, preparatory to tossing it into the fireplace.
+"We don't often have city papers to read, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course; I didn't think," he answered, smoothing it out and
+handing it to her. She took it eagerly, and had read barely a minute
+before she cried, delightedly, "Why, Doctor Mac. <i>You're</i> in this paper.
+Oh, did you read what it says?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it," thought Donald, "I forgot all about that fool story, or I
+wouldn't have given it to her." But she was already reading the brief
+article aloud, slowly but with appreciatory expression.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>EXCEPTIONAL FEE PAID BOSTON DOCTOR<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Dr. Donald MacDonald Operates on Multi-Millionaire's<br />
+Child</span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>What is rumored to have been one of the biggest fees paid to a
+physician in recent years, was received lately by the brilliant
+young children's specialist of this city, Dr. Donald MacDonald. </p></div><p><a class="pagenum" name="page_139" id="page_139" title="139"></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>A few weeks ago he was summoned to Newport in consultation with
+local and New York physicians over the five-year-old daughter of J.
+Bentley Moors, the millionaire copper king, and finally saved the
+child's life by performing successfully one of the most difficult
+operations known to surgery&mdash;the removal of a brain tumor.</p>
+
+<p>The child had already totally lost the power of speech, and had
+sunk into a comatose state, the operation being performed at Dr.
+MacDonald's suggestion as a final desperate resort.</p>
+
+<p>His associates on the case are unstinted in their praise of his
+skill, and declare that few other surgeons in America could have
+carried it through with any hope of success.</p>
+
+<p>The child was completely cured, and in his gratitude her father
+sent the young doctor a check which&mdash;it is said&mdash;represented an
+amount larger than many men earn in a lifetime. </p></div>
+
+<p>"What does 'comatose' mean, Doctor Mac?" asked Smiles.</p>
+
+<p>"It means a condition during which the body appears to be lifeless. A
+tumor is a growth&mdash;in that particular case here, inside the skull, which
+pressed on the child's brain, paralyzing, or shutting off, all the
+senses."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, wasn't it wonderful to do what you did ... it was almost like the
+miracles our dear Lord performed, for you gave sight to the blind and
+raised up one who was <i>almost</i> dead. I am so glad for that little child
+and her dear father, and I don't wonder that he gave you a lot of money.
+Was it ... was it as much as a ... a thousand dollars?" she asked in an
+awed tone.<a class="pagenum" name="page_140" id="page_140" title="140"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, much more than that, in fact."</p>
+
+<p>"Not five thousand?"</p>
+
+<p>Donald laughed. "The newspaper men, who had somehow or other got wind of
+the story&mdash;goodness knows how&mdash;tried mighty hard to get me to tell them
+how much, but I wouldn't. However, since I know that you can keep a
+secret, I will tell you. It was just ten times the amount of your last
+guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she gasped, as the result of the multiplication dawned upon her.
+"Why, it was a fortune, and ... and <i>I</i> know you."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it pleased me," was his answer, "but not half as much as the
+result of the operation, dear. If a doctor is really in earnest, and
+bound up in his work, he never thinks whether the little sufferer
+stretched before him in bed, or on the operating table, has a father
+worth a million dollars, or one in the poorhouse. That is the reason why
+we have to charge for our services by a different standard from men in
+almost any other kind of work. The rich man has to help pay for the poor
+man, whether he wants to or not. I meant to charge that very rich man
+enough so that I could give myself to a great many poor children without
+charging them anything, perhaps; but he had a big heart and sent me that
+check for several times what I should have charged without even waiting
+for me to make out a bill. And his letter, which came with it, said that
+even fifty thousand dollars was poor compensation<a class="pagenum" name="page_141" id="page_141" title="141"></a> for a life worth more
+to him than all the money in the whole world."</p>
+
+<p>"A little child's life <i>is</i> more precious than all the gold that ever
+was," said Smiles seriously, "for only God can give it."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_142" id="page_142" title="142"></a>
+<a name="SOWING_THE_WIND_4104" id="SOWING_THE_WIND_4104"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<h3>SOWING THE WIND</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The noonday meal was a rather quiet, constrained affair. None of the
+three was in a talkative mood, Donald was still distrait, Big Jerry
+obviously in physical and mental distress, and Rose too full of troubled
+sympathy for conversation. Frequently Donald caught her gaze fixed on
+the old man's face with an expression of unutterable love; and as often,
+when she saw him watching her, her face lighted for a moment with a
+tender, compassionate smile.</p>
+
+<p>The eagerly anticipated vacation and reunion had truly begun badly, and
+it was with a sense of relief that Donald finished the simple dinner,
+and announced that he guessed he would go for a little tramp in the
+woods, while Rose was performing her household tasks.</p>
+
+<p>"Hain't yo' ergoin' ter tote yo'r rifle-gun?" queried Big Jerry, as he
+noticed that the doctor was leaving the house without a weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not this trip. I'm not in a mood for hunting. All I want is a
+walk,&mdash;and a stout club and Mike will be protection enough against
+anything in these woods. Good-by, Smiles. I'll be back before
+supper-time, hungry as a bear."<a class="pagenum" name="page_143" id="page_143" title="143"></a></p>
+
+<p>He left the clearing for the virgin woods at random, striding along
+briskly and with rising spirits, and at first unmindful of the direction
+that he was taking.</p>
+
+<p>In fact he had, subconsciously&mdash;even in his recreation&mdash;refused to
+follow the easiest way, and had struck out on the up-mountain trail.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>For a while Donald walked on, regardless of whither. Then the
+consciousness of the fact that he was in a&mdash;to him&mdash;unknown part of the
+mountain, and nearing the summit, brought with it a recollection of the
+words spoken that morning by little Lou, "Judd air erway ergin ... up in
+the mountain."</p>
+
+<p>Still, he kept on, for, although he told himself that he had not the
+slightest intention of seeking the mountaineer, or the solution of
+Smiles' troubled look, and most certainly was not courting trouble,
+purposeless curiosity impelled him higher and higher into the hitherto
+unexplored fastnesses. Now the timberlands lay beneath him, for,
+although the hardy laurel continued in profusion, albeit somewhat dried
+and withered, the trees were thinning out and becoming more scraggly,
+and more frequently the naked rocks, split and seamed, thrust themselves
+up through the baked soil, "like vertebr&aelig; in the backbone of the
+mountain," thought Donald. Now they were toned and softened by moss and
+lichen; now barren of vegetation, rugged and gaunt, split asunder by the
+ancient elements. In the distress which had come like a cloud over the
+sunlight of his spirits,<a class="pagenum" name="page_144" id="page_144" title="144"></a> so gayly anticipative a few hours previous,
+they flung a wordless challenge to the battling instinct in the man, and
+he accepted it with the thought that the best balm for troubled minds is
+strenuous bodily action.</p>
+
+<p>Eager and joyous over the new game, Mike tore about, panting, and
+dashing from side to side through the underbrush on real, or imaginary,
+scents, now stopping to dig madly for a moment, then racing on to catch
+up with his master, who frequently had to haul him over the precipitous
+crags by the shaggy hair on his muscular back.</p>
+
+<p>The air was cooler here, and as invigorating as wine; the sky was a
+transparent blue.</p>
+
+<p>At last, somewhat tired of pushing his way over rocks and through virgin
+underbrush with no objective, he was on the point of turning to retrace
+his footsteps, when Mike stopped short with nose a-quiver and bristles
+lifting on his neck.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up?" asked the man. As usual he addressed the dog as though he
+were a sentient being. "Trouble ahead? Some wild animal there, old boy?"</p>
+
+<p>But, instead of retreating, he grasped his cudgel more firmly, and
+cautiously parted the thick bushes in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>To his surprise, Donald found that he was almost on the edge of a sharp
+declivity leading down into a natural bowl-like hollow, so shut in with
+high rocks and underbrush that it was, in effect, a retreat almost as
+good as a cave for concealment. And that it was<a class="pagenum" name="page_145" id="page_145" title="145"></a> so used, or had been at
+some time, was made evident by the presence of a rude hut, little more
+than a lean-to since one end was wholly open, which snuggled against the
+further bank.</p>
+
+<p>With growing curiosity and caution, he worked his way along the edge,
+for now a faint odor of wood-smoke reached his nostrils, and there came
+to his ears the sound of some one, or something, moving within the
+shelter, a presence which the dog had apparently detected much sooner
+than had his master.</p>
+
+<p>At length he reached a point of vantage, partly hidden by a cleft rock,
+from which he could look fully into the interior of the shack. It was
+obviously not a habitation, although a fire was burning briskly within
+it. Near by stood a small keg or two, what appeared to be a large tub or
+vat, and, over the fire, was a queer metal object, the shape of which
+caused Donald to wonder for a brief instant if necromancy still existed,
+and he had stumbled upon the retreat of a mountain wizard. Almost
+immediately, however, the true explanation flashed through his mind.</p>
+
+<p>It was a crude illicit distillery&mdash;the hidden "still" of a mountain
+moonshiner! At the same moment a tall man in typical mountain costume
+moved into view and bent over the fire.</p>
+
+<p>In his interest Donald had forgotten Mike; but, at the appearance of the
+man, his companion gave voice to a sharp and hostile challenge.<a class="pagenum" name="page_146" id="page_146" title="146"></a></p>
+
+<p>The furtive toiler turned like a flash, and, seizing the rifle which
+leaned against the wall near at hand, sprang out and levelled it at the
+intruder whose head was visible above the rock, for he had been too much
+surprised to move.</p>
+
+<p>"Put up yo'r hands!" he cried, and Donald complied with the order
+without perceptible hesitation, at the same time pushing into full
+sight. The man below was Judd!</p>
+
+<p>For a moment neither spoke, and the silence was pregnant with serious
+possibilities. Then Donald regained partial control of his shaken
+self-possession, and with his hands still held above his head, slid
+awkwardly down into a sitting posture on the edge of the bank.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Judd," he remarked at last, with an assumption of
+coolness. "I thought <i>that</i> sort of thing had ceased to exist, even in
+these wild mountains," and he nodded toward the distillery.</p>
+
+<p>"I allows thet yo' hev er habit of thinkin' wrong," was the surly
+response. "You haint no doctor man. Thet's er blind. Yo' be er revenuer,
+I reckon, an' es sich I've got ter put er bullet inter ye."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be a fool," snapped Donald, even in this dangerous predicament
+unable to resort to conciliatory words when addressing Judd. "I'm
+nothing of the sort, and you know it."</p>
+
+<p>There was another spell of nerve-racking silence. Then the outlaw said
+slowly, "I reckon yo' speaks<a class="pagenum" name="page_147" id="page_147" title="147"></a> ther truth. Yo' haint smart ernough fer er
+revenuer. One er them wouldn't come er still-huntin' 'thout er
+rifle-gun, an' <i>with</i> er barkin' dawg."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm glad that's settled," answered Donald, uttering a forced
+laugh. "My arms are getting tired, held up like this, and, as you have a
+rifle and I haven't, I suggest that I be allowed to resume a more
+natural position."</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for the permission, he dropped his hands to the bank
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>Donald's action placed Judd in an obviously unpleasant dilemma. He knew
+it, and therein lay the intruder's best chance.</p>
+
+<p>"I haint never shot er man in cold blood erfore, but I reckon I've got
+ter do hit now," he said sullenly. "Yo' know too damned much erbout
+sartain things what don't consarn ye."</p>
+
+<p>"If they don't concern me&mdash;as I am willing to admit&mdash;why waste a
+bullet?" answered Donald, mentally sparring for time. "As a law-abiding
+citizen I might reasonably feel that you still ought to be put out of
+existence; but, it's no hunt of mine, since I'm not a federal officer. I
+haven't any particular desire to get a bullet through me, and I know
+perfectly well that you don't care for the thought of adding the crime
+of murder to the misdemeanor of illicit liquor making."</p>
+
+<p>"I haint erfeerd ter shoot ye," blustered Judd, and added significantly,
+"Yo're body wouldn't never be found, and yo' wouldn't be ther first
+pryin' stranger<a class="pagenum" name="page_148" id="page_148" title="148"></a> what got lost in these hyar hills, and warn't never
+heard of more."</p>
+
+<p>"Admitted. But what's to be gained in taking the chance? I'm ready&mdash;yes,
+anxious&mdash;to give you my word of honor that I'll forget what I've
+stumbled on here this afternoon. Come, be reasonable, Judd."</p>
+
+<p>"Wall, ef you'll swa'r thet ..." began the mountaineer dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I do," broke in Donald with undisguised eagerness. "I solemnly swear
+never to tell a soul about the existence of this still, so help me God.
+There, I hope that satisfies you. You need not be afraid of my not
+keeping my oath, but just the same, I think you're a fool to do this.
+You're almost sure to be caught at it, sooner or later, and a federal
+prison isn't a particularly pleasant place."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't reckerlect hevin' asked any advice from <i>yo'</i>," was Judd's
+surly reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't expect that you'll follow it," answered the other, as he
+scrambled to his feet. "And since we don't seem to hit it off very well
+together, I guess I'll be starting along."</p>
+
+<p>"No yo' won't ... leastwise not yet!" Judd's words came with crisp
+finality, and were reinforced by a quick movement of his rifle to the
+hip. "I haint through with ye yet, stranger. Last year I warned ye fair
+thet this hyar mountain war an on-healthy place fer ye. 'Pears like yo'
+didn't believe hit, but I means thet ye should this time. Erfore yo'<a class="pagenum" name="page_149" id="page_149" title="149"></a>
+goes I'll hear ernother sworn promise from ye, an' I reckon yo' kin
+guess what hit air."</p>
+
+<p>"I can. And you're not going to get it. No, by God, not if you put a
+coward's bullet into me for refusing," burst out Donald, with his
+pent-up anger breaking its bounds at the other's dictatorial demands. "I
+agreed that what you did with your time wasn't my business, but what I
+do with mine, is. And I don't take orders from you in the matter,
+understand?"</p>
+
+<p>The mountaineer's lips drew back, his body quivered, and the finger on
+the rifle's trigger trembled.</p>
+
+<p>Above him, Donald stood equally tense and pale. He felt that he should
+be praying as he had never prayed before, but wrath possessed his spirit
+wholly, and his mind was completely concentrated on that lean
+forefinger, whose slightest tension meant death. Moments like these come
+but once in the lifetime of the average man, if, indeed, they ever come
+at all; but, when they do, when he suddenly finds himself face to face
+with some cataclysmic upheaval in human or external nature that
+threatens to rend the thin but impenetrable curtain which separates him
+from eternity, the salient characteristic of his being is unmasked and
+stands forth, naked. If he be at heart a coward, even though he may
+honestly never have suspected himself of cowardice, he will try to flee,
+or cringe and grovel for mercy; if his soul is stayed upon the immortal
+and everlasting truths, he will face what Fate may hold with the
+resigned fortitude which was the martyrs'; but, if he is merely a man,<a class="pagenum" name="page_150" id="page_150" title="150"></a>
+strong with the courage of the beast, refined and strengthened in the
+fires of intellect, he will be more likely to stand his ground
+unflinchingly and cast his defiance in the teeth of the danger which
+threatens, wrathful, but unafraid.</p>
+
+<p>Donald was of the latter breed. He made no move; but the cords and veins
+in his muscular neck and hands swelled visibly, and his dark gray eyes
+took on a steely glint, as they bored steadily into Judd's glowering
+black ones.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, with a deep oath, the mountaineer dropped the butt of his gun
+to the ground. Both men breathed a deep sigh, and the latter said: "No,
+I kaint shoot an unarmed man, even ef he <i>air</i> a skunk. But hark ye. I
+warns ye now fer the last time. Clar out uv this hyar mountain terday,
+er go armed an' ready, fer, by Gawd A'mighty, I aims ter shoot ye dead
+the next time I meets ye. Hit's yo' er me now."</p>
+
+<p>When the other dropped his weapon, Donald had almost decided to make an
+attempt to clear the atmosphere by telling him again that his suspicions
+were utterly groundless and that, so far from having any intention of
+stealing the affections of the mountain child whom Judd loved, he was
+betrothed to another. But, at the challenge to fight, something, which
+he could neither explain afterwards nor control then, swept away the
+half-formed resolve, and the heat of primal hate sent a burning flush
+through him and drove cool reason utterly from its throne.</p>
+
+<p>"If you didn't have that gun, you damned coward,<a class="pagenum" name="page_151" id="page_151" title="151"></a> I'd come down there
+this instant, and thrash you within an inch of your worthless life," he
+shouted, heedless of consequences; too angry to care what might happen.
+And simultaneously, spurred on by his own blind passion, he slid down
+the bank and, with fists clenched, advanced on Judd. A yard ahead of him
+bristled Mike, a canine fury with gleaming teeth bared and muscles
+tensed for a spring. His master's quarrel was his also.</p>
+
+<p>"Call off thet damned dawg, ef yo' don't want fer him ter git shot,"
+raged the other, white with anger. "I reckon thet the time <i>hes</i> come
+fer me ter teach ye a lesson; p'raps then a rifle bullet won't be nowise
+necessary. Yo' tie up thet devil, an' I'll hev it out with ye, now."
+Wrath robbed him, too, of all caution and he flung his gun far to one
+side as Donald, with hands that trembled so violently that he could
+barely tie the knots, slipped his handkerchief through Mike's collar and
+fastened him securely to a stout bush. Then he faced the infuriated
+mountaineer.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit's yo' er me," panted the latter, assuming a pantherlike crouch.</p>
+
+<p>"Let it go at that," answered the city man, dropping naturally into a
+fighting position.</p>
+
+<p>The veneer of our vaunted civilization is, at the best, thin, and every
+man, in whose veins runs red blood, has within him pent-up volcanic
+forces which require but little awakening to produce a soul-shattering
+upheaval. Donald knew that his being shouted aloud for battle&mdash;why, he
+didn't pause to<a class="pagenum" name="page_152" id="page_152" title="152"></a> analyze. Judd knew full well what <i>he</i> was fighting
+for. It was the woman whom his heart had claimed as his mate, regardless
+of what his chances of winning her were.</p>
+
+<p>In college days, Donald had been a trained athlete, and he was still
+exceptionally powerful, although city life and his confining work had
+robbed his muscles of some of the flexibility and strength which had
+once been theirs, and were now possessed by those of his opponent. In
+weight, and knowledge of the science of boxing, he far surpassed Judd;
+but these odds were evened by the fact that <i>his</i> mind&mdash;thoroughly
+aroused though it was&mdash;held only a desire to punish the other severely,
+whereas Judd's passion burned deeper; blood-lust was in his heart and he
+saw red. Nothing would satisfy him short of killing the man who seemed
+to be the personification of his failure to win Smiles.</p>
+
+<p>The mountaineer opened the fight with a furious rush. Donald
+instinctively side-stepped, and met it with a jolting short-arm blow to
+the other's lean jaw, which sent the aggressor to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Like a flash he was up again, wild to close with his rival and get his
+fingers about his throat. There, in the little natural amphitheatre,
+with only the ancient trees as silent witnesses, was staged again the
+oft-fought fight between the boxer and the battler, but the decision was
+not to rest on points. No Marquis of Queensberry rules governed, no
+watchful referee was present to disqualify one or the other for unfair
+tactics.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_153" id="page_153" title="153"></a>
+<a name="REAPING_THE_WHIRLWIND_4408" id="REAPING_THE_WHIRLWIND_4408"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<h3>REAPING THE WHIRLWIND</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was not long before Donald realized that, whatever had been Judd's
+primary purpose, he was now fighting to kill, and he sought desperately
+to drive home a blow which would knock him out. But, with all his
+greater skill, it was not easily to be accomplished. The mountaineer was
+tough, agile and actuated by a rage which mere punishment only
+increased. And punishment he took aplenty; while Donald remained almost
+unscathed, as he met rush after rush, and a storm of wildly flailing
+blows, with an unbroken defence.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was it long before the other realized that absolute necessity called
+for him to break through that guard, and clinch with his opponent, if he
+were to hope to be successful in carrying out his design. Gathering his
+physical forces for a final desperate assault&mdash;which right and left hand
+blows on his already battered, bleeding face could not check&mdash;he broke
+through Donald's defence, and flung his sinewy arms about his rival.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment both men clung desperately to one another, their breath
+coming in labored gasps.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly, the mountaineer twisted his leg<a class="pagenum" name="page_154" id="page_154" title="154"></a> about one of Donald's,
+catching him off his guard, and they went heavily to the ground
+together.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever had been the city man's advantage when they were on their feet,
+he shortly discovered that the woodman's great agility and crude skill
+in wrestling gave him the upper hand in this more primitive method of
+combat. Over and over they rolled, gasping for breath, and, although
+Donald exerted his great, but now rapidly failing, strength, more than
+once he felt the clutch of the other's lean, powerful fingers gripping
+his throat and shutting off his breath, before he could tear them free.</p>
+
+<p>The end came suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>During a deadly grapple&mdash;with first one man, then the other, on
+top&mdash;Donald called into play the last of his nervous reserve force, and,
+with a mighty effort, broke free, and flung Judd face downward on the
+ground. The latter's right arm was extended, and, grasping the sweaty
+wrist, he drew it up and back, at the same instant crowding his knee
+into the spine of the prostrate man.</p>
+
+<p>Judd cursed and wriggled frantically; but only succeeded in grinding his
+battered face into the torn turf. It was some seconds before the
+conqueror could gain breath enough to speak. At last he panted out, "Now
+I've got you. If you move I'll dislocate your shoulder like <i>this</i>!" An
+involuntary shriek of agony was wrung from the defeated man's bleeding
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll let you up when ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ooooh!" came a startled, terrified cry from<a class="pagenum" name="page_155" id="page_155" title="155"></a> above him. Donald
+lifted his eyes, and saw Rose standing on the bank where he had stood.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant he remained as though turned to stone, staring at the
+girl with growing dismay. Finally he got slowly to his feet,
+instinctively gave partial aid to Judd as he too struggled up, his
+burning eyes also fixed on Smiles. It seemed as though the two
+dishevelled, dirt-covered and bleeding men typified the brute in nature,
+and stood arraigned there before the spirit of divine justice, for the
+slender girl's white dress, and no less white face, against the
+background of dark green, made her appear almost like an ethereal being.</p>
+
+<p>Her breast was rising and falling rapidly as was indicated by the
+palpitating movement of her hand pressed close against it; her lips were
+parted and her large, shadowy eyes filled with uncomprehending fear and
+pain.</p>
+
+<p>"What ... what do hit mean?" she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>As Judd made no answer Donald finally succeeded in summoning up an
+unnatural laugh and lied reassuringly, "It ... it isn't anything
+serious, Smiles. Judd and I got into a dispute over ... over which was
+the better wrestler, and I have been showing him a few city tricks."</p>
+
+<p>"Thet air a lie!" The mountaineer's words lashed out like a physical
+blow, and the crimson flamed into the other's cheeks&mdash;and those of
+Smiles as well.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit air er lie," he repeated with a rasping voice, as he dashed the
+blood and dirt from his lips. "We<a class="pagenum" name="page_156" id="page_156" title="156"></a> war fightin' ter kill, an' I reckon
+yo' kin guess what hit war erbout," he added, flinging the last words up
+at the girl.</p>
+
+<p>Once again Donald attempted to save her still greater distress by a
+white lie. "I chanced to stumble on his hidden still, Smiles, and he
+thought that I would betray him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Juddy," cried the girl wringing her hands, "I've been erfeerin'
+this. In course I knowed erbout hit, fer yo' showed me the still
+yerself, but I've been worryin', and hit war ter warn ye ... ter beg ye
+ter quit fer leetle Lou's sake erfore hit war too late thet I came. Yo'
+must quit, oh <i>please</i>, Judd." In her eagerness she ran down the bank
+and toward him. "<i>I</i> knows thet Doctor Mac wouldn't tell, but hit's a
+warnin'."</p>
+
+<p>As though hypnotized, Judd gazed into her pleading face, with his
+passion for her overwhelming that other one, which had so short a time
+before swayed him. He stepped to meet her with a gesture of
+hopelessness, and, realizing that he was for the moment forgotten,
+Donald moved softly to the mountaineer's rifle, ejected the cartridges
+from the magazine and pocketed them unobserved.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>kaint</i> quit, Rose," answered Judd, looking into her face with a
+hungry expression. "I kaint stop. Hit's my work, an' hit pays better
+then ever hit done. I wants ter make money ... fer yo'. Besides, ef hit
+hadn't ha' been fer the white liquor what I sell ter the storeman down
+in Fayville, I wouldn't have<a class="pagenum" name="page_157" id="page_157" title="157"></a> been able ter sell yo'r baskets for ye. I
+wouldn't hev had no money ter give ..."</p>
+
+<p>He checked his impetuous, unconsidered words too late. The girl's quick
+mind delved into his unspoken thought. She started and stepped back,
+crying, "'To give?' Judd Amos, war hit yo' thet paid me ther extry price
+on them baskets?"</p>
+
+<p>Confused and distressed, the other remained silent until she repeated
+her question insistently. Then he answered pleadingly, "I loves ye,
+Smiles. Yo' know hit, an' so does <i>he</i>. I wanted ter holp ye, an' 'twar
+ther only way."</p>
+
+<p>Even while Donald&mdash;rejoicing in the opportunity to regain his
+self-possession&mdash;had stood apart from the other two, none of the
+conversation had escaped him. With his wrath now fanned to flame afresh
+by Judd's apparent falsehood, he, too, burst into hot words without
+pausing to consider the effect of them on the girl, "What? You dare
+attempt to curry favor with her by lyingly claiming credit for the
+additional money her work brought, you cur? You didn't know that I held
+the cards to call that outrageous bluff, too, did you? You didn't know
+that I bought every one of those baskets, and told the storekeeper what
+price to pay for them, did you?"</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the anger-impelled words left his lips than Donald felt
+heartily ashamed of himself, and wished that he might unsay them. Half
+afraid, he turned his eyes toward the girl to find his fears realized.
+Her eyes were flaming from her deathly<a class="pagenum" name="page_158" id="page_158" title="158"></a> white face, and a mingled look
+of hurt pride and bitter scorn struggled for supremacy on her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' ... yo' think I would accept yo'r charity?" she cried. "Yo' think I
+would take money gifts from any man? I allows ter pay ye both every cent
+uv thet money; and I hates ye ... I hates ye both."</p>
+
+<p>For an instant she stood trembling with anger and mortification, then
+turned and sped up the bank and away into the woods.</p>
+
+<p>Judd sank down with a muffled groan, but Donald, shocked at the result
+of his ill-advised and hasty words, forgot his late adversary and sprang
+in pursuit, crying, "Smiles. Dear child, wait. I want to talk with you,
+to explain...."</p>
+
+<p>He ran over rock and crag blunderingly into the forest in the direction
+she had taken, and, as he disappeared, Mike, who, during the combat, had
+continually raged at his leash in futile frenzy, made a last desperate
+effort, snapped the leather collar, although the effort drew a yelp of
+pain from him, and tore after him.</p>
+
+<p>He passed his master and overtook the fleeing girl, sagaciously sensing
+the situation; but, as she paid no heed to his appealing barks and tugs
+at her skirt, but merely ran the faster, he turned back to await his
+lord. Body-weary and discomforted, Donald likewise gave up the chase as
+the sound of Smiles' flight grew more distant and died away.</p>
+
+<p>Eventually she too dropped into a walk, and<a class="pagenum" name="page_159" id="page_159" title="159"></a> finally stopped altogether,
+with a deep, gasping sob. Throwing herself down at the foot of an
+ancient tree, she pressed her flushed face hard against the rough bark,
+her mind in a wretched turmoil.</p>
+
+<p>For the first time in Smiles' young life her eyes had been opened, and
+she had looked upon the brute passions of men, had tasted the bitter
+gall of trust abused, had felt an anger which brought with it the desire
+to hurt another as she herself had been hurt.</p>
+
+<p>Stabbed to the quick of her soul, she lay on the moss-bedded roots of
+the impassive tree, her body quivering with soundless, shuddering sobs.</p>
+
+<p>She hated herself, the two men&mdash;and Judd less than Donald, for she had
+known and excused his shortcomings, while in her childish eyes Dr.
+MacDonald had been all that was noble, a super-man, an idol whose feet
+were now clay. She hated the world where such things were possible.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time Rose lay as she had fallen, hardly moving, and
+when&mdash;pale and dry-eyed&mdash;she did arise to return to the cabin through
+the twilight shadows, something beautiful, but indefinable, which had
+gone to make up the fresh, childlike charm of her face, had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Donald walked heavily on with bowed head, heedless of the
+direction he took. The sound of rushing waters finally struck upon his
+ear, and his heated, dirt-covered body turned instinctively in their
+direction. A few minutes brought him to the river at a point where it
+tore through a narrow ravine<a class="pagenum" name="page_160" id="page_160" title="160"></a> of rock, in dashing cataract and noisy
+rapid. Donald, with increasing lameness, made his way painfully along
+the craggy bank until it descended to the river's edge, and, kneeling
+beside the leaping waters, he plunged his bruised, aching hands and face
+into them gratefully.</p>
+
+<p>As he stood up again at last, his ears caught faintly above the river's
+tumult the distant crack of a rifle, followed immediately by another
+sound nearer at hand on the bank above him.</p>
+
+<p>It was the agonized yelp of pain from a dog. Donald sprang erect, his
+heart seeming to lift with a convulsive action, and crowd his throat. He
+well knew that canine cry, now filled with mortal agony.</p>
+
+<p>Almost blind with reborn rage and fear, Donald sprang up the steep bank,
+scrambling, stumbling, heedless of boughs which lashed across his face,
+and rocks which bruised his legs. He reached the top, and, parting the
+bushes, found what he had sought&mdash;and feared to find. On the stubbly
+grass lay little Mike, whining and biting at a spot on his side where
+the tawny hair was already matted and dark with flowing blood.</p>
+
+<p>Made speechless by the clutching pressure in his throat, and suddenly
+dizzy from a mist which rose before his eyes, the man bent and lifted
+the panting animal&mdash;his bosom friend and faithful companion through many
+days and nights&mdash;in his trembling arms.</p>
+
+<p>Mike painfully turned his head and licked his master's drawn face. The
+next instant came the<a class="pagenum" name="page_161" id="page_161" title="161"></a> sound of crashing underbrush, and, through
+vistas, Donald saw a man approaching them on a lumbering run. It was Big
+Jerry. His beard and clothing were dishevelled, and, as he drew near,
+his deep, gasping breaths became audible. From his ghastly gray and
+working face his deep eyes looked forth with an expression which spelt
+pain of body and wrack of mind.</p>
+
+<p>Donald stood up, with the dog clasped to his breast, and a terrible
+expression on his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Mike ... my friend ... shot ... he is dying," came his words, in an
+unnatural voice. "God have mercy on the man who did it. I shall not!"</p>
+
+<p>The giant's frame seemed to collapse visibly; two big tears started from
+his eyes and ran down the furrows of his cheeks as he moved closer and
+laid his big, shaking hand on the dog's head.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> done hit," he answered dully.</p>
+
+<p>Mike licked the wrinkled hand which moved in slow caress over his jaws.</p>
+
+<p>"You?" whispered Donald in amazed unbelief.</p>
+
+<p>"Gawd help me, yes. I shot him ... I wish hit hed er been myself,"
+returned the old man, between breaths which came in deep, body-shaking
+gasps.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the doctor bent, laid his chum back on the ground, and knelt
+beside him until the fast glazing eyes&mdash;which never wavered from
+his&mdash;closed forever, and the pain-tortured little body lay still. Big
+Jerry, too, sank down and dropped his massive head<a class="pagenum" name="page_162" id="page_162" title="162"></a> onto his hands,
+while his frame rose and fell with convulsive heaving.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit war this erway," he began to speak at last, and told his story in
+broken, laboring sentences. "I war erhuntin' with ... with yo'r
+rifle-gun in the woods thar beyond ther ravine. Jest es I war startin'
+fer the cabin, I seen ... I seen a man erstandin' hyar on the bank, er
+peerin' down towards the river, thar. I looked whar he war erlookin',
+an' seen ye down thar, bathin' yo'r face in ther water. The man war
+ertotin' a rifle-gun, an' uv a sudden he drapped ter his knee an' raised
+hit, an' I knowed he war kalkerlatin' ter shoot ye.</p>
+
+<p>"I tried fer ter shout, ter cry out a warnin' ter ye, but my voice hed
+somehow lost hits power, an' wouldn't kerry above the noise of the
+falls. Thar war but one thing fer ter do, an' hit called fer powerful
+quick action.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' war my foster-son, an' ef 'twar yo'r life er his'n I allowed I
+knowed whar my duty lay. But I didn't aim fer ter kill him.... I wish
+ter Gawd I hed. 'Taint boastin' none fer me ter say ter ye thet I aimed
+only fer ter shoot the arm what war holdin' the gun.</p>
+
+<p>"In course hit takes time fer ter tell ye all this, but I acted like I
+thought. Then ..." he paused, and went on only with a supreme effort,
+"then, jest as I started the trigger-pull, I seen ... I seen leetle Mike
+spring out o' the bushes straight at ... at the man. I <i>seen</i> him, I
+tells ye, erfore I fired. My<a class="pagenum" name="page_163" id="page_163" title="163"></a> mind told me not ter pull thet trigger,
+an' ... an' I done hit. My aim war true, but ..." he stopped altogether.</p>
+
+<p>"The man," asked Donald at length, through clenched teeth. "What
+happened to him?"</p>
+
+<p>"He turned et the crack of my gun. He ... he seen me, and run off inter
+the wood thar."</p>
+
+<p>There ensued a long silence. Then Donald's hand stretched out and
+grasped that of the sorrowing giant.</p>
+
+<p>"Jerry," he said steadily. "Don't feel so bad, it wasn't your fault. You
+did all that man could do. You were trying to ... to save my life, just
+as ... as Mike was, God bless the little dog. He must have realized that
+Judd was following me by the exercise of a sense beyond our knowledge,
+and rushed back to attack him&mdash;for my sake."</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' said ... yo' said ... 'Judd.' How did yo' come ter know 'twar him?"</p>
+
+<p>With new and deepened remorse, Donald sadly outlined the chief incidents
+of the quarrel, without, however, mentioning the discovery of the still,
+or the immediate cause of the combat.</p>
+
+<p>"Gawd help us all ef er new feud hes broken out hyar," said Jerry
+solemnly, as he finished. "But yo' air my friend, enjyin' ther
+hospitality of my roof, an' from this day Judd Amos air my mortal enemy,
+even though he be my next neighbor."</p>
+
+<p>Donald sadly removed his coat, and, wrapping it around the body of his
+chum, arose, and the silent, painful journey home was begun.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_164" id="page_164" title="164"></a>
+<a name="THE_AFTERMATH_4719" id="THE_AFTERMATH_4719"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+<h3>THE AFTERMATH</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Supper was over. With kindly hands night had laid her deep purple mantle
+over the new-made mound back of the cabin, hiding it from the grieving
+gaze of the three who sat before the door in painful silence beneath the
+star-pierced dome of heaven. In the poignancy of her own sorrow, and her
+overwhelming sympathy for Donald, when she had come to a realization of
+the meaning of the bundle which he brought out of the woods and laid so
+tenderly down on the grass before the cabin's stoop, every vestige of
+Smiles' anger had instantly vanished.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the pity, the uselessness of it," cried Donald's heart, as his
+thoughts again and again turned back to the tragic series of events
+which had made the afternoon a thing of horror. The bitter
+culmination,&mdash;the death of Mike, poor, courageous, self-sacrificing
+little Mike&mdash;was the most needless of all, for, although he had not
+mentioned the fact to Big Jerry, Donald knew that in all human
+probability Judd's rifle was empty of cartridges. And, although Jerry
+himself uttered no word of complaint, the physician knew, only too well,
+that the gripping excitement, against which he had warned the old<a class="pagenum" name="page_165" id="page_165" title="165"></a> man
+only a few hours earlier, had brought its inevitable aftermath. The
+giant's breath came with labored, audible gasps, and his very appearance
+told the story of the increased pain within his breast. For these
+disasters&mdash;as well as the mortal enmity of the young mountaineer and the
+heart-ache of the innocent girl&mdash;he, and he alone, was to blame. Donald
+groaned under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>The silence was finally ended by Smiles crying out bitterly, "Oh, Doctor
+Mac, I can't understand why grandfather pulled that trigger, and shot
+dear little Mike. He saw him spring at Judd."</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't in any wise his fault, dear heart. He could not possibly have
+helped it. You see our brains are telegraph stations from which the
+nerves run like wires, carrying messages to all the different parts of
+our bodies. Big Jerry had sent a command to his finger, ordering it to
+pull the trigger, and the muscles had started to obey. The second
+message countermanding the first&mdash;quick as it was&mdash;came too late to halt
+the purely muscular action; that is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Another good evening, my friends," came a cheery voice, and the
+mountain minister approached out of the shadows, and joined them. "I am
+just back from a journey into the wilderness, like John the Baptist's,
+and ... Why, what's wrong? Do I see the ghost of a sorrow sitting amid
+this group, which should be so happy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Talmadge," cried Rose, jumping up and stepping to his side as
+he paused. "Many ghosts are<a class="pagenum" name="page_166" id="page_166" title="166"></a> here to-night. I think that you took God
+away with you on your journey, for His spirit has not been in Webb's Gap
+this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, what has happened, my dear?" he answered quietly, as he seated
+himself within the circle.</p>
+
+<p>Then, step by step, the whole unhappy story was haltingly poured into
+his ears, save only that Smiles consciously refrained from mentioning
+the cause which Judd had&mdash;by implication&mdash;given for the quarrel and
+Donald kept his promise and made no allusion to his finding of the
+still. Since the minister asked no questions and made no comment
+concerning the cause, it is fair to assume that he guessed the truth and
+wisely held his own counsel. When he had brought the patchwork recital
+to an end, the doctor laughed with a bitter note.</p>
+
+<p>"You see how much good the brief glimpse which I had last night of the
+eternal light did me! Before one full day has elapsed, I sound a lower
+depth in primitive, brutal passion then I ever had before in my life. I
+am sick at heart when I think how quickly and easily I could forget
+everything which goes to make up civilization. There was no excuse for
+it&mdash;that's the worst part. I was infinitely more to blame than Judd,
+even leaving out of consideration the fact that a greater degree of
+self-restraint and forbearance should reasonably have been expected of
+me, a city-bred man, than of him, a more primitive son of the hills."</p>
+
+<p>Donald placed his elbows on his knees and buried<a class="pagenum" name="page_167" id="page_167" title="167"></a> his face in his hands
+with a stifled sound, which might have been groan or curse, and very
+gently Smiles' hand stole up in the darkness and stroked his tumbled
+hair, until the man's own fumblingly sought and held it close, to find
+mute comfort in her warm clasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I understand better than you think the reasons which underlie
+these most unhappy events," answered the old man slowly. There was no
+rebuke in his quiet voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Although it is true, doctor, that the deeper we get into the heart of
+primal nature, the closer we get to the heart of nature's God, it is
+equally true that the nearer we also get to the primal in man.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help feeling that the city's laws and conventions trammel the
+spirit in its free exercise of self, which is ill; but yet the inbred
+realization of those very laws and conventions, and the fear of
+consequences if they are broken, act as a salutary check on the
+primitive passions inherited by every one of us from our savage
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I know that, in places where men are crowded together, such
+man-made laws and conventions are wise and necessary; but the life which
+results is not&mdash;cannot be&mdash;full and natural as it may be in an isolated
+place like this, when honest obedience is paid to the still higher laws
+of God&mdash;and it is for <i>that</i> obedience which all of us must strive
+constantly.</p>
+
+<p>"You failed in the test to-day; but, believe me,<a class="pagenum" name="page_168" id="page_168" title="168"></a> there are many in
+these mountains who, lacking all the advantages of training and
+education which are yours, meet it. Their lives are lived under nature's
+higher laws in perfect sincerity, and, although they might not conform
+to the standards of so-called civilization, they are surely purer in
+God's sight than those of millions who pattern theirs by printed
+precept."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon," murmured Smiles, "that St. Peter had to put many black marks
+on three books to-day ... yes, mine too, for I was wickedly angry. It
+was hate that made me run away from Doctor Mac, and if I hadn't done it,
+M ... M ... Mike wouldn't have been shot." She leaned her head against
+Donald's arm, and cried softly.</p>
+
+<p>"'The wages of sin is death,'" said the minister. "And he paid the
+penalty for you, Dr. MacDonald, sacrificing himself because of his great
+love. Poor little Mike. Such faithful animals as he must have souls, and
+his is now in its own paradise."</p>
+
+<p>No one spoke for a little, and then Mr. Talmadge continued to muse
+aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Mere repentance, such as the doctor now feels, is not enough. You
+remember the parable of the woman who drove the evil spirit from her
+fleshly temple, and swept it clean, but failed to fill its place with
+another guest, and seven other devils came and repossessed it? So it is
+always with human life, Dr. MacDonald. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so
+does the spirit. If a man does not fill his soul&mdash;swept<a class="pagenum" name="page_169" id="page_169" title="169"></a> free of past
+evil by repentance&mdash;with that which is actively good, the repentance is
+of little avail."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I can readily understand that, for it has a parallel in
+bodily illness," answered Donald, somewhat impatiently. "We all know
+that, when the sick physical being is freed of its disease, it is left
+weak and an easy prey for new troubles. We can bring back to it the
+strength to resist by giving nerve-and tissue-building food and tonics,
+but how is the spirit to be ..."</p>
+
+<p>"How persistently the earth-man kicks against the pricks," cried Mr.
+Talmadge. "Child, your friend will not lift his eyes from the maze of
+doubt. You pledged yourself to help him. Help him now."</p>
+
+<p>Her face suddenly glowing with light, Rose turned to Donald eagerly, and
+said without hesitation, "Oh, Doctor Mac, don't you see? The answer is
+so clear, so simple that even I know it. The dear God spirit is
+everywhere, just waiting for you to call it to your aid. Please pray to
+Him to give you new strength so that you may not be weak again, and I
+will pray, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," supplemented the minister, "'Whence cometh my help? My help
+cometh even from the Lord, which hath made heaven and earth.'"</p>
+
+<p>Donald was strongly moved at the eager interest in him which these two
+displayed. Shifting uncomfortably he replied, "I need His help, I know;
+but ... but I guess I have forgotten how to pray for it."<a class="pagenum" name="page_170" id="page_170" title="170"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Open your heart with sincerity, and He will enter and bestow the
+strength you need in order to take up your task anew, and carry on until
+your purpose here on earth has been accomplished. That is all that
+prayer need be, for He is ever more ready to give than we to receive.
+Verbal petitions are vain and empty things; honest communion with Him
+<i>is</i> prayer."</p>
+
+<p>He arose, content to say no more, and to leave the sorely troubled
+spirit of the stranger to Smiles' tender ministrations. "I am deeply
+sorry for you in your distress, Dr. MacDonald, but although there is
+small comfort in the remark, I cannot help but feel that what has
+happened was ordained to complete your lesson, so that you may leave
+these hills with a new understanding and higher purpose in life. Good
+night, and God be with you all."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_171" id="page_171" title="171"></a>
+<a name="THE_PARTING_PLEDGE_AND_PASSING_DAYS_4898" id="THE_PARTING_PLEDGE_AND_PASSING_DAYS_4898"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+<h3>THE PARTING PLEDGE AND PASSING DAYS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Doctor Mac," began Smiles timidly, at length. "I'm sorry for what I
+said to you this afternoon, and I want to take it back. I guess when
+you're angry you don't see things as they are, and I'm sure that you
+were only being very, very kind to me when you ... you bought those
+baskets. I love you for it, really I do, and if ... if you want me to
+keep the money, and it would hurt your feelings if I...."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I want you to keep it, dear. Yesterday you took me for a
+foster-brother, and I hope that you will always let me do for you as I
+would for a real flesh-and-blood sister."</p>
+
+<p>"I promise, and I will always do the same for you if I can, dear Don,"
+she whispered softly, adding, "but somehow to-night&mdash;oh please don't
+laugh at me now&mdash;somehow to-night I feel more like ... like a mother,
+than a sister to you."</p>
+
+<p>"And I truly think you are&mdash;a spiritual mother, little woman. I need you
+much more than you need me, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," he went on, after a moment, "I am beginning to believe
+that I was wrong this afternoon when I said that ... that Judd lied
+about<a class="pagenum" name="page_172" id="page_172" title="172"></a> adding to the money he received for your baskets. Of course I
+have no way of making sure, unless you have kept accounts, but I
+actually begin to think that he did."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>know</i> it," she replied promptly; but with a troubled voice. "Judd
+has been very wicked, but he doesn't lie. I think that he meant it the
+way ... the way you did, too; but he's different and I mean to give it
+all back to him." There was another pause, and then Smiles said gently,
+"Donald, it makes my heart ache like, to tell you this, but I've got to
+now. I want that you should go away early to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" he burst out angrily, springing to his feet. "And have him
+believe that I ran away from him again? No, how can you ask it, Rose?"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't that. We know, and <i>he</i> knows now, that you're not afraid of
+him. But this mountain is his home, and, if you stay here, there is sure
+to be more trouble, and I couldn't bear that, Don. Even if one of you
+wasn't ... wasn't hurt in the body, wicked thoughts would hurt your
+souls. I know it is so, and you <i>must</i> go ... but, oh, how I am going to
+miss you."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Donald stood tense; then his body relaxed weakly and he
+answered, "Yes, you are right, Smiles. It <i>is</i> up to me to go; but I
+know that some day these clouds are going to be lifted somehow, and we
+shall see each other again and be happy together."<a class="pagenum" name="page_173" id="page_173" title="173"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I know it, too," she answered, with a sob catching her breath. As she
+spoke, the clouds, which had been covering the moon for some time,
+broke, letting the cool, white light flood the mountain side like a
+promise, and her face lit up with the old wondrous smile. "Of course we
+will," she cried. "Why, I mean to be your own special nurse some day,
+and help you always. Good-night, dear Don."</p>
+
+<p>She turned and ran quickly into the cabin, so that he should not see the
+tears which followed the smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose war right erbout yo'r goin',&mdash;I reckon she air allus right," came
+Big Jerry's voice. "Yo' hev got ter go; but I'm ergoin' ter miss ye
+powerful, likewise, lad."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'll see you again, too, before long. I've got some of my sense
+back, and I mean to write Judd that I am engaged to a girl in the
+city&mdash;not that I want his friendship after what has happened,
+however&mdash;and I will be down here again, for a few days at least, when
+the atmosphere has cleared&mdash;perhaps early this winter."</p>
+
+<p>"Taint likely yo'll ever see me ergin on earth, son," Jerry said
+heavily. "Reckon I'm most done fer."</p>
+
+<p>"Your heart? Is it very bad?" queried Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"I allows hit's nigh ter bustin'," was the steady response. "But mebbe
+I'll last some while yet&mdash;I hopes so, fer leetle Smiles' sake. I haint
+blind ter what hes happened, an' I knows thet the time air comin' when
+she's es plumb sartain ter fly erway<a class="pagenum" name="page_174" id="page_174" title="174"></a> from this hyar mountain es a
+homein' dove; fer she hes heard the call uv her city blood, an' hit
+haint ter be denied. But I reckon she haint ready ter leave the old nest
+yet, so I aims ter stay on erwhile longer ... fer her, though hit haint
+goin' ter be in no wise easy fer ter do."</p>
+
+<p>The younger man knew not what answer to make to this affecting
+declaration; but the necessity of a reply was forestalled, for Big Jerry
+stepped closer and continued earnestly, "Since yo' wished fer ter be a
+son ter me, I air ergoin' ter treat ye es sich, an' tell ye something
+thet I've done fer the leetle gal, an' thet she don't yet know erbout.</p>
+
+<p>"Back in the spring when I seen thet her mind war made up ter be a
+nurse, an' I knowed thet my own time war comin', I sold the timber
+rights ter these hyar woods ter a city lumber company fer a thousand
+dollars. They haint ergoin' ter cut fer some years yet, an' by thet time
+I won't be hyar ter grieve, an' Smiles won't neither.</p>
+
+<p>"Thet money, an' a leetle more what I hev saved, air ter be hern ...
+hit's in er savin' bank down ter the city now. But thet haint all I
+wants ye ter know. The reverend drawed a last will an' testiment fer me,
+leavin' this hyar land ter her&mdash;she haint blood kin of mine, yo' know,
+nor adopted by law-an' I reckons hit will be val'able some day, fer a
+city stranger told me oncet thet thar's coal on hit. So my leetle gal
+haint ergoin' ter start her new life penniless, an' ... an' now I wants
+ter name ye ter<a class="pagenum" name="page_175" id="page_175" title="175"></a> be her guardeen till she air growed up. I hopes yo'll
+accept ther charge, fer I trusts ye, son."</p>
+
+<p>"Accept? Indeed I will, and it makes me mighty happy to realize that I
+mean something to both of you. I've been playing that she was my sister,
+but now she will really be as much to me as though she were."</p>
+
+<p>The two men clasped hands again in full understanding, and as a symbol
+of a trust bestowed and accepted.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>At sunrise the following morning Donald once more turned his face toward
+the valley, whence he had climbed lightheartedly less than two days
+previous. He had come with a beloved companion. He went alone, save for
+crowding memories&mdash;some bright, but far more black as storm-clouds and
+shot with malignant flashes of lightning.</p>
+
+<p>His vacation&mdash;a travesty on the name&mdash;was ended; the castle which his
+dreams had built on this remote mountain was a shattered ruin. Yet,
+through the dark series of crowding events, ran a fine thread of
+gleaming gold, and Donald felt that it had not been broken by his
+departure. No, it was spun by Destiny to stretch on and on into the
+unseen future, at once for him a guide-line to a higher manhood, and a
+tie binding his life to that of the girl whose pathway&mdash;starting so far
+removed from his&mdash;had so strangely converged with it.<a class="pagenum" name="page_176" id="page_176" title="176"></a></p>
+
+<p>To continue his hunting trip in another location, with Mike no longer
+his companion in it, was unthinkable. The empty spaces made the void in
+his heart unbearable, and he at once returned to Boston and joined his
+family at their summer home, to their amazement and delight.</p>
+
+<p>But the man now returned to them after little more than a week's absence
+was vastly different from the one who had left. All marked the
+alteration in him, and over and over in family council tried, vainly, to
+account for it, for Donald had withheld far more than he told of his
+experiences, and minimized what he did tell.</p>
+
+<p>But he knew, as well as they, that a new chord had been struck within
+him, and by its vibrations his whole life was being tuned anew.
+Something of the old boyishness and impetuosity was gone, a new
+purposefulness&mdash;not of the will but rather of the spirit&mdash;had supplanted
+it and engendered an unwonted serenity. Was it born of the words of the
+strange mountain prophet, or the impelling appeal of the no-less-strange
+mountain child, whose mysterious smile, though seen less frequently than
+on his first visit, still cast a spell over his senses, even in memory?
+He could not say.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever uncertainties had disturbed his heart before, when his thoughts
+had turned upon her, none now remained. The die was cast. Smiles had
+made her place in his life, and would always occupy it, but merely as a
+dear charge and comrade. Half-child,<a class="pagenum" name="page_177" id="page_177" title="177"></a> half-woman, she still appealed to
+him in both capacities as perhaps none other ever had; yet he could now
+admit that fact frankly, and at the same time tell himself that there
+was, there could be, nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>With the mists of uncertainty dispelled, and his mind purged of the
+passions which had, so unexpectedly, possessed it, Donald's life
+returned to its old ruts. His work absorbed him as before, he accepted
+Marion as more fully a part of his life than she had previously been,
+and, in so doing, found an unexpected contentment. If, at times, he
+still felt that she was not all that he might desire, at least she was
+of his class and he understood her thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p>"My work furnishes enough of romance for me," he sometimes thought.
+"And, if I want to remain a civilized human being, I had better stick to
+the life in which I was brought up. I never suspected how much of a
+'cave man' I was until I got into the heart of the primitive. Whew!
+Supposing I had killed Judd that afternoon! There were a few moments
+when it would have been a pleasure to have done it. Or supposing he had
+killed me! He wanted to, right enough. Puck was right."</p>
+
+<p>And so, while the months passed, Fortune smiled on the brilliant young
+physician, and daily laid new tributes of wealth, honor and affection at
+his feet.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In the mountain cabin it was otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>Changes, born of the travail of tragic happenings,<a class="pagenum" name="page_178" id="page_178" title="178"></a> cast their
+ever-lengthening shadows over Smiles' life, blotting out the golden
+sunlight of childhood, and overlaying it with the deeper tones of
+womanhood.</p>
+
+<p>Judd, her companion since baby days, she no longer called "friend," and
+he, for his part, steadily avoided her and the cabin which had once been
+a second home to him. Big Jerry, uncomplaining ever, day by day grew
+more feeble and pain-wracked, and so became more and more a dear burden
+to her. Only Mr. Talmadge, of her real intimates, remained unchanged in
+his relations with her, unless it was that in his deep and understanding
+sympathy he brought her greater spiritual and mental comfort than ever.
+The other neighbors were kind always, in their rough, well-meaning way;
+but he was her chief guide and comforter, and in him, and the books
+which Donald conscientiously sent to her every few weeks, she found the
+strength to carry forward.</p>
+
+<p>So, in the never-ending tasks which her daily life provided, and which
+she performed with distress in her heart, but a smile on her lips, Rose
+saw the weeks come and go, bringing in their slow-moving, but
+inexorable, train, autumn, fall and another winter.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_179" id="page_179" title="179"></a>
+<a name="THE_ADDED_BURDEN_5110" id="THE_ADDED_BURDEN_5110"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+<h3>THE ADDED BURDEN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was mid-winter. The twilight sky&mdash;cold and pale, more green than
+blue&mdash;brought the thought of new-made ice. Stripped long since of their
+verdure, the wooded Cumberlands lay, like naked, shivering giants,
+across whose mighty recumbent torsos the biting winds swept
+relentlessly.</p>
+
+<p>In contrast with the desolation without, inside Big Jerry's cabin all
+was as bright, warm and homelike as a merry fire, the soft glow of the
+evening lamp and the presence of the heart of the spot&mdash;the girl
+herself&mdash;could make it.</p>
+
+<p>Thankful for the blessings of the cheery home and her grandfather's
+presence in it still, and softly humming an old ballad which he loved,
+Rose was busily engaged in preparing an early supper, when she was
+interrupted by the sound of a low, uncertain knock on the door.</p>
+
+<p>She opened it, wonderingly, and the firelight leaped out into the night
+and disclosed the unshaven face and gaunt form of Judd.</p>
+
+<p>Save on rare occasions, and then at a distance, she had not seen him
+since that fateful day on the mountain's summit, when his passionate
+love and hate,<a class="pagenum" name="page_180" id="page_180" title="180"></a> intermingled, had driven him to commit the great offence
+against the unwritten laws of the feudal clan, by attacking one upon
+whom the sacred mantle of hospitality had been placed, by which act he
+had incurred Jerry's enmity, and made himself love's outlaw.</p>
+
+<p>The months had dealt harshly with him. Not only was his clothing frayed
+and soiled; but his face was so unnaturally pale that the deep-set eyes
+beneath their lowering black brows seemed to burn like embers, and there
+were many new lines on his countenance not graven there by wind and
+weather.</p>
+
+<p>Shocked at the change in him, and suddenly filled with womanly
+compassion which sounded the knell of anger, Rose called, gently, "Judd!
+Why, Judd! Come in."</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head. "I reckon I haint welcome in this hyar cabin, Smiles,
+an' taint on my own ercount thet I comes ter ye."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is the trouble?" was her startled inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit ... hit air leetle Lou. I erlows she's sick er somethin'."</p>
+
+<p>"Lou? Tell me quick, Judd. What is the matter with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't rightly know." The answer was made with obvious distress. "She
+haint been her sunshiny self fer quite some time, an' ter-night ...
+wall, she air actin' so sorter ... queer, thet I got skeered."<a class="pagenum" name="page_181" id="page_181" title="181"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I'll go over home with you at once," said Rose, as she hastily caught
+up and drew a shawl about her head and shoulders. "Grandpap," she called
+softly through the door to the old man's bedroom, "I'm ergoin' out fer
+er leetle time. One of ther neighbors air sick. Don't fret, fer I'll be
+back right soon, dear."</p>
+
+<p>There was a brief, rumbled reply; and, closing the door behind her on
+the warm comfort within, the girl joined the mountaineer in the crispy
+evening, now almost dark. She shivered a little, and he marked the
+involuntary act, and drew back a step.</p>
+
+<p>In silence they walked rapidly up the narrow path, slippery from a
+recent fall of light snow. Once Rose slipped, and instantly Judd's
+sinewy arm was about her waist, steadying her. Then, as she regained her
+balance and started forward, it tightened and drew her suddenly to him
+in a passionate, crushing embrace. She made no effort to struggle free,
+or voice her heart's protest against this outrage, but stood with her
+body rigid and unyielding within the circle of his arm until he slowly
+released her, mumbling, "I reckon I air plumb ershamed of myself,
+Smiles. I didn't go fer ter do hit, an' I knows thet I haint deservin'
+ter tetch so much es ther hem of yo'r skirt."</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer, and neither spoke again until his cabin was reached.</p>
+
+<p>When the door was opened, Smiles caught sight of the child sitting
+motionless on a stool near the<a class="pagenum" name="page_182" id="page_182" title="182"></a> fireplace. Her lips were parted and in
+her eyes was an odd look of semi-vacuity.</p>
+
+<p>"Lou!" cried Rose, pausing in alarmed astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>A light of recognition sprang into the child's eyes, she stood up a
+trifle unsteadily, and said, with a low throaty laugh of delight, "Hit
+air my Smiles. I awful glad ter see...." She started toward her friend;
+but her course suddenly veered to the left, waveringly, and her
+wandering gaze fell upon the now sadly battered doll lying in one
+corner. "To see ye, Mike," was the ending of her sentence, as she
+trotted to Donald's gift and began to cuddle it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' haint erbeen ter see Lou fer er long, long ..." The piping voice
+trailed off into silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Lou, sweetheart. What is the matter? Don't you know your own
+Smiles?" pleaded the deeply distressed girl, as she gathered the child
+to her breast.</p>
+
+<p>The baby's hands dropped the doll unceremoniously and sought her
+friend's cheeks. Looking up with big eyes into the face drawn close to
+her own, she replied in a strangely slow, hesitant manner. "In course I
+remembers ye, Smiles. Yo' air the nurse what lives with ... with thet
+thar doctor man ... in the big city, whar air monkeys thet ... clumb
+sticks an' ... an' doll babies what close thar eyes ... an' say ... an'
+say ... My head hurts me, Smiles, hit do."</p>
+
+<p>She lay still in the loving arms for an instant, and<a class="pagenum" name="page_183" id="page_183" title="183"></a> then wriggled free
+and, sliding to the floor, picked up and began to rock the doll again,
+the while crooning a wordless lullaby.</p>
+
+<p>With anxiety growing akin to terror, Smiles felt the irregular pulse, as
+Donald had taught her how to do, and pressed her hand to the pale cheek
+and forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"She <i>is</i> sick, Judd, and I'm kind of frightened, too. You can't take
+care of her here, and I mean to take her home with me, right now. I
+reckon you had better go down to the village and get Dr. Johnston,
+quick."</p>
+
+<p>The man had started, with words of protest trembling on his lips; but,
+as his look turned on his little sister, as she now leaned drowsily
+against the girl's knees, he stifled them unspoken, while a spasm of
+pain crossed his worn face. With a dull nod of acquiescence he held out
+his arms to receive the child, whom Rose had lifted and wrapped in a
+blanket from her little bed that had been brought in near the fire.</p>
+
+<p>The return journey was quickly and silently made, and, delivering the
+slight bundle to Smiles when her cabin was reached, Judd set off into
+the night, concern lending wings to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Grandpap, hit's Smiles back ergin'," called the girl softly. "An' I've
+brought leetle Lou Amos. She haint feelin' right well, an' I allows I
+hev got ter take keer of her here."</p>
+
+<p>The old man uttered a low growl of protest, which caused Rose to run to
+him and tenderly lay her hand on his lips, with the words, "Hush,
+grandpap. The<a class="pagenum" name="page_184" id="page_184" title="184"></a> baby haint in nowise ter blame fer ... fer what Judd
+done. In course we hev got ter keer fer her."</p>
+
+<p>Big Jerry nodded an abashed assent, and said no more.</p>
+
+<p>Smiles undressed her new charge, who struck uncertain terror to her
+heart by drowsily talking on and on, in snatches of unrelated sentences
+running the gamut of her limited experiences and with the childish words
+often failing, half formed. She put the baby in her own bed, and, after
+the belated supper had been eaten and cleared away, and the old man made
+as comfortable as possible for the night, Smiles lay down beside the
+baby, whose silence and more regular breathing indicated that she was at
+last asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The morrow's sun was well above the valley horizon before Judd returned
+with the country doctor, and again the former refused to enter the
+cabin. While the physician remained, he paced back and forth, back and
+forth, with weary, nervous strides; but even in his stress of mind he
+unconsciously kept out of view from the window in Big Jerry's room.</p>
+
+<p>At last Rose and Dr. Johnston reappeared, and, breathing hard, Judd
+hastened to join them.</p>
+
+<p>"It's brain fever, the doctor says, Judd," said Smiles at once. "He's
+left some medicine for me to give her, and you know that I'll nurse her
+for you like she was my own baby."</p>
+
+<p>"Air hit ... air hit <i>bad</i>, doctor?" asked the mountaineer, with a catch
+in his voice.<a class="pagenum" name="page_185" id="page_185" title="185"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course it ain't an ... er ... exactly easy thing to cure, but
+I reckon she'll get well of it. By the way, Amos, how long has she been
+a-goin' on like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I kaint rightly say, doctor. She hes acted kind er strange-like fer
+quite er spell, now thet I comes ter think on hit; but I didn't pay no
+pertickler attention to hit ontil er day er two back," answered the man
+contritely.</p>
+
+<p>"Hmmm," said the doctor. "Oh, I guess we can pull her through all right,
+and I will get up here as often as I can. Well, I reckon I'll be
+stepping along back."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>But little Lou did not fulfil the country practitioner's optimistic
+prophecy. The change in her condition, as day after day crept by,
+growing longer and colder, was almost imperceptible; but it was steadily
+for the worse. The mountain winter closed in with unusual rigors, and
+Smiles' cabin continued to be a hospital where she passed her hours
+ministering equally to the keen-minded, but bodily tortured old
+man&mdash;whose heart pained constantly and with growing severity, and whose
+breathing became daily more labored&mdash;and the child whose mind steadily
+became more clouded and her physical functions more weak.</p>
+
+<p>Like a gaunt, miserable dog which had been driven from his home, Judd
+haunted the cabin. When she<a class="pagenum" name="page_186" id="page_186" title="186"></a> stole out one morning, to speak with him
+about Lou, Smiles cried, "Oh, if Doctor Mac were only here now! <i>He</i>
+would know what to do, I'm sure."</p>
+
+<p>Judd's hands, blue with cold, clenched so violently that the knuckles
+grew a bloodless white, and the look of pain, lying deep down in his
+eyes, changed to a flash of burning hate.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't never speak thet man's name ter me, gal."</p>
+
+<p>The words were spoken in a harsh voice and he strode abruptly away.</p>
+
+<p>At more and more infrequent intervals, the village doctor made his
+toilsome way up the slippery mountain side, sat regarding the little
+patient with a hopelessly puzzled look, and finally departed, shaking
+his head; but he never failed to leave behind him another bottle of
+obnoxious medicine on the chance that if one did not produce an
+improvement, another might. Even to the girl it was all too apparent,
+however, that he was aiming blindly into the dark.</p>
+
+<p>There came a time when the child spoke scarcely at all, save to moan
+piteously something about the pain in her head; her emaciated legs
+barely carried her on her uncertain course; her vague, sweet eyes turned
+inward more and more; and it was with the greatest difficulty, and only
+by the exercise of infinite patience that Smiles could feed her. The
+little mountain blossom was wilting and fading slowly away.</p>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of the first day of January Dr. Johnston spent a long
+time at the cabin, striving<a class="pagenum" name="page_187" id="page_187" title="187"></a> against the impossible to solve the problem
+which confronted him like an appalling mystery, far too deep to be
+pierced by the feeble ray of science at his command.</p>
+
+<p>At last he arose with a gesture of finality, and announced to the
+anxiously waiting girl, "I reckon I'm done. I won't go so fur as to say
+that a city specialist might not be able to help her; but hanged if <i>I</i>
+can. The trouble is too much for me, and I guess Lou is just a-goin' to
+die."</p>
+
+<p>Sudden tears welled into Smiles' luminous eyes, and ran unheeded down
+her cheeks, now unnaturally thin and wan.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit haint so," she cried in a choked voice. "Lou haint ergoin' ter die,
+Dr. Johnston!"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she stopped, as her thoughts flew backward on the wings of
+memory. Her eyes grew larger, a strange light came into them. Then,
+speaking slowly, almost as though the words were impelled by a will
+other than her own, she added with a tone of absolute certainty:</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' allows <i>yo'</i> don't know what the trouble air, but <i>I</i> does."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor was startled and looked as though he thought that he was
+about to have another patient on his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit air a brain tumor thet she hes got, I knows it, an' I knows one of
+the few doctor men in this hyar country what kin cure hit. He air
+<i>ergoin'</i> ter cure hit fer me, an' leetle Lou haint <i>ergoin'</i> ter die."<a class="pagenum" name="page_188" id="page_188" title="188"></a></p>
+
+<p>Uncertain what to make of this outburst, the doctor departed rather
+hastily. Smiles caught up her shawl and ran immediately to Judd's
+lonely, cheerless abode, which she entered without a thought of
+knocking. She found the man sitting dejectedly before a feeble fire.</p>
+
+<p>He sprang up, voiceless terror apparent in the look which he turned upon
+her white face, but, without pausing for any preliminaries, Rose said,
+"The doctor, he's been ter see our little Lou again, Judd. He allows
+thet he can't do anything more for her, and thet she has got ter die."</p>
+
+<p>The man&mdash;whose whole world was now centred in the child to whom he had,
+for a year, been father and mother as well as brother&mdash;sank down on his
+chair and buried his face in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I knowed hit," he muttered in a dead voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit haint so," cried the girl, who had by this time wholly relapsed
+into the mountain speech, as she frequently did still, when laboring
+under the stress of emotion. "Hit haint so, Judd. We kin save her. We
+hev <i>got</i> ter save her."</p>
+
+<p>"Thar haint no way." The words were tuned to despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Thar <i>air</i> a way. Thar's one man who kin save Lou's life fer ye, an' we
+must get him ter do hit.".</p>
+
+<p>She had mentioned no name, but Judd sprang swiftly erect, fists clenched
+and shaking above his head. "Do yo' think thet I'd be beholden ter
+<i>thet</i> man, after what I done ter him? Do yo' think thet<a class="pagenum" name="page_189" id="page_189" title="189"></a> I'd accept
+even my sister's life et his hands? I hates him like I does the devil
+what, I reckon, air ergoin' ter git my soul!"</p>
+
+<p>"Judd!" cried the girl, "yo' don't know what yo'r ersayin'. Hit's
+blasphemy. Ef Doctor Mac kin save Lou's life&mdash;an' he <i>kin</i>&mdash;yo'd be a
+murderer,&mdash;yes, a murderer uv yo'r own flesh an' blood, ter forbid him."</p>
+
+<p>Spent by the force of his previous passionate outburst, the man sank
+tremblingly back into the chair again.</p>
+
+<p>"I kaint do hit, Smiles," he answered piteously. "I kaint do hit, an'
+hit's a foolish thought anyway. He wouldn't come hyar. Hit takes money
+fer ter git city doctors, an' I haint got none."</p>
+
+<p>"He will come ef I asks him, an' I hev money, Judd," she said with a
+pleading voice.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no. Ef Lou dies, I reckon I'll kill myself, too; but I forbids
+ye ter call the man I wronged, an' hates."</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the girl turned away, with a compassionate glance at the bent,
+soul-tortured youth, went out of the cabin, and softly closed the door.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_190" id="page_190" title="190"></a>
+<a name="SMILES_APPEAL_5418" id="SMILES_APPEAL_5418"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+<h3>"SMILES'" APPEAL</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was snowing when she stepped outside,&mdash;a soft, white curtain of
+closely woven flakes rapidly dimming the early evening glow and bringing
+nightshades on apace. The wind, too, was rising; its first fitful gusts
+drove the snow sweeping in whirling flurries across the open spaces, and
+then whistled off through the leafless trees.</p>
+
+<p>Rose shivered. The wind greeted her boisterously. It clutched her shawl
+in hoydenish jest, tore one end of it free from her grasp, and ran its
+invisible, icy fingers down her neck.</p>
+
+<p>The cabin of the nearest neighbor&mdash;Pete Andrews&mdash;was only a few rods
+distant; but, before the girl reached it in the face of the momentarily
+increasing storm, she was panting, and her face, hair and clothing were
+plastered with clinging flakes.</p>
+
+<p>"Mis' Andrews, I hates ter ask er favor of ye such er powerful mean
+night; but I needs help," said Smiles, as soon as the door had been
+opened, letting her in, together with a whirl of snow which spread
+itself like a ghost on the rough floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yo' knows thet I'd do enything in ther world fer ye, Rose gal. I reckon
+I owes ye my life since<a class="pagenum" name="page_191" id="page_191" title="191"></a> when ... when Gawd Almighty tuck my baby back
+ter thet garden er His'n in Paradise," answered the frail, weary-looking
+woman, whose eyes quickly suffused with tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Hit haint repayment I'm askin' of ye, but er favor, Mis' Andrews. I
+wants ye ter help me save ther life of another mountin flower, what's
+nigh faded plum erway."</p>
+
+<p>"Lou Amos?" asked the woman. She had already turned to get her own
+shawl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, hit's leetle Lou. She air powerful sick, an' I wants fer ye ter
+stay ter-night with her an' grandpap, ef yo' will. Thar haint nothing
+ter do but stay with them."</p>
+
+<p>"In course I'll do hit fer ye, Smiles," was the ready answer, and her
+lank, slouching husband nodded a silent assent, as she turned to him.</p>
+
+<p>"But what air yo' reckonin' ter do? Yo' kaint go nowhar in this hyar
+storm. I don't recollect hits like on the mountain, no time."</p>
+
+<p>The girl did not answer; but held the door open while the other stepped
+out, only to catch her breath and flatten herself against the cabin's
+wall as a sheet of mingled sleet and snow struck her. By continually
+assisting one another, the two made their way slowly over to Jerry's
+home; and, when they paused within its shelter, Rose held her
+companion's arm a moment, and said, "Thar haint no use tryin' ter
+prevent me, Mis' Andrews, cause I'm ergoin' ter do hit. I'm ergoin' down
+ter Fayville, an' send a telegram message<a class="pagenum" name="page_192" id="page_192" title="192"></a> fer er city doctor thet I
+knows, ter come hyar an' make Lou well. Don't go fer ter tell grandpap
+whar I've gone er he'll worry erbout me, an' thar haint no cause ter.
+The storm's et my back, an' hits all down hill goin'. I hates ter tell a
+lie ter him, but I allows I've got ter, this one time."</p>
+
+<p>In sudden terror over the mad plan, the older woman began to protest;
+but Rose shook off her detaining hand, and put an end to the sentence by
+leading the way hastily into the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>"Thar's a leetle child what needs my help, an' I've got ter take keer of
+her fer er while, grandpap," Smiles said at once. "Mis' Andrews hes come
+over fer ter stay with ye and Lou, now haint thet kind uv her? I'll git
+back es soon es ever I kin, but don't yo' fret ef hit haint erfore yo'
+goes ter bed ... or even till mornin' time."</p>
+
+<p>She furtively obtained a few bills from her precious store, kissed the
+old man's haggard, wrinkled cheek, and the white forehead of the baby
+who lay on the bed, almost inert save for the restless moving of her
+head from side to side, and the low moans which came with almost every
+breath, and hurried out into the storm.</p>
+
+<p>In later years Rose could be induced to speak only with the greatest
+reluctance of that journey down the snow-swept mountain path&mdash;for the
+blizzard was as fierce as it was rare&mdash;and even the recollection of it
+brought a look of terror into her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>There was flying horror abroad that night, and<a class="pagenum" name="page_193" id="page_193" title="193"></a> the demented trees
+quivered and tossed their great arms so wildly that they cracked and
+broke, to fall crashing in the path. Yet, accomplish the five mile long,
+perilous descent, in the midst of lashing sleet and snow, over a
+slippery, tortuous path, she did. With her clothing torn by flaying
+branches and clutching wind, and drenched by icy water as the snow
+melted; with her hands and lips blue, and her feet numb; with her wavy
+hair pulled loose from its braids and plastered wetly against her
+colorless cheeks; she eventually stumbled into the rude building which
+contained the railroad and telegraph office at the terminus of the
+branch line at Fayville. Then she fell, half unconscious, into the arms
+of the astonished agent, who came to the door when he heard her stumble
+weakly against it.</p>
+
+<p>"Good God, child, where did you come from?" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>Smiles' lips moved faintly, and he caught an echo of the words which she
+had been repeating mechanically, over and over, "She haint ergoin' ter
+die!"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon she ain't, if human will can save her ... whoever <i>she</i> is,"
+muttered the man, as he laid the exhausted girl on a rude waiting bench,
+poured between her bruised lips a few drops of smuggled whiskey from a
+pocket flask, and then unceremoniously cut her shoe lacings and removed
+her sodden, icy boots.</p>
+
+<p>After a moment, she sat weakly up, and&mdash;punctuated by gasps drawn by
+exquisite pain&mdash;managed to pant out, "I've got to send a telegram ...<a class="pagenum" name="page_194" id="page_194" title="194"></a>
+to-night ... now. Oh, <i>please</i>, Mister, don't wait for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"There, there. We'll take care of your message all right. Don't worry,
+little woman," he answered, reassuringly. "But I ain't a-goin' ter send a
+tick till you're thawed out. My missus lives upstairs, an' she'll fix
+you up."</p>
+
+<p>He half-carried, half-helped the weary girl up the narrow stairs, and,
+having surrendered her into the charge of a kindly and solicitous woman,
+hastened to rekindle the wood fire in the stove. As its iron top began
+to regain the ruddy glow which had scarcely faded from it, Rose crept
+near, holding out her bent, stiffened hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, take it easy, little girl," cautioned the agent. "Not too close at
+first."</p>
+
+<p>"And take off your dress and stockings, dear," said his wife. "Don't
+give no thought to him,&mdash;we've got three daughters of our own, most
+growed up."</p>
+
+<p>The agent departed, with a heavy clamping of feet on the stairs, and
+gratefully&mdash;but with hands which were so numb that she had to give up in
+favor of the woman&mdash;Rose obeyed; and soon her teeth stopped their
+chattering, and the red blood of youth began once more to course through
+her veins, while her drenched, simple undergarments sent up vaporous
+white flags which indicated that the watery legions of the storm king
+were fast surrendering to their ancient enemy&mdash;Fire.<a class="pagenum" name="page_195" id="page_195" title="195"></a></p>
+
+<p>The older woman wrapped a blanket about the girl, as her husband came
+upstairs again with a pad of telegram blanks, and said, "Now, I'll write
+out the message you've got to send for you, if you want me to."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir. I'm obliged to you and your missus. I reckon you can
+put the words better than I can, for I haint ... I have never sent one
+before. It's for Dr. Donald MacDonald, who lives on Commonwealth Avenue,
+up north in Boston city. And I want to tell him that little Lou Amos is
+most dying from a brain tumor. And tell him that she is nearly blind and
+'comatose'...."</p>
+
+<p>"That word's a new one to me, how do you spell it?" interrupted the
+agent, with pencil plowing through his rumpled hair.</p>
+
+<p>"I ... I guess I've forgotten. Spell it like it sounds, and he'll know.
+And tell him that I will pay him all the money I've got, if he'll only
+come quick."</p>
+
+<p>"How shall I sign it? It has to have your name, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Say it's from his foster-sister, Rose."</p>
+
+<p>Laboriously the man wrote out the message, and the floor was littered
+with discarded attempts before he was satisfied; but in time the
+distant, slow clicking of the telegraph key below was sending not only
+the child's eager appeal to its destination many hundred miles north,
+but a message of renewed hope into the heart of Smiles.<a class="pagenum" name="page_196" id="page_196" title="196"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It will cost you more'n a dollar," said the man, as he appeared again.
+"But if you haven't got that much, why ..."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it right here," responded the girl, turning on him for an
+instant a glowing smile of gratitude for his halting offer. "I'm truly
+more'n obliged to you, sir ... and your wife. I reckon God meant that
+you should be here to-night to help save the life of a dear little
+child," she added simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I'll just put on my things and be startin' back home."</p>
+
+<p>"Startin' home? Well, I reckon not. You're a-goin' to stay right here
+to-night, and let my woman put you straight to bed. That's what you're
+a-goin' to do."</p>
+
+<p>Smiles' protests were all in vain, and soon the weary body and mind were
+relaxed in the sleep which follows hard on the heels of exhaustion.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It was close on to midnight when Dr. Donald MacDonald reached his
+apartment after a rare theatre party with his fianc&eacute;e. His day's work
+had been exacting, and he was doubly tired. The thought of bed held an
+almost irresistible appeal.</p>
+
+<p>As he inserted his latch key in the lock, he heard the telephone bell in
+his office ringing insistently; his heart sank, and cried a rebellious
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>Combined force of habit and the call of duty caused him to hasten to the
+instrument, however,<a class="pagenum" name="page_197" id="page_197" title="197"></a> without stopping to remove hat or coat, and to his
+ear came a small, distant voice saying, "A telegram for Dr. Donald
+MacDonald. Is he ready to receive it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes ... Hold on a minute until I get a pencil.... All right, go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"It is dated from Fayville, Virginia, January 1, 1914. 8:30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> Are you
+getting it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes. Go on," cried the man, with increasing heart pulsations.</p>
+
+<p>"'Dr. Donald MacDonald, Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass. Lou Amos dying
+of brain tumor almost blind and 'k-o-m-o-t-o-s-e'"&mdash;she spelt it
+out&mdash;"'Come at once if possible I will pay.' It is signed, 'Your
+foster-sister Rose.' Did you get it? Yes? Wait a moment, please, there
+is another one dated and addressed the same. The message reads, 'Girl
+came alone down mountain in howling blizzard. Case urgent. Signed,
+Thomas Timmins, Station Agent.' That is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. Good-night," said Donald mechanically, as he replaced the
+receiver.</p>
+
+<p>Through the partly open folding door he could dimly see that enticing
+bed, with his pajamas and bath robe laid across it. It seemed to him as
+though it were calling to his weary body with a siren's voice, or had
+suddenly acquired the properties of the cup of Tantalus. He hesitated,
+and moved a step toward it. Then the vision of Rose as he had last seen
+her, with the ethereal smile trembling on lips that struggled<a class="pagenum" name="page_198" id="page_198" title="198"></a> bravely
+to laugh, and in deep misty eyes, came between it and him.</p>
+
+<p>Still clad in hat and overcoat, he seated himself at the desk and called
+up first the information bureau of the South Terminal Station, then his
+young associate, Dr. Philip Bentley, in whose charge he was accustomed
+to leave his regular patients when called away from the city for any
+length of time; and finally a house used as a semi-club by trained
+nurses.</p>
+
+<p>When his last call was answered he asked, "Is Miss Merriman registered
+with you now? This is Dr. MacDonald speaking."</p>
+
+<p>After a wait of several minutes, during which he felt himself nod
+repeatedly, a sleepy voice spoke over the wire, "This is Miss Merriman,
+Dr. MacDonald. I'm just off a case."</p>
+
+<p>"Good. I'm lucky ... that is if you're game to take another one
+immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor. Do you want me to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, to-morrow ... this morning, that is, will do. I shall want you to
+meet me at the South Station, New York train, at seven o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor. What sort of a case is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Same as the last you assisted me in&mdash;brain tumor. But we're going
+further this trip ... the jumping-off place in Virginia. It's up in the
+mountains, so take plenty of warm clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, doctor." Then there came a little laugh, for these two were
+excellent friends now, and the query, "Another record-breaking fee?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_199" id="page_199" title="199"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you to-morrow," he replied. "Don't forget, seven o'clock
+train for New York. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>Donald turned away from the desk, and for a moment stood motionless.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless her brave, trusting, little heart," he said half aloud.</p>
+
+<p>And he was not thinking of Miss Merriman.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_200" id="page_200" title="200"></a>
+<a name="THE_ANSWER_5690" id="THE_ANSWER_5690"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+<h3>THE ANSWER</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>More than once Rose caught herself wondering if, after that day was
+done, she would ever be able to smile again. In obedience to the
+doctor's prescription for Big Jerry, which it was ever her first duty to
+fill, she never looked towards him&mdash;as he sat bent over before the fire,
+eyes heavy with pain, breath coming in deep rasps, but lips set firmly
+against a word of complaint&mdash;without sending him a message of love and
+compassion through the intangible medium of that smile. Yet, as the
+weary hours dragged on with plodding feet, it seemed to her as though
+each new one was not an interest payment on a fund of happiness stored
+within her heart, but a heavy dipping into the principal itself.</p>
+
+<p>Before she had taken her early morning departure back up to the mountain
+over the sodden, slippery path, she had received a telegram that Donald
+had sent off as his last act before yielding to the lure of bed, and
+which brought her the hope-engendering word that he would be with her as
+soon as swift-speeding trains could bring him.</p>
+
+<p>But that was yesterday. By no possibility could he reach them before the
+coming evening, and surely<a class="pagenum" name="page_201" id="page_201" title="201"></a> never had the sun taken so long to make his
+wintry journey across the pale blue sky.</p>
+
+<p>Hour after hour Rose sat by the bedside of little Lou, and tenderly
+stroked her cold small hands while she hummed unanswered lullabies, each
+note of which was the chant of a wordless prayer. The sufferer lay so
+white, so utterly still, save for the periods when her every breath was
+a faint moan or she suddenly shook and twisted in a convulsive spasm,
+that time and again the girl started up with a cry of terror frozen on
+her lips but echoing in her heart, and bent fearfully over to press her
+ear close against the baby's thin breast. As often it caught the barely
+discernible beat of the little heart within.</p>
+
+<p>The baby's eyes, now piteously crossed, had turned upward until the
+starlike pupils were almost out of sight. There were long periods when
+only the occasional twitching of the bloodless, childishly curved and
+parted lips, or the uneasy moving of the golden crowned head on the
+pillow, betrayed the fact that the spark of life still glowed faintly.
+Could she, by the power of will and prayer, keep that spark alight until
+the one on whom she pinned her faith should arrive, and fan it back to a
+flame by his miraculous skill? That was Smiles' one thought.</p>
+
+<p>The violet shadows of evening began at last to tinge the virgin
+whiteness of the out-of-doors, and Rose caught herself starting eagerly,
+with quickened pulse, at every new forest sound. The crunching tread of
+Judd, who paced incessantly outside the<a class="pagenum" name="page_202" id="page_202" title="202"></a> window, grew almost unbearable.
+She counted the steps as they died away, and listened for them to
+return, until her nerves shrieked in protest, and it was only by an
+effort that she curbed their clamoring demand that she rush to the door
+and scream at him; bid him stand still or begone.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Through the shadows Donald was once again making his way up the now
+familiar mountain side. To have climbed up the footpath with Miss
+Merriman and their essential baggage would have been impossible, and he
+had, after much persuasion, finally succeeded in hiring a man in
+Fayville to drive them up in a springless, rickety wagon. This had
+necessitated their taking a much more circuitous route, and what seemed
+like an interminably long time.</p>
+
+<p>During the railway journey from the Hub, he had told his companion all
+of the relevant facts, and much of the story of Rose, and the nurse's
+sympathetic interest in the recital had made her almost as anxious as
+the man himself to arrive at their destination and answer the girl's cry
+for aid.</p>
+
+<p>Once she had voiced a doubt as to the wisdom of leaving his urgent
+practice and taking such a trip on so slender grounds.</p>
+
+<p>"But how do you know that it <i>is</i> brain tumor, doctor, or that there is
+either any chance of saving the child's life, or any real need of a
+surgeon? At<a class="pagenum" name="page_203" id="page_203" title="203"></a> the most you have only the conclusion of a country doctor
+who can hardly be competent to determine such a question."</p>
+
+<p>"I have considered all that, Miss Merriman," he had replied, shortly,
+and then added, as though he felt that an explanation were due,
+"Frankly, when I made up my mind to go, I wasn't thinking of the patient
+so much as I was of my foster-sister. Perhaps she won't appeal to you as
+she has to me; but I really feel a strong responsibility for her future,
+and I don't want her faith in m ... in physicians to be shattered. You
+see, I have held up the ideal of service, regardless of reward, as our
+motto." He sat silently looking out of the car window for a moment,
+while the nurse studied his serious, purposeful face and mentally
+revised her previous estimate of him. Then he went on, with an
+apologetic laugh, "Besides&mdash;Oh, I know that it sounds utterly
+preposterous, but there are times when a man's groundless premonitions
+are more real to him than any logical conclusions of his own. This is
+one of those times."</p>
+
+<p>The subject dropped.</p>
+
+<p>Donald had, in addition to a fortnight's compensation in advance, given
+Miss Merriman a return ticket and sufficient money to cover all
+necessary disbursements, and told her that she must, of course, look to
+him for any additional salary. Under no circumstances, he said, was she
+to accept what Rose was sure to try and press upon her.<a class="pagenum" name="page_204" id="page_204" title="204"></a></p>
+
+<p>At length the plodding horse turned into the little clearing before
+Jerry's cabin, and, as it appeared, the watcher outside, his face
+twitching, slunk silently away into the forest, where his racked soul
+was to endure its hours of Gethsemane.</p>
+
+<p>Rose heard them. She hastened to the door, and her white lips uttered a
+low cry which spoke the overwhelming measure of her relief.</p>
+
+<p>"I just <i>knew</i> you'd come!" she said, as the man, numbed with cold,
+swung his companion to the ground. The girl gave her a quick glance of
+surprise; but her eyes instantly returned to the doctor's face with an
+expression which Miss Merriman decided was as nearly worship as she had
+ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>Donald did not return her greeting in words at first; but, after he had
+paid the driver, so liberally that the latter was left speechless, and
+they had entered the cabin, he held out his strong arms to her. Smiles
+swayed into them and pressed her face against the thick fur of his coat
+with an almost soundless sigh that told the whole story of anxious
+waiting and the end of the tension that had left its mark on her
+childlike face.</p>
+
+<p>"This, Miss Merriman, is my little foster-sister, Rose. And Miss
+Merriman is a nurse who has come to help us," said he, as he released
+her, and passed on to greet the old giant, who had slowly pulled his
+shattered, towering frame from his chair, and now stood with a gaunt
+hand held out in welcome, while a ghost of his one-time hearty smile
+shadowed his<a class="pagenum" name="page_205" id="page_205" title="205"></a> lips. Big Jerry's flowing beard was now snow-white, and
+Donald was shocked at the change which had taken place in him.</p>
+
+<p>Their greeting was brief and simple, as between men whose hearts are
+charged, and, as soon as he had eased him back into his seat, Donald
+spoke with a quick assumption of his professional bearing.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, about our little patient. How is she, Rose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Close to the eternal gates, I'm afraid," whispered the girl, with a
+catch in her voice. "Oh, Donald, we cannot let her ..." she turned
+abruptly and led the way to the door of her tiny bedroom. The doctor
+stepped inside and looked briefly, but searchingly, at the child who lay
+there, silent, and the semblance of Death itself. With her lips caught
+by her teeth, and her hands clasped tightly together to still her
+trembling, Rose watched him.</p>
+
+<p>His next words, spoken as he stepped back into the cabin and shook
+himself free of his greatcoat, were brusquely non-committal. "And the
+doctor? Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"The doctor? Why, he ... he isn't here; he hasn't been here for days. He
+doesn't even know that you were coming ... that I had sent for you."</p>
+
+<p>"What? But I don't understand, child. Of course he ought to be here."
+Donald's voice was so sharp that it brought the tears, that were so near
+the surface, into Smiles' eyes, perceiving which, he<a class="pagenum" name="page_206" id="page_206" title="206"></a> hastened to add
+more gently, "There, there, of course you didn't know; but I can hardly
+hope to diagnose ... to determine what the trouble really is, or where
+the growth, if there is one, is located, unless I get a full history of
+the case from him and his own conclusions to help me."</p>
+
+<p>"But ... but, Donald, he didn't <i>have</i> any conclusions. He said it was
+... was brain fever, first, and then he gave up trying and told us that
+Lou had just got to die. Besides, <i>I</i> know the ... the history...." She
+stopped, with a little wail of distress.</p>
+
+<p>"'Brain <i>fever</i>!' Then who ... the telegram certainly said 'tumor.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes. <i>I</i> said that. Oh, I can't tell you why; but I just <i>know</i>
+that it is, Donald, for little Lou has been exactly like you told me
+that baby up north was&mdash;the one you saved by a ... a miracle. Oh, don't
+you remember? It was in the paper."</p>
+
+<p>Her sentences had become piteously incoherent; but their significance
+slowly dawned upon him. To Miss Merriman the conversation was somewhat
+of an enigma, and she stood aside, regarding Rose with an expression
+half bewildered, half frightened. Had this strange child summoned so
+famous a physician, whose moments, even, were golden, to the heart of
+the Cumberlands on her own initiative and on the strength of her own
+childish guess, merely? It was incredible, a tragic farce.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps something of similar import passed swiftly<a class="pagenum" name="page_207" id="page_207" title="207"></a> through the man's
+mind, for he placed his large hands upon the girl's slender shoulders,
+and, for an instant, sent a searching gaze deep into her eyes, now
+luminous with unshed tears, as he had first seen them. They looked up at
+him troubled, but frankly trusting.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean, Rose," his words came slowly, "that you sent for me
+without a doctor's suggestion and advice; that you did it on your own
+hook?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded. "I just couldn't bear to have her die. She is all that ...
+that Judd has got in the world, now, and I knew that you could save her
+for him."</p>
+
+<p>His hands felt the controlled tension of her body, and he impulsively
+drew her close to him. When he answered, his voice was strangely gentle.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, little doctor. I'm glad that you did, and only hope
+that I can help. Now, let's all sit down here before the fire&mdash;how good
+it feels after that bitter ride, doesn't it, Miss Merriman?&mdash;and you
+will tell me all that you can about the baby's trouble&mdash;every single
+thing that you have noticed from the first, no matter how little it is.
+You see, that only by knowing exactly how the patient has acted can the
+surgeon even hope to guess where the trouble has its seat. Once before I
+told you that a nurse has got to face the truth, understandingly and
+bravely, and I may as well tell you about some of the difficulties which
+lie in the path that we must tread to-night. Your faith has been
+almost&mdash;sublime, dear. I wonder if it would have failed if you<a class="pagenum" name="page_208" id="page_208" title="208"></a> had
+known how like a child in knowledge&mdash;a child searching in the dark&mdash;is a
+surgeon at such a time as this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I ... I don't believe that I understand, and you kind of frightened me,
+Don. I thought that all you would have to do would be to ... to cut out
+that awful thing that is stealing away Lou's precious life. Wasn't that
+what you did for that other little child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but ... how am I going to explain? If there is a tumor, as we
+think, I'll do my best to take it away; but, in order to do that, I
+have, of course, got to go inside of her skull right to the brain
+itself, and the trouble might be here, or here, or here." He touched her
+now profusion of curls at different cranial points. "That is the riddle
+which you and I must solve, and I have got to look to you for the key.
+The human brain is still a book of mystery to us. Some day, physicians
+will be able to read it with full understanding; but so far, we have,
+after thousands of years, barely learned how to open its covers and
+guess at the meaning of what lies hidden within."</p>
+
+<p>Rose had edged close to Miss Merriman on the rough bench before the
+fire, and, with the older woman's arm about her, now sat, wide-eyed and
+wondering, while Donald talked. As he kept his gaze fixed on the glowing
+heart of the fire, he seemed, in time, to be musing aloud rather than
+consciously explaining.</p>
+
+<p>"This much we have learned, however; that certain parts of the brain
+control all the different actions<a class="pagenum" name="page_209" id="page_209" title="209"></a> or functions of the body&mdash;I've called
+it a telegraph station once before...." he paused, and both thought of
+little Mike in his last home under the snow ... "with different keys,
+each sending its message over a separate wire. So you see that, if we
+can learn exactly what the message has been, I mean by that just how
+certain parts of the body have been affected&mdash;Miss Merriman would call
+them the 'localizing symptoms'&mdash;we can often tell almost exactly which
+key is being disarranged by the pressure of a foreign growth, such as a
+tumor. Do you think that you can understand that, Rose?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the first, the great and most difficult thing for us to do. The
+rest depends, in part, upon the mechanical skill of the surgeon, but far
+more upon Fate, for there are certain kinds of growths which may be
+removed with a fair chance of success&mdash;it is only that, at present&mdash;and
+others ... but we won't consider the others. Lou is young, and in one
+way that is in our favor. If there <i>is</i> a tumor, there is less
+likelihood of infiltration," he added, glancing at the nurse.</p>
+
+<p>Rose opened her lips as though to ask a question, and then decided not
+to, but her expression caused Donald to say, "Come child, don't look so
+frightened."</p>
+
+<p>"But I didn't know ... it's so ... so terrible. How can any one live if
+his head is cut open like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds desperate, doesn't it," he answered,<a class="pagenum" name="page_210" id="page_210" title="210"></a> lightly, "But with our
+anesthetics, which put the patient quietly to sleep, and our new,
+specially made instruments, the trained and careful surgeon can perform
+the operation quite easily&mdash;as far as the mechanical part goes, I mean.
+But, you can see how all-important it is for you to tell me just how Lou
+has been affected. I know what a good memory you have; make it count
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>With her breathing quickened, and eyes shining from pent-up excitement,
+Rose began. Simply and painstakingly she recounted everything which she
+had observed about the baby's strange behavior from that painful night
+when she had brought her from Judd's lonely cabin, through the long days
+in which she had steadily weakened and failed, to the time when the
+invisible hand of Death seemed to have begun to pluck at the thread of
+life itself.</p>
+
+<p>Donald listened intently, without a word of interruption, until she
+suddenly broke off her recital with the words, "Oh, I can't think of
+anything more, truly I can't; and I'm so afraid ... afraid that it
+hasn't been enough to help."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Merriman's encircling arm closed comfortingly about the girl, and
+she patted the head which turned and burrowed into her shoulder, but she
+said nothing, waiting for the man to speak. He mused for a moment, and
+then his words came with the crisp incisiveness of a lawyer in
+cross-examination.</p>
+
+<p>"As she lost control of her legs and began to waver and stumble when she
+tried to walk, did she seem to<a class="pagenum" name="page_211" id="page_211" title="211"></a> turn, or fall, to one side more than to
+the other? Think!"</p>
+
+<p>The anxiety deepened in Smiles' eyes; but she answered without
+hesitation, "No, I don't think so. It was more as though her little body
+was plumb tuckered out."</p>
+
+<p>"And her hearing? Did that fail?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not until just toward the last, anyway. Even when she couldn't seem
+to answer me, somehow I was quite sure that she understood, when I
+spoke, or sang, to her. She would kinder smile, but, oh, it was such a
+pitiful smile that it 'most broke my heart."</p>
+
+<p>"She seemed to understand, eh?" He paused, and the room was very still,
+except for Big Jerry's stentorian breathing. "Can you say quite
+certainly&mdash;don't be afraid to answer just exactly what you think&mdash;can
+you say, then, that, aside from the general weakness of all the powers
+of her little body and mind, the headache and occasional sickness, the
+most noticeable thing in all her strange behavior was that she wasn't
+able to talk clearly, and this increased until she wholly lost the power
+of speech which happened before she became as ... as I see her now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>Donald turned abruptly to the nurse. "Barring the use of technical
+phraseology, and a possible expression of his own, probably valueless,
+conclusions, could any doctor, such as is likely to be practising in
+Fayville, have given me any more information, or told it better?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_212" id="page_212" title="212"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>At these unexpected words of praise the girl's smile appeared mistily
+for a moment, and then quivered away.</p>
+
+<p>There was silence again in the cabin, while the man turned his
+thoughtful gaze back to the fire, which had now turned to glowing orange
+embers. A far-off look, alien to his keen, masterful face crept into it.
+Finally he seemed to shake off his new mood, and spoke with a queer
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you on the train that I was the victim of an uncanny
+premonition. I guess that Horatio was right about there being many
+things outside the ken of our limited philosophy. What psychic whisper
+from a world whose existence we men of 'common sense'"&mdash;he spoke the
+words sarcastically&mdash;"are loath to credit; what inspiration, born of the
+memory of that story of the case of the Bentley Moors' child in New
+York, which I told her in words of one syllable six months ago, was it
+that brought the light of truth to this girl's mind, when the village
+doctor utterly failed to catch so much as a glimmer of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think, doctor ...?" began Miss Merriman.</p>
+
+<p>"My diagnosis coincides with Smiles',&mdash;a tumorous growth on the brain,
+probably upon the third left frontal convolution ... right here," he
+said in explanation, as he touched his forehead between the left eyebrow
+and the hair. "Rose, you have done excellently. Now we, too, will do
+what we can, and<a class="pagenum" name="page_213" id="page_213" title="213"></a> we shall need your help in full measure to-night. I
+know that it is going to be bitterly hard for you, perhaps the hardest
+thing that you will ever be called upon to do in all your life; you've
+got to be a woman, and a brave one. I'd spare you if I could, but...."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't want to be spared, Donald," she interrupted, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"I know, and I trust you more than I could any grown-up woman here in
+the mountains. It's hardly necessary to tell you again, that a nurse is
+a soldier, and must be not only brave, but obedient. If we decide to ...
+to go ahead I will be, not your friend, but your superior officer for a
+while, and, if my orders seem harsh and even cruel, you must not
+hesitate, or feel hurt. You understand that, don't you, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor. I understand."</p>
+
+<p>She spoke bravely, but her voice trembled a little.</p>
+
+<p>"Good. Before I make my final examination, Miss Merriman and I have got
+to change our clothes. She will use your room and I the loft; but first
+let us bring Lou's bed out here by the fire."</p>
+
+<p>It was done.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," he continued, "while we are getting ready, there are a number of
+things which you have got to do, and you will have to work fast. First,
+make grandfather comfortable in his room, and build up this fire. Then
+heat up as much water as the big kettle will hold, and see that a
+smaller one is scoured absolutely clean. Start some water heating in
+that,<a class="pagenum" name="page_214" id="page_214" title="214"></a> too. Finally, undress Lou completely, and wrap her in a blanket.
+Can you remember all that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Donald ... yes, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>Donald smiled, and added, "One thing more. Partly fill a pillow-case
+with sand, or dirt, if it is possible to get any. Perhaps the ground in
+the wood-house isn't frozen so hard but that you can get it."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>In a quarter of an hour her duties were completed and Miss Merriman and
+Donald had appeared, clad in their spotless white garments of service.
+Rose, likewise, was in her play uniform, which was now considerably too
+small for her, and her appearance in it would have caused a smile if it
+had not been more provocative of tears.</p>
+
+<p>Six months earlier the doctor and nurse, assisted by others of the most
+skilled and highly trained that the metropolis afforded, had prepared to
+perform the same desperate service in humanity's cause, within the
+perfectly appointed operating room of a modern city hospital. How
+different was the setting now!</p>
+
+<p>In the rude, but homey room of the mountain cabin, lighted only by
+old-fashioned lamps and lanterns and the pulsating blaze of the fire in
+the cavernous fireplace, whose colorful gleam touched with gold the
+scoured copper of pot and kettle, the three workers, in the immaculate
+garments of a city sickroom, bent intently over the naked form of the
+nearly insensible child, to whose alabaster body the leaping flames
+imparted a simulated glow of warm tones.<a class="pagenum" name="page_215" id="page_215" title="215"></a></p>
+
+<p>The general examination was brief, and made in silence. Then Donald drew
+the covering over the little body as a sculptor might the cloth over his
+statue, and straightened up with a look in his gray eyes that was new to
+Rose.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke in curt sentences. "Of course the case is far more desperate
+than our last, Miss Merriman. It's the proverbial 'one chance in a
+thousand.' On that single thread hangs the child's life."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he startled Rose by giving a short, mirthless laugh, and,
+turning away, he began to speak in an undertone, as though unconscious
+of the presence of the other two, for, despite his previous calm, the
+thought of what was in prospect had keyed up his nerves to a pitch where
+they quivered like the E string of a violin.</p>
+
+<p>"Good God, what a colossal nerve a man is sometimes called upon to have
+in this world. Of course she'll die in twenty-four hours if I <i>don't</i>
+operate; but only a fool&mdash;or a genius&mdash;would tackle <i>this</i> operation
+under such impossible conditions. Practically none of the things here
+that science says are necessary. 'A fool, or a genius.'"&mdash;He suddenly
+smote his hands together, and said, "I hope that I'm a fool for
+to-night. God takes care of them ... and drunkards. I wish I had a
+strong slug of Judd's white whiskey, it might steady my nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"Where <i>is</i> Judd?" he snapped out, aloud, turning to Rose.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_216" id="page_216" title="216"></a>
+<a name="A_MODERN_MIRACLE_6127" id="A_MODERN_MIRACLE_6127"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+<h3>A MODERN MIRACLE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I don't know. He was here when you came, but I saw him going up the
+mountain into the woods. But I'll answer for him; I'll take that chance,
+doctor. She is nearly as dear to me as she is to him, and I know that
+she is going to die, unless ... unless ..."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you'd say it. Well, we'll operate, Miss Merriman."</p>
+
+<p>Donald's voice was calm, impersonal again, and his tone had a steely
+quality, as though his lancet or scalpel had become endowed with a
+voice, and spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Silently, and with practised hands, the nurse began to unpack his bag
+and lay out upon a sheet, which she obtained from Rose and spread over
+the rough table, the many strange instruments, bottles, rolls of
+bandages and sponges in their sterile packages.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any baking soda&mdash;saleratus, Rose?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Good. Put about a teaspoonful in the smaller kettle, and boil these
+instruments for ten minutes, while we are making the final preparations.
+I want some hot water, too."<a class="pagenum" name="page_217" id="page_217" title="217"></a></p>
+
+<p>He turned away, and for a moment stood looking up at the calm heavens in
+which the stars made openings for the white eternity beyond to shine
+through. Something in the scene bore his thoughts back to that summer
+evening when the mountain man of God had tried so earnestly to minister
+to his own disease. Snatches of sentences re-echoed in his memory. Then
+he stepped back to Smiles' side and his voice was soft, as he said, "I
+suppose that, whenever a surgeon begins an operation like this one, he
+has an unformed prayer deep in his heart, though he may not realize to
+whom he prays. There was never more occasion for one than to-night,
+Rose. I know that the Great Healer is nearer to you than to me. Ask Him
+that my hand may not falter."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded again, sweetly serious.</p>
+
+<p>Once more his accustomed bluntness of manner returned, and he snapped,
+"Oh, why in the devil didn't I have sense enough to bring another
+assistant?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am here, doctor," answered the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I know." He regarded her with the old, searching look. Then,
+to the nurse, "It's only one of the many chances we have got to take.
+When you put the patient under the an&aelig;sthetic you will show Rose exactly
+how it is administered, for she will have to keep her unconscious
+without any further aid from you after I begin to operate. We have <i>got</i>
+to trust her, Miss Merriman," he added shortly, as he caught the
+expression of grave doubt which<a class="pagenum" name="page_218" id="page_218" title="218"></a> the nurse could not keep from appearing
+on her countenance. "See that she washes and sterilizes her hands
+thoroughly. That hot water, Rose. I want a basinful."</p>
+
+<p>She supplied it, then departed to do the rest of his bidding, and for
+some moments was kept so busy that she did not realize what the other
+two were doing at the bedside, other than to note that Donald had raised
+the head of the bed by blocking up the legs with firelogs, and covered
+it with a rubber sheet such as she had never seen before.</p>
+
+<p>When she did, however, return to the side of the little sufferer, whose
+face was far whiter than the clean, but coarse, sheet which covered the
+emaciated body, a low cry of protest and grief was wrung from her lips.
+Already most of the lovely ringlets of spun gold, which had won for the
+baby Donald's characterization of "Little Buttercup," gleamed on the
+rough floor, and the ruthless but necessary sacrifice was being
+continued.</p>
+
+<p>There were tears on her cheeks as she aided the doctor to scrub the
+shorn scalp, until the child moaned and turned her head from side to
+side.</p>
+
+<p>"He is my commanding officer. He told me that I must always remember
+that, and obey," whispered Rose to herself, as Donald, in his
+abstraction, began to snap forth his orders in a manner and tone which,
+for a moment, made her shrink and quiver. His words were often
+unintelligible to her, until Miss Merriman, silent-footed and efficient,
+translated<a class="pagenum" name="page_219" id="page_219" title="219"></a> them into action, as, before the wide eyes of the mountain
+child, there began to unfold the swift drama of modern surgical science
+at its pinnacle, amid that fantastic setting.</p>
+
+<p>Strange words, indeed, were those which now fell on her attentive ears,
+many of them far outside the bounds of her limited vocabulary; yet,
+stranger still, she soon began to grasp their meaning intuitively, and
+her quick native perception, keyed high by emergency, led her often to
+anticipate the physician's wish, and act upon it. More than once she won
+a look of surprise from the older woman.</p>
+
+<p>Donald's directions to Miss Merriman were curt and incisive; but soon he
+did not limit his speech to them. Rather he seemed to be uttering his
+thoughts aloud; the old habit of making a running explanation for the
+benefit of a clinic or the better understanding of an assistant was
+subconsciously asserting itself, and it was to Rose as though she were
+listening to the outpouring of a fountain of knowledge, whose waters
+engulfed her mind and made it gasp, yet carried her along with them. It
+was all a dream, a weird, impossible nightmare to her; the familiar room
+began to assume a strange aspect, and the man's words came to her as do
+those heard in a sleeping vision&mdash;real, yet tinctured with unreality.</p>
+
+<p>"In this case the elastic tourniquet will stop the blood flow as
+effectively as the Heidenhain backstitch suture method, I think, Miss
+Merriman, and<a class="pagenum" name="page_220" id="page_220" title="220"></a> it will be much simpler. I'm glad I brought it. Have you
+the saline solution, and the gauze head-covering ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you may administer the ether&mdash;use the drop method, and don't
+forget to show her just how to regulate it.</p>
+
+<p>"No blood-pressure machine," he muttered. "Oh, well, we've just got to
+trust to her being able to stand it, and ..."</p>
+
+<p>"And to God," whispered Rose.</p>
+
+<p>He glanced quickly up, as though he had already forgotten her presence,
+and added, gently, "Of course."</p>
+
+<p>The small pad of gauze, which Miss Merriman laid over the baby's face,
+grew moist; a strange, pungent odor began to fill the room. As she bent
+over to watch intently what the nurse was doing, Rose suddenly found
+herself beginning to get dizzy.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand up, Smiles," came the sharp command. "Here, hold this
+handkerchief over your mouth and nose. Now, take the bottle yourself ...
+so ... a drop on the pad ... now. Yes, that's right, just as Miss
+Merriman has been doing. Little Lou is wholly unconscious, we must keep
+her so.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember, now your test is beginning, and I expect you not to fail me.
+A great deal depends on you, Rose. You are a soldier on the firing-line
+now, and you are going to keep up, whatever happens. It may be for half
+an hour, but you will keep up,<a class="pagenum" name="page_221" id="page_221" title="221"></a> for me, for Lou, whatever happens.
+Remember! <i>Whatever happens!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>He looked fixedly into the unnaturally big eyes which were turned up to
+his like two glorious flowers, and she nodded. With a pang of regret he
+noticed how thin her face was, and how white,&mdash;so pale that the color
+had fled even from the sweet, sensitive lips which smiled ever so
+faintly at him, and then at the nurse, as the latter made the quiet
+suggestion that she try to keep her eyes always fixed on the pad of
+gauze, and not let them be drawn away from it if she could possibly help
+it.</p>
+
+<p>But at first she could not, and so she saw the pitiful little head,
+stripped of its golden crown, first covered with a clinging veil of wet
+cloth, over which, from behind the ears to the top of the forehead, a
+circular band of rubber tubing was adjusted and drawn tight into the
+flesh&mdash;"to stop the blood, like I did for grandpappy when he cut his
+arm," she thought. Then the head was gently raised and settled into
+position on the sand-filled pillow, which cradled it firmly.</p>
+
+<p>Only the gurgling breath of the mercifully unconscious baby, and the
+crackling of the fire, broke the silence as the surgeon adjusted and
+posed his patient's head, as an artist would his model's.</p>
+
+<p>A piercing light flashed before the girl's eyes, and she saw that now
+Miss Merriman held a strange-looking black tube, which shed a circle of
+concentrated sunshine on the gauze-covered head. It was her<a class="pagenum" name="page_222" id="page_222" title="222"></a> first
+experience with a flashlight, and she marvelled at its power.</p>
+
+<p>Now there came another dart of light, thin and fleeting, and she knew
+that a knife was poised in mid-air. Involuntarily she closed her eyes
+tight; a shudder ran through her. Donald's voice spoke impersonally, and
+steadied her.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall expose the third left frontal convolution of the brain through
+the fronto-parietal bone, and, in making the osteoplastic flap, I intend
+to leave a wide working margin above the size of the opening which may
+actually be necessary in order to reach the growth. It has got to be
+fully exposed at once. I can't afford to delay, under the
+circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>The gleam of the scalpel held her unwilling gaze with the fascination of
+horror; she drew her breath with a sound between a shudder and a sigh as
+it descended....</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>must</i> keep my eyes on the ether pad," came the command from her
+whirling brain.</p>
+
+<p>Many nights thereafter, Rose was to start up from troubled sleep with
+strange sounds and stranger words echoing in her brain&mdash;words like
+"bevelled trephines," "Hudson forceps," "elevators," "Horsley's wax,"
+"rongeurs," "clips" and "sponges,"&mdash;but during the actual operation she
+was scarcely conscious of them, and her principal feeling was one of
+dumb rebellion which grew until she found herself almost hating <i>this</i>
+Donald, who could speak with such unconcern and apparent callousness, at
+such<a class="pagenum" name="page_223" id="page_223" title="223"></a> a time. As well as she could, she willed her swimming gaze to
+remain fixed on the pad which she must keep moist. The difficulty of the
+task had suddenly become increased, for the pad seemed to become an
+animate thing. Now it appeared to retreat into the distance, and again
+it came floating back until it seemed about to smother her. There was a
+droning note in her ears; the words spoken by the other two sounded
+mixed and indistinct.</p>
+
+<p>Of only one sentence, repeated monotonously in Miss Merriman's clear
+voice, was she really conscious. "Rose, a drop of ether ... a drop of
+ether ... a drop of ether."</p>
+
+<p>She wanted to speak, to ask them if the room were not frightfully hot;
+but she could not.</p>
+
+<p>Rose had never fainted in her life, but she had once seen a neighbor
+swoon, and she realized vaguely that, as the minutes passed, her
+consciousness was slowly slipping from her. The air was close and heavy
+with strange smells. She felt as though she were swaying like a
+pendulum. The old, familiar objects grew grotesquely large and hazy; the
+deep shadows in the corners multiplied, and began to dance a solemn
+minuet, advancing, retreating; advancing, retreating....</p>
+
+<p>"Another drop of ether."</p>
+
+<p>She took a fresh mental grasp on herself, and held Duty, like a visible
+thing, before her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Again that queer, far-away voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Miss Merriman. Can you see that neoplasm<a class="pagenum" name="page_224" id="page_224" title="224"></a> under the membrane? Ah
+... now the flat dissector ... no, the blunter one ..."</p>
+
+<p>The voice trailed away into nothing, and another recalled her failing
+senses, with the battle cry:</p>
+
+<p>"Rose, another drop of ether."</p>
+
+<p>Then it began again, "Thank heaven, there is no infiltration, the growth
+is well localized and encapsulated. Steady, steady.... Ah, very pretty."</p>
+
+<p>The word caught her flickering thoughts, and angered her. How could any
+one use it about anything so awful?</p>
+
+<p>There was another misty moment. Then, "The operation is, in itself, a
+success, I think.... Now if the child's vitality ... I never did a
+better one ... another sponge ... excellent ... Are the sutures
+ready?... Quick, take the ether bottle, Miss Merriman!"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the girl felt a painful grasp on her arm. Some one was shaking
+her roughly.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," came the same strange voice, "we need some more wood for the
+fire. Go out to the woodpile, and get some."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_225" id="page_225" title="225"></a>
+<a name="VICARIOUS_ATONEMENT_6378" id="VICARIOUS_ATONEMENT_6378"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+<h3>VICARIOUS ATONEMENT</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>In happy ignorance of the fact that the order had been given merely to
+get her outside, Smiles stumbled to the door with blind thankfulness,
+and, as soon as she had closed it behind her, crumpled up in an
+unconscious heap on the snow.</p>
+
+<p>Within doors, the nurse was saying, "I think she's fainted, doctor. I
+heard her fall."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably," was the callous response. "Don't worry about her, the cold
+will bring her around. We've got to get these sutures in. But, say,
+hasn't she been a brick?"</p>
+
+<p>Donald's prophecy was correct. Rose came to her senses a moment later,
+and, trembling and sobbing uncontrolledly, stumbled through the darkness
+to the woodpile, and sat down on it. For a time she was powerless to
+move, but when, at length, she did re-enter the cabin, with an armful of
+wood, although her face was drawn and white, her self-control was fully
+restored.</p>
+
+<p>Already the surgeon and nurse were bathing off the sewn wound with
+antiseptic fluid, and it was not long before the little injured head was
+wrapped in<a class="pagenum" name="page_226" id="page_226" title="226"></a> the swathing bandages which covered it completely, down to
+the deathlike, sunken cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>The period of coming out from under the merciful an&aelig;sthesia ended, the
+drooping flower was restored to its freshly made bed, the evidences of
+what had occurred removed, and then Smiles turned to her beloved friend
+with a pleading, unspoken question in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell you yet, dear. I have ... all of us have done our mortal
+best and now the issues are in higher hands than ours. I hope ... But
+come, tell me, Rose, what made you feel so sure that the trouble <i>was</i> a
+tumor on the brain. Was it merely a guess, based on what I had explained
+to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I ... I just <i>knew</i> it. I reckon that God told me so," was her
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, God was certainly right, then," smiled Donald, glad of any chance
+to relieve the tension. "Do you want to see the growth? See, it is as
+large, nearly, as a walnut. Do you wonder that, with this thing pressing
+more and more into her brain, Lou was robbed of her power to talk and
+act?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl broke down at last and wept hysterically, which caused Donald
+to look as uneasy as any mere man is bound to in such a circumstance;
+but Miss Merriman came to his rescue with comforting arms, and the
+words, "There, there, dear. Cry all you want to now. It's all over, and
+Dr. MacDonald will tell you that if she gets well&mdash;as we believe that
+she will&mdash;little Lou will be as healthy and happy a<a class="pagenum" name="page_227" id="page_227" title="227"></a> baby as she ever
+was in her life. He's taken out that wicked growth, kernel and all, and
+it will never come back again. Will it, doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Almost certainly not. Rose, we couldn't have done without you to-night.
+You have been the brave little soldier that I told you to be; but I'm
+afraid that it has been a terrible strain for you. Of course, it was an
+exceptional operation, rare and dangerous; but it has given you a pretty
+vivid idea of what trained nurses have to go through frequently. Has it
+changed your mind? Do you still think that you want to go ahead and give
+your life to such work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would you ask a real soldier if he wanted to quit, or keep on fighting,
+after he had been in one battle, and seen men killed and wounded? It's
+got to be done, hasn't it, if the poor sick babies and grown-up people
+are to be made strong and well again? And I've just <i>got</i> to help do it,
+Donald."</p>
+
+<p>He gave Miss Merriman a significant look; but his only response was,
+"Well, unless you want another job&mdash;that of bringing back to life people
+who have starved to death&mdash;you had better get us a bite to eat and some
+of your strong coffee. My internal anatomy ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I plumb forgot. You haven't had a thing to eat&mdash;nor poor
+granddaddy, either. I'm so ashamed I could <i>die</i>."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Two hours later, after she had finished making the old man as
+comfortable as possible for the night,<a class="pagenum" name="page_228" id="page_228" title="228"></a> Rose rejoined the other two in
+the main cabin. She came just in time to catch Donald in the act of
+half-heartedly trying to conceal a deep yawn.</p>
+
+<p>As he, in turn, caught sight of her sympathetic smile, he said, "We have
+given our patient a mild sleep inducer; and now, Rose, I want you to go
+up into my loft room right away, and get a long night's sleep yourself.
+You've been under a mighty heavy strain to-day; there are many other
+hard days coming, and we can't have another patient on our hands."</p>
+
+<p>The girl nodded, sleepily; but she had not taken one weary step before a
+different thought struck her, and she turned back to cry, contritely,
+"But you ... and Miss Merriman. There won't be any place for you to
+sleep, or for her either. Oh, what can we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just forget about us, my child. I shan't undress to-night, anyway, and
+can roll myself in my big fur coat and camp out in your little room,
+since Lou must stay out here where it is warmer. And as for Miss
+Merriman ... if I catch her so much as closing her eyes for one minute,
+to-night, I'll wring her neck."</p>
+
+<p>The nurse laughed; but Smiles' lips set, purposefully. "I forgot again.
+Of course some one has got to sit up with little Lou, and I'll do it.
+Why, Donald, poor Miss Merriman has been traveling and working all day
+long, and she's just tired to death&mdash;she must be. Of course she has got
+to get<a class="pagenum" name="page_229" id="page_229" title="229"></a> some rest. You go right up into the loft room, dear ..." and she
+began to push the nurse gently toward the ladder.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," cut in the doctor, sternly, although his eyes held a pleased
+twinkle, "you're apparently forgetting one thing&mdash;that I'm boss here for
+the present, and that my nurses must learn to do as they are told,
+without arguing. I'm sorry for Miss Merriman, too; but she knows just
+what to do if anything happens, and you don't&mdash;yet. Besides, it won't be
+the first time that she has stayed up twenty-four hours at a stretch,
+will it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed&mdash;nor forty-eight," answered the nurse, as she smoothed the
+pillow under the little patient's head. "I shall want you fresh and
+strong to help me with the 'day shift,' Smiles dear. And, as the doctor
+says, orders are orders."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's tired eyes suddenly filled again, this time, with hurt,
+rebellious tears, and a pout, almost like a child's, appeared on her
+lips as she turned and moved slowly toward the ladder in the far corner.
+Donald watched her with sympathetic understanding and the thought, "She
+must think me a brute"; but, before he could speak the word of
+consolation which was on his tongue, she whirled about, just as she had
+when sent to bed on the first night of their acquaintance, and running
+back, threw herself into his arms. As she clung to him passionately,
+sobbing without restraint from weariness and the break in the tension
+which had kept her up for so long, she<a class="pagenum" name="page_230" id="page_230" title="230"></a> whispered, "Oh, I love you so,
+dear Don. You have been so good, so good to me, and I'm so very happy."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," answered the man huskily, as he patted her shoulder, "you
+certainly have a funny way of showing it; but, after all, women are
+queer creatures. I'm happy, too, dear&mdash;happy to be here and to have been
+able to help you. And now," he concluded, lightly, "my happiness will be
+complete if you will just let me see that sunny smile on your face, as
+you obey that order which I have had to give you three times already."</p>
+
+<p>The tired girl, for the moment more child than woman, leaned back in his
+arms and looked up at him with an expression so transcendently appealing
+that it was only by the exercise of all his moral force that he was able
+to restrain the impulse to crush her to him. He saw that the nurse was
+regarding him with a peculiar expression, and as she, in turn, caught
+his eye and turned hastily away with a little added color in her cheeks,
+Donald recovered himself, lightly kissed the forehead so close to his
+lips, and said, "Now for the fourth, and last, time, '<i>go to bed</i>.'
+Good-night, little sister."</p>
+
+<p>This time Rose actually departed, and, after the physician had given
+Miss Merriman a few final directions, and bidden her call him instantly,
+if anything appeared to be going wrong, he said good-night to her also,
+and stepped toward the little room which he was to occupy. On reaching
+it he paused,<a class="pagenum" name="page_231" id="page_231" title="231"></a> for there had come a low, uncertain knock on the cabin
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Lest it be repeated more loudly, and disturb the quiet into which the
+room had finally settled, Donald forestalled the nurse's act, hurried
+softly to the door, and opened it a few inches.</p>
+
+<p>He started. There, leaning dejectedly against one of the pronged cedar
+posts on the tiny stoop, was a spectre figure, ghastly of
+countenance&mdash;Judd's. The doctor read in it the awful anguish of
+uncertainty which had driven the mountaineer, against his will, back to
+the cabin which held for him either hope or blank despair&mdash;and the man
+he hated.</p>
+
+<p>Donald slipped outside, and closed the door softly behind him. He
+touched the inert form on the shoulder, and said in an undertone, "Come
+with me away from the house, Judd."</p>
+
+<p>The other followed him, with dragging feet and sagging shoulders, his
+obedience being like that of a whipped dog. As he reached the rock
+before the gnarled oak, which, in happier days, had been the target for
+Big Jerry's first practice shot with the rifle that was later to play a
+part in the tragedy of Mike's death, Donald stopped and faced the man
+who had sworn himself his mortal enemy. The sight of the rock had
+re-awakened bitter memories; but they perished still-born as his gaze
+turned on the dimly seen figure beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Judd," he began, almost kindly, "you know why I came here this time?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_232" id="page_232" title="232"></a></p>
+
+<p>The other made an indistinct sound of assent.</p>
+
+<p>"I ... I operated on your little sister's brain, to-night. Wait. It was
+absolutely necessary, if she were to have even a single chance for life.
+She was dying, Judd. The operation was a desperate one&mdash;a last resort. I
+can't promise you anything certainly, but she's still alive, and I
+honestly believe that she is going to live&mdash;and get well."</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the listener stood motionless. Then his pent-up emotions
+broke their bounds in one deep, shuddering breath, and he sank down
+beside the boulder, flung his tensed arms across it, and buried his face
+on them.</p>
+
+<p>At last he spoke, hoarsely, and without raising his head. "I done my
+damnedest ter kill ye, an' now yo' ... yo' saves Lou's life fer me. I
+reckon I don't know how ter thank ye, er repay ... but ... my life air
+yourn ter take hit, ef yo' likes."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense," was the sharp response. "And as for thanks, why I don't want
+any. I did it for Smiles' sake."</p>
+
+<p>The kneeling body quivered once; but, when the answer came, it was
+uttered in even tones. "Yes, I reckoned so. Yo' hev the right ter do
+things fer her, an' I ... I haint. She ... she warnt fer me ... never. I
+warnt never worthy uv her."</p>
+
+<p>"She isn't for me, either," said Donald. "And besides, I'm no more
+worthy of her than you, Judd. I should have told you long ago&mdash;I was a
+fool not to have done so&mdash;I'm going to marry<a class="pagenum" name="page_233" id="page_233" title="233"></a> another girl,&mdash;a girl at
+home whom I have known all my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Do Rose know hit?" came the mountaineer's quick, suspicious query.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course she does; she's known it for a year. Judd ..." he seated
+himself beside the younger man. "I want to tell you that I was
+altogether to blame for ... for what happened up there last summer. I
+should have told you then, and ... and I'm sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"No, hit war I who war ter blame."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's both try to forget it, now. You owe me nothing for
+to-night; but you owe Rose a debt of gratitude that you can never hope
+to pay in full, my boy."</p>
+
+<p>"I knows hit. I kaint never pay even part uv hit."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that you can."</p>
+
+<p>"How kin I?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't pretend to be much of a preacher, but I can say this as a man,
+Judd. By trying to live the kind of a life she would have you live. She
+wants to be your friend."</p>
+
+<p>"I haint fit ter be named friend uv her'n, after what I done," he
+replied, dully.</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>we're</i> going to forget all about that, and certainly she won't
+hold it against you, lad. I heard your Mr. Talmadge talking about ...
+about religious things, once, and I think that, if he were here now, he
+would tell you that Smiles and little<a class="pagenum" name="page_234" id="page_234" title="234"></a> Lou, together, have made what ...
+what the Bible calls 'atonement' for what ... for what you did. Smiles'
+love and your baby sister's suffering have brought us together; each has
+had a chance to realize and confess that he was wrong and had been
+wicked; and now the way is clear for us to be ... friends. At least I'm
+willing, if you are, to shake on that."</p>
+
+<p>Judd sprang to his feet, and his lean hand shot out to grasp the one
+which Donald held out to him in the darkness. And their firm clasp was a
+seal to the bond that the quarrel between them was ended for all time.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose will be glad, Judd. I can't let you see Lou to-night; but come
+to-morrow morning ... come early before I leave, and we'll tell them all
+about it, and start things all over again. Good-night, my boy," said
+Donald, heartily.</p>
+
+<p>And there was a new light on the face of each man, as one returned to
+Jerry's cabin, and the other strode, with restored hope, to his own
+abode, which had been once so cheerless.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_235" id="page_235" title="235"></a>
+<a name="TWO_LETTERS_6649" id="TWO_LETTERS_6649"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+<h3>TWO LETTERS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p class='center'>THE FIRST</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'><span class="smcap">Big Jerry's Cabin</span>,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>January 15, 1914.</p>
+
+<p>My dear Dr. MacDonald,</p>
+
+<p>Although this is theoretically only my semi-weekly report, made in
+accordance with your instructions, I feel in the letter-writing mood,
+for a wonder, so I <i>may</i> overstep professional bounds, and become
+loquacious&mdash;if one can do that with pen and ink.</p>
+
+<p>Rose talks about you so continually that I am actually myself beginning
+to regard you as an intimate friend, instead of an austere and somewhat
+awe-inspiring "boss." I should probably not be brave enough to say that
+to your face; but I find that my courage rises in adverse ratio to my
+nearness to you.</p>
+
+<p>First, however, for my report. The little patient is still convalescing
+in a highly satisfactory manner, and with a rapidity which speaks
+volumes both for her own strong constitution and this mountain as a
+health resort.</p>
+
+<p>The wound remains perfectly healthy and is healing without suppuration
+or parting&mdash;which "speaks volumes" for your skill. I am quite certain
+that the scar will be merely a thin white line, and not in the least a
+disfigurement. The silk stitches are ready to be removed and the others
+nearly dissolved.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday that funny, countrified doctor, from down in the village, came
+up to see her&mdash;fame of your operation<a class="pagenum" name="page_236" id="page_236" title="236"></a> having spread. He "reckoned" that
+the child's recovery was nothing less than a miracle, and that he takes
+his hat off to you. I told him that most physicians did.</p>
+
+<p>He also "allowed" that, if I wanted him to take out the stitches, he
+could do it, but I "reckoned" that I could attend to that a little
+better than he. Was that <i>l&egrave;se majest&eacute;</i>?</p>
+
+<p>I did my best to be very humble, and said, "Yes, doctor" constantly, and
+he tried to appear very professional; but I think he stood a little in
+awe of me. You don't know how I enjoyed the feeling.</p>
+
+<p>But, to return to our report. Lou is gaining strength rapidly; I let her
+get up and play about longer each day, and have reduced the bandages to
+the minimum. It was most affecting when they were removed from her eyes.
+I forgot that I was a nurse, and cried with Smiles until the child
+cried, too, without having the slightest idea why. She is such a sweet,
+merry little imp that I do not wonder that you felt more than mere
+professional interest in her case. Every one here loves her.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, I am enchanted with the place and people, and have made up my
+mind to stay on a week or ten days after I call myself off the case, and
+take a vacation which I really owe to myself.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Big Jerry is wonderful&mdash;so pathetically patient under his
+suffering, which is now acute. I am afraid that he cannot last many
+weeks longer, and, more than once, I have had to give him a hypodermic
+to deaden his pain. Somehow he reminds me of a huge forest tree that has
+been struck and shattered by a lightning bolt.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is Judd. Rose says that he has been very, very wicked; but
+that only adds to his fascination in my eyes, and if he should decide
+some day to snatch me up and carry me off bodily to a cave, I don't
+think that I<a class="pagenum" name="page_237" id="page_237" title="237"></a> should struggle or scream <i>very</i> hard. However, I'm afraid
+there is no chance of that, as he apparently doesn't know that I exist.</p>
+
+<p>He puts me in mind of a mountain eagle, with those overhanging brows and
+piercing, coal-black eyes of his; but I must admit that he is
+disappointingly tame when he looks at Smiles&mdash;as he does most of the
+time, to my furious jealousy. Alas, the eagle then becomes a sucking
+dove. <i>She</i> is apparently oblivious to the obvious fact that he is madly
+in love with her. Poor Judd!</p>
+
+<p>Last, but by no means least, there is Smiles herself. I wish that I
+could adequately express my thoughts about her, but I can't. However, I
+no longer wonder how a mountain child like that could have captivated
+you so, as I did when you first described her to me.</p>
+
+<p>She is adorable. For the life of me I can't understand how a girl, bred
+in this wilderness, could have such a fine soul and personality&mdash;not to
+speak of her intellect, which daily startles me more. But, of course,
+she is of cultured stock&mdash;she <i>must</i> be&mdash;and I have always believed that
+the forces of heredity are paramount to those of environment. Do I sound
+like a school-mar'm? Well, that is what I am.</p>
+
+<p>It may surprise you to learn, as much as it does me to realize, that I
+have turned back to schooldays with an enthusiasm which I never felt
+when I was going through them, and that I spend more time as a teacher
+than as a nurse. Smiles simply <i>absorbs</i> education&mdash;I never knew
+anything like it&mdash;and I am as confident as she that her dream of going
+through the "C. H." and becoming a trained nurse, will come to pass. And
+won't she make a wonderful one? Be warned that when she <i>does</i> go north
+I intend to dispute with you the right to regard her as a prot&eacute;g&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>I couldn't love her as I do, already, if she were not so<a class="pagenum" name="page_238" id="page_238" title="238"></a> completely
+human, and it amuses me immensely the way she wheedles the natives and
+keeps them in good humor by using that comical mountain lingo&mdash;although
+she can speak as grammatically as any one, when she wants to. She just
+smiles at one of them, and says, "Now haint thet jest <i>toe</i> sweet of
+ye," and they fall down and worship.</p>
+
+<p>Don't be surprised if you hear me say some day, "Wall, doctor, thet air
+shor' er powerful preety operation, an' I air plumb obleeged ter ye fer
+thet yo' let me holp ye with hit." I'm catching it, too.</p>
+
+<p>I hope that you will forgive the liberties which I have taken in writing
+like this, but I had to do it.</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Sincerely yours,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 6em;'><span class="smcap">Gertrude Merriman</span>.</p>
+
+<p>P.S. You were right in your conjecture. Since you would not accept the
+whole, or any part of Smiles' precious savings&mdash;and your refusal nearly
+broke her heart until I made her understand that physicians never
+charged <i>members of their family</i>&mdash;she wanted me to take it.</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'>THE SECOND</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'><span class="smcap">Webb's Gap</span>,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>Jan. 22, 1914</p>
+
+<p>Dearest Doctor Mac,</p>
+
+<p>My heart is broken. Dear granddaddy died last night. Of course I know
+that it had to be, and that he is so much happier now in the spirit
+body, and with Ma Webb (he talked about her all yesterday, and I really
+think that his soul was speaking with hers); but he was so dear to me
+that I can hardly bear to think that he has gone away.</p>
+
+<p>Wasn't he a splendid man, Don? I am sure that there could not have been
+any better, nobler men, even in the city, and I know that you loved him,
+too.<a class="pagenum" name="page_239" id="page_239" title="239"></a></p>
+
+<p>Before he died he told me all the wonderful things that he had done for
+me, although I did not deserve it&mdash;how he had left me all that money and
+made you my guardian. I am so glad for that.</p>
+
+<p>He was in terrible pain toward the end, and I don't know what I should
+have done without dear Miss Merriman who stayed on purpose to help me. I
+think that God sent her here special. And she has helped me in so many
+other ways too&mdash;especially with my studying. She is sure that I will be
+able to pass that awful examination, although it frightens me. Oh, if I
+<i>can</i>, I can take that hospital training and be a nurse at last, for I
+am rich now. Just think, dear granddaddy left me <i>more than a thousand
+dollars</i>&mdash;and I have my basket money, besides!</p>
+
+<p>And so, dear Donald, the first part of my great dream is really coming
+true. It isn't just the way I dreamed it, for I didn't mean for
+granddaddy to be dead; but I guess things never happen just as we plan.
+When we look forward to something pleasant, which we want very much to
+happen, we never think that there may be unhappiness mixed with
+it&mdash;perhaps it is better that way, for if we did we wouldn't work so
+hard to make it come to pass.</p>
+
+<p>I am afraid that I have not said that very well; but I feel that it is
+so, now. I am going to Boston; I will be near you, and will learn to do
+the work I love; but now I realize that I could never, never have done
+it until granddaddy went away. So that is the shadow on my golden dream.</p>
+
+<p>And last night there came the great sorrow that I have been dreading so
+many months; and yet I know that he is happier, and I have you and Miss
+Merriman, and the work I am going to do, to make me forget&mdash;not him, but
+my sorrow&mdash;and take the pain from my heart.</p>
+
+<p>Little Lou is almost well again, and both she and Judd are going to stay
+with Mrs. Andrews the rest of<a class="pagenum" name="page_240" id="page_240" title="240"></a> the winter. And, oh, Doctor Mac, he has
+promised me never to make white liquor again.</p>
+
+<p>I have saved the best news for the last. <i>Miss Merriman is going to take
+me to Boston with her.</i> She says that her family have taken an apartment
+in the city, and that I may live with them until I get into the
+hospital. This makes me very happy, and I hope that you will be pleased,
+too.</p>
+
+<p>I know that everything is going to be very different there in Boston,
+and that you are so busy that I cannot see you very often, and, besides,
+when I do get into the hospital I must be careful to remember that you
+are a very great doctor and I am only one of many probationers (Miss
+Merriman told me the word). But, although we cannot be chums like we
+have been, you must never forget that I am always</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Your loving foster-sister,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'><span class="smcap">Smiles</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_241" id="page_241" title="241"></a>
+<a name="NEW_SCENES_NEW_FRIENDS_6853" id="NEW_SCENES_NEW_FRIENDS_6853"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+<h3>NEW SCENES, NEW FRIENDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>So another leaf was turned in the Book of Fate, and Smiles' life
+underwent another metamorphosis as complete as the one fifteen years
+previous.</p>
+
+<p>There was a sudden severance of all old ties, save that of memory, an
+abrupt entrance into a new existence, so utterly different from the one
+that she had known that it could scarcely have seemed stranger to her if
+she had actually been translated into another sphere.</p>
+
+<p>Yet that same Fate, which had tried her heart in its crucible fires, and
+found its gold as unalloyed as her smile, now smiled, in turn, and Rose
+was deeply appreciative of that fact. She knew that in Gertrude Merriman
+she had found a friend who was a blessed comforter for her in her days
+of trial; in truth, the nurse was destined to be more than that, a wise
+counsellor as well. Herself a girl of breeding, a college graduate, and
+a product of the same mill through which the mountain child had set her
+heart and fixed her mind upon going, she would be able to smooth many a
+rough spot from that path which Donald had pictured in his allegory,
+draw the thorns from many a bramble.<a class="pagenum" name="page_242" id="page_242" title="242"></a></p>
+
+<p>For the first time Rose parted from the friends whom she had known
+practically all her life, and from the rugged, picturesque mountain
+which had been home to her, and turned her face toward a new life. Like
+a child venturing into the fairyland of dreams, she journeyed with her
+companion through the teeming cities of the East, Miss Merriman so
+arranging it that they should spend a day in each, for&mdash;with wisdom born
+of experience&mdash;she realized that such travel was in itself a broadening
+education, and that, moreover, in the new wonders and new delights which
+each hour held, Smiles' grief would find its best assuagement.</p>
+
+<p>There was another reason in Miss Merriman's mind for making the trip a
+leisurely one. She knew that the girl was as far from being ready to
+step into the new existence, without material readjustment in her
+manners, as she was already mentally removed from the old. To be sure,
+she possessed a natural grace of manner which could not but charm any
+one who met her; but she was almost as free from external conventions as
+one of her own wild birds, except for the few which she had
+unconsciously acquired by her association with the older woman, and with
+Donald; and, in her love for, and pride in, her prot&eacute;g&eacute;, Miss Merriman
+wanted Rose to be able to fit, without embarrassment, into whatever
+company she might find herself.</p>
+
+<p>Hers was a comparatively easy task, for Smiles took to "manners" as
+readily as a chameleon adapts<a class="pagenum" name="page_243" id="page_243" title="243"></a> its exterior to suit the color of its
+surroundings. In the woods she had learned to mimic the note of the
+birds or the chattering of the squirrels; in the hotel dining-room she
+copied the behavior of her companion just as faithfully, and if, on
+occasion, she found herself perplexed as to the proper use of some
+strange implement of eating, she frankly, and without a thought of
+embarrassment, sought information on the subject. People regarded her
+with open amusement, sometimes; but more often their gaze spelt
+admiration, and Rose was happily unconscious of both kinds of glances.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, in obedience to instructions from Donald, contained in a
+special delivery letter which reached her just before they started
+North, and in which he purported to be speaking and acting as the
+child's guardian <i>ipso facto</i>, Miss Merriman fitted her charge out with
+a simple, but complete, wardrobe, to Smiles' never-failing surprise and
+delight that so many pretty things should be all her own.</p>
+
+<p>When the two were ready to leave the metropolis&mdash;whose size, splendor
+and feverish bustle left Smiles mentally gasping&mdash;the nurse sent a
+telegram to Donald, and one raw February evening found him impatiently
+pacing the South Terminal Station, awaiting the arrival of the train
+from New York.</p>
+
+<p>Six months before, the prospect of some day being Smiles' guardian had
+seemed vaguely pleasant. Now it was an immediate fact, and the
+responsibilities engendered, the possible difficulties attendant on<a class="pagenum" name="page_244" id="page_244" title="244"></a> it,
+lay heavily upon his mind. He, too, thanked Heaven for Miss Merriman.</p>
+
+<p>The train gates were opened at last, and Donald hastened down the long
+platform, his eyes searching eagerly for those whom he sought. They fell
+first upon the nurse, just descending the steps, then turned and stayed
+upon the graceful, slender figure which followed her. Was it really
+Rose? Could that young woman, clad in a simple black traveling dress
+and long coat which, even to his masculine perception, appeared modishly
+stylish and amazingly becoming, be the mountain child whom his memory
+clothed in homemade calico? Her face was unwontedly pale beneath the
+small, close-fitting black hat, yet it was so utterly sweet that Donald
+felt his pulses start again with the old strange thrill.</p>
+
+<p>If his mind harbored any idea that she might run into his embrace, it
+was doomed to disappointment, for, with the habiliments of city
+civilization, Smiles had acquired its reserve. Her greeting was a very
+demure and somewhat weary one,&mdash;it both pleased and irritated him,
+somehow. Indeed, she spoke scarcely a word, and it was not until they
+had finished dinner in the quiet, homelike hotel, whither Donald had
+taken them, that her new shyness began to yield to his presence. Then
+the story of the marvels which her eyes had beheld came pouring forth
+with all the old-time childlike eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>When they were nearly ready to leave, Miss Merriman said, with a half
+real, half assumed show of<a class="pagenum" name="page_245" id="page_245" title="245"></a> firmness, "Now, Doctor MacDonald, since I am
+off duty I can speak my mind plainly, and I mean to. I know that you are
+Smiles' guardian; but you can't have her. She's mine, and she's going to
+live with my family until she enters the hospital. So there."</p>
+
+<p>Donald breathed a mental sigh of relief, and responded, laughingly, "And
+I, apparently, haven't anything to say about it! Oh, very well. I've
+lived long enough to learn that there is no use arguing with a woman, so
+I yield gracefully, although I'm afraid that it is establishing a bad
+precedent. If I begin to take orders from you like this, it is going to
+be hard to put you back in your place and to act the r&ocirc;le of stern
+superior myself. I warn you, though, that I mean to get even with you on
+our next case, so prepare yourself to be bullied frightfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what a horrible disposition I really have, little sister," he
+added, smiling at Rose, who informed him that she was not in the least
+frightened, and to prove it, slipped her hand into his for a moment with
+the childlike confidence that he loved.</p>
+
+<p>So it was arranged; a taxicab bore them to the homey little apartment in
+the Fenway, where Smiles was taken to Mrs. Merriman's maternal bosom,
+and, after humbly begging his ward from them for the next afternoon,
+when he meant to introduce her to his family, Donald departed,
+whistling.</p>
+
+<p>Tired, but strangely contented, Rose was at last shown to her dainty
+pink and white bedroom, with its inviting brass bed, beside which she
+knelt for a<a class="pagenum" name="page_246" id="page_246" title="246"></a> long time in thankful prayer. Nor was it strange, perhaps,
+that her pillow was moist with tears of gratitude and happiness before
+she fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Smiles awoke early. The air in the room was very cold, but during her
+trip northward she had learned the mysteries of steam radiators, and she
+sprang up, closed the windows, and turned on the heat with a little
+silent laugh as her thoughts travelled back to the rude cabin on the
+mountain. In memory she saw herself crawl shiveringly from her bed, in
+the cold gray of a Winter daybreak, clad only in a plain nightgown, to
+build a blaze in the big stone fireplace so that the room might be warm
+for Big Jerry when he awoke. The smile faded from her lips, and they
+trembled slightly as she whispered his name. Poor grandpap, he had
+suffered sadly from the cold during those last few months when he could
+not keep the circulation up in his massive body by accustomed exercise.</p>
+
+<p>Below her lay the still sleeping city. Snow covered the untenanted
+portions of the Fens, and hid its ugly nakedness with a soft mantle,
+which seemed to hold a silken sheen, as the first flush of morning
+touched it. How strange all her surroundings appeared. Gone was the far
+sweeping expanse of forest-clad mountain side, stretching off to the
+sunrise; in its place lay a level space closed in by substantial
+buildings of marble, granite and brick&mdash;the Art Museum, Latin School and
+clustered hospitals,&mdash;their walls changing from ghostly gray to growing
+rose and gold.<a class="pagenum" name="page_247" id="page_247" title="247"></a> She drew a comfortable dressing gown&mdash;the gift of her
+new friend&mdash;about her girlish form, and sat down by the window in the
+familiar posture with her chin on her cupped hands. By Miss Merriman's
+description of the view which the window gave upon she recognized the
+creamy brick building of the Children's Hospital, snuggled like a gentle
+sister by the side of the impressive marble walls of its big brother,
+the Harvard Medical School, and, as the light grew and gave definition to
+its outlines, she felt as though it were actually drawing nearer to her.
+In imagination she went to meet it; she entered its doors and took her
+place among those who toiled there with loving hearts and skillful
+hands; and thus Miss Merriman found her, half an hour later, when she,
+similarly clad, came to bid her little guest good morning. With silent
+understanding, which is born of true companionship, she drew the girl
+into her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to let you do a single thing but rest this morning," she
+said at length. "You look pale and tired still&mdash;like a very white
+rose&mdash;and I want you to appear your very sweetest when you go to meet
+Dr. MacDonald's family this afternoon, dear. Come, let's decide what you
+shall wear. The black silk that we bought in New York?"</p>
+
+<p>Smiles hesitated. "I think that ... would it be all right if I wore that
+pretty white woollen one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, if you like, but it is very plain and simple."<a class="pagenum" name="page_248" id="page_248" title="248"></a></p>
+
+<p>"And so am I," laughed Rose a bit unsteadily. "I want them to see me
+just as I am, and ... Oh, how I hope that they will like me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear. They will," answered Miss Merriman, giving her a reassuring
+kiss.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, it was a very quiet and timid Smiles who sat beside Donald
+in his coup&eacute; at four that afternoon, as he drove to the richly sombre
+home on Beacon Street, where had dwelt many generations of Thayers. He,
+too, although he attempted to be jovial, was strangely uneasy.</p>
+
+<p>"You chump!" he said to himself. "You're more disturbed about whether
+this child will make a good impression, than you would be over
+performing a major operation. Supposing that Ethel <i>doesn't</i> go wild
+about her, what of it?"</p>
+
+<p>A trim maid ushered them into the drawing room, where softly shaded
+lights were already burning, for the afternoon was dull and gray, and
+they gave a mellow homelike appearance to the mahogany furniture, rich
+tapestries, oriental rugs and costly paintings. Ethel, Mr. MacDonald,
+Senior, and little Muriel were in the room when Donald entered with the
+girl's slim hand held tightly in his, for she had slipped it there
+impulsively, just as he stepped through the broad doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"This," he said simply, "is Smiles."</p>
+
+<p>They all arose, and Ethel stepped quickly forward with outstretched
+hands. She had told herself that she meant to be very kind to the little
+savage to whom<a class="pagenum" name="page_249" id="page_249" title="249"></a> her brother had taken such an astonishing fancy; but
+now, something in the slender form and the half-frightened expression in
+the pale, sweet face caused her to forget everything else except that
+the stranger was alone and ill at ease. Both her arms went out to Rose
+with a motherly gesture, and, as she drew her within them, she said,
+"Why, my dear child."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she <i>is</i> a child," broke in Muriel, eagerly seizing one of Smiles'
+hands. "I thought that she was a grown-up woman; but see, she wears her
+hair down on her neck just like a school girl."</p>
+
+<p>Let it be said that Miss Merriman had caught the note struck by Rose
+that morning, and had arrayed her to appear as young and simple as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>"A child? Of course she is," echoed Mr. MacDonald in a hearty voice. "My
+dear, Donald has told us so much about you that I feel almost as though
+I had known you all your life. But," he added with little wrinkles
+forming at the corners of his kindly gray eyes, "I would like to have
+seen you, as my son did first, in that one-piece calico dress. He
+described the picture that you made very graphically."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, look, mother. She's going to <i>smile</i>. Remember how pretty Uncle Don
+told us she looked when ..."</p>
+
+<p>Rose's shyly budding smile changed to silvery laughter in which all the
+rest joined, and with it was sealed the bond of an enduring friendship.
+Then baby Don was brought down from the nursery for inspection and,
+before he had been contentedly<a class="pagenum" name="page_250" id="page_250" title="250"></a> curled in the newcomer's arms many
+minutes, he was actually trying to lisp "Mileth," which Ethel proudly
+pronounced to be the first articulate word in his vocabulary, if those
+universal sounds, which doting parents have ever taken to mean Mother
+and Father, be excepted. He liked it so well that he insisted upon
+repeating it over and over, with eyes screwed up tight and mouth opened
+very wide, which gave him so comical an expression that every one
+laughed, including himself.</p>
+
+<p>Manlike, Donald had planned to get all the meetings over with at once,
+and had asked his sister to invite Marion in for afternoon tea and to
+meet his "prot&eacute;g&eacute; and prodigy"&mdash;as Ethel had phrased it in her
+invitation. He had, however, purposely refrained from mentioning the
+fact to Rose, and when Miss Treville entered, stately as a goddess, very
+beautiful and a trifle condescending in manner, as she extended her
+white-gloved hand and said, "So this is little Rose," the girl felt a
+sudden chill succeed the warmth of hospitality which had served to
+banish all her timid reserve, had brought a glow of happy color to her
+cheeks and a sparkle to her luminous eyes, and had made her as wholly
+natural as she would have been at home among her simple neighbors of the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Donald felt the psychological change, and sensed the reason for it; but
+although, in a clumsy manner, he did his best to restore the atmosphere
+of comradeship, he knew that he was failing. Marion also<a class="pagenum" name="page_251" id="page_251" title="251"></a> tried, and
+tried sincerely, to bring Rose into the conversation; but the girl had
+become embarrassed and silent, and to her own surprise the society woman
+vaguely realized that she, too, was embarrassed and not at her best. She
+tried to shake off the feeling with the thought that it was absurd that
+one who had been at ease in the presence of royalty should feel so in
+that of a simple mountain girl; but she could not wholly banish the
+feeling or the impression that the girl's deep, unusual eyes were
+looking down beneath the surface, which she knew was perfectly
+appointed&mdash;had she not, for no reason at all she told herself, taken
+special pains in dressing?&mdash;and that, although there was something of
+awed admiration in her frank gaze, it also held a suggestion of
+something which was not entirely approval. Donald felt it, too, and it
+irritated him; so much so that he was frankly glad when his fianc&eacute;e
+announced that she must depart to attend a social engagement. Perhaps it
+was because he was ashamed of such a feeling that he kissed her with
+unusual warmth, as he handed her into the waiting motor car, and he
+found himself flushing deeply, without reason, when he returned to the
+drawing room and saw Rose standing by one of the windows, looking out at
+the departing limousine with its two liveried attendants.</p>
+
+<p>"She is very beautiful," the girl whispered to him, as he joined her.</p>
+
+<p>There was another guest that afternoon, who came in, unexpectedly&mdash;a
+young man, in appearance<a class="pagenum" name="page_252" id="page_252" title="252"></a> Donald's antithesis, for, although he was of
+more than medium height, he was slender and almost as graceful as a
+woman. Wavy light hair crowned a merry, boyish face which, with its
+remarkably blue eyes, was almost too good looking for a man, although
+saved from a hint of weakness by a firm, well-rounded chin.</p>
+
+<p>"Called at your office and learned that you were loafing on the job
+again, and that I might find you up here, visiting a baby&mdash;for a
+change," he ran on, as he entered after the manner of one who feels
+himself perfectly at home. Then he caught sight of Rose, blushed like a
+girl himself and stammered, "Oh, I beg pardon. I didn't know that I was
+..."</p>
+
+<p>"You're not," laughed Donald, seizing the newcomer's hand with a
+vicelike grasp. "Come in. I've told you about my little mountain rose,
+and now is your chance to meet her, for here she is. Smiles, this is my
+closest friend and associate, Dr. Philip Bentley&mdash;the man who steps into
+my shoes when I am summarily ordered to board the next train for the
+Cumberland Mountains, or elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Who steps into his practice, perhaps, but not into his shoes, Miss
+Rose," added the other. "I could not fill <i>them</i>, figuratively or
+physically."</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, make all the fun of me that you like," answered Donald. "I'm
+not ashamed of having a broad understanding."</p>
+
+<p>"You would not think Dr. Donald's boots large if you could have seen my
+Granddaddy's," interposed<a class="pagenum" name="page_253" id="page_253" title="253"></a> Smiles, pretending to think that reflection
+was being cast upon her idol. "I could get <i>both</i> my feet inside one of
+them&mdash;really I could."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wonder," answered Philip with a return to seriousness. And the
+girl hastily tucked her diminutive shoes underneath her chair, as she
+saw the man's gaze fastened upon them.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly an hour she lived in unaccustomed delight, as she listened to
+the merry badinage of this group of educated city dwellers and, although
+it was something new to her, her quick mind soon realized that Philip
+was a most entertaining conversationalist, with a wit like a rapier
+which flashed and touched, but never hurt, and that Donald, in his
+slower way, possessed a dry humor which she had not suspected. At the
+end of that time a telephone call came for Donald which sent him forth,
+pretending to grumble over the lack of consideration of modern children,
+who insisted upon getting sick at the most inconvenient times, and of
+their parents, who permitted it.</p>
+
+<p>"Your loss, my gain," chuckled Philip. "I'll be only too pleased to take
+Miss Rose home."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I'll not allow such a thing," promptly responded Ethel. "Rose
+stays here for dinner, and <i>you're</i> not invited. This is to be strictly
+a family party."</p>
+
+<p>"'Family?' Is Don going to be a Mormon, then?" challenged Philip.</p>
+
+<p>It was Rose, who&mdash;blushing prettily&mdash;answered,<a class="pagenum" name="page_254" id="page_254" title="254"></a> "I hope not, for he is
+my brother, too, by blood adoption." And she told the story.</p>
+
+<p>"Then why can't <i>I</i> be? I'm ready, nay, anxious, to shed quarts and
+quarts of blood to attain a like relationship," persisted Philip. And
+thus the conversation ran on through dinner, for Ethel relented and
+allowed Dr. Bentley to remain, and, as Donald was again summoned away,
+it was he who, after all, took Rose to the Merriman apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she cried, in telling Gertrude all about it, "I think that it was
+the happiest evening I ever spent, or it <i>would</i> have been if Big Jerry
+might only have been there, too."</p>
+
+<p>A slight suggestion of a smile passed over the face of the older woman
+as she pictured the mountaineer in a Beacon Street drawing room. Rose
+saw, and interpreted it.</p>
+
+<p>"Grandpap would not have been out of place there, or in a king's palace.
+He <i>was</i> a king, Miss Merriman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear, he truly was," the other responded seriously.</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't Dr. Bentley nice," said Smiles, softly. "He must be splendid, for
+Dr. Donald likes him a lot."</p>
+
+<p>"He likes <i>you</i> a lot, too! My, aren't we vain?" smiled Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't think how that was going to sound!"</p>
+
+<p>Rose's distress was real and the other hastened to say, "Yes, Dr.
+Bentley is splendid. We used to<a class="pagenum" name="page_255" id="page_255" title="255"></a> call them 'David and Jonathan,' for
+they were always together, and, before Dr. McDonald become engaged, we
+said that neither would ever marry, since they couldn't marry each
+other. Now I suppose that Dr. Bentley will be looking around for
+consolation. Perhaps...."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly," laughed Smiles. But she became suddenly silent again.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_256" id="page_256" title="256"></a>
+<a name="THE_FIRST_MILESTONE_7233" id="THE_FIRST_MILESTONE_7233"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+<h3>THE FIRST MILESTONE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Three months sped by and were gone like a dream.</p>
+
+<p>Day after day, until should come that longed-for, yet dreaded test, Rose
+studied with a diligence that delighted the private tutor whom Donald,
+through Miss Merriman, had secured for her&mdash;a young woman who found
+herself astonished by her pupil's avidity in seeking knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>The passing days were not, however, wholly dedicated to the books which
+held for Smiles the key to the citadel she sought to possess.</p>
+
+<p>Other doors and other hearts were open to her, and, because of her
+simple charm, Donald's family welcomed her as a visitor whose every
+advent in the city home seemed to bring a fresh breath from the hills
+and open spaces. Little Muriel, who had loved her unseen, worshipped her
+on sight, and Ethel, happy in Donald's betrothal to Marion Treville,
+would have been glad to have had her with them far more often than she
+would consent to come.</p>
+
+<p>Long walks she took, too, regardless of weather, swinging freely along
+on voyages of discovery; losing herself often in Boston's impossible
+streets, only<a class="pagenum" name="page_257" id="page_257" title="257"></a> to find her way back home with the instinct for direction
+of one bred amid forests, trackless, save for infrequent blind and
+tortuous paths. And soon the historic, homey city cast its strange spell
+over her heart, and claimed her for its own.</p>
+
+<p>Spring came at last, not the verdant, glorious, festal virgin of the
+Southland, but the hesitant, bashfully reserved maiden so typical of New
+England, and Miss Merriman finally reported to Donald that their joint
+prot&eacute;g&eacute; seemed to be fairly prepared for the test which she had come so
+far to take.</p>
+
+<p>There are no rules, born of reason, which cannot yield to reasonable
+exceptions, and, although the entrance requirements of the training
+school were as exacting as its course, and as strict as its standard, a
+standard which had long since made it the peer of any in all America,
+some of the purely technical ones were waived upon the request of the
+idolized chief junior surgeon on the staff, for Donald went personally
+to the Superintendent and explained the case to her, and she agreed to
+allow Rose to take a special examination; but she shook her head when he
+mentioned the girl's age.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you know what the requirements are in that respect, doctor,"
+she said. "We make exceptions, yes; but, if she enters now, she will be
+by far the youngest girl in the school. I think that, before I give you
+my decision, I shall have to see and talk with her."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, that afternoon he took the rather<a class="pagenum" name="page_258" id="page_258" title="258"></a> frightened Smiles to the
+Superintendent of nurses, and left them closeted together.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. MacDonald has told me about you, and your ambition, Miss Webb,"
+said the Superintendent kindly. "You have been very courageous; but you
+are very young, even younger than I thought. Now I want you to tell me
+frankly just what your life has been, so that I may judge as to your
+other qualifications, before deciding whether it is wise for you to take
+the examinations."</p>
+
+<p>Rose began hesitatingly; but, as the other drew her out with judicious
+questions, she told her story with simple directness, and, before long,
+the Superintendent had come to a realization that the little mountain
+girl&mdash;whose life had, for so long, been one of unusual
+responsibilities&mdash;had already acquired an uncommon maturity of judgment.
+Although she was still some eighteen months below the prescribed age for
+entering, she received the other's hesitating permission to make the
+essay.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult to decide who felt the greater nervousness during
+the period of Smiles' written examination, and the time which had to
+elapse before word came as to the result&mdash;Rose, Miss Merriman or Donald.
+It was the last who heard first. The Superintendent invited him into her
+office, as he was passing through the hospital corridor one day, and
+said, "I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that Miss Webb has
+passed her tests with flying colors, doctor."<a class="pagenum" name="page_259" id="page_259" title="259"></a></p>
+
+<p>A warmth of pleasurable relief passed through Donald; but he managed to
+reply formally, "I <i>am</i> pleased; but I hope that you didn't ease up any
+because of anything ... er ... on my account."</p>
+
+<p>"No, we didn't," was the response. "I'll admit that both your account of
+what Miss Webb had done, and the girl herself, appealed to me so that I
+was prepared to mark a bit leniently, if necessary; but it wasn't. I
+really don't see how she managed to garner so much education in so short
+a time."</p>
+
+<p>"'Where there's a will,'" quoted Donald, with inward satisfaction over
+the fact that his ward had fulfilled his prophecy, and he stole a few
+minutes out of the busy morning to motor to the Merrimans' apartment to
+bear the joy-bringing tidings personally to little Rose, whose eyes
+shone happily and whose lips smiled their thanks, but who&mdash;perversely,
+it seemed to him&mdash;gave Miss Merriman the reward which he felt should
+have been his.</p>
+
+<p>Dreams do come true sometimes, if they <i>are</i> true, and so at last
+arrived a bright May morning when Smiles folded away her little play
+uniform forever, and&mdash;by right of conquest&mdash;donned the striped pink and
+white gingham dress and bibless apron of a probationer, within the doors
+of the newly built home of that old and worthy institution which had had
+its inception, more than sixty years before, in the loving heart of
+Nursing Sister Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>There Rose entered into a new life, as different from that of the old
+physical freedom of the hills,<a class="pagenum" name="page_260" id="page_260" title="260"></a> and personal freedom from restraint, as
+could well be imagined, for, as Donald had told her, she was now
+mustered, as an untrained recruit, into a great modern army; and
+discipline is the keynote in war, whether the battle be against evil
+nations or evil forces.</p>
+
+<p>From half after six in the morning until ten at night, when with
+military precision came "lights out," her life was drawn to pattern. It
+was not a hardship for her, as with some others, to arise at the early
+hour; and the brief prayer and singing of the morning hymn, in company
+with her fifty-odd sister-probationers and pupil nurses, impressed her
+strongly the first time in which she had part in it, and never failed to
+strengthen and uplift her for the day's toil. Times were to come
+aplenty, to be sure, when the old call of untrammelled freedom stirred
+her senses to mute rebellion; but, as often, her all-absorbed interest
+in the work silenced it speedily.</p>
+
+<p>Right at the outset Rose experienced the same shock which hundreds of
+other would-be nurses have had. She, mistress of a home for years, was
+obliged to learn to clean, to scrub, to make a bed! For two whole months
+of probationary training she had to labor at the bedside or in the
+classroom, doing the commonplace, practical tasks which, to many, seemed
+merely unnecessary drudgery; but, if she occasionally felt that Donald's
+prophecy was coming true with a vengeance, more often her level little
+head held a prescient understanding of how important<a class="pagenum" name="page_261" id="page_261" title="261"></a> this unlovely
+foundation was to the structure which should some day be built upon it.</p>
+
+<p>And, although the Superintendent said nothing to Smiles, she noted with
+secret appreciation that her new pupil possessed, in addition to her
+sustaining enthusiasm, a no less valuable thing&mdash;the innate ability to
+use her hands by instinct and without clumsy conscious effort. Had not
+this girl, who was scarcely more than a child in years, for a long time
+been both a homemaker and an ever-ready nurse to all those who became
+ill within the confines of the scattered mountain settlement?</p>
+
+<p>The second milestone was reached at last. Rose was one day summoned
+alone into the Superintendent's sanctum, and the door was closed to all
+others. A little later she came out with tears adding new lustre to her
+shining eyes, for the talk had been very earnest and heart-searching;
+but they were tears of happiness, for upon her gleaming curls now sat
+the square piqu&eacute; cap which was the visible sign that she had safely
+traversed the first stretch of the long, hard road. To be sure, she knew
+well that even this, the so dearly desired cap and pale blue dress which
+went with it, did not make her fully a pupil nurse, yet that afternoon
+it seemed that life could never hold for her an honor more precious.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon on which this momentous event occurred was one of liberty
+for Rose, and she hastened with the news to her dear Miss Merriman, the
+precious cap smuggled out under her coat; but, after they had<a class="pagenum" name="page_262" id="page_262" title="262"></a> rejoiced
+together, and she had admired its reflection in the glass, she suddenly
+became doleful, and wailed in mock despair, "Oh, doesn't it seem as
+though I'd never, <i>never</i> be a real nurse. Why, now I've got to <i>leave
+the hospital</i>"&mdash;the tragedy in her tone almost caused her friend to
+break into laughter&mdash;"and study all sorts of awful Latin things. She
+opened a catalogue and read aloud, 'Physiology, bacteriology,
+chemistry, dietetics,' and goodness knows what else over at Simmons
+College, for <i>four whole months</i>. I shall simply die, I just know that I
+shall!"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Merriman gently explained the necessity for each of them; but
+wisely refrained from further frightening her by adding that a full
+year's course was to be crowded into those sixteen weeks.</p>
+
+<p>In due time these, too, were over, the awe-inspiring examination passed,
+and Smiles was accepted as worthy of a place among the pupil nurses.
+Like an athlete she had finished her preliminary training, and was ready
+for the long, gruelling race toward the goal, two and a half years
+distant.</p>
+
+<p>Hard work though it was, Rose found all her days sunny ones, and only
+one cloud partly obscured their brightness. Donald she saw on rare
+occasions only, as the demands upon his time doubled and redoubled, and
+of course their brief meetings at the hospital demanded strict formality
+of intercourse. Deeply as he felt for her, he was a physician first,
+last and all the time, and as uncompromising in his own ethics as he was
+in his requirements of the nurses.<a class="pagenum" name="page_263" id="page_263" title="263"></a></p>
+
+<p>Yet, if she saw him seldom, there was another whom she saw increasingly
+often. Dr. Bentley's attitude towards Rose was also strictly
+professional; but he never failed to bow and speak pleasantly when he
+met her in the corridors or wards, and she instinctively felt that in
+him she had found another real friend.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was too much a child of nature to be given to thinking much about
+men; but there were minutes, just before sleep came at night, when her
+mind would visualize Donald's strong, kindly face, which seemed to look
+down at her with an expression almost fatherly, and she would whisper a
+little prayer that she might help him as she had resolved to, that night
+on the mountain top. And at such times another face, light, where his
+was dark, came, not to supplant, but to supplement it.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_264" id="page_264" title="264"></a>
+<a name="THE_CALL_OF_THE_RED_CROSS_7434" id="THE_CALL_OF_THE_RED_CROSS_7434"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+<h3>THE CALL OF THE RED CROSS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Despite the enthralling interest of her new work and surroundings, it
+seemed to Rose, during the year after she gained entrance to the temple
+of her desire, that her life was standing still, while all things else
+were speeding by her at a breakneck pace.</p>
+
+<p>It had never been so before. Even in the isolation and simplicity of her
+former home she had felt that she was a part of it all. It had seemed to
+her, somehow, as though her existence had been patterned after her own
+turbulent mountain stream, which danced along through sunshine and
+shade, with here and there a ravine and cataract, here and there a rapid
+or impeding boulder in its course; but always moving, moving. Then,
+suddenly, it was as though that swift little river had fallen into a
+broad, quiet basin, walled in, where it moved forward almost
+imperceptibly. True, it was daily gaining greater depth and fulness as
+it gathered to itself the tributary waters of knowledge and experience,
+and Smiles was not insensible to this fact. But it was difficult to
+remember it always, for the outer world of events was moving forward so
+fast.<a class="pagenum" name="page_265" id="page_265" title="265"></a></p>
+
+<p>The very day upon which her probationary period came to an end and, with
+a smile on her lips, a song in her heart, she placed the cherished cap
+upon her gold-brown curls, there came, from the heart of the swiftly
+piled up, lowering clouds, the blinding flash which shattered the peace
+of the world and started the overwhelming conflagration into the
+seething, bloody-tongued vortex into which nation after nation was
+sucked irresistibly. The world had become the plaything of the Gods of
+Wrath.</p>
+
+<p>Black days passed, shuddering things of horror to Rose, when she had
+time to allow her mind to dwell upon them, and her keen imagination to
+picture the atrocities which the fiend was committing upon the helpless
+babies of Belgium and France.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in answer to the cries and lamentations from overseas, the banner
+of the Red Cross was shaken forth anew, like a holy standard, and, like
+crusaders of old, doctors and nurses flocked beneath it for the battle.
+From her own hospital home went physicians and graduate nurses to
+dedicate themselves afresh to service. The call reached and wrung the
+heart of Rose. She could not go as a nurse, she knew; yet the need was
+so great that it seemed to her that somehow she must answer; but she
+resolutely closed her ears to it and fixed her eyes the more steadfastly
+upon the rocky, shut-in path which she had set forth to climb.</p>
+
+<p>It was a raw, bleak evening in late November when she made her final
+resolve. At noon Donald<a class="pagenum" name="page_266" id="page_266" title="266"></a> had met her in one of the corridors and stopped
+to speak with her. His face, she thought afterwards, had appeared
+unusually serious and determined, even for him, as he said, "This is
+your afternoon and evening off duty, isn't it, Rose? I want to talk with
+you, if you haven't made any other plans."</p>
+
+<p>As it chanced, she had been eagerly anticipating a visit to the theatre
+with Miss Merriman, who was home for a few days between cases; but
+something about his manner caused her to tell a white lie without
+hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Good," he said. "I'll call for you in my car and take you to Ethel's
+for dinner. Be ready at six o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>All the rest of the day Donald's presence had been strangely close to
+her, and she found herself wondering what it portended; but not until
+the pleasant family meal was over, and he was taking her home, did she
+learn.</p>
+
+<p>When they came out of the house they found a baby blizzard sending the
+first snow of the season, as light and dry as tiny particles of down,
+whirling and eddying through the broad street. As Rose stood in surprise
+at the top of the brownstone steps, a dry vagrant, left from one of the
+trees which was tossing its gaunt arms protestingly, came tumbling down
+to become stem-entangled in her hair. With a laugh, she dashed for the
+motor car and, when she had sprung inside it, she was panting a little,
+for the thieving wind had taken advantage of her lips<a class="pagenum" name="page_267" id="page_267" title="267"></a> being open in
+laughter to steal away her breath, so that Donald was sensible of her
+quickened heart beats as she leaned against him while his big but deft
+fingers removed the leaf almost tenderly from its imprisoning mesh.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Bentley would make a pretty speech about getting caught in my
+hair," challenged Rose with a teasing pout.</p>
+
+<p>The next instant she drew quickly back, for Donald's arms were almost
+about her. He as quickly recovered himself, with the words, "But you
+can't expect pretty speeches from a brother."</p>
+
+<p>"You have been a dear big brother; I don't know why you have been so
+good to me, Donald. Do you know what this snow reminds me of? That awful
+night on the mountain when I went down to Fayville to telegraph for
+you&mdash;and you came." For a moment they both sat in silent memories, then
+Rose added, "Dear little Lou, I wonder how she is getting along now ...
+and Juddy, too. Isn't it a strange thing, Donald, that one can forget
+the old things so quickly&mdash;no, not forget, either; but have them forced
+into the background of the mind by new surroundings and new friends.
+Sometimes, all those years on the mountain seem to me like a dream. I
+used to see the people there, Grandpap, Mr. Talmadge, Judd and all the
+rest, every day, they were a part of my life, and now they have been
+completely withdrawn and who knows if I shall ever see any of them
+again? They hardly seem real to me."<a class="pagenum" name="page_268" id="page_268" title="268"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, strange, perhaps, but it happens many times in the course of a
+life." He paused, then added hurriedly, "I suppose that in a few months
+you will be saying the same thing about me&mdash;'I used to see him every
+day, he was a part of my life, but now he is only in the background of
+my memory, and doesn't seem real.'"</p>
+
+<p>There was a note almost of bitterness in Donald's voice; but Rose was
+too stunned by his words to notice or attempt to analyze the manner of
+their utterance.</p>
+
+<p>"Donald, what ... what do you mean? You're not ..." She gasped, and laid
+her hand with an impulsive clutch on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out! Don't interfere with the motorman," he laughed more
+naturally, as the car swerved almost into the curbing. "Yes, I am. I'm
+going away ... almost immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Away? Where?"</p>
+
+<p>"To France."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Don, you mustn't; you can't. You're needed here so much."</p>
+
+<p>"They need me over there more, little Smiles. I've realized it, and felt
+the pull, for days; but it didn't become insistent until yesterday, when
+I received a letter from a chap whom I have known for years. He's always
+had a good deal more money than was good for him, and been a sort of
+social butterfly. I liked him, although I didn't believe that he had a
+serious thought in his head, didn't<a class="pagenum" name="page_269" id="page_269" title="269"></a> think that he was capable of one,
+but ... here, read what he has written me," he concluded abruptly, as a
+temporary block forced their car to a stop beneath an electric light on
+Massachusetts Avenue. "The first page doesn't matter; it merely contains
+a description of how he happened to be caught in Paris by the outbreak
+of the war, and got mixed up in volunteer rescue work through a spirit
+of adventure."</p>
+
+<p>Rose turned to the second sheet and, holding the pages close to the
+glass in the door, through which came enough snow-filtered light to
+illumine them, read.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I am beginning to understand, now, something of what you meant
+when you used to talk so enthusiastically about your confining,
+and, as it seemed to me, often thankless work. I never knew what
+real satisfaction was until I began to get mixed up with this
+volunteer Red Cross work. Coming from the source that it does, you
+will probably be surprised and amused at the statement that, when I
+look back on the old, superficial, utterly useless life that I
+formerly led, I actually thank God for the foolish whim that
+brought me to Paris in the fall, and the equally whimsical decision
+that led me to volunteer my services as an auto driver. The work
+has stirred something inside of me that I didn't know existed, and,
+if I come through this scrape (we're working in villages pretty
+close to the front a good deal of the time), I'll come home
+'poorer, but wiser.' Yes, they've touched my pocketbook as well as
+my heart.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose the papers give you some idea of conditions here; but no
+verbal description can begin to do it justice; the need is simply
+overwhelming and hourly growing<a class="pagenum" name="page_270" id="page_270" title="270"></a> greater. Think of it, old man,
+there are thousands upon thousands of babies and little kiddies of
+Belgium and northern France homeless, many of them orphaned, most
+of them sick and all helpless and with their lives&mdash;which have
+every right to be carefree and happy&mdash;filled with sorrow and
+suffering.</p>
+
+<p>France has been glorious in the way she has met the staggering,
+almost insuperable difficulties which everywhere confront her, but
+how could she be expected to meet this incidental problem when she
+was so overburdened with the crushing pressure of the battle for
+her very existence. It has been a mighty lucky thing for her that
+the Red Cross was ready to take it off her shoulders, and she has
+turned to <i>us</i> (How does that sound? Can you imagine me doing
+anything useful?) with tears of appeal and gratitude. That isn't a
+figure of speech. I have actually seen the Prefect of this
+Province, who would rank with the governor of one of our states,
+and who is a brave, capable man, cry like a woman over the seeming
+hopelessness of the ghastly problem. I have heard him say that
+he&mdash;that France&mdash;was helpless, and beg us in the name of common
+humanity to do what we could.</p>
+
+<p>Believe me, we're doing it, and I'm proud of my countrymen and
+women who have gone into this thing with the typical Yankee pep;
+proud of the American Red Cross and just a bit proud of myself. You
+used to make fun of my vaunted ability to stay up half the night,
+and be fresh as a daisy the next morning. It's serving me in good
+stead now. I can't begin to tell you about the work we have done
+already and are doing; it is a task to overwhelm the courage, but
+we are 'carrying on,' as the Tommies say.</p>
+
+<p>New children, by the scores and hundreds, are brought into the
+hospital bases daily, and many of them have been living for weeks,
+and even months, filthy in cellars<a class="pagenum" name="page_271" id="page_271" title="271"></a> of Hun-shattered villages which
+are almost continually under fire. They are generally sick,
+naturally, indescribably dirty and, in fact, mere wraiths of
+childhood. God, Don, it gets me when I imagine my own nephews and
+nieces in their places!</p>
+
+<p>We clean 'em up, give them help and something to live for. We have
+already established hospitals, schools and nurseries in &mdash;&mdash; and &mdash;&mdash;
+and our ambulances and 'traveling baths' go out daily to give aid
+to the less needy in the neighborhood. Can you picture <i>me</i> acting
+as chauffeur for a magnified bath tub for Belgian babies? That's
+what I'm doing, now!</p>
+
+<p>Get into the game, old man. We need you over here, and the kids of
+the disgustingly rich at home will be the better for not having a
+doctor to give them a pill every time their little noses run a bit.
+Pack up your saws, axes and other trouble-makers in your old kit
+bag and climb aboard a ship bound for France." </p></div>
+
+<p>Donald saw that there were tears in Smiles' deep eyes as she silently
+folded the pages, and replaced them in their envelope.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you ought to go," she said simply. "I spoke selfishly. But
+oh, Don, I don't know what I shall do without you; you're the only
+'family' I've got. I don't see you very often; but I know that you are
+here in Boston, and I guess that I have got the habit of leaning on you
+in my thoughts. You know I called you a tree, years and years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I remember, an 'oak,' wasn't it? I thought that you meant that I
+was tough," he laughed. "The idea of <i>you</i> leaning on any one is funny,
+Rose." Then he added, with some hesitancy, "I've been<a class="pagenum" name="page_272" id="page_272" title="272"></a> thinking ...
+Would you like to go over there, too, Rose? I could take you ... that
+is, I am quite sure that I could arrange for you to do so, not as a Red
+Cross nurse, of course, for they have to be graduates; but as a
+volunteer helper in one of those base hospitals. It would be a wonderful
+experience, and you would be performing the kind of service that you
+like best. It would not be time wasted, by any means."</p>
+
+<p>She started, and her lips parted eagerly; then the light slowly faded
+from her eyes and she shook her head slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"I would love it. It would be glorious, Don, and I should be working
+with you, perhaps, but ... No, I must keep on doing as I have planned. I
+can't falter or fail now, Don. There is going to be greater need every
+day, not for helpers, but for trained workers. When this awful war is
+ended and the weary, weary world turns back to peaceful pursuits, its
+hope and salvation will lie in its babies. Won't it, Don? I would like
+to help those babies over in France; sometimes I dream of being a Red
+Cross nurse and helping the poor, wounded soldiers; but I am sure that
+it is better for me to keep on making myself ready to serve the coming
+generations to the best of my fully trained ability. Don't you think so,
+too, Don?"</p>
+
+<p>Her words had rung firm and true until the last question, when there
+crept in a note which seemed to his ears to carry an appeal for him to
+disagree,<a class="pagenum" name="page_273" id="page_273" title="273"></a> and argue with her; but the man answered, "Yes, dear. You are
+dead right, and I felt certain that you would say what you have said.
+You have got to stay until you are trained; I have got to go, because I
+am. You see that, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Oh, I shall miss you awfully, Don; I can't tell you how much. But
+I want you to go. And I mean to pray for you, and the poor little babies
+over there, too. I'll write you as often as I can; as often as you want
+me to."</p>
+
+<p>"That's fine," he answered heartily. "But, as I told you once before,
+don't feel hurt if I answer only occasionally. I have a suspicion that
+there will be plenty of work for me to do over there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll understand. Besides, you will have to write to ... to Miss
+Treville more than to me. Are you ... are you going to get married
+before you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Married? Good Lord, no ... that is, I hadn't even thought of it," he
+said with a forced laugh. "Why, I haven't even told her yet that I am
+going."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't? You told me, first?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well ... er ... you see I had to tell you, because ... because I ... I
+hold a position of trust in respect to you, and have got to make
+arrangements for your future. Big Jerry told me to use my own judgment
+about your money, and I believe that you are fully competent to take
+care both of yourself and of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," he drew a small package from his side<a class="pagenum" name="page_274" id="page_274" title="274"></a> pocket, "is a bank
+deposit and check book, for I have already had the account transferred
+from my name, as trustee, to you individually. Now it is up to you to
+prove that you are a careful little business woman. With more than a
+thousand dollars in the bank you may feel quite like an heiress, but I
+warn you that a big city is a glutton and its avaricious maw is always
+open for money. Be warned by one who knows. If you need any advice of
+any nature that a man can give better than Miss Merriman, I want you to
+promise to call on Phil ... Dr. Bentley, that is, for I mean to put you
+in his charge. You can trust him just as you do me."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that," answered Rose frankly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here we are, little sister. Don't tell any one what I have just
+told you, for I want to make all my preliminary arrangements before I
+astound the world with the announcement of what I am going to do."</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't laugh," answered Rose. "I guess that it will dismay plenty
+of Back Bay families who have babies."</p>
+
+<p>There was a catch in her voice as she bade him good-night, and she was
+not sorry for an excuse for running into the hospital, offered by the
+mellow notes of a distant church clock tolling the hour of ten. It was
+the signal for "lights out" in the bedrooms, and this was appreciated,
+too, for it made it possible for her to undress in the dark, and the
+pale moonlight which came in through the window, as the moon<a class="pagenum" name="page_275" id="page_275" title="275"></a> played
+hide and seek behind the broken masses of storm clouds&mdash;for the blizzard
+had ended as quickly as it had come on&mdash;was reflected on two glistening
+tear drops on her flushed cheeks. In the darkness her roommate could not
+see them and be led to ask questions.</p>
+
+<p>The two girls, one the self-educated, unknown child of the southern
+mountain side, the other the college-bred daughter of one of New
+England's oldest families, had become fast friends and generally
+exchanged whispered confidences until the sleep which comes of physical
+exhaustion speedily claimed them; but to-night Rose was in no mood for
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The last thread which bound the old life to the new was soon to be
+broken, and she felt lonelier, more nearly homesick, than she had since
+leaving Webb's Gap.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I shall never see him again," she half whispered. "But I shall
+never, <i>never</i> forget him, he has been so good and meant so much to me.
+And I shall always love him." She saw that her roommate was asleep,
+softly raised the window-shade to let in the moonlight that she loved,
+and, clad in her simple nightdress, short sleeved and cut low at the
+neck, seated herself before the mirror to brush her wavy mass of hair,
+and, as she leaned forward, and it fell about her face, tear bedewed and
+made almost childlike again by its frame of tumbling curls, she smiled
+faintly in recollection. "I look the way I used to in my homemade,
+one-piece dresses," she<a class="pagenum" name="page_276" id="page_276" title="276"></a> breathed. "Just as I did that afternoon when he
+first saw me. 'Yo' looked so funny a-fallin' over thet thar dawg, an'
+a-rollin' on the floor.' What a way to greet a famous physician&mdash;only I
+didn't know it then."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment she sat like this, her thoughts far away from the northern
+city; then a faint blush mantled her face, and she hastily jumped up and
+shut out the soft light by pulling down the shade.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_277" id="page_277" title="277"></a>
+<a name="THE_GOAL_7776" id="THE_GOAL_7776"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+<h3>THE GOAL</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p style='margin-left:4em;'>
+You cannot, by a bridge of sighs, attain the future's golden years,<br />
+But try a bridge of rainbow hopes erected on substantial piers<br />
+Of honest work, and you will find it leads you surely to the goal.<br />
+'Tis God that gives the dreamer's dreams, as radiant as the morning,<br />
+But, if the will to work is weak, they often die a-borning.
+</p>
+
+<p>If this were a romance, instead of the simple account of the pilgrimage
+and development of a girl from childhood to womanhood, it would be
+permissible to say, "three years pass by in swift flight," or "drag by
+on weary feet," as the case may have been, and then resume the action.</p>
+
+<p>But in everyday life, character is built out of everyday incidents, big
+and little, all of which have place in the moulding of it, and, since
+the years of Smiles' training within the Children's Hospital were vital
+ones for her, it is essential to touch briefly upon some of the
+occurrences which filled them.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, it is by no means necessary to describe that period
+at length. It is doubtful if, in later life, she will herself look back
+upon the many<a class="pagenum" name="page_278" id="page_278" title="278"></a> days so filled to repletion with exacting, though
+interesting, tasks, as other than a dead level, for constant repetition
+of a thing, no matter how gripping it may be, produces a monotony. But
+there were special incidents&mdash;sometimes trivial in comparison with the
+importance of her sustained labor&mdash;which formed the high lights in the
+picture, and the memory of which will endure through all the after
+years. By recounting a few of these, and letting our imaginations fill
+in the interims, we can accompany Rose on her journey to the goal of her
+desires.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The day after Donald had taken her into his confidence regarding his
+plans, Rose made up her mind to keep a diary.</p>
+
+<p>"Even though he may be thousands of miles away, I mean to keep myself as
+close to him as possible by writing him as I would talk to him, about
+<i>all</i> the things which happen in my life, and, unless I set them down as
+they happen, I shall forget," she told Miss Merriman, after the seal of
+secrecy had been removed from her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps <i>you</i> can succeed in keeping one. <i>I</i> never could," laughed her
+friend. "Each January First I start a new one, and register a solemn vow
+to keep it up longer, at least, than I did the one the previous year. If
+I follow that system until I am three hundred and fifty years old, I
+will complete just one before I die."<a class="pagenum" name="page_279" id="page_279" title="279"></a></p>
+
+<p>Smiles accepted the implied challenge, and, day by day, with few
+omissions, the dated pages bore new testimony to her application in
+performing a self-appointed task. The plan bore fruit, too, for Donald,
+in his rare replies to her confidential letters, which went to him each
+fortnight, was able to praise her as the best of correspondents, writing
+once, "You have an exceptional gift for making incidents seem real and
+people alive, in your letters, and of realizing that, with us who are so
+far away from home, it <i>is</i> the little things which count. Ethel, alas,
+is hopeless in this respect. She writes me faithfully; but invariably
+says that nothing has happened except the usual occurrences of everyday
+life, and thereby utterly misses the great fact that it is just those
+very things that the lonely exile most longs to hear about. I would
+actually rather have her write that they had baked beans on Saturday
+night than that so-and-so had given a charity whist at the Vendome."</p>
+
+<p>Yet many a sentence went into the diary that was never copied or
+embellished for Donald's eyes. Some of them had to do with him, or her
+thoughts of him; some were too intimate for another to see.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class='right'>December 6th, 1915.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Donald has gone. I think that I have not felt so utterly
+lonesome since granddaddy died. And I could not get away to say
+good-by to him&mdash;I could have cried, only I didn't have time even to
+do <i>that</i>. It doesn't seem right, when he has been so dear to me,
+that I should have had to part from him in the hospital corridor<a class="pagenum" name="page_280" id="page_280" title="280"></a>
+with others around, so that all I could do was press his hand an
+instant and wish him a commonplace, 'Good luck and God-speed.'
+Still, it probably wouldn't have been any different if we had been
+alone. I couldn't have done what my heart was longing to do,
+everything is different now. I don't believe that I enjoy being
+'grown-up.' What an unpleasant thing 'convention' is. Why, I
+wonder, must we always hide our true feelings under a mask? I
+suppose it is lest the world give a wrong meaning to them; but if I
+<i>had</i> kissed him, the way I used to, I'm sure that Donald would
+have understood. He knows that I love him as dearly as though I
+were truly his sister, instead of a make-believe one." </p></div>
+
+<p>Here the page bears a number of meaningless hieroglyphics, and then the
+words, stricken out, "I wonder."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"He looked so manly in his uniform, and so distinguished, although
+I suppose that he isn't really <i>handsome</i>&mdash;at least, not like Dr.
+Bentley. <i>He</i> isn't so wonderful as Don; but I think that he is
+more understanding. He seemed to realize just how I felt this
+morning, and he was as sweet and considerate as a woman when I
+bungled things awfully in the operating room. The head nurse gave
+me a deserved call down, however, and it was perhaps just as well
+that she did, for my mind needed to be 'brought back.' Only my body
+was in the hospital, and the <i>real me</i>, as Mr. Talmadge said, was
+back in the cabin, helping Donald operate on Lou, all over again. I
+cried like a little fool&mdash;the first time I have done it here&mdash;but
+my tears weren't for the poor baby on the operating table. They
+were memory tears....</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little thing, he had to die, and he was the first one whom I
+have seen pass on to the eternal garden of<a class="pagenum" name="page_281" id="page_281" title="281"></a> God's flowers since I
+have been in the hospital. Oh, it hasn't been a happy day at
+all....</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if Donald could have saved him? My brain answers, 'No.'
+Dr. Bentley did all that lies within the power of science, I am
+sure. But somehow ..." </p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p class='right'>Christmas night.</p>
+
+<p>"If Donald might only have been here in person to-day, it would have been
+perfect. I think that he must have been, in spirit, for I 'felt' his
+presence quite near me several times; I confided as much to Dr. Bentley
+and he made an atrocious pun on the word 'presents.' I wish he wouldn't;
+it is the only thing about him that I don't like, but he will make them.
+Wasn't Donald thoughtful and dear to have bought a Christmas gift for me
+during those overcrowded days before he went away?&mdash;a whole set of
+books, beautifully bound, but better still, beautiful within. Books are
+the same as people, I think. We like to see both attractively clothed,
+but in each it is the soul that counts....</p>
+
+<p>"What a lot of presents I received&mdash;from Miss Merriman and her mother,
+Mrs. Thayer and little Muriel, and, oh, so many of the girls here. I
+don't know why they are all so good to me&mdash;because I am looked upon as a
+lonely little savage, I suppose. And then there was that one from Dr.
+Bentley. The idea of a simple mountain girl from Webb's Gap having five
+whole pounds of candy at once!</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"The funniest thing happened to-day, and I must not forget to write
+Donald all about it. He is sure to remember little red-headed Jimmy, who
+has to spend so much of his time in the hospital. Has he imagination
+enough, I wonder, to picture him sitting up in bed<a class="pagenum" name="page_282" id="page_282" title="282"></a> in the snow-white
+ward, with his flaming auburn hair and bright red jacket calling names
+at each other? I love the old custom to which the hospital still clings
+of putting all the little patients into those red flannel jackets on
+cold days, for it makes the wards look so cheerful&mdash;like Christmas
+fields dotted with bright berries. Jimmy is a dear, and so imaginative
+that I believe he <i>lives</i> every story that I tell him of the
+Cumberlands&mdash;certainly he likes them better than fairy stories. This
+afternoon, I had finished telling him about how grandpappy shot the
+turkey for Dr. MacDonald, and I found him looking up at me with his big
+blue eyes, which can be as serious as a saint's or as mischievous as an
+imp's. 'Your face is most always laughing, Miss Webb,' said he. 'I think
+I shall have to call you Nurse Smiles.' My roommate, Miss Roberts,
+happened to be in the room and heard him, and now it's all over the
+hospital. Everybody is calling me it, unless the superintendent or some
+of the older doctors are around. How odd it is that he should have
+struck on it, and given me my old nickname again....</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Bentley called me Smiles when he left after his evening visit."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p class='right'>May 17th, 1916.</p>
+
+<p>"This has been a day of days for me. First I received a long and
+wonderful letter from Donald. It seemed like old times, for it was as
+kindly and simple, too, as those which he used to write to me at Webb's
+Gap. I wonder if he regards me as still a child? I suppose that I really
+am one, but somehow I feel very grown up, and much older than many of
+the girls who are years older than I. They constantly surprise me by
+acting so young when they are off duty ... but I love it in them.<a class="pagenum" name="page_283" id="page_283" title="283"></a></p>
+
+<p>"To-day I entered into the second year of my training. I wish that I had
+the power to set down on paper my feelings when I received that first
+narrow black band for my cap. I suppose that I had some of the same
+'prideful' sensations that dear granddaddy did when he was very young,
+and cut the first notch in the stock of his rifle-gun. But how much
+better <i>my</i> notch is! It means that I am fast getting able to save
+lives, not to take them. I must always remember that&mdash;it will give a
+deeper meaning to the symbol. And now my room is going to be moved down
+a story&mdash;I'm so glad that Dorothy Roberts is to be with me still&mdash;and I
+can move in one table nearer the front wall in the dining room. That
+wall sometimes seems to me like a goal that I have got to reach before I
+will be safe, just as in a children's game of tag, and, when I get tired
+and discouraged&mdash;for I do, at times, little diary&mdash;it seems as though
+there were many, many things stretching out invisible hands to catch me
+before I get to it. Donald was right about the path being no road of
+roses.... Come, this will never do; I'm supposed to be happy to-night,
+and besides, now I've got to live up to my nickname again.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I wonder how much I really have changed in the year? a good deal, I'm
+sure. I remember that at first I used to laugh to myself over the 'class
+distinctions,' such as I have just been writing about; that was when I
+was fresh from the mountain, where every one called every one else by
+his or her first name&mdash;and also when I was in the lowest class myself.
+Once I was even bold enough to tell Dr. Bentley that I thought they were
+foolish, but he reminded me&mdash;as Donald had&mdash;that we are an army here,
+and that in an army a private can't eat and sleep with a captain, or a
+captain with a general. Now I<a class="pagenum" name="page_284" id="page_284" title="284"></a> don't mind the rules and regulations at
+all, for I have learned the lesson of discipline, and I know that, even
+if we do have to be strict in our conduct toward the older nurses and
+the doctors, we are all&mdash;from the senior surgeon down to the lowliest
+probationer&mdash;really one in a great spiritual fellowship, as the
+prayerbook says, and all working together in the same great cause."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p class='right'>August 19th, 1916.</p>
+
+<p>"Little diary, I have been neglecting you lately, but now you and I must
+collect our thoughts, for we have got to write a long, long letter to
+Donald and tell him all about the vacation&mdash;the first that I ever had.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time that I was ever really at the seashore, too,
+except that one afternoon in June when Dr. Bentley took me down to
+Nahant in his car. Weren't the Thayers dear to have me as their guest at
+beautiful Manchester-by-the-Sea? Ethel (I wonder if Donald will be
+pleased to know that his <i>real</i> sister has asked me to call her by her
+first name?) insisted that they did it for my own sake, but I know that
+it was really on his account. They were two weeks of wonder for me; but
+I wish that he might have been there. How they all miss him&mdash;even Dr.
+Bentley. I think that there is nothing finer than such a friendship
+between two men. Why, he even calls on Donald's family still. He came to
+Manchester twice in the fortnight that I was there. Dr. Bentley wants me
+to call him 'Philip,' when we are not in the hospital, and I do ...
+sometimes. It seems perfectly natural, even though he is much older than
+I&mdash;he is over thirty; but I suppose that is because at home we called
+almost every one by his first name. (We are rambling, little diary. I
+don't believe that Donald<a class="pagenum" name="page_285" id="page_285" title="285"></a> would be particularly interested in the fact
+that I call Dr. Bentley, 'Philip.')</p>
+
+<p>He <i>will</i> be interested to know how the sea impressed me, though, and
+again I find myself wholly at a loss for words to express my feelings.
+It was so overwhelming in its grandeur and far-stretching expanse; so
+beautiful in its never-ending procession of colors; so terrible in its
+might, when aroused. I have seen it asleep as peacefully as one of my
+babies (all the hospital babies are children of my heart), and I have
+seen it in anger, like a brutal giant. I wish that I had not seen its
+latter mood, for, when it caught up the little boat that had been torn
+from the moorings, and hurled her again and again against the rocks
+until there was not a plank of her left unbroken&mdash;while the wind
+shrieked its horrid glee&mdash;my growing love for it was turned to fear. No,
+I can never care for the ocean as I do for my mountains. I cannot forget
+that it was the waters which stole my dearest treasures from me.</p>
+
+<p>Still, the memory of that storm is nearly lost in the abounding
+happiness of those two weeks, and the third one which I spent with my
+Gertrude Merriman, who stole it from her many cases to be with me. When
+I set down each little incident of them in black and white, as I mean to
+in my letter to Don, they will appear commonplace enough, I'm afraid;
+but I shall tell him that their story is written on my heart in letters
+of gold and many colors.</p>
+
+<p>He pretends to be interested in every foolish little thing that I have
+done, but I don't suppose that he would care to read about all the new
+dresses I have bought. I never realized before that a girl could get so
+much pleasure out of buying pretty things, and I am afraid that he would
+scold me if he knew how many leaves I have used out of my checkbook. Not
+that they have been all for clothes, little diary. I did not realize how
+much<a class="pagenum" name="page_286" id="page_286" title="286"></a> I had given to war charities, and I was a little frightened this
+morning when I made up my balance.</p>
+
+<p>But I cannot help giving for the poor French and Belgian babies. It
+somehow seems as though I were giving the money to Don to spend for me."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>There follow many entries, in the course of which the name of Donald
+appears, and many more in which that of Philip, from which one might
+reasonably draw the conclusion that the latter was conscientiously
+performing his part as <i>ad interim</i> guardian for Rose. There are also
+several mentions of impish, lovable Jimmy&mdash;he of the red hair,
+presumably&mdash;and of visits, on her afternoons off, to the cheap and
+somewhat squalid apartment where he lived with his thin, tired, but
+pitifully optimistic mother, and a stout, florid-faced father, who wore
+shabby, but very loud-checked, suits and was apparently a highly
+successful business man of big affairs, but frequently "temporarily out
+of funds." Indeed, it would seem as though there were times when the
+family&mdash;which included six other children from one to ten years
+old&mdash;would actually not have had enough to eat if Rose had not "loaned"
+the wherewithal to purchase it to the father of the household.</p>
+
+<p>Under date of May 15th, 1916, appears the following.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"<i>Two</i> black bands on the little white cap! One round table nearer the
+wall! Materia medica, orthopedia,<a class="pagenum" name="page_287" id="page_287" title="287"></a> medical analysis, general surgery,
+bacteriology, therapeutics and an&aelig;sthesia no longer mere words, whose
+very sound made me weak with dismay; but terms descriptive of new ways
+in which I can help weak and suffering babyhood. It has been hard, but
+soul-satisfying, work. I love it all, and have never regretted the
+decision made, centuries ago it seems, on the mountain. I have just been
+re-reading Donald's first letter to me&mdash;the one in which he frankly
+warned me of the hardships which would be mine to face, if I should
+attempt to carry out my plan. It was, I think, the only time that he was
+ever wrong ... no, I had forgotten that afternoon at Judd's still. Work
+may be hard, and yet entail no hardship, especially when it brings the
+satisfaction of winning against odds. I know that he did not really mean
+what he said in that letter. It was written merely as a test of my
+resolve; to deter me, if it wasn't strong enough to carry me through.
+There have been times when I have myself wondered if it would, but,
+thanks to dear old Mr. Talmadge, and his 'sermon on the mount' I have
+always been able to find the help that he told us about. I wonder if
+Donald has, too? Surely he must have, he has been doing such wonderful
+work 'over there.' It is like him to say so little about it in his
+letters, but Dr. Roland gave us a talk about what they have been doing
+in Toul and Leslie, when he returned from France, and he sang Donald's
+praises <i>fortissimo</i>. I was so happy, and so proud.</p>
+
+<p>"They all tell me that the coming year is the hardest of all with its
+practical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in the
+Manhattan Maternity in New York. I have a feeling that I am not going to
+enjoy the former. Nursing 'grown-ups' does not appeal to me as the
+caring for the little flowers does. But I shall love the other.
+Motherhood is sacred and beautiful....</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have to be very economical this year, little diary,<a class="pagenum" name="page_288" id="page_288" title="288"></a> and
+especially careful when I get to New York. When I paid the final
+installment on my tuition fee, I was frightened to find how little
+remained of what granddaddy left me, and what I had saved, myself.
+Nearly thirteen hundred dollars looked like a huge fortune to me in
+those days, but it is nothing at all in a city, where there is so much
+poverty, and there are so many appeals to one's heart. I know that
+Donald&mdash;or Philip&mdash;would lend me a little money until the time when I
+get to earning it for myself, if I should ask them. But of course I
+cannot do that. Perhaps I can earn a little during my afternoons and
+evenings off duty. The girls say that I can shampoo and manicure as well
+as a professional. Yes, I will try to do that this year."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p class='right'>January 15th, 1917.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank goodness my worries about finances are almost over!</p>
+
+<p>"The last few months have been simply terrible, and the hardest part of
+all, I think, has been my not being able to give anything to the number
+of splendid causes which so touch the sympathies these dark days.
+Perhaps I gave too much before; but I am not a bit sorry, especially now
+that some of the seed which I cast upon the waters is soon to bear
+golden fruit for me. I never believe the pessimistic people who say that
+those who receive charity are never really grateful, and now I <i>know</i>
+that they are wrong. Jimmy's father has been so appreciative of my
+pitifully small presents to them, that sometimes he has cried over them,
+and I knew that he was in earnest when he promised to repay me as soon
+as he possibly could. Now the chance has come. I was there yesterday and
+he said that he had been thinking about me just before I appeared.<a class="pagenum" name="page_289" id="page_289" title="289"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It seems that he sells stock, and has just obtained a wonderful
+position as agent, or whatever they call it, for a new copper mine which
+he says is better than the 'Calumet and Hecla.'</p>
+
+<p>"He explained to me all about that one and showed me in the paper how
+high it was selling now&mdash;for $550 a share. He is the sole representative
+for all of New England, and he says that the company is at present
+selling its stock only to special friends in order to 'let them in on
+the ground floor.' The shares are only ten dollars apiece and are sure
+to be worth a hundred, or more, very soon, because of the war. It seems
+almost impossible! I told him that I had only about a hundred dollars in
+the world, but that, if he really felt that he wanted to do me a favor,
+I <i>might</i> 'invest' it (that word sounds quite impressive, doesn't it?)
+but that I should have to think it over, first. I remembered what Donald
+had told me about asking a man's advice&mdash;especially Philip's&mdash;in money
+matters. Perhaps it would have been wiser if I had done so before.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him this afternoon if he knew anything about the King Kopper
+Kompany, and he said that it was a 'get rich proposition' and that he
+had sunk a good deal of his own money into some just like it. I wanted
+to ask him more, but we were interrupted. However, I know that he is
+very well-to-do, so he must have made money in them and certainly I need
+to get rich quick. I'm going to make the investment to-morrow."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p class='right'>March 11th.</p>
+
+<p>"Stung! I hate slang, but sometimes nothing else is quite so expressive.
+I thought that I was getting to be very wise, but, oh, what a little
+ignoramus I have been. And to think that I thought I was following
+Philip's<a class="pagenum" name="page_290" id="page_290" title="290"></a> advice, and did not realize what he really meant until I read
+a story about a man who was called 'Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford.' Now I'd
+rather die than tell him that I have lost practically all of my worldly
+goods!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Finally, late in May, is an entry, longer than any of its predecessors,
+and the last for many a day. Rose made it seated in the soft moonlight
+which came through the window of her hospital room, after her roommate
+had fallen asleep.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I am in a strange mood to-night, little diary, and not quite sure
+whether I want to laugh or cry&mdash;indeed, I think that my heart has
+done both to-day. I don't feel like going to sleep, but perhaps I
+will be able to if I get the many thoughts out of my mind and down
+on paper&mdash;now they are like so many little imps beating against my
+brain with hammers.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I <i>should</i> be happy at the thought that to-morrow is to
+carry me to my goal at the top of the mountain path which Donald
+described. In twelve hours I shall (D. V.) be a graduate nurse;
+but, now that the journey is almost an accomplished fact, I
+positively shiver when I think of the nerve of that child who was I
+five years ago and who, blessed with ignorance, made up her mind to
+become one, or 'bust'&mdash;that is the way I put it, then. Friends have
+sometimes told me that they didn't see how I had the courage to
+attempt it; but I tell them, truthfully, that it isn't courage when
+one tackles a thing which she&mdash;or he&mdash;doesn't know is difficult to
+do, and that few things are insurmountably difficult which she
+tackles with confidence (which is as often the result of ignorance
+as of faith in one's own power). So how can I take any credit for
+succeeding? </p></div><p><a class="pagenum" name="page_291" id="page_291" title="291"></a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It <i>has</i> been hard work, of course, and I know that I must have
+failed if every one had not been so good to me, and, above all, if
+God had not meant me to succeed. I have never forgotten that night
+when the 'reverend' opened my eyes to the knowledge that I am His
+partner in working out my life. Dear Mr. Talmadge! I am ashamed
+that I stopped writing to him, so long ago, yet I know that he is
+still my friend, although we do not see each other. That is the
+beauty of true friendship&mdash;it is a calm and constant star, always
+in its place against the time when we want to lift our eyes to seek
+its light. I know that it is the same with Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"When I think of him to-night, and realize that he cannot be near
+me in my little hour of triumph to-morrow, it is hard for me to
+keep back the tears. Dear God, bless him and bring him
+happiness&mdash;with Miss Treville.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help feeling worried about Donald, for, although his
+letter makes light of his illness, I have a troublesome
+presentiment that he is worse than he will acknowledge. He is the
+kind to spend every ounce of his wonderful vitality without thought
+of self, and the two and a half years during which he has been
+laboring so hard, and so effectively, must have drained even his
+great strength. Slight, wiry people are like the willows that bend
+easily, but return to normal quickly, after the stress of storm has
+ended; but, when big ones&mdash;like Donald&mdash;break, it is like the fall
+of a mighty oak.</p>
+
+<p>"Still, this cloud, like all clouds, has its bright lining. <i>He is
+coming home</i>, just as soon as he is able to make the trip, so,
+although I shall miss him dreadfully to-morrow, it will not be many
+weeks before I shall see him again.</p>
+
+<p>"But this is not all that is troubling me, diary, and if I were not
+quite sure that no one but I would ever look inside your covers, I
+would not confide it even to you.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a present, a wonderful present,&mdash;and I do not<a class="pagenum" name="page_292" id="page_292" title="292"></a> think that I
+ought to keep it. Help me make up my mind. When P. gave it to me
+this afternoon, he said that it was just a little remembrance for
+my graduation and that he hoped I would accept it as the gift of a
+semiofficial guardian, just as I would if Donald himself were
+giving it to me. I did take it in that spirit; but, when I found a
+moment to steal away and open the wrapper, and beheld a beautiful
+morocco case containing a <i>gold watch</i> with my initials engraved on
+the case, my heart almost stopped beating. This was his 'little
+remembrance.' Of course it is something that I shall need in my
+work, for it has a second hand, but he must have guessed that I
+would be troubled by such an expensive gift, for he tried to make
+light of it by enclosing a foolish little rhyme, which I must copy
+so that I shall not forget it.</p>
+
+<p style='margin-left:4em;'>
+'When it is <i>time</i> to take <i>hour</i> pulse<br />
+You'll find a use for what is in it,<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a><br />
+(On <i>second</i> thoughts, I'd like to add<br />
+I wish you'd take mine every <i>minute</i>.)'
+</p>
+
+<p>"Conventions are <i>so</i> puzzling, little diary, that I don't know
+what I ought to do. Somehow, I feel quite sure that the
+Superintendent wouldn't approve, for a doctor should not be making
+presents to a pupil nurse; yet P. has been so kind that I hate to
+think of hurting his feelings by giving it back. Besides, I love it
+... and it is engraved R. W. Then, too, if I should return it, he
+might think that I didn't credit him with having done it while
+acting in Donald's place as my guardian, and if it was not that
+thought which prompted him, why ... Oh, I don't know what to do!</p>
+
+<p>"Worse still, Dorothy Roberts came up unexpectedly and saw the
+watch. Of course she wanted to know from<a class="pagenum" name="page_293" id="page_293" title="293"></a> whom it came and I
+answered, on the impulse, 'From my guardian.' I'm sure that she
+believes that it was a present from Donald and therefore perfectly
+proper, for I have told her all about his relationship to me, and
+it hurts me to think that I have been guilty of a lie. Of course it
+wasn't one in actual words, perhaps; but I had the spirit to
+deceive, and now I can't confess without involving P. and she might
+think that he is in ... Oh, I can't write it, for of course he
+isn't. How could he be? No, it was just a natural act of his
+generous heart, because he knew that I was without relatives to
+give me a graduation gift.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope that I sleep my uncertainties away, for to-morrow must hold
+nothing but sunshine and smiles." </p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin-top:2em' class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Poetical license&mdash;meaning 'what is in the box.'</p></div>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_294" id="page_294" title="294"></a>
+<a name="BUT_A_ROSE_HAS_THORNS_8289" id="BUT_A_ROSE_HAS_THORNS_8289"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+<h3>"BUT A ROSE HAS THORNS"</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The May day, the day of fulfilment for Smiles' dreams and the fruition
+of her work, had come. Her healthy, mountain-bred body had enabled her
+to keep well and strong; she had gone through the full three years with
+scarcely a day's illness, and she was ready to graduate with the class,
+some of whom would have to stay longer to make up time lost by illness.</p>
+
+<p>Rose awoke early to a sense of something unusual in prospect. On the
+window of her room the rain was pattering merrily. All nature was one to
+her, and she loved the showers as much as the sunshine, but, when she
+began to realize what day it was, they brought a feeling of vague
+disappointment. Surely <i>this</i> day, which meant so much in her life,
+might have dawned fair! The glimpse of a leaden sky colored her thoughts
+for a moment, as she lay still in the drowsy relaxation of
+half-awakening, when dreams beckon from <i>dolce far niente</i> land, and the
+whispering voice of slumber mingles with the more stirring call of the
+brain to be up and doing. The recollection that Donald was far away, and
+could not be with her to witness her triumph, brought<a class="pagenum" name="page_295" id="page_295" title="295"></a> a sense of bitter
+disappointment to her over again. "I must write him everything that
+happens to-day. He will be happy in my happiness, I know," she murmured,
+half aloud, and her roommate awoke and answered with a sleepy, "What,
+dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. I guess that I must have been talking in my sleep," laughed
+Rose, as she now sat up energetically, fully awake. By their own request
+Dorothy Roberts and she still occupied one of the few double rooms
+reserved for third-year student nurses, who preferred to share their
+quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The other followed, more drowsily.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," called Rose, from the window. "It's going to clear. Oh, see that
+wonderful rainbow. I don't believe I ever saw one in the morning
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"'Rainbow at morning, sailors take warning,'" quoted Dorothy.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe in that, or any other <i>unpleasant</i> 'stupidstition'&mdash;as
+my reverend used to call them," Rose retorted, as she hastily began to
+dress, for the last time, in the blue striped costume which had been
+hers for nearly three years, but was, in a few hours, to change to one
+pure white, like a sombre chrysalis to a radiant butterfly. "No matter
+when a rainbow appears it is always an omen of fair promise. It's Mother
+Nature smiling through her tears."</p>
+
+<p>She caught, in the mirror, a reflection of her friend's affectionate
+glance; her own cheek began to dimple and her lips to curve as she said,
+"I can tell by your expression just what you're going to say, and...."<a class="pagenum" name="page_296" id="page_296" title="296"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Egoist," mocked the other. "I hadn't the slightest idea of comparing
+your own smile to a rainbow, so now."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it, really." Rose spoke with unfeigned distress in her
+voice, and began angrily to massage the corners of her mouth downward.
+"There's something wrong with the muscles of my face, I think, and
+sometimes I get worried for fear people will think that it's
+affectation. I get frightfully tired of seeing a perpetually forced grin
+on other faces&mdash;it reminds me of Mr. William Shakespeare's remark that
+'a man may smile and be a villain still.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Not with your kind, dear. 'There's a painted smile on the lip that
+lies, when the villain plays his part; and the smile in the depths of
+the honest eyes&mdash;and this is the smile of the heart.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Or of the cheerful idiot," supplemented Rose. "Do you really think that
+I'm ... shallow? Sometimes it seems to me that the truly wise,
+thoughtful people, who search the deeps of life and are themselves
+strongly stirred, are always serious looking."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh. It's generally pose, and a much easier one to get away with. I
+always discount it about ninety-nine per cent."</p>
+
+<p>"But, at least, others must think that I am always happy, and I'm
+not&mdash;sometimes I wish that I might be; but not often, for one would have
+to be utterly selfish and unsympathetic in order to be so, when there is
+so much suffering everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, and feel the same way, Rose. But it<a class="pagenum" name="page_297" id="page_297" title="297"></a> seems to me that a
+smile&mdash;at least one like yours&mdash;isn't so much the visible expression of
+joy, as it is a symbol of cheer for others ... like a rainbow. There, I
+vowed that I wouldn't, and now I've 'gone and went and done it.'"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Roberts spoke lightly, to cover a suspicious huskiness in her
+voice, for she worshipped the girl who had been so close to her for
+three years, and whose way and hers would necessarily diverge after that
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you <i>dare</i> to forget how to smile. We all love it," she added,
+with an assumption of a bullying tone; and then the two held each other
+very close and laughed and cried, both together, for a moment. They
+finished dressing in unusual silence, for the thoughts of each were busy
+with the things which the day and the future might bring forth for them.</p>
+
+<p>Contrary to custom, Dorothy finished first, and preceded Rose
+downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>When the latter reached the little assembly room, she found a small
+group of pupil nurses standing in the doorway. One was reading something
+from a page of a sensational afternoon newspaper, dated the day
+previous, and, as Smiles joined them, she hastily slipped it out of
+sight behind her. All of them appeared so self-conscious, that the new
+arrival stopped with a queer tightening about her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Show it to her," said Dorothy, quietly. "She's bound to hear of it
+sooner or later."</p>
+
+<p>The sinking sensation within Rose's breast increased,<a class="pagenum" name="page_298" id="page_298" title="298"></a> and she stepped
+forward, saying faintly, "What is it, Dolly? Not ... not Dr. MacDonald?
+Nothing has happened ...?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear. That is ... well, it concerns him; but I think that, if
+anything, he is to be congratulated. It is something to find out....
+Here, read it yourself."</p>
+
+<p>She took the paper from the owner, and handed it to Rose.</p>
+
+<p>It was the page devoted to happenings in society, and from the top
+centre looked forth a two-column cut of Marion Treville's strikingly
+beautiful face. Beneath was a stick of text, which read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Back Bay society is buzzing with the rumor, which comes from an
+apparently unimpeachable source, that the beautiful Miss Treville
+of Beacon Street, who, since her d&eacute;but seven years ago, has been
+one of the leaders of Boston's smartest set, is about to announce
+her engagement to Stanley Everts Vandermeer, the well-known New
+York millionaire sportsman. Miss Treville was formerly betrothed to
+Dr. Donald MacDonald, the famous children's specialist of this
+city, who has been in France for more than two years. No previous
+intimation had been given that this engagement had been broken." </p></div>
+
+<p>Rose read the brief article twice, mechanically, and almost without
+understanding. Then a wave of hot anger, akin to that which had
+possessed her on the mountain on the afternoon when her eyes had first
+been opened to the duplicity of human nature, swept over her. It was
+only by a strong effort that she refrained from crushing the sheet, and
+speaking aloud her denunciation of the woman whose behavior so outraged
+her sense of justice.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:300px'>
+<a name="illus-004" id="illus-004"></a>
+<a href="images/illus-298f.jpg">
+<img src="images/illus-298.jpg" alt="&#34;READ THE BRIEF ARTICLE TWICE, MECHANICALLY, AND ALMOST WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING&#34;" title="" width="300" /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">&#34;READ THE BRIEF ARTICLE TWICE, MECHANICALLY, AND ALMOST WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING&#34;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="page_299" id="page_299" title="299"></a>The
+call came for the morning prayer, and she handed the paper back
+without a word; but for once the simple exercises, which, on this
+morning, should have meant so much more than usual, wholly failed to
+bring their customary peace. Her lips formed the words of the prayer,
+and joined in the singing of the hymn, but her mind was far away in
+France, and her heart rebellious within her.</p>
+
+<p>Her thoughts did not harbor a doubt of Donald's love for the woman, who,
+it was said on "apparently unimpeachable" authority, had now discarded
+him for another and wealthier suitor. To be sure, he had not married
+her, as he might have, before he went away; but this was not strange,
+under the conditions; indeed, she thought it to his credit, since he had
+left to be away so long in the performance of a hard and hazardous duty.
+And surely Donald had remained true! Anything else was unthinkable, and,
+besides, Ethel often spoke of her sister-in-law-to-be, and of the
+marriage which would quickly follow her brother's return. That Miss
+Treville had apparently remained so faithful, also, had helped to banish
+some of Smiles' uncertain feelings concerning her, and she had begun to
+hope that some day she might succeed in finding the key to the city
+woman's heart and enter the fold of her friendship, for she could not
+bear the idea that Donald's marriage might result in Donald's being<a class="pagenum" name="page_300" id="page_300" title="300"></a>
+estranged from her, or cause a break in their wonderful friendship. Now
+her thoughts railed against the woman who had been so unstable, at a
+time when keeping faith with those who went, perhaps to die, had become
+a nation's watchword. This thought completely superseded the one that
+had sometimes been hers&mdash;that the woman was not worthy the love of the
+man whom she, herself, worshipped. It was like a mother, suffering for
+her hurt child, and her lips quivered with suppressed hate. It passed,
+and left her almost frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess that I'm still a mountaineer at heart," she whispered, as she
+mechanically bowed her head with the others. "I almost feel as though I
+could kill her. Poor Donald! He has always been so blindly trusting
+where his heart was concerned.... Perhaps Dorothy is right, perhaps he
+is better off, if it is true; but if this embitters him, if it spoils
+his faith in womankind, I shall hate her as long as I live." Then came
+the reflection that the report might not be true. "I shall go and ask
+her, myself, this afternoon!"</p>
+
+<p>Smiles arose from her knees, aged in soul.</p>
+
+<p>She had looked forward to this morning with all the eager anticipation
+of a child; but now, as she donned the white uniform of a graduate
+nurse&mdash;the costume which represented the full attainment of the hard-won
+goal,&mdash;no smile greeted her as she looked at her own reflection in the
+glass.</p>
+
+<p>"Donald was right," she murmured. "I am just<a class="pagenum" name="page_301" id="page_301" title="301"></a> beginning to realize that
+even this fulfilment of my dream is not going to bring me happiness. It
+is born of the heart, or not at all." And her mind travelled back to the
+letter which she had tearfully penned him after Big Jerry's death.
+"Things never happen just as we plan. When we look forward to something
+pleasant which we want very much to happen, we never stop to think that
+there may be unhappiness mixed with it." A solitary tear ran down her
+cheek, and made a moist spot on the front of her new uniform.</p>
+
+<p>The smile, usually spontaneous, had to be forced to her lips when she
+went to take her place, with the score of other happy graduating nurses,
+in the amphitheatre of the Harvard Medical School, next door, where the
+exercises were to be held.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter with my Rose?" wondered Miss Merriman, who had
+managed to be present. And, "What is the matter with <i>my</i> Rose?" thought
+Dr. Bentley. He had seen her for just a moment that morning, and,
+through the warm, lingering pressure of her hand, received the thanks
+which she could not speak.</p>
+
+<p>It was, in truth, a very sober Smiles who only half-heard the words of
+the impressively simple exercises, during which the newly made laborers
+in the Lord's vineyard received the diplomas which bore the seal of the
+hospital&mdash;a Madonna-like nurse, holding a child. Its original, cast in
+bronze&mdash;the work of a famous modern sculptor&mdash;hung in the
+administration<a class="pagenum" name="page_302" id="page_302" title="302"></a> building of the hospital, and she had often stood before
+it with tender dreams. And it was a very sober Smiles upon whose dress
+was pinned the blue and gold cross, the emblem alike of achievement and
+service.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Merriman spoke her thought aloud, as she took the girl into her
+arms, afterwards. "You looked too sweet for words, dear. But, tell me,
+why that woe-begone expression on this, of all days? One would think
+that all the worries of the world lay on your young heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they do," was the non-committal answer. And Rose pleaded a
+previous engagement when the older nurse begged her company for the
+afternoon, and Dr. Bentley for the evening.</p>
+
+<p>The happy laughter, the parting words, both grave and gay, which were
+spoken by those who had been her companions during the long journey,
+fell on ears which heard, but transmitted them to her mind vaguely, and
+her answers were inconsequential, so much so, that more than one friend
+regarded her with troubled surprise and whispered to another that Rose
+was either not well, or was dazed with happiness. And when Dorothy
+ventured to hint at the latter alternative, the girl acknowledged it
+with a strained imitation of her usual smile, and straightway found her
+thoughts scourging her because of this new deception.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to her that the day, for which she had builded so long, was
+tumbling about its foundations, and yet, when she now and again brought
+her runaway<a class="pagenum" name="page_303" id="page_303" title="303"></a> thoughts up with a round turn, she could not assign any
+logical reason for her feeling as she did.</p>
+
+<p>"After all, what is it to me?" she would ask herself, logically, one
+moment. And at the next her heart would reply, "Everything. He is all
+that you have in the world in the way of 'family,' for he <i>is</i> more than
+friend to you." "Yes," Rose would admit, "I am afraid for him, I could
+not be more so if he were really my brother. She isn't worthy of
+him&mdash;I've known that, somehow, since the first day that he tried to tell
+me about her. But that isn't the point. Love is blind, and, if her
+faithlessness hurts him, I will hate her always. I hate her <i>now</i>. She
+has spoiled my day, and I know that I have hurt Gertrude and Philip, for
+they can't understand what the trouble is."</p>
+
+<p>The idea passed over and over through the endless labyrinth of her brain
+and found no escape, while she ate the noonday meal, and later changed
+from her white uniform to a plain blue serge walking dress, and black
+sailor hat. Ever with it went the accompanying thought, "I <i>must</i> see
+her." To what end she did not know or seriously attempt to analyze. Rose
+was not the first to take up cudgels in a lost cause, spurred thereto by
+a purpose which was incapable of receiving any logical explanation. It
+was the "mother spirit," fighting for its own.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A maid opened the door on Beacon street in response to her ring, and, on
+entering the hall, Rose<a class="pagenum" name="page_304" id="page_304" title="304"></a> found herself face to face with Marion
+Treville. She was clad for the street and was at that moment in the act
+of buttoning a long white glove. As she recognized the visitor, a deep
+flush mounted quickly on the patrician face of the older woman and, for
+an instant, her teeth caught her lower lip.</p>
+
+<p>Smiles' face was very pale, so pale that her large eyes by contrast
+appeared almost startling in their depth and color. There was a gossamer
+film of dust on her shoes and the bottom of her skirt, for she had
+walked all the way from the hospital, and she realized this fact with a
+sense of chagrin, when she saw Miss Treville's eyes travel to her feet,
+and mentally contrasted her own appearance with that of the perfectly
+appointed daughter of wealth before her.</p>
+
+<p>Neither spoke for an instant. It was as though each were trying to read
+the thoughts of the other. Then Miss Treville said in a cool, even tone,
+"You may go, Louise."</p>
+
+<p>The maid vanished silently, with one curious backward glance as she
+passed through the door at the end of the hallway.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss ... Webb, isn't it? You wished to see ...?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me that it isn't true," broke in Rose, her voice trembling a
+little in spite of her effort at self-control.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell you it isn't ... true?" echoed the other, with lifted eyebrows.
+"I'm afraid that I don't quite underst ..."<a class="pagenum" name="page_305" id="page_305" title="305"></a></p>
+
+<p>"But you <i>do</i> understand, Miss Treville, why do you say that you don't?
+It is in the paper."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I meant to say that I do not understand why you should come
+here to ask such a question, Miss Webb," was the icy response.</p>
+
+<p>Rose was silent. What answer could she make to this pertinent question?
+She felt the hot tears starting to her eyes; but, even as she was on the
+point of turning toward the door, with a little choked sob of bitter
+chagrin, the other continued. Curiosity had unloosed her tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Well? May I be so bold as to inquire what interest you may have in my
+personal affairs, Miss Webb? Frankly, I am at a loss to understand the
+meaning of this unexpected, and&mdash;I might say&mdash;somewhat unusual visit."</p>
+
+<p>"I ... I don't know as I <i>can</i> explain," began Rose, hesitantly. "I ...
+I felt that I had to see you, because ... I had a letter yesterday from
+... from Dr. MacDonald...."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he writes to me, you <i>know</i> that he is my guardian," she
+answered the interruption with a flash of spirit. "He said in it that he
+was coming home just as soon as he was able to ... to get well and ...
+be married, and then that paper.... Oh, Miss Treville, surely it isn't
+so. You wouldn't throw him over, when he is so far away, and ... and
+sick?"</p>
+
+<p>The other's voice was not quite as steady as before,<a class="pagenum" name="page_306" id="page_306" title="306"></a> when she answered,
+"I don't see why I am called upon to explain my ... to explain anything
+to you, Miss Webb."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it <i>is</i> true." The sentence rang out sharply. "And he doesn't
+know. He thinks that you are waiting, and ..."</p>
+
+<p>"We need not discuss the matter, in fact I doubt if the doctor would
+appreciate your ... shall we say 'championage'? The matter is between
+him and me, wholly."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is not, Miss Treville," flared Rose, with the angry color at
+last flooding her cheeks. "I have heard people say that, if that story
+is true, he is lucky to have escaped marrying you; but, just the same,
+those of us who <i>really</i> love him&mdash;you needn't look like that, of course
+I love him&mdash;don't want to have him hurt, as any man would be who was
+cast off like an old glove while he was far away and had no chance to
+speak for himself. That is why I hoped it wasn't true, and that you
+hadn't, perhaps, killed his faith in my kind. And that is the only
+reason."</p>
+
+<p>Once started, her words had poured out as hot as lava which had broken
+from a pent-up volcano.</p>
+
+<p>"So, that is the reason, the only reason, for your coming to me with
+your impertinent question?" Miss Treville laughed oddly. "Really! Do you
+know, I have always suspected that the little savage whom he brought
+from somewhere in the backwoods regarded him as rather more than a
+guardian, or a<a class="pagenum" name="page_307" id="page_307" title="307"></a> brother ... that <i>was</i> the pretty fiction, wasn't it?"
+she added, with honey coating the vinegar in her speech.</p>
+
+<p>Under the lash of the words Rose grew white again. Her hands clenched;
+but, before she could answer, Miss Treville continued:</p>
+
+<p>"It really seems to me that you ought to thank me for stepping aside so
+obligingly."</p>
+
+<p>The occupation of a high level in the civilized world, or in society, is
+no proof of the Christian virtue of self-control,&mdash;that has been
+demonstrated, in the case of a nation, all too clearly these last years;
+and individuals are like nations, or vice versa. The feline that lies
+dormant, as often in the finished product of city convention as in the
+breast of the primeval woman, was now thrusting out its claws from the
+soft paws of breeding. And Miss Marion Treville, leader of Back Bay
+society, was rather enjoying the sensation. She had passed not a few
+uncomfortable hours in company with her conscience, even while she was
+yielding to the glamorous flame which surrounded her new suitor. It was
+a real relief for her to be able to "take it out" on some one else, and
+a victim had offered herself for the sacrifice, most opportunely.</p>
+
+<p>Rose shrank back as though she had been struck; then steadied herself
+and said with an effort&mdash;for her throat and lips were dry, "I think that
+perhaps you were right when you called me a 'little savage.' I know that
+I feel like one in my heart now, and I<a class="pagenum" name="page_308" id="page_308" title="308"></a> think, too, that it would be a
+real pleasure for me to ... to ..."</p>
+
+<p>The other stepped hastily back, and Rose laughed, bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please don't be frightened, I'm not going to scratch you. We wood
+people don't fight with your kind of animal, they're too unpleasant at
+close range." She paused, and then went on more steadily. "I came here
+... I didn't know just why I was coming,&mdash;perhaps to plead with you for
+Donald's sake. That doesn't look much as though I loved him ... in the
+way you insinuate, does it? No, if I had, I should have won him away
+from you, long ago. It would not have been difficult, I think."</p>
+
+<p>She spoke so coolly, and with such perfect confidence, that the other
+winced.</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't anything more to be said, is there?"</p>
+
+<p>Was this the simple mountain girl, whose voice was now so suave and who
+was smiling so icily?</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause, during which Miss Treville's trembling hand sought
+behind her and found the servants' bell cord.</p>
+
+<p>"I am really glad that I called, Miss Treville, for you have succeeded
+in convincing me that I have no occasion to be disturbed&mdash;on Donald's
+account."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Webb is going," said Miss Treville, formally, as the maid
+appeared.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_309" id="page_309" title="309"></a>
+<a name="AN_INTERLUDE_8706" id="AN_INTERLUDE_8706"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+<h3>AN INTERLUDE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p style='margin-left:4em'>
+All things by immortal power,<br />
+Near or far,<br />
+Hiddenly.<br />
+To each other linked are<br />
+That thou canst not stir a flower<br />
+Without troubling a star.
+</p>
+
+<p style='margin-left:12em'><span class="smcap">A. Quiller-Couch</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Life is so largely a thing of intermingling currents, of interwoven
+threads, of reacting forces, that it is well-nigh impossible
+understandingly to portray the life story of one person without
+occasionally pausing to review, at least briefly, incidents in the lives
+of others with which it is closely bound up.</p>
+
+<p>So it is with the story of the pilgrimage of Smiles.</p>
+
+<p>While, following her graduation, she was taking a course in district
+nursing, giving freely of her new powers to the poor and suffering of a
+great city, and taking, and passing, the State examination which gave
+her the right to place the epigrammatic letters "R.N." after her name,
+something was happening more than three thousand miles away, of which
+she had no inkling, and yet which was closely linked with her
+existence.<a class="pagenum" name="page_310" id="page_310" title="310"></a></p>
+
+<p>Donald had, indeed, written in a manner to minimize his illness, which
+had been a prolonged and serious one; so much so that he had, greatly
+against his will, finally come to realize the necessity of his taking a
+rest from his unremitting toil, and he had agreed to return home for a
+vacation as soon as he should be well enough to make the long trip.</p>
+
+<p>Depressed by his wholly unaccustomed weakness the doctor sat, a
+convalescent in his own hospital in Toul, one stifling July day. To his
+physical debility was added the dragging distress of mind which comes at
+times to those who are far away and receive no word from home. No
+letters had reached him for weeks. Removed from the sphere of the
+abnormal activity which had been his, and with nothing to do but sit and
+think, Donald had, for some time, been examining his own heart with an
+introspective gaze more searching than ever before. He felt that he had
+been, above the average, blessed with happy relationships, deep
+friendships and a highly trained ability to serve others&mdash;and he knew
+that he could honestly say that he had turned this to full account.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, he was betrothed to a beautiful woman whom many coveted. When
+his mind reached Marion Treville in its consideration, it stopped to
+build a dream castle around her, a castle not in Spain, but in America.
+He had earned the right to rest beside the road awhile, and enjoy the
+good things of life. Marion was waiting for him at home, and whatever
+doubts had, at one or another time, entered his mind<a class="pagenum" name="page_311" id="page_311" title="311"></a> as to their
+perfect suitability, one for the other, they had long since been
+banished. Distance had lent its enchantment, and he had supplied her
+with the special virtues that he desired. His was a type of mind which
+held to one thought at a time, and he had always possessed a fixedness
+of purpose of a kind well calculated to carry through any plan which
+that mind conceived. Combined, these characteristics made a form of
+egotism, not one which caused him to overrate himself, but to plough
+ahead regardless of the strength of the possible opposition. When he
+returned to America he would marry Marion Treville immediately. No other
+idea had seriously entered his mind since they had plighted their troth;
+they had not been quite ready before, that was all, he told himself.</p>
+
+<p>It was in such a frame of mind, and with a growing eagerness for the day
+when he might start for home to claim his reward, that he received her
+long-delayed letter. What it said does not matter; but one paragraph
+summed up her whole confession. "You cannot but agree with me that ours
+was never the love of a man and woman whose hearts were attuned to one
+another, and sang in perfect unison. We really drifted into an
+engagement more because of propinquity than anything else. I am a
+drone&mdash;the product of society at its worst&mdash;and you are one of the
+workers, Donald. I feel quite sure that you will always gain your truest
+happiness in your work. Although I know how you love children (and I
+don't),<a class="pagenum" name="page_312" id="page_312" title="312"></a> I cannot think of you in the r&ocirc;le of a married man, so I do
+not, deep in my heart, believe that this is going to hurt you very
+much&mdash;certainly I hope not. Indeed, I have a somewhat unpleasant
+suspicion that some day you are going to bless me for having given you
+back your freedom."</p>
+
+<p>Donald read the letter through, without allowing his expression to
+change. Then he started to reread it, stopped, and suddenly crumpled it
+up in his big fist. A low curse escaped his lips. It was heard by a
+passing nurse, who hurried to him with the question, "Did you call,
+doctor? Are you in pain?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Let me alone," was his harsh answer, and the patient girl moved
+away, with a little shake of her head. The great physician had not been
+his cheerful, kindly self for some time. Perhaps she surmised, too, that
+the mail which she had laid in his lap had not been all that he had
+anticipated.</p>
+
+<p>With scarcely a move, he sat, staring in front of him, until the evening
+shadows had turned the landscape to a dull monotone. Then he slowly
+arose, and, with his mind so completely bent upon one subject that his
+body was a thing apart and its weakness forgotten, stepped out into the
+darkening city.</p>
+
+<p>Time had ceased to exist for him, as he walked the almost deserted
+streets of Toul like a flesh-and-blood automaton. But the physical
+exercise brought a quota of mental relief at last, and the cool night
+air soothed his first burning pain and anger with its unconscious<a class="pagenum" name="page_313" id="page_313" title="313"></a> balm.
+At length he was able to face the truth frankly, and then he suddenly
+knew that all the time it was not his heart, so much as his pride, which
+had been hurt.</p>
+
+<p>An hour earlier he would not have admitted a single doubt of his real
+love for Marion Treville. Now he could not but admit that the initial
+stab of bitterness was being healed by a real, though inexplicable,
+sense of relief. He could even say that she had been right. His
+affection for her had, indeed, been merely the outgrowth of life-long
+intimacy. It was never the mating call of heart to heart; he had never
+felt for her the overwhelming passion of a lover for the woman in whom,
+for him, all earthly things are bound up.</p>
+
+<p>His walk became slower; he stopped. The deep blue-black sky had, of a
+sudden, become the background for a softly glowing mind picture, and
+there seemed to appear before him the glorious misty eyes, and
+bewitchingly curved lips of ... Smiles.</p>
+
+<p>Her memory swept over him like a vision, and, even while he felt like a
+traitor to self, came the wonderful realization that in his home city,
+toward which his thoughts had so lately been bent, still lived the girl
+whom he had loved&mdash;and had held apart within a locked and closely
+guarded chamber of his heart&mdash;for years. It was as though scales, placed
+before them by his own will, had dropped from his eyes. He almost cried
+aloud his self-admission that he had loved her all the years from the<a class="pagenum" name="page_314" id="page_314" title="314"></a>
+first moment when he saw her, a barefoot mountain girl, in Big Jerry's
+rude cabin.</p>
+
+<p>And he was <i>free</i>! Free to be honest with his own soul, free to tell his
+Rose of his love, and throw aside the masquerading cloak of adopted
+brotherhood. How strange it was! The woman whom he had thought to marry
+was gone from his life like a leaf torn from the binding, and the one
+whom he had pretended to regard as a sister would become his mate. That
+such would be the case he did not doubt now, even for an instant. That
+she had always loved him, he was certain, and, with the warmth of his
+wooing, he would fan that steady glow of childish affection into the
+flame of womanly love which should weld their hearts together forever.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The days which followed before he was strong enough to journey to
+Bordeaux, there to embark for America, seemed to drag by like eternity;
+but Donald was Westbound at last. He was going home, home to a new life,
+made perfect by a great love. The deadly submarines of the world's
+outlaw, lurking under the sea like loathsome phantasies of an evil mind,
+held no terrors for him, nor could the discomforts caused by the tightly
+closed hatches and enshrouding burlap, which made the ship a pent-up
+steambox, until the danger zone was passed, depress his spirits.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer crept as had the days on shore; but<a class="pagenum" name="page_315" id="page_315" title="315"></a> there came an afternoon
+when she made port at last, and, spurred by a consuming eagerness, he
+hastened to his apartment.</p>
+
+<p>He had cabled the news of his departure, and in the mail box were many
+letters awaiting him. Feverishly, he looked them over for one in <i>her</i>
+dear handwriting. To his unreasonable disappointment there was none, but
+there were several which required immediate reading&mdash;among them one from
+his sister Ethel, and one from his old friend, Philip Bentley.</p>
+
+<p>The first contained disquieting news. His little niece, Muriel, had been
+very ill with typhoid fever and, although Dr. Bentley had pulled her
+through the sickness successfully, she was still far from well, and
+apparently not gaining at all.</p>
+
+<p>He opened the other, expecting it to concern the case. But the note did
+not mention it. It was only a few lines and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dear old Don:</p>
+
+<p>I hear that you are 'homeward bound.' Bully! As soon as you reach
+Boston, and can spare me a moment, I want to talk to you about an
+important matter.</p>
+
+<p>Call me by telephone, like a good fellow, and I'll run over to your
+apartment at once and tell you what is on my mind.</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>Yours,</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>P. B." </p></div>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_316" id="page_316" title="316"></a>
+<a name="DONALDS_HOMECOMING_8897" id="DONALDS_HOMECOMING_8897"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+<h3>DONALD'S HOMECOMING</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>"By the Lord Harry, but I'm glad to see you back again, safe and sound,
+you good-for-nothing old reprobate."</p>
+
+<p>True to his written statement, Philip had come to Donald's apartment as
+fast as a taxicab could bring him, after he had heard his old friend's
+voice over the wire. Now the two men gripped hands, hard, and then&mdash;for
+just a moment&mdash;flung their arms around each other's shoulders in a rare
+outward display of their deep mutual affection.</p>
+
+<p>Then Philip held his senior away at arms' length and said, with
+masculine candor but with a look of sympathy in his eyes, "Don, you poor
+devil, you've been killing yourself over there. Don't tell <i>me</i>. I've a
+mind to appoint myself your physician and order you to bed for a month."</p>
+
+<p>"Good Lord, do I look as bad as that?" laughed the other. "If I do,
+looks are deceitful, for I feel fit as a fiddle. I need only one thing
+to make a complete new man of me."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is ...?"</p>
+
+<p>"A secret, at present."</p>
+
+<p>The two seated themselves opposite each other, and Philip continued,
+"I've managed to keep myself<a class="pagenum" name="page_317" id="page_317" title="317"></a> pretty well posted on the work that you've
+been doing, without knowing any of the details of your life&mdash;you're a
+rotten correspondent. Come, did you have any 'hairbreadth' 'scapes or
+moving accidents by field and flood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nary one. My life has been one dead, monotonous waste."</p>
+
+<p>"Like ... the deuce it has. Come, I've got just ten minutes to stay;
+tell me the whole detailed history of your two years and a half. Knowing
+your natural verbosity, I should say that it would take you just about
+half that time, which will leave me the balance for my own few remarks."</p>
+
+<p>"Five minutes? I could tell you the whole history of my life in that
+time. But, before I start, I want to ask you about my little niece,
+Muriel? I've just been reading a letter from Ethel, which seems to
+indicate that they are rather worried about her; but, when I called her
+by long distance, she either couldn't, or wouldn't tell me anything
+definite."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that there is any real occasion for being disturbed,"
+answered Philip, quietly. "Although I'll confess frankly that things
+haven't been going just right, and I'm not sorry to have you back and in
+charge of the case. Muriel made the acquaintance of a typhus bug&mdash;the
+Lord knows how&mdash;and, although I succeeded in getting the best of the
+fever fairly quickly, thanks to the able assistance of that nurse whom
+you swear by ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Merriman?"<a class="pagenum" name="page_318" id="page_318" title="318"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she's a wonder, isn't she? Well, as I said, we took care of the
+fever, all right; but the cerebral affection has been more persistent,
+and she hasn't convalesced as you would expect in a twelve-year-old
+child. She seems to be laboring under a sort of nervous depression, not
+so much physical as mental ... in fact, a psychos. It's common enough in
+older people, of course; but hanged if I ever saw anything just like it
+in a perfectly normal, and naturally happy child."</p>
+
+<p>"H-m-m-m. What are the symptoms?"</p>
+
+<p>"Psychological, all of them. She mopes; seems to take no healthy
+interest in anything, and, as a result, has no appetite; bursts out
+crying over the most trivial things&mdash;such as the chance of you're being
+blown up by a submarine on the way home&mdash;and frequently for no cause at
+all. Of course I packed the family off to the shore, as soon as she was
+able to be moved, in the belief that the change of scene and the sea air
+would effect a cure, but it hasn't. I can't find a thing wrong with her,
+physically, nor could Morse. I took him down on my own hook, in
+consultation, one day. It's a rather unusual case of purely
+psychological depression, and in my opinion all she needs is ..."</p>
+
+<p>"A generous dose of Smiles," interrupted Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"By thunder, you've struck it," cried Philip, as he gave the arm of his
+chair a resounding thump. "What an ass I've been not to have thought of
+that before, particularly as she has been so constantly<a class="pagenum" name="page_319" id="page_319" title="319"></a> in my thoughts.
+It's another case of a thing being too close to one for him to see it."</p>
+
+<p>Donald stiffened suddenly. He held the match, with which he was about to
+light a cigar, poised in mid-air until the flame reached his fingers,
+and then blew it out, unused.</p>
+
+<p>"In fact, it was about her, Don, that I was so anxious to see you," the
+other went on. His own nervousness made him unconscious of the effect
+which his words had produced on Donald. "Of course, she's practically of
+legal age now; but I know that she still regards you as her guardian and
+that in a sense you stand <i>in loco parentis</i> toward her. Certainly she
+regards your word as law. So I thought that, as she is practically alone
+in the world, it would be the only right and honorable thing to ... to
+speak to you, first."</p>
+
+<p>"To speak to me ... <i>first</i>?" echoed Donald, a trifle unsteadily, as he
+struck another match and watched its flame, with unseeing eyes, until
+it, too, burned his fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Great Scott, can't you guess what I'm driving at? The plain fact
+is ... is that I love her, Don. I ... I want to marry her."</p>
+
+<p>The words smote the older man's senses like a bolt from a clear sky, and
+they reeled, although he managed, somehow, to keep outwardly calm.</p>
+
+<p>"You ... you haven't told her ... yet ... that you love her?" he managed
+to say, after a moment.<a class="pagenum" name="page_320" id="page_320" title="320"></a></p>
+
+<p>"No. At least, not directly; but I guess that she knows it. I wanted,
+first, to be sure that you would approve ... perhaps even sponsor my
+suit, for, although I mean, of course, to stand or fall on the strength
+of my own case, I know that she worships you, as a brother, and might be
+influenced by your attitude. You understand, don't you, old man?"</p>
+
+<p>Donald nodded, then asked slowly, "Does ... does Smiles love you, Phil?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think that I can honestly say that I believe she does. Of course
+no word of love has ever passed between us, but ... well, you know how
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>With a mighty effort of his will, Donald conquered the trembling that
+had seized upon his body, and&mdash;on his third attempt&mdash;calmly lit the
+cigar. But his thoughts were running like a tumultuous millrace. "Blind,
+egotistical, self-confident fool," they shouted. "That something like
+this should have happened is the most natural thing in the world, and it
+has been farthest from your mind."</p>
+
+<p>He remained silent so long that Philip was forced to laugh, a bit
+uneasily.</p>
+
+<p>"I know well enough that I'm not half worthy of her&mdash;no man could
+be&mdash;but I hope that I'm not altogether ineligible, and I'm sure that I
+love her more than any one else could." At his words Donald winced.
+"I'll do my best to make her life a happy one, if she'll have me&mdash;you
+know that, old fellow. Well," he laughed again, "say something, can't
+you? I should almost get the idea that you<a class="pagenum" name="page_321" id="page_321" title="321"></a> were jealous, if I didn't
+also know that that is absurd. Your engagement to Marion Treville ... I
+suppose that you don't want to talk about that, but you know how deeply
+I feel for you."</p>
+
+<p>Donald shook himself together, mentally, and made an effort to respond
+with convincing heartiness, although he found that his words sounded
+unnaturally, even to his own ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, you have my consent, if it's worth anything. If our little
+Rose does love you, I am sure that you can make her happy&mdash;you're a
+splendid chap, Phil, and I&mdash;and I appreciate what you have done for her
+while I was away. She wrote me all about it."</p>
+
+<p>He stretched out his hand, and the other started from his chair, and
+wrung it heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, old man. You give me an added quota of courage, and I wish that
+I might go to her this minute; but I've been called out of town on an
+important case. I really shouldn't have taken the time even to stop
+here, but I simply had to see you to-night. Love is an awful thing,
+isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he answered, dully. "Love is always impatient ... I know that
+myself. Perhaps I ... that is, if I can get her ... Rose, I think that I
+will take her down to Ethel's with me, to-night, and you can ... can see
+her there. Where is she staying now?"</p>
+
+<p>"With Miss Merriman's family, if she hasn't been called out on a case
+since morning. She's been doing<a class="pagenum" name="page_322" id="page_322" title="322"></a> district nursing, principally; but
+she's already had two private cases, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Donald did not, and the realization of how far he had drifted away from
+his old, intimate association with Smiles' affairs, brought his heart an
+added stab of pain.</p>
+
+<p>"The number is Back Bay, 4315." He glanced at his watch and then
+exclaimed, "Heavens, I've got to catch a train at the Trinity Place
+station in five minutes. Be ready to furnish bail for my chauffeur as
+soon as he is arrested for over-speeding. 'Night. I'll see you at
+Manchester in a few days ... that is if ..."</p>
+
+<p>His words trailed off down the corridor, the front door closed and
+Donald was alone. No, not alone. Philip had gone, but the room was
+peopled with a multitude of ghosts and haunting spectres which he had
+left behind. The doctor had only to close his eyes in order to see them,
+gibbering and dancing on his hopes, which had been laid low by his
+friend's eager disclosure. Another loved her, another wanted to marry
+her, and that other could truthfully say that he believed she cared for
+him. No spoken words of love may have passed between them, but Donald
+knew well how unessential these were when heart called to heart.</p>
+
+<p>This was his homecoming!</p>
+
+<p>It were as though the eyes of his soul had been permitted, for a brief
+time, to behold a dazzling celestial light, which had suddenly failed,
+leaving<a class="pagenum" name="page_323" id="page_323" title="323"></a> the darkness blacker than before. The words which he had
+planned to utter had turned to bitter ashes in his mouth. He had to face
+the truth squarely. Rose was not, had never been, for him. It had been
+mere madness for him even to dream of such a thing. Had she not accepted
+him as a brother, and given him the frank affection of such
+relationship, which precludes love of the other sort?</p>
+
+<p>His heart hurt and he felt old and weary again. Somewhere, hidden in a
+cabinet, was a bottle of whiskey, he remembered, and he sought it out
+and poured himself a generous glassful. But, when he raised it to his
+lips, the vision face of Smiles, as she had looked that first night on
+the mountain, when she told Big Jerry and Judd that "nary a drap o' thet
+devil's brew would ever be in house of hers," appeared before him, and,
+with a groan, he set it down, untasted.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to his living-room, he sat a long time in mental readjustment,
+which was brought about with many a wrench at his heart; and when, at
+last, his old iron will&mdash;which had been weakened a little by illness and
+further softened by love&mdash;had once again been tempered in the crucible
+of anguish, the lines on his prematurely seamed face were deeper, and in
+his dark gray eyes was a new expression of pain.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In compliance with his telephoned request, Rose had packed her suit
+case, and was all ready to accompany him when he arrived at the
+Merrimans' apartment<a class="pagenum" name="page_324" id="page_324" title="324"></a> in a taxicab, to take her with him to the North
+Station to catch the nine o'clock train. She was irrepressibly the
+child, for the time being, and in her cheeks bloomed roses so colorful
+that Gertrude Merriman accused her of painting, while knowing well
+enough that joy needs no artistry.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm almost <i>too</i> happy," she cried after hearing his voice over the
+wire, and proceeded to dance around the room, to the impromptu chant,
+"Donald, dear, is here, is here. Donald, dear, is here."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to kiss him?" laughed her friend. But Rose was not to be
+teased, and answered, "Kiss him? I'll smother him with kisses. Isn't he
+my brother, and isn't he home again after being away two and a half
+years?"</p>
+
+<p>When the apartment bell rang, it was Rose who ran to answer it, and
+whose sweet young voice, saying, "Oh, come up <i>quick</i>," Donald heard
+thrilling over the wire. His heart leaped, but his will steadied its
+increased pulsations. It leaped again when he reached the third floor,
+and the girl of his dreams threw herself upon him with laughter which
+was suspiciously like weeping, and with the smother of kisses, which she
+could not restrain nor he prevent, although each burned and seared his
+very soul.</p>
+
+<p>She backed into the room and pulled him after her by the lapels of his
+coat; but, as the brighter light struck upon his face, she stopped with
+widening eyes, through which he could read the troubled question in her
+mind.<a class="pagenum" name="page_325" id="page_325" title="325"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my poor big brother. I didn't realize ... I mean, how you must have
+suffered. Poor dear, you don't have to tell me how ill you have been, so
+far away from all of us who love you."</p>
+
+<p>Her pitying words drove the last nail in his crucified hopes. Not only
+were they, all too obviously, merely those of a child who loved him with
+a sister's love, but they told him how changed, wan and aged he was; one
+who was, in fact, no longer fitted to mate with radiant youth.</p>
+
+<p>"'Old, ain't I, and ugly?'" He imitated Dick Deadeye with a laughing
+voice, but the laugh was not true.</p>
+
+<p>"Old and ugly?" she repeated, in horror. "Donald, how <i>can</i> you? You're
+tired out, that is all; and as for this&mdash;" she lightly touched the sheen
+of silvery gray at his temples, where the alchemy of Time and stress had
+made its mark&mdash;"it makes you look so ... so distinguished that I am
+ashamed of my frivolously familiar manner of greeting you. But I just
+couldn't help it, and I promise not to embarrass you again. Yes, you
+<i>were</i> embarrassed. I could read it in your face."</p>
+
+<p>There was but a moment for conversation with the others, and they were
+whirled off to catch the train for the North Shore resort.</p>
+
+<p>When they were seated, face to face, in the Pullman chair car, there
+came a moment of silence, during which each studied the other covertly.
+Donald decided that, physically, the girl had not greatly<a class="pagenum" name="page_326" id="page_326" title="326"></a> changed from
+the picture of her which he had borne away in his heart. The passing
+years had merely deepened the charm of the soft, waving hair, whose rich
+and glinting chestnut strands swept low on her broad forehead and
+nestled against the nape of her neck; the slender patrician nose and
+wonderfully shadowed eyes; the smooth contour of cheek and rounded chin;
+and the tender glory which still trembled, as in the old days, on her
+sensitive lips. But, in her poise and speech, after the first rush of
+impetuous childlike eagerness had spent itself, he discovered a new
+maturity, and he realized that, where he had left a child, he found a
+woman, whose heart was no longer worn upon her sleeve. True, her
+gratitude and affection for him were unaltered. They showed in every
+word and look, and once the thought came to him that he might yet win
+the castle of Desire, if he should only determine to enter the lists
+against Philip. The primal man in him cried out against, and might have
+overcome, his better nature, which whispered that this would be
+treachery to a friend who had played fair, and was worthy, if there had
+not always been before his mind the consideration that the fight would
+be hopeless. Rose was not for him; she loved another.</p>
+
+<p>And the girl? She cheered him with her smile, and loved him for the
+dangers he had passed as he, in the hope of in that subject finding a
+vent for his emotions, told her of the work he had been doing. But in
+her heart she was deeply disturbed. The<a class="pagenum" name="page_327" id="page_327" title="327"></a> tired, drawn look on his strong
+face would pass away, she felt; but the sight of the expression of pain
+in his eyes gave her thoughts pause. Had Marion Treville's faithlessness
+struck so deep? At the memory of her interview with the woman, Smiles'
+own eyes changed, and lost their quiet tenderness.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Morning had come, and the sunlight danced like a myriad host of tiny
+sprites, clad in cloth of gold over the broad blue bosom of the Atlantic
+and into the windows of little Muriel's cheerful bedroom. The door
+opened softly, and Rose, in trim uniform and cap, with its three black
+bands, slipped into the room, silently motioning the man in the hall
+outside to keep back out of sight. The child, thin and pale on her snowy
+bed, turned her head listlessly and looked at the intruder.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the suggestion of a smile touched her colorless lips, and
+lighted her unnaturally heavy eyes. She sat up with a glad cry of
+surprise and welcome, "Why, it's my own Smiles! Wherever did you come
+from; are you going to make us a visit? Oh, I'm so glad."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, darling. I got so tired and grumpy up in the hot city that I just
+had to come down here to be cheered up. Will you help do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Course I will. Why, just <i>seeing</i> you makes me want to cheer." She
+quickly swung her slender legs over the bedside. "Oh, now if dear Uncle
+Don<a class="pagenum" name="page_328" id="page_328" title="328"></a> were only safe home again it would be perfect. I've worried and
+worried about his getting hit by a bomb or being blown up by a
+submarine. I wish ..."</p>
+
+<p>"And, presto! your wish is granted," laughed Donald, as he ran into the
+room and caught his small niece up in an old-time bear hug.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh, oh. It's better than a fairy tale. I'm so happy I could die,
+but instead I'm going to get well right off. I'm well <i>now</i>; where are
+my clothes?"</p>
+
+<p>The little bare feet sought for bedroom slippers, and the light curls
+bobbed energetically as she enunciated, "Now that I've got you two I
+mean to keep you forever and ever. If you, Uncle Don, would only mar
+..."</p>
+
+<p>The man made haste to clap his hand over the offending mouth; but he was
+too late. Rose had heard, and, with glowing cheeks, replied quickly,
+"But you forget that Uncle Don adopted me as a little sister, long ago."</p>
+
+<p>She slipped her hand through his arm and pressed it close to her for a
+moment, before laughing gayly, "Run along, man. Milady is about to dress
+and this is no place for you."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_329" id="page_329" title="329"></a>
+<a name="THE_VALLEY_OF_INDECISION_9249" id="THE_VALLEY_OF_INDECISION_9249"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+<h3>THE VALLEY OF INDECISION</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Early evening it was, several days later, evening of a sultry, stifling
+day, which had escaped the bounds of longitude and invaded even the
+North Shore. The open ocean, itself, seemed to have forgotten its
+habitual unrest and yielded to the general languor. From the Thayers'
+summer home&mdash;a glorified bungalow, broad of veranda and shingled
+silvery-olive, atop a long, terraced bank&mdash;it had the appearance of a
+limitless mirror, reflecting the unblemished blue infinity of the sky.
+Only the never-ceasing series of vague white lines which ever crept up
+the shelving beach, to vanish like half-formed dreams, showed that,
+although the mighty deep slept, its bosom rose and fell as it breathed.</p>
+
+<p>The sky was a hazy horizon blue, unblemished save for a few vaporous
+clouds far in the west; the sun, well toward the end of its journey, was
+hazy, too, a thing of mystery; in the far eastern distance the broad
+Atlantic softened to a hazy violet-gray which, in turn, blended, almost
+without a line of demarcation, into the still more distant heavens.</p>
+
+<p>Far out, above the waters, a solitary gull circled with slow, sweeping
+curves, and now and again<a class="pagenum" name="page_330" id="page_330" title="330"></a> planed to the surface of the sea and struck
+from it a faint white spark.</p>
+
+<p>On the screened-in veranda, the members of the family, which now
+included Rose, sat or reclined, in attitudes of indolence, the men in
+negligee shirts and white flannels, the women in light dresses.
+Rose&mdash;who had, the day before, officially declared herself "off" the
+case; but had stayed on, a guest, at the general solicitation&mdash;wore a
+white dimity faintly sprinkled with her favorite rosebuds.</p>
+
+<p>Her ex-patient sat on a little stool close by her side, a book of fairy
+stories resting on her elevated bare knees. The companionship of her
+beloved Smiles had already brought the warm color of health back to her
+cheeks and banished the listless look from her eyes. Her mother and Mr.
+MacDonald, Senior, were reading. Rose, chin resting on her cupped palm,
+was gazing seaward with a dreamy, far-away expression in her eyes, as
+blue as the sea itself. Donald sat back of her, and scarcely turned his
+gaze from the even contour of her cheek and neck and the shimmering
+glory of her hair, as he pulled leisurely at his cigar.</p>
+
+<p>Only little Don showed signs of activity; for, with the boundless energy
+of four-and-a-half years, he was skidding and rolling industriously from
+one end of the porch to the other on a kiddie-car&mdash;a relic of the year
+before, and now much too small for him. With more or less dexterity he
+was weaving his way in and out among the various obstacles, animate and
+otherwise.<a class="pagenum" name="page_331" id="page_331" title="331"></a></p>
+
+<p>After looking for many silent minutes at the girl he loved, Donald said,
+tritely, "A penny for your thoughts, Smiles."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, you value them too high. I was thinking about you," she laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"A likely story! I know well enough that your mind was far away from the
+present spot&mdash;the far-off expression on your face is indication enough
+of that. Furthermore, I'll wager that I can guess pretty nearly where
+they were."</p>
+
+<p>It was a random shot, but he was disquieted to observe that it brought a
+faint blush in her cheeks. The added color, soft and lovely in itself,
+was darkly reflected on his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Jumping up, Smiles cried, with a mock pout, "I shan't stay here to be
+made the subject of a demonstration of clairvoyancy. My thoughts are my
+own, and I mean to keep them so, sir."</p>
+
+<p>As she ran into the house Donald's eyes followed her, moodily. And if he
+had, indeed, possessed the power of divination which he had laid
+pretence to, the expression in them, and the shadow on his spirit, would
+have been justified.</p>
+
+<p>Rose ran lightly upstairs, and, as she approached her room, drew from
+within her waist a letter. There was something both mysterious and
+childlike in the manner that she next opened one of the drawers of her
+dressing table and, taking out a box which held almost all of her modest
+treasures, started to place the letter with them.<a class="pagenum" name="page_332" id="page_332" title="332"></a></p>
+
+<p>Instead, however, she paused to lift out a neat little package
+containing a score or more of other epistles, tied together with a white
+ribbon. For a moment she hesitated, as though she were both mentally and
+physically weighing the objects held in either hand. A shadow of strange
+uncertainty came into her eyes, the outward expression of an inward
+uncertainty foreign to her nature. Slowly, she turned from her
+reflection in the mirror and dropped down on the edge of the daintily
+counterpaned bed. With hesitating fingers she untied the ribbon from the
+package and began to glance through the unbound letters, pausing at
+intervals to read stray paragraphs from them. Each one began and ended
+almost the same&mdash;"Dear little Smiles" and "Affectionately your friend,
+Donald."</p>
+
+<p>There was the one which contained the allegory of the steep path&mdash;which
+now lay behind her; the one in which he told her of little Donald's
+advent into the world and of his own betrothal to Marion Treville, and
+as she read that sentence which held so much of import in the lives of
+both of them, she sighed, "Poor Don. He hasn't mentioned her; but her
+faithlessness must have struck deep, for he is, oh, so changed and more
+reserved." There were other letters filled with the spirit of
+<i>camaraderie</i>, and then the later ones, strong, simple, with their
+stories of others' sacrifice in the great cause of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>When the last one was read and laid upon the others, she sat with them
+in her lap for a moment,<a class="pagenum" name="page_333" id="page_333" title="333"></a> musing. The suspicion of tears shone in her
+eyes as she finally shook her head, and, evening them carefully, retied
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she whispered, half aloud, "I mustn't be foolish. He's just my
+brother, that is the way he cares for me. It has always been like that.
+And I ... I mustn't be foolish."</p>
+
+<p>Almost angrily she brushed away the single tear which had started its
+uncertain course down her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>With a gesture of resolution, she stood up and placed the package in its
+box. The other letter was about to follow; but, as she started to lay it
+down, she changed her mind, and, with the flush again mounting her
+cheeks, took it from the envelope, which bore a special delivery stamp,
+postmarked in Boston that very morning.</p>
+
+<p>Opening it, she read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"My dearest Smiles:</p>
+
+<p>Will you be the bearer of a message from me to your kind hostess?
+As you know, she has invited me down to Manchester-by-the-Sea for
+the week-end, as a surprise for Donald, and I have heretofore been
+unable to give a definite answer. Now I have banished everything
+else from my mind and shall arrive about seven-thirty.</p>
+
+<p>You wonder, perhaps, why I haven't written this direct to her? In
+answering my own question I have a confession&mdash;yes, <i>two</i>
+confessions to make. A poor excuse is better than none, and I have
+sent the message to Ethel, through you, merely as an excuse for
+writing you. <a class="pagenum" name="page_334" id="page_334" title="334"></a></p>
+
+<p>To my own surprise I have discovered that I have suddenly become a
+moral coward, and am obliged to descend to subterfuges in order to
+bolster up my courage. This isn't a usual thing with me, I think,
+but neither is the occasion. I've been wanting and planning to tell
+you something, face to face, for a long time; but at the crucial
+moment my courage has failed each time. I could not nerve myself to
+bear the possibility of the wrong answer.</p>
+
+<p>Now I cannot put it off any longer and I am forced to tell you that
+'something' in this manner. It is a simple message, dear, but it
+has meant more than any other to the world through all ages, and it
+means more to me than all the world, now. I love you, Rose,&mdash;I want
+to marry you.</p>
+
+<p>There is not anything more that need be said; you can imagine all
+the rest that I would say if I were with you in person, as I shall
+be with you in spirit as you read those words. I suspect that even
+they were not necessary. You must have guessed my love, which has
+grown steadily during these past three years, and have understood
+why I could not speak it before. It was not merely that the ethics
+of our relation forced me to keep silent; but I have felt, since
+you are situated as you are, and Donald is still morally, if not
+legally, your guardian and protector, I should speak to him first.
+I have done so. My love for you was almost the first thing that he
+heard about, on reaching home. And Smiles, dearest, he has gladly
+given his consent to my suit and wished me luck.</p>
+
+<p>Now that I have written the fateful message, my courage is
+restored, in part at least, and I want to hear the answer from your
+own sweet lips. I can scarcely wait to hear it, for presumptuous as
+it is&mdash;I cannot help hoping that it will be the one I so desire. I
+cannot help believing that you do care for me.<a class="pagenum" name="page_335" id="page_335" title="335"></a></p>
+
+<p>Please don't run away, dear. I want to see you, alone, as soon as I
+reach Manchester.</p>
+
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 4em;'>With all my heart and soul I am</p>
+<p class='tight' style='text-align:right; margin-right: 2em;'>Your lover, <span class="smcap">Philip</span>." </p></div>
+
+<p>Smiles slowly replaced the note, her first love letter, in its envelope,
+laid it in the box and locked this in the drawer. With her hands resting
+on the dresser she leaned forward and looked searchingly into her own
+eyes, as though trying to read her very heart. Her lips moved and formed
+the words, "He cannot help hoping that the answer will be the one he
+desires. He knows that I <i>do</i> care for him. Yes, he cannot help knowing
+it; I am too simple to hide my feelings, and he has been so sweet that I
+could not help ... but ... oh, I wish that I hadn't got to tell him ...
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Donald had been sitting for many minutes in the silence born
+of laboring thoughts. He had guessed Smiles' secret in part, but not in
+its entirety, and the bitter unhappiness, which had had its inception in
+Philip's disclosure, lay over his soul like a pall.</p>
+
+<p>His father was the first to speak, and his words caused Donald to start,
+for they seemed to be the result of telepathic communication.</p>
+
+<p>"You told us, once, that she wasn't a witch, but, by Jove, there's both
+witchery and healing in that smile of hers, Don. Look at Muriel now.
+It's nothing less than a miracle what the very presence of Rose has done
+for her."<a class="pagenum" name="page_336" id="page_336" title="336"></a></p>
+
+<p>"I was wrong," answered Donald, shortly, whereupon Ethel laid aside her
+book and joined in the conversation in a low voice, so that the absorbed
+Muriel might not hear.</p>
+
+<p>"You love her, Don, it's perfectly obvious. What are you waiting for?
+Now that Marion has behaved so shamefully, it is my dearest hope that
+you will marry Rose. I didn't mean to speak of it; but, really, you are
+changing, Donald, and I don't want to think of your becoming a
+self-centred old bachelor."</p>
+
+<p>"Ethel's right," supplemented his father. "I'm only surprised that you
+haven't asked her before. You've been in the same house with her for a
+whole week. Don't let one ... er ... unfortunate experience discourage
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Donald carefully knocked the ashes from his pipe, got up, walked to the
+railing, and stood with his back toward them.</p>
+
+<p>Then he laughed, a trifle bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for the advice. I won't pretend that I don't ... care for her;
+but I can't ask her to marry me, as you suggest&mdash;that is, not now."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, I should like to know?" demanded his sister, impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't explain, either; but there is a reason. I am bound in honor.
+Please don't say anything more about it."</p>
+
+<p>But Ethel was not to be silenced so easily.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what you are talking about; but<a class="pagenum" name="page_337" id="page_337" title="337"></a> it's nonsense, anyway,"
+she answered. "Why, she worships you. Any one can see that."</p>
+
+<p>"Worships me!" echoed Donald, with sarcastic inflection. "What's the
+sense in exaggerating like that, Ethel? I suppose that she is fond of me
+in a way; the way you are, but ..."</p>
+
+<p>"I never suspected you of lacking courage before," interrupted the
+other. "If you haven't the nerve to ask that child yourself, <i>I</i> will. I
+guess that I'm a better judge of feminine nature than you, Donald."</p>
+
+<p>"You failed to prove it once before," he retorted, and instantly added,
+with a tone of unusual contrition, "I am sorry I said that. It was
+unnecessary and unworthy. But, really, I can't allow you to play Mrs.
+John Alden to my Miles Standish. There is a reason ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you men. You're all alike, when you climb on some sort of a high
+horse and become mysterious. I don't know what you are talking
+about&mdash;perhaps you are deluding yourself with an absurdly chivalrous
+notion about being her guardian&mdash;but I tell you this. A normal girl, who
+is as full of life as Rose, can't be expected to be like the wishy-washy
+heroines of some murky novel, remain faithful unto death to her first
+unrequited love, and turn into a sweetly spiritual old maid, waiting for
+the hero to come and claim her. ''Tain't accordin' ter huming nater,' as
+Captain Jim says. The mating call is too strong, and she is sure to
+respond to the love note of another sooner or later;&mdash;don't flatter
+yourself that you<a class="pagenum" name="page_338" id="page_338" title="338"></a> are the only man in Smiles' creation. She's as sweet
+and pure as any girl could be, but she's human, like the rest of us ...
+that's what makes me love her so, and, unless 'you speak for yourself,
+John' ..."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't, Ethel, I ... s-s-sh."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's light footsteps on the descending stairs caused him to break
+off with a low note of warning, and hardly had he resumed his seat
+before she was sitting on the arm of the chair and rumpling his wavy
+hair, as naturally as a child, or a sister.</p>
+
+<p>Watching him closely, Ethel saw the veins begin to swell on the back of
+his muscular hand, as his fingers gripped the other arm of the chair.
+She sighed, and then a look of wondering distress came into her face as
+the thought flashed unbidden through her mind, "I wonder if it is
+possible that he made some unfortunate, entangling alliance in France,
+after he heard from Marion? It isn't impossible. Men are often caught on
+the rebound like that."</p>
+
+<p>Donald was the first to make an effort to introduce a new subject into
+the thoughts of all, by saying, "Doesn't the <i>Water Witch</i> look pretty
+in this light?" as he pointed to a trim little eighteen-foot race-about,
+whose highly polished mahogany sides, free from paint, reflected the
+water which reflected them. "I don't know as I have properly thanked you
+for having her put in commission for me, Ethel."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that it would please you, and I had them overhaul and rig her
+as soon as I learned that you were coming home."<a class="pagenum" name="page_339" id="page_339" title="339"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Please me! Well, I should say 'vraiment.' Come, Smiles, let's run away
+from all the world beside, and I'll show you my skill as a skipper."</p>
+
+<p>Ethel sent a meaning glance in the direction of her father, but he was
+laughing; "'Skill as a skipper,' indeed, on such an evening as this! He
+would be an amateur, for certain, who couldn't steer with one arm free.
+Whew, there isn't a breath."</p>
+
+<p>"There is going to be, and not many minutes from now. Unless I miss my
+guess we'll have a thunderstorm, and a west wind which will make short
+work of this humidity. There, feel that breeze? Ouch, you little devil,
+get off my foot. It may be large but it wasn't built for a kiddie-car
+racetrack."</p>
+
+<p>The obstacle had caused an upset, and baby Don, more angry than hurt, to
+be sure, set up a howl and ran to Smiles' arms for comfort.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll spoil that baby," growled his uncle. "Well, what do you say, are
+you coming?"</p>
+
+<p>He stood up, and stretched his powerful frame in anticipation of the
+exercise that he loved.</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't mind, Donald, I'd ... I'd rather not ... to-night,"
+answered Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid that you don't like the ocean; I rather thought that you
+wouldn't," he responded gently, for he had in mind the fact that both of
+her parents had met their death by drowning. The girl sat silently for a
+little while, with her eyes fixed upon the waters, here and there upon
+the surface of which had begun to appear shadowy streaks of varying<a class="pagenum" name="page_340" id="page_340" title="340"></a>
+tones, as though the Master Painter were deftly sweeping a mighty,
+invisible brush across the pictured surface. Interblending shades of
+soft green, gray and violet came and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Without turning her head, she answered, pensively, "It is very, very
+beautiful and I love it&mdash;in a way. But I am afraid of it, too. Yes, I
+like the lordly mountains better, Don. To me there is always something
+sinister about the sea, even when it is in as peaceful a mood as this;
+storms come upon it so swiftly, and it has taken so many precious
+lives."</p>
+
+<p>Donald laid an understanding hand upon her shoulder for a brief moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't urge you," he said. "Let's go for a little walk, then."</p>
+
+<p>"I ... I can't do that, either, Donald. It was meant to be a surprise,
+but ... Dr. Bentley is coming down from Boston to-night, and I promised
+... that is, he has asked me to ... to go somewhere with him." Rose was
+blushing again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see. I didn't know that Phil was coming, although, of course, he
+has a standing invitation, and knows that I'm always delighted to see
+him," answered Donald, in a tone which he made natural with an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"I invited him especially," broke in Ethel. "And he accepted in a letter
+to Rose."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_341" id="page_341" title="341"></a>
+<a name="THE_STORM_AND_THE_SACRIFICE_9597" id="THE_STORM_AND_THE_SACRIFICE_9597"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+<h3>THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Baby Don put an end to the moment of strained silence which succeeded.
+He laid hold of two of Smiles' fingers and began to pull at her, while
+saying insistently, "Come down to the beach with me, Aunty Smiles, and
+hear the waves ro-er." This was a favorite pastime with him.</p>
+
+<p>His grandfather smiled. "The waves are 'ro-ering' as gently as any
+sucking dove, to-night."</p>
+
+<p>But the baby was not to be turned from his design, and tugged
+persistently until Rose was obliged to rise, laughing. Muriel also
+started up.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go down with you and try out the <i>Water Witch</i> alone&mdash;unless, that
+is, either of you want to come along," said Donald.</p>
+
+<p>His father and Ethel refused, with a show of indignation over the
+begrudging form which the invitation had taken, and he was not sorry.
+Neither man nor girl could find anything to say as they walked side by
+side to the beach, and the former launched the dory tender. As he put
+off she waved him a cheery good-by, and sent her low voice across the
+broadening water:</p>
+
+<p>"Come back to us soon. And be careful. It is beginning to get rough
+already."<a class="pagenum" name="page_342" id="page_342" title="342"></a></p>
+
+<p>With a note in his voice which she did not understand, he called back,
+"Perhaps I'll sail straight over to France. You wouldn't care."</p>
+
+<p>"Foolish man. You know that I would," she cried, and then turned to join
+the children in their game of skipping pebbles.</p>
+
+<p>Donald sent the skiff through the choppy waves with vigorous strokes and
+shot her around at the last moment for a perfect landing. The mainsail
+and jib went up with rapid jerks while the rings rattled their protest.
+The strenuous physical exercise brought him temporary relief; but, when
+he had cast off, taken the tiller and after a few moments of idle
+jockeying back and forth in the light puffs, squared away for the run
+seaward before the rising wind, his gloomy thoughts returned, to settle
+like a flock of phantom harpies and feast on his brain.</p>
+
+<p>Out of nothing grew a vision of Judd's chalky, troubled face, and he
+felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the crude mountaineer, who had
+likewise loved and lost. "Smiles wasn't to blame then. She isn't to
+blame <i>now</i>. She never led either of us on," he said aloud; but his
+clenched teeth cut through the end of his cigar, nevertheless. With only
+his moody thought to bear him company, Donald steered seaward.</p>
+
+<p>Starting slowly, the racing craft was momentarily given new impetus by
+swelling wind and following wave; but the man paid no heed to the things
+which should have served him as a warning&mdash;the higher<a class="pagenum" name="page_343" id="page_343" title="343"></a> heaving of the
+waters, now as gray and as cloudy green as a dripping cliff, and touched
+with flecks of milky spume; and the uneven tugging of the sail. When he
+did become aware of the swift change which had taken place, hardly five
+minutes had passed from the time he had started out, yet a quick glance
+behind him disclosed a new heaven and a new earth and sea; the old had
+passed away.</p>
+
+<p>Where else is nature's stupendous power so evident as in the sinister
+speed with which the armies of the tempest make their swift advance,
+company on company, regiment on regiment, division on division?</p>
+
+<p>In the moments which had passed unmarked by him in his absorption, the
+whole western sky had become overcast and blackened by the vaporous army
+of invasion, whose forecoursing streams of cavalry skirmishers were
+already high over his head. The earth had lost its laughing colors, and
+seemed to lie cowering, with its head covered with a dull mantle, and
+the sea had accepted the challenge of the storm clouds and was beginning
+to leap forward in swirling, gloomy waves.</p>
+
+<p>With a strong steady pull on the tiller, Donald brought the little craft
+around in a sweeping curve and headed into the wind, which had suddenly
+become chill and moist. The boat tilted sharply, and a dash of spray
+leaped the bow and, changing back to water, ran down the leeward side of
+the cockpit. A drop of rain splashed on his bared forearm,<a class="pagenum" name="page_344" id="page_344" title="344"></a> and then
+another and another. Through the dark, serried clouds came a dagger
+thrust of fire, to be followed by a distant detonation which bore his
+heart back to the shuddering fields of France.</p>
+
+<p>The new picture was impressed on his mind as on the sensitized film of a
+camera, and simultaneously the action of distant figures were registered
+upon it. Toiling up the steep bank to the cottage was a marionette made
+recognizable as Muriel by a tiny dash of red at the waist and on the
+head. For an instant he wondered if Smiles and his little namesake had
+already reached the house. Then he caught sight of them, still on the
+beach. There was fully a quarter of a mile of water between him and the
+shore, but the distance was being cut down bravely by the race-about,
+whose specialty was going to windward in a blow. Steadied by her racing
+keel, she cut through the waves like a knife.</p>
+
+<p>The child, a mere gray dot, was apparently fleeing as fast as his sturdy
+little legs could carry him from the pursuing girl.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of his bitterness of soul, Donald's lips curved into a smile as
+they formed the words, "Ah, the battle is on, once more. Rose has
+insisted that they hurry up to the house and Don has said, 'I won't.'
+Jerusalem, look at him kite it!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant a tremulous curtain of light was let down from heaven,
+momentarily, and the two tiny figures were disclosed as clear as by day.
+He saw the baby dodging adroitly under Smiles' outstretched<a class="pagenum" name="page_345" id="page_345" title="345"></a> arms, and
+heading out onto the narrow pier, to which was attached a float for
+rowboats.</p>
+
+<p>"He's got his 'mad' up," thought the man, as he veered off a point so as
+to get a better view. "He isn't afraid of thunder, lightning or of
+rain&mdash;or anything else, and it would be just like him to run right off
+the ... Great God in heaven, he's done it!" he shouted aloud and sprang
+to his feet, and almost lost his grip on the straining tiller. Even as
+he had been thinking, the light had grown again, and he saw the child,
+halfway down the pier, with a rebellious jerk tear himself loose from
+the clutching grasp on his blouse, lose his balance, stumble and roll
+from the incline into the now surging water.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Water Witch</i> luffed sharply, and her sail snapped with a report
+like a pistol shot. Without taking his horrified gaze from the unreal
+picture which the ghastly lightning illumined, Donald instinctively
+steadied the boat, and, with his powerful body strained forward as
+though he were urging the craft to greater effort. "God, God, God." The
+words came through his clenched teeth, half prayer, half curse at the
+Fate which held him helpless to act&mdash;and the wind snatched them from his
+lips and bore them away, shrieking in malicious madness.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness fell, blotting out the scene. Then the lightning flared
+again, and, in the brief white second that it lasted, he saw Rose climb
+onto a bench against the railing of the pier, and leap into the water.<a class="pagenum" name="page_346" id="page_346" title="346"></a></p>
+
+<p>"God, she can't swim a stroke," groaned the man, as he pounded his left
+hand against the gunwale until the blood came through the abraded skin.
+Plunged in darkness again, the man, whom Rose had called unimaginative,
+suffered all the untold agony of soul which had been hers during the
+moment in which she had been forced to make up her mind and carry out
+the act, only his anguish was the more intense, for hers was the quick
+action and his the forced inaction of a man bound to a stake, within
+full sight of a tragedy being enacted upon a loved one. The distance
+between the boat and shore was not so great but that he could see
+everything that was occurring; but, with the wind dead ahead and blowing
+viciously, he might as well have been in another world for aught that he
+could do.</p>
+
+<p>The spell of darkness, doubly black after the flash, seemed like an
+eternity to Donald. In reality it was as brief as the others, yet, when
+the light came, it disclosed other forms in action. A youth, whom he had
+vaguely noticed working around a rowboat on the beach as he put out, was
+plunging into the water, and down the steeply terraced bank, with
+leaping strides, was running a tall, slender figure clad in light gray.
+Minute as it was, seen from that distance, Donald recognized it. It was
+Philip, and his bursting heart gave voice to a cry of welcome and hope.
+Philip would save Smiles!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:300px'>
+<a name="illus-005" id="illus-005"></a>
+<a href="images/illus-347f.jpg">
+<img src="images/illus-347.jpg" alt="&#34;HOLDING THE GIRL IN CLINGING WHITE CLOSE TO HIM&#34;" title="" width="300" /></a><br />
+<span class="caption">&#34;HOLDING THE GIRL IN CLINGING WHITE CLOSE TO HIM&#34;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="page_347" id="page_347" title="347"></a>True,
+he would save her for himself. He could not keep the thought out
+of his surge of hope; but the erstwhile bitterness was swept away.
+Nothing else mattered, if Rose could be saved. Measured by the ticking
+of a clock, the action was taking place with dramatic speed; but, to his
+quivering mind, it dragged woefully, and the periods when the light
+failed caused him to cry aloud.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the searchlight of the sky was turned on, dazzlingly, and he
+saw the unknown youth wading ashore, bearing in his arms a tiny form
+whose animated arms and legs told the story of baby Don's timely rescue;
+he saw Ethel running wildly toward them, to gather her offspring into
+her outstretched arms; he saw Philip on the float, in the act of casting
+himself prone. Then the picture faded once more and he railed at the
+ensuing blackness as though it had been a wilful, animate thing. This
+time it lasted longer, and the man's deep breath came in rasping sobs
+before the scene was again revealed. Now there were two forms standing
+unsteadily on the float; two forms that were almost one, for the man in
+gray was holding the girl in clinging white close to him. Still, she
+could stand; Smiles was alive, she was saved! And the watcher's lips
+gave vent to a shout of relief and joy, a shout which ended in a groan.
+All the power of his masterful will was not enough to make him do that
+which he longed to&mdash;turn his tortured eyes from the picture which spelt
+life to Rose, and death to all his golden dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Now he saw them moving slowly up the pier, the girl still leaning
+heavily against the man, and supported<a class="pagenum" name="page_348" id="page_348" title="348"></a> by his encircling arm. They
+paused, and Rose half turned, and slowly waved her hand toward the sea
+in a reassuring gesture, and Donald whispered, "God bless her. She knows
+that I have been a witness to the whole thing, and she remembers, thinks
+of me, even at ... at this time. I cannot see her face, but I know that
+she is smiling."</p>
+
+<p>The lingering effulgence from a final wave of light vanished; the two
+forms toiling up the shore blended into the returning shadows; the
+curtain of darkness fell, and the drama was ended.</p>
+
+<p>"Why could it not have been I?" groaned Donald. The wind, already spent
+from its brief fury, chortled softly among the shrouds as though it was
+laughing at him, another mortal made the victim of capricious Fate.
+Surely it knew that he would have served as well as its agent and would
+only too gladly have given his very life for Smiles, but it had wilfully
+sent him away and sent Opportunity to Philip.</p>
+
+<p>Heroes and martyrs; what are they, after all, but the creatures of that
+whimsical goddess? Most men and most women have within them the courage
+to dare all things if the occasion comes, but to a few only, chosen, it
+often seems, by chance, is that occasion granted. Yet, how often has the
+history of life, both racial and individual, been changed by such an
+event!</p>
+
+<p>Donald knew his star had sunk below the far horizon and that Philip's
+had been carried to its zenith. The lover was likewise the rescuer. It<a class="pagenum" name="page_349" id="page_349" title="349"></a>
+were as though the play had been written and the stage set for no other
+purpose than to bring the romance to its culmination, and, now that this
+had been accomplished, the useless properties were being removed. The
+storm was over, ending as quickly as it had begun; the cloud-legions
+were hurrying eastward overhead to form the setting of another tragedy
+or farce somewhere else, or to return to the nothing which had given
+them birth. A few faint flashes and a distant rumble or two marked their
+passing.</p>
+
+<p>Along the western edge of the world appeared a narrow streak of ruddy
+light, like burnished copper beneath the blackness above. Blazing forth
+with the glory of a conqueror, the sun appeared within it, and seemed to
+poise immovable for an instant 'twixt heaven and earth, while its
+dazzling rays turned the living waters to molten gold. Then it slowly
+sank from sight, and, like wraiths of the dying day, the night-shadows
+began to creep out from the shore, deeper and deeper, nearer and nearer,
+until they engulfed the little craft and its owner.</p>
+
+<p>With a sudden decision, Donald played out the sheet and put the tiller
+over. The boat swung around into the path of the wind and fled seaward
+again. He could not go home, now. He must fight out the battle with
+self, as it is always fought, alone, and what place could be more
+fitting than out there in the darkness, on the face of the troubled
+waters?</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_350" id="page_350" title="350"></a>
+<a name="WHAT_THE_CRICKET_HEARD_9838" id="WHAT_THE_CRICKET_HEARD_9838"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+<h3>WHAT THE CRICKET HEARD</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Two hours later Donald stumbled, like a strong man physically played
+out, up the path to the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>Ethel saw him coming, and ran part way down the steps to meet him. With
+her arms around his neck, she half-sobbed out the words in a choked
+voice, "Oh, Don. Do you know what has happened? Could you see from your
+boat? Little Donny? Smiles? Could you see, Don?"</p>
+
+<p>He nodded, dumbly; but his sister kept on, "She couldn't swim, but yet
+she jumped, instantly, to save him. You see, she thought that she was
+alone, she didn't know about that boy. Oh, Donald, we must do something
+for him, something splendid. He saved my baby's life."</p>
+
+<p>Ethel was crying now, and the man forgot his own misery in comforting
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"But why didn't you come, Donald? You didn't know...."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I knew that everything ... was all right. Rose waved to me and
+called. I ... I <i>couldn't</i> come, Ethel. I can't make you understand."</p>
+
+<p>With the light of understanding breaking in upon her mind, and bringing
+a flood of sympathy with it,<a class="pagenum" name="page_351" id="page_351" title="351"></a> his sister once more drew close and
+encircled his neck with her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Where ... where is she?" he asked, as though the words were wrung from
+him against his will.</p>
+
+<p>"Smiles has gone for a little walk with ... Dr. Bentley, dear," answered
+Ethel in a manner which she strove to make commonplace. She felt his
+frame quiver, and, with a motion that was almost rough, he shook off her
+comforting arms, and mounted the steps, holding to the rail as he did
+so. He went directly indoors, and to his room, with the instinct of a
+wounded creature to seek its cave or burrow. Save for a cold, cheerless
+patch of moonlight on the floor it was dark, and he felt no desire to
+turn on the lights. For a while he sat, silent and motionless, on the
+edge of the bed. But he could not stand the closed-in solitude. The
+place seemed filled with the fragrant presence of the girl who was not
+there; would never be there. He wanted to smoke, and went to the bureau
+to fumble blindly for a pipe which he remembered he had left on it. His
+hand touched something small and glazed, and he drew it sharply away.
+The something was the little rose jar. Smiles' first gift to him, which
+had travelled far since that morning on the mountain side, five years
+before.</p>
+
+<p>The thoughts which would not be stilled repossessed his mind, and drove
+him out-of-doors again,&mdash;through a side door, so that he would not have
+to speak to his father and Ethel, whose voices he heard in low
+conversation on the front porch. They ceased for a<a class="pagenum" name="page_352" id="page_352" title="352"></a> moment, as though
+the speakers had heard the sound of his footsteps, and paused to listen.
+The night was still, so still that the chirp of a cricket under the
+piazza sounded loudly. It was a cheerful little note, and Donald hated
+it for its cheer, and started hastily away toward the beach.</p>
+
+<p>High above, to the south, the moon was sailing through a sea of clouds,
+in silent majesty. Moonlit nights he had seen aplenty since that one in
+the Cumberlands, four summers previous, when he had climbed the
+mountain, impatient to see once more the strange, smiling child who had
+so stirred his imagination. In the old days he had loved the soft and
+majestic radiance. Now he hated it. Had he not lived long in war-ridden
+France, where every clear night illumined by that orb, which once had
+been the glory of those who loved, had meant merely the advent of the
+Hunnish fiends, whose winging visits brought death and devastation to
+the sleeping towns below?</p>
+
+<p>He had fled from the darkness of his room, but now he craved the
+darkness again, for, perchance, it might blot out the memory of other
+nights, beautiful as golden dreams, or hideous as nightmares, when the
+moon had shone as it did now.</p>
+
+<p>As he made a quick turn about a rocky obstruction in his rapid path, he
+came almost full upon two others, a man and a woman. On the yielding
+sand his footfalls had made no sound, and they were unaware of his
+sudden approach. Donald stopped, and<a class="pagenum" name="page_353" id="page_353" title="353"></a> stepped hastily back out of sight;
+but not before he had seen the man's arms gather the slender form of the
+girl in close embrace, and seen her lift her sweet young
+face&mdash;tear-bejeweled, but smiling with the tenderness of love&mdash;for his
+kiss.</p>
+
+<p>With the rocks put between him and the two, Donald stood for a moment
+with clenched fists pressed brutally against his eyes as though to grind
+out the picture recorded there. Then, with blind but nervous strides, he
+fled from the spot which, at the one time, held such happiness and such
+despair.</p>
+
+<p>It was close to midnight when his steps bore him instinctively back to
+the unlighted house; but this time the exercise and the cool night air
+had failed to bring relief to his heart. He could not face the idea of
+tossing for hours on a sleepless bed, and so passed the front door and
+seated himself within the dark shadows of a corner of the piazza.</p>
+
+<p>"Chirr-r-p, chirr-r-p, chirr-r-p," began a pleasantly shrill little
+voice beneath him. Over and over it repeated the sound, until the man's
+feverish imagination had made it into "cheer-up," and he cursed the
+cricket for its silly advice. So busy was his mind with introspection
+that he did not hear the door open gently, and the first intimation that
+he was not alone was brought to him by the sound of a light footstep
+directly behind him. He turned his head, and saw a dim, ethereally white
+figure,&mdash;Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought that you would never come, Donald," she whispered, as she
+sank down close by his side on<a class="pagenum" name="page_354" id="page_354" title="354"></a> Muriel's little stool, and laid her cool
+hand on his fevered one. "I have been watching from my window for an
+hour. I couldn't go to sleep until I had told you something."</p>
+
+<p>With an effort he answered evenly, "I ... I think that I know what it
+is, Rose."</p>
+
+<p>"You know? But how ...?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you ... and Philip, on the beach," he replied, dully.</p>
+
+<p>"You saw ... Oh! And you heard what ...?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I went away at once, of course. But I did not need to hear. I ... I
+am glad if you are happy, Smiles."</p>
+
+<p>She was silent for a long moment; then whispered with a note of joy in
+her low voice that wrung his heart, "Yes, I am very happy, Donald."</p>
+
+<p>"Philip is a splendid fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"You wanted me to ... to marry him, Don?"</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>wanted</i> you to?" He barely succeeded in checking, unspoken, the
+burning words on his tongue; but this time his voice betrayed him, and,
+if he had not been resolutely keeping his face turned away from her, he
+might have seen, even in that dim light, an odd change come into the
+expression of her lovely face, and seen a wonderfully tender and
+somewhat mischievous smile touch her lips. All that he did know,
+however, was that she gave a low, happy laugh, which was like a
+knife-thrust to his soul.</p>
+
+<p>"Don," she said at length, "I have told no one<a class="pagenum" name="page_355" id="page_355" title="355"></a> else of my great secret
+yet, for I wanted to tell you, first of all. I couldn't go to sleep
+without telling you, for you have been such a dear confidant and father
+confessor to me that it seems as though I must tell you everything. I
+... I've just got to tell you what has happened. May I?"</p>
+
+<p>The man barely smothered a groan. Must he hear this girl, in her
+simplicity, talk on and on about the man she loved, and had promised to
+marry? It struck him, too, as strange that she should be willing to lay
+bare anything so sacred in a woman's life, but then she was her natural
+self, and quite different from most girls, in her attitude toward him.</p>
+
+<p>But Rose was speaking quietly, and as though to herself, "Philip has
+been so sweet and good to me while you were away. You remember that you,
+yourself, told me that you meant him to take your place as my unofficial
+protector, and that I should go to him with my perplexities. It would
+have been better for me if I had followed your advice closer, but now I
+can laugh at spilt milk."</p>
+
+<p>Rose had already confessed to Donald about her "investment" and been by
+him cross-examined into an admission of her little charities, which, in
+their aggregate, had so nearly wiped out her bank account. She could
+laugh about them now, for she had won to her goal, and already begun to
+earn a livelihood, but she had carefully hidden in her heart the story
+of the bitter struggle in which she had engaged to make both ends meet
+during the last few months of<a class="pagenum" name="page_356" id="page_356" title="356"></a> her course, when her mysterious refusals
+to accept any invitations from Ethel, Miss Merriman or Philip for her
+free afternoons and evenings, had left them wondering what on earth she
+was doing. No one guessed that they were spent in earning the few sadly
+needed dollars which her pride forbade her to borrow from any of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I can laugh at spilt milk," Smiles' words echoed in Donald's brain,
+and hurt. He knew that Philip was fairly well-to-do, and, of course,
+Rose would want for nothing when she married him. This was the thought
+which brought the poignant stab.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not strange that I began ... that he became very dear to me, was
+it, Donald?"</p>
+
+<p>The man shook his head dumbly. He could not answer her in words.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I should not say it; but some time ago I began to guess that
+... that he loved me. Not that he said a word, Donald, that is, not
+until to-day,&mdash;and then he didn't say it," she laughed a little. "He
+<i>wrote</i> it and he ... he asked me to marry him. He said, besides, that
+he had spoken to you, first, and that you had given your brotherly
+consent. It was a very sweet letter, Don; the first real love letter
+that I ever received, think of that!"</p>
+
+<p>Only by clinching his teeth and gripping the arms of the chair could the
+man repress a groan.</p>
+
+<p>"It was after he had ... had saved my life<a class="pagenum" name="page_357" id="page_357" title="357"></a> that ..." She stopped, and
+broke into her thought with the words, "Oh, Donald, I can never, never
+forget to-night, and the awful feeling that I had when little Don went
+into the water. You see, you were far away, and I didn't know about that
+brave boy on the beach, so I thought that I had got to save him if I
+could, and I didn't know <i>how</i> I could. And then those black, cold waves
+going over my head! I was quite sure that I was going to die, and I
+almost hoped so for ... for I couldn't find Donny."</p>
+
+<p>She leaned her head against his knee and cried a little; but, when he
+tried to speak, and tell her what had been in his heart, she interrupted
+hastily with, "Oh, please, let's not speak of it, ever again. I know how
+you felt, too.</p>
+
+<p>"It was after that that Philip asked me for my answer. I knew what it
+was going to be, but ..."</p>
+
+<p>Donald could not stand it any longer. "I know. You love him, you are
+going to marry him, Smiles. It's all right, he is a splendid fellow,
+dear," he repeated mechanically.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he is, and I do love him," she replied quietly; but she could not
+contain her secret any longer and added, "But a girl can't marry her
+<i>brother</i>, Donald."</p>
+
+<p>"Her brother? Please, Rose, don't joke."</p>
+
+<p>"It's true!"</p>
+
+<p>"You! Philip's sister? It's impossible, unbelievable!" Yet a surge of
+mad, uncontrollable joy swept over him, and his heart burst into song.<a class="pagenum" name="page_358" id="page_358" title="358"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Unbelievable, yes. But it's <i>so</i>, Donald, although I can hardly credit
+it yet, myself."</p>
+
+<p>"But how? Tell me how you found out. What happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, you're hurting my hand, Donald. I'll tell you all about it as
+soon as I can, but please don't ask so many questions all at once, and
+please tell me first that you are glad, that my great secret makes you
+happy, as it does me."</p>
+
+<p>"Happy? Oh, great heavens! But you? Are you really pleased? You said
+that you loved him!"</p>
+
+<p>"And so I did, and do ... dearly. But, you see, Donald, although I have
+cared for him for a long, long while, there was something about my
+affection that I could not explain, even to myself. It was ... was
+different, somehow, from what ... from what I felt it must be for the
+man whom I might marry. Now I know that it was the subconscious call of
+the blood, the love of a sister for a brother, and never anything else."</p>
+
+<p>Lifted and swayed by a great happiness and reborn hope, Donald laughed
+aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you're a strange little girl, Smiles. I had not realized that you
+were fully grown up until to-night; but now I know that you are a
+woman,&mdash;a child no longer. My little Rose would never have tried to be
+so dramatic, nor would she have tried to analyze her love, and label it
+the call of kin, rather than that of a mate. I used to think that you
+were a clear crystal in which I might see reflected your very<a class="pagenum" name="page_359" id="page_359" title="359"></a> heart and
+soul, but now you have become a woman and therefore a mystery. Oh,
+woman, what do you know about love? Not the kind that Philip inspired in
+you; but the name which burns unquenchable&mdash;which purifies and
+strengthens, or consumes the one who ..." he stopped, surprised at his
+own rush of words,&mdash;and abashed.</p>
+
+<p>The hand, which she had slipped unconsciously into his, trembled and
+thrilled him.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps ... I do ... know it, Donald," came the words, barely audible.</p>
+
+<p>"Smiles! It isn't possible that you ... that I ... Oh, my dear one,
+don't say anything to make me hope anew, after what I have endured
+to-night unless ..."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really care, Don? In that <i>other</i> way, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>He stood unsteadily up; things had become unreal and he could not speak.
+Smiles, still holding his hand, rose also. The top of her head came just
+below the level of his eyes; the moonlight across it set her wavy hair
+to shimmering. She could not lift her eyes to his, but with a brave, low
+voice, she went on, when she saw that he would not answer.</p>
+
+<p>"All this past week I have been the most brazen of girls, and
+deliberately given you a hundred chances to tell me, if it were so. I
+was quite sure that it couldn't be, and besides, you told Philip...."</p>
+
+<p>"I know; but I thought ... you see he told<a class="pagenum" name="page_360" id="page_360" title="360"></a> me that he loved you, and
+that he was sure that you cared for him."</p>
+
+<p>"I did, just as I do now. Oh, man, you have been so blind, or so noble.
+Have I got to <i>ask</i> you to marry me?"</p>
+
+<p>For the barest instant she looked up at him, and he saw that the smile
+he loved was whimsical as well as madly appealing.</p>
+
+<p>"No," almost shouted Donald. "I won't hear of such a thing as your being
+one of these 'new women.' You're a siren out of the olden days of mystic
+legend, and I have kept my ears stopped up against your witching song,
+which I was afraid to hear. But now I want to hear it, day and night,
+through eternity. Wait, not yet. First ... Smiles, will you marry me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what an anticlimax! Why did you have to become so practical and
+unromantic, after such a splendid start," she laughed happily. "No lover
+is supposed to ask that question with such brutal bluntness. Come, I
+will teach you the romance of love."</p>
+
+<p>It was dark on the veranda. The moon had suddenly slipped out of sight
+behind one of the laggards in the retreating cloud army; but Donald
+needed no earthly light in order to realize that Rose was holding out
+her arms to him, as simply and frankly as she had five years before.</p>
+
+<p>"Chir-r-r-p, chir-r-r-p, chir-r-r-p," thrilled the cricket underneath
+the porch.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_361" id="page_361" title="361"></a>
+<a name="A_LOST_BROTHER_10149" id="A_LOST_BROTHER_10149"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+<h3>A LOST BROTHER</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>How long it may have been before the man, eager as he was to hear the
+full explanation of the seeming miracle through which his happiness had
+been made possible, was ready to urge Rose to tell the story which she
+had promised, and what whispered words the cricket heard in the interim,
+concern only the three of them.</p>
+
+<p>When, at last, he was able to bring his winging thoughts down from the
+clouds to earth, it was to discover still another unsuspected trait in
+the woman who had become his all; for Smiles, eager and excited, was
+still dwelling in a world of romance, and she insisted upon recounting
+what had happened, almost verbatim, and in a dramatic manner quite
+unlike the simplicity which naturally characterized her speech.</p>
+
+<p>Nor could Donald's commonplace interruptions, during the course of which
+he affirmed that fact <i>was</i> stranger than fiction and that the world
+<i>was</i> a small place after all, check her narrative.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I can make you understand why I acted as I did,
+when Philip asked me for my answer, dear. Indeed, I hardly know,
+myself,"<a class="pagenum" name="page_362" id="page_362" title="362"></a> she began. "It wasn't that I didn't know what I had got to
+tell him, for I had made up my mind long ago&mdash;at least, it seems long
+ago, although it was only this morning, when I got his letter. Much as I
+cared for him, my heart knew that there was only one man in the world
+for me&mdash;even though he appeared not to want me!"</p>
+
+<p>The digression caused a further and wholly natural delay.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it was because I hated to hurt him, and wanted desperately to
+postpone the evil moment; but, at any rate, I begged him to wait, and
+said that he didn't know all the facts about me. I told him that I
+wasn't sure that I ought to marry any one. And that was true, Donald.
+I've often worried about it, for I didn't know anything about my
+parents, and heredity counts for so much, doesn't it?</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he replied, just as I might have expected, that he didn't
+know what I meant, but that nothing else could possibly matter to him,
+if only I ... I cared.</p>
+
+<p>"But I said that I had to explain,&mdash;I guess that I was a little
+panic-stricken, he seemed so deadly in earnest,&mdash;and then I told him
+that I wasn't Big Jerry's grandchild really, but only a little waif whom
+he had taken in. 'So, you see, I am a nameless girl, Philip,' I said. 'I
+don't mean it in a bad sense, for I know that I had a dear father and
+mother, whom I just barely remember, but....'</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know exactly what I was going to add,<a class="pagenum" name="page_363" id="page_363" title="363"></a> but he broke in with,
+'What earthly difference do you think that could make to me, dear?' And
+then he told me that he <i>knew</i> I was ... was good and pure, that <i>any
+one</i> who was acquainted with me could see that I must have come from
+sterling stock, even if my parents were simple mountaineers.</p>
+
+<p>"'But they weren't, Phil,' I answered. 'I was a poor little city waif,
+who had lost her parents and didn't know where she came from, or even
+her name.' And then I told him the story which Big Jerry told you that
+first night on the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>"And then, Donald, then it was my turn to be surprised, for Philip
+grasped my arm until he hurt me, and cried, 'I can't believe it, Rose. I
+<i>won't</i> believe it!'</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know what to say, and somehow I felt both hurt and a little
+angry that it should make any difference in his love&mdash;yes, I did, in
+spite of the fact that I couldn't marry him anyway. Yet, at the same
+time, I had an impression that it wasn't that, but something quite
+different, which was troubling his heart. So I said, 'What is it,
+Philip? I do not understand why you are acting so strangely.'</p>
+
+<p>"His only reply was to ask me, in an odd voice, when it happened; how
+long ago.</p>
+
+<p>"I told him 'eighteen years, when I was a baby about three years old.'
+Don, I can't tell you how I felt then, for he looked so peculiar&mdash;almost
+as though he were stunned. And he could not seem to say anything. I was
+frightened. I begged him to speak<a class="pagenum" name="page_364" id="page_364" title="364"></a> to me, and told him that he looked as
+though he had seen a ghost. 'I have ... at least I have if my suspicion
+is true. But it can't be; oh, it is unbelievable, impossible,' he broke
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know what to say or do, he looked almost as though he were ...
+were not in his right mind; and, when I put my hand on his arm and
+begged him to tell me what the trouble was, he shook it off, and began
+to speak ... oh, I cannot tell you how. It sounded as though some one
+else were speaking, and uttering the words hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Try and remember, Smiles. Call on your memory of the long ago, if
+there is a single spark of it still lingering in your mind. Oh, it means
+so much, dear, so much that I am almost afraid to ask the question, but
+I have got to, I have got to!'</p>
+
+<p>"He waited until I thought I should go mad, Don, and then said, in
+little more than a whisper, 'Did you ever, back in your babyhood, hear
+the name, Anna Rose Young? Think, Smiles, think hard.'</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will not believe it; but it seemed as though something long
+forgotten were actually stirring in my heart, and as though it were
+groping blindly in the mists of memory. I could not be sure, yet
+something forced me to answer, uncertainly, 'Yes, I think, I believe
+that I do remember that name; but I don't know where I could have heard
+it. What do you mean, Philip?'</p>
+
+<p>"His answer surprised me as much as the first question, for he said,
+'Was it in ... Louisville?'<a class="pagenum" name="page_365" id="page_365" title="365"></a></p>
+
+<p>"'Louisville? I have never been there, Philip. And yet....' There was
+the strange stir in my memory again. Oh, it was all so puzzling.</p>
+
+<p>"'Anna Rose Young,' he repeated insistently. 'They called her Rose,
+because ... because her mother's name was the same.'</p>
+
+<p>"'They called <i>her</i> ... Philip, I do remember, now. It's my own name!
+Oh, Philip, you know who I am! But how, Phil?' I was clinging to him as
+though I must draw the truth from him physically; but he went on, almost
+mechanically, and his breath came hard, I could feel him tremble, Don."</p>
+
+<p>Now her own low voice was trembling excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"'A tall, slender man, who stooped a little, Smiles,' he said. 'His face
+was thoughtful and kindly. He had a close-clipped, pointed beard, and
+wore gold-rimmed spectacles, and his eyes were very blue, as blue as
+your own, Rose. Tell me, does the picture mean anything to you?'</p>
+
+<p>"I tried to visualize it, Don, and I could, as though it were some one
+far, far off whom I could see through the mist.</p>
+
+<p>"'My daddy, Philip,' I whispered; I could hardly speak at all, for my
+throat was aching and I was crying."</p>
+
+<p>She was crying, now, but did not realize it.</p>
+
+<p>"'A sweet-faced woman, with wavy brown hair in which were golden glints
+like yours,' he went on, monotonously; but this time I could not answer
+at all."<a class="pagenum" name="page_366" id="page_366" title="366"></a></p>
+
+<p>Smiles stopped, and, for an instant, sobbed without restraint, with her
+head against Donald's arm, and he ran his hand tenderly and unsteadily
+over her hair.</p>
+
+<p>Then she lifted her face, bathed in tears, and whispered, "You
+understand, don't you, Don? After all the years, to remember, ever so
+vaguely; but, still, to remember my former life, and to know my own
+name! Oh, I can't help it ... I couldn't when he told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes. I understand, dearest."</p>
+
+<p>"Philip went on, desperately, it seemed to me. 'Another picture, Smiles.
+Can you see a spindle-legged, mischievous boy of ten, who loved his
+little sister dearly; but teased her from morning until night. His name
+was ...'</p>
+
+<p>"'Tilly! Oh, I remember. At least, that was what baby Rose called him.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, she called him Tilly. She called him that because ... because she
+couldn't say ... "Philip." Oh, little Rose, don't you understand? I came
+to find a wife, and I have found ... a sister!'"</p>
+
+<p>"But, his name ..." interrupted Donald.</p>
+
+<p>"I know. I will tell you. But first, Donald, my poor father and mother.
+I thought that perhaps I was to find them, too; but God willed
+otherwise. Big Jerry was right. They ... they were both drowned."</p>
+
+<p>Eager as he was to hear the rest of the story, the man could not but
+keep silent, in understanding<a class="pagenum" name="page_367" id="page_367" title="367"></a> sympathy, until she was ready to proceed
+of her own accord. It was once more as Smiles herself had written in her
+letter to him, after Big Jerry's death. Happiness was tinged with grief,
+for the night's strange disclosures had re-opened an old wound, long
+since closed.</p>
+
+<p>Finally she went on.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't try to tell you the explanation in Philip's words; but it seems
+that we used to live in Louisville. Philip's own father was a well-to-do
+physician, named, of course, Dr. Bentley. He died when Phil was a baby,
+and, when he was seven years old, mother married Mr. Robert Young, a
+mining engineer. I was born a year later&mdash;I am really his half-sister,
+you see."</p>
+
+<p>"But," interrupted Donald, "I should think that the name Philip Bentley
+might have stirred a responsive chord in your memory before this&mdash;no, I
+don't suppose that it would have, after all, for you were so small that
+you didn't remember your own last name."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and not only that, but Philip was always called 'Young'&mdash;when he
+was a boy, anyway. Well, it seems that, when he was ten, and I was
+three, he was sent all alone to visit an uncle, a brother of his own
+father, who lived in Richmond. It was while he was away for the summer
+that my dear father was sent into the Cumberland Mountains between
+Kentucky and Virginia, prospecting for coal on behalf of the company in
+the employ of which<a class="pagenum" name="page_368" id="page_368" title="368"></a> he was. He took mother and me with him for a
+camping vacation, and ... and you know as much as I about the tragedy
+which separated us, and made such changes in our lives."</p>
+
+<p>Rose paused again, a prey to memory.</p>
+
+<p>"And then?" prompted Donald, gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Philip said, when no word came from his parents for several
+weeks, his uncle left no stone unturned to find them, and at length the
+Federal Revenue authorities located the bodies of my dear mother and
+father, and part of their wrecked canoe, in the swift river, almost at
+the foot of the mountains. Of course every one assumed that I had ...
+had been drowned, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank God that you were not, my dear," breathed Donald, so softly
+that she could not hear him.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Philip went to live permanently with his uncle, who raised and
+educated him as one of his own sons. Of course he took his real name
+again. Oh, Donald, isn't it too wonderful?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear heart, wonderful, indeed." There was a long silence. Then
+Donald asked, softly, "And Philip? How does he feel?"</p>
+
+<p>"He ... he is happy, too," came her reply, somewhat haltingly. "Of
+course, just at first ... oh, please don't ask me, Don. But now he is
+content, for he knows that I ... I couldn't ever have been anything else
+to him, because I loved ano.... I loved <i>you</i>."<a class="pagenum" name="page_369" id="page_369" title="369"></a></p>
+
+<p>"He knows that? Rose, you didn't tell him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did," she answered, bravely. "And let me tell <i>you</i>, sir, that
+it is lucky for you that ... that you asked me; for, if you hadn't, you
+would have had my big brother to deal with!"</p>
+
+<p>And what the cricket heard <i>then</i>, has nothing to do with this story.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a class="pagenum" name="page_370" id="page_370" title="370"></a>
+<a name="THE_HALLOWED_MOON_10385" id="THE_HALLOWED_MOON_10385"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+<h3>THE HALLOWED MOON</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>They were to be married early in September&mdash;just a month from the day
+when Smiles so nearly gave her life to save another's.</p>
+
+<p>During the days which must pass before she became Donald's in the full
+trinity of body, mind and soul, his family kept her at
+Manchester-by-the-Sea and each hour bound her more closely to the heart
+of each.</p>
+
+<p>For her, Ethel planned and purchased, sewed and supervised, putting as
+much loving thought into the making of her simple outfit as though it
+was she herself who was to be wedded. The days were busy ones, the
+evening hours rich in love and contentment, for Donald came down from
+the city each night, and the two learned the way to many a secret
+chamber in each other's heart.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the week which was to bring to a close the separate stories of
+the man and maid, and write the first chapter in the single history of
+man and wife, Donald left them to make a brief, but important, trip
+which, he said, could not be postponed; and oh, how empty life seemed to
+Smiles during those few days.<a class="pagenum" name="page_371" id="page_371" title="371"></a></p>
+
+<p>But they were ended at last, and the marriage evening came,&mdash;still and
+mellow, with the voices of both shore and sea tuned to soft night
+melodies.</p>
+
+<p>Below in the hall, hidden within a bower of palms, an orchestra of
+Boston Symphony players drew whispering harmonies from the strings of
+violins, harp and cello, and, at the signal, swept into the dreamy,
+enchanted notes of Mendelssohn's marriage song.</p>
+
+<p>Little Don, very proud and important&mdash;and somewhat frightened&mdash;picked up
+the train which he was to bear as page, and down the winding stairway,
+by the side of her new-found brother, moved Rose, gowned in traditional
+white, made with befitting simplicity, her shimmering hair no longer
+crowned with the square of a nurse cap, but by a floating, misty veil
+and the orange-blossom wreath of a bride. Never had her warm coloring
+been so delicate and changeful, her expressive eyes so deep, or the
+fleeting sweetness of her translucent smile so wonderful.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the stairs stood Muriel, and three other girl companions,
+each with a woven sweetgrass basket&mdash;made years ago by little Smiles
+herself&mdash;filled with rose petals to be strewn in her path, and the
+bride's lowered eyes rested tenderly for a moment upon the child that
+she so loved. Then she started, and paused. One of them, as tall as
+Muriel and more slender, had hair of spun gold, and she was looking up
+with an eagerness which she could hardly restrain.<a class="pagenum" name="page_372" id="page_372" title="372"></a></p>
+
+<p>With a low, surprised cry, Smiles hurried downward, drawing her hand
+from Philip's arm and extending both her own.</p>
+
+<p>"Little Lou. Can it really be you? Oh, my dear."</p>
+
+<p>And, heedless of the cluster of waiting friends beyond, she caught the
+flushing, bashful, happy child into her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Smiles, haint hit all too wonderful. Hit's like dreamy-land, an'
+I'm plumb erfeered thet I'll wake up an' find hit haint real. But
+<i>yo're</i> real, my Smiles, an' oh, how I loves ye."</p>
+
+<p>There was a suspicious moisture in more eyes than those of Rose, as she
+released the child and moved forward again, following the flower girls
+into the room where waited the man who was all in all to her.</p>
+
+<p>Donald stood just to one side of a canopied altar made of white roses
+and interwoven ferns, and before it was a tall, slender man in the
+vestments of the Episcopal Church, whose thin, saintlike face was topped
+by hair of the purest silver-white.</p>
+
+<p>Smiles felt her heart swelling almost painfully with a great new
+happiness; her lips parted, and she wanted to draw her hand across her
+eyes and brush away the sudden tears which she knew were there. For the
+rector was her own dear Mr. Talmadge.</p>
+
+<p>Now Donald was at her side, and his strong fingers were returning the
+grateful, loving pressure of her own. <i>He</i> understood how full of
+gratitude was her heart, and was repaid.<a class="pagenum" name="page_373" id="page_373" title="373"></a></p>
+
+<p>The low, clear voice, tuned to the winds of the forest, began the words
+of the beautiful service. It was, indeed, all a dream, and she felt the
+unreality of it until the benediction had been spoken, and the hidden
+orchestra struck the first joyous chords of the triumphant march from
+Lohengrin. Then, from her husband's arms she turned to the embrace of
+the mountain minister, and of Philip, and little Lou, and Gertrude
+Merriman, and Dorothy Roberts, and of all those other friends, old and
+new, who were so dear to her.</p>
+
+<p>No explanations were possible for many minutes to come; but at length
+she heard the story of the secret trip "which could not be postponed,"
+of how "the reverend"&mdash;now well and strong at last&mdash;had gladly consented
+to leave his beloved mountain home, for the first time in many, many
+years, and come north on this sacredest of missions; of how Judd had
+yielded to the request that Lou accompany them, too; and finally of how
+her mountain lover of the old days was now himself married&mdash;to none
+other than the youngest daughter of the kindly agent at Fayville.</p>
+
+<p>And when this news was told, Donald cried, "Why, Smiles, for shame! I
+actually believe that you are jealous," and she replied, "Of course I am
+... horribly." Whereupon every one laughed at her, and her husband
+punished her with a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>It was ended at last, the lights, merry voices and laughter; and, as the
+two ran the ancient gantlet,<a class="pagenum" name="page_374" id="page_374" title="374"></a> the orchestra, prompted thereto by Mr.
+MacDonald, struck up a lively popular air, and the guests caught up the
+words.</p>
+
+<p>They paused a moment on the path below the veranda, to quiet their
+hurried breathing, and look into each other's happy eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do we go from here?" <i>They</i> knew. There had been but one spot in
+all the world whose name both their hearts had spoken, when Donald first
+mentioned the honeymoon to be.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Evening again&mdash;twilight on the Cumberland mountains. The moon had not
+yet risen; but, through the black lacework of the forest trees which
+stretched above Big Jerry's cabin to the mountain's summit, shone the
+beaming radiance of the evening star.</p>
+
+<p>Within the soft shadow of the doorway stood two figures, close
+together&mdash;one tall, broad of shoulder and heavily built, the other of
+medium height, slender and very graceful&mdash;and their arms were about each
+other's waists. A man and a woman,&mdash;as it was in the beginning.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time they stood thus, without speaking,&mdash;there was no need of
+speech, for their thoughts were one.</p>
+
+<p>"So old and well remembered; yet so new and strangely beautiful,"
+whispered the woman, as she let her gaze travel over the broken,
+far-stretching<a class="pagenum" name="page_375" id="page_375" title="375"></a> skyline of the forest-clad mountain side, now fading
+into the sky, where a memory of the sunset's afterglow still lingered,
+as though loath to depart and leave the world to darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"Like love: as old as the hills, yet ever new," answered the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I cannot yet understand, Don, how this new life can be so
+strangely natural to me. We have been married only three all-too-short
+days, yet I can scarcely think of the other life as real. Some people
+speak of their honeymoon as a golden dream. To me it is the sweet
+reality, and all that went before the dream. Isn't it odd?"</p>
+
+<p>"All of nature's laws are inexplicable, dear heart. But we should not
+forget that the Almighty's plan for the world did not deal with man and
+woman as separate entities, but man and woman as counterparts of a
+single unit, in which His laws should find full expression, if the two
+were truly mated&mdash;not merely married. You remember what Mr. Talmadge
+said that night."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. We have found, not each other, but the other part of
+ourselves&mdash;ourself. Dear, when did you first realize that it was so?"</p>
+
+<p>"My mind, not until it was free to face the truth; my subconscious soul
+the first moment that I saw you, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I loved you from that moment too," she answered simply, lifting
+her lips for his kiss.<a class="pagenum" name="page_376" id="page_376" title="376"></a></p>
+
+<p>There followed another spell of enchanted silence, broken only by the
+low lullaby of the night wind in the trees, and then the man spoke
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Smiles, are you still greatly afraid of the sea?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear, I should not be, if you were with me. It is strange; but I
+lost most of the old, unreasoning fear the moment that I made up my mind
+to jump into it that afternoon. But, why do you ask that now, Donald?"
+He did not reply at once, and she continued, "I think that I know, and
+the same thought was in my own mind. Is it that you want to go to France
+again, to renew the saving work there,&mdash;and want me with you?"</p>
+
+<p>He nodded slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"If you hadn't suggested it, I should have, Don; for now I am doubly
+prepared for the work I began to long to do, so many years ago. I am not
+only trained for it, but I have you beside me, to comfort and strengthen
+me, always.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear," she went on softly. "Some day, God grant, we shall have
+little ones of our own to care for; but, until that beautiful time
+comes, there are no less precious babies throughout all the world&mdash;and
+there, especially&mdash;crying for us to help them. We must give of our best
+to them, for, weak, tender and helpless as they are, the hope of the
+world is in its babies."</p>
+
+<p>Through the dark tree-tops the new-born moon appeared on the breast of
+night, around it a misty halo like that about the head of the Infant
+who<a class="pagenum" name="page_377" id="page_377" title="377"></a> came nineteen centuries ago, typifying the hope of all mankind.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," said Donald. "Our honeymoon wears a halo."</p>
+
+<p>"Because it is a hallowed moon," answered Rose.</p>
+
+<p>The soft white radiance floated in, flooding the little porch and
+illuminating the wife's sweet face as she lifted it again, now touched
+with a smile, more meaningful and more ethereal than ever before.</p>
+
+<p>For, to the smile of courage, hope and love, had been added the quality
+of rich, deep contentment.</p>
+
+<p style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:3em; text-align:center;'>THE END</p>
+
+<hr class='full' />
+
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:x-large'>MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:small'>A Romance</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:large'><i>By Eliot Harlow Robinson</i></p>
+
+<p class='tight center' style='margin-bottom:1em'><i>Author of "Smiles: A Rose of the Cumberlands,"<br />"Smiling Pass," "The
+Maid of Mirabelle," etc.</i></p>
+
+<p class='tight center' ><i>Cloth, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90</i></p>
+
+<p class='tight center'>"<i>What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh</i>."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Robinson's</span> distinguished success came with the acclaim accredited to
+his novel, SMILES, "<i>The Best-Loved Book of the Year</i>," and its sequel,
+SMILING PASS. With delicate humor and a sincere faith in the beautiful
+side of human nature, Mr. Robinson has created for himself a host of
+enthusiastic admirers. In his new book he chooses a theme, suggested
+perhaps by the old proverb quoted above ("Pilpay's Fables"). His setting
+is a Quaker village, his theme the conflict between grave Quaker ideals
+and the strength and hot blood of impulsive Mark Gray.</p>
+
+<p>Here is a book that is worthy of the reception accorded SMILES by all
+readers who appreciate a story of deep significance, simply yet
+powerfully built upon fundamental passions, wrought with a philosophy
+that always sees the best in troubled times.</p>
+
+<p>The enthusiastic editor who passed on MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE calls
+it&mdash;hardly too emphatically&mdash;"A mighty good story with plenty of
+entertainment for those who like action (there is more of that in it
+than in any other of Mr. Robinson's novels). The reading public will
+unquestionably call it another courage book'&mdash;which they called the
+SMILES books, you know. The language is both strong and smooth. The
+story has a punch!"</p>
+
+<hr class='full' />
+
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:x-large'>POLLY THE PAGAN</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:small'>Her Lost Love Letters</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:large'><i>By Isabel Anderson</i></p>
+
+<p class='tight center' style='margin-bottom:1em'><i>With an appreciative Foreword by Basil King</i>.</p>
+<p class='tight center' ><i>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isabel Anderson</span>, who heretofore has confined her literary talents to
+writing of presidents and diplomats and fascinating foreign lands,
+contributes to our list her first novel, POLLY THE PAGAN, a story of
+European life and "high society." The story is unfolded in the lively
+letters of a gay and vivacious American girl traveling in Europe, and
+tells of the men whom she meets in Paris, in London or Rome, her
+flirtations (and they are many and varied!) and exciting experiences.
+Among the letters written to her are slangy ones from an American
+college boy and some in broken English from a fascinated Russian Prince
+(or was he disillusioned, when after dining at a smart Parisian caf&eacute;
+with the adorable Polly he was trapped by secret police?); but the chief
+interest, so far as Polly's <i>affaires d'amour</i> are concerned, centers
+around the letters from a young American, in the diplomatic service in
+Rome, who is in a position to give intimate descriptions of smart life
+and Italian society.</p>
+
+<p>The character drawing is clever, and the suspense as to whom the
+fascinating Polly will marry, if indeed the mysterious young lady will
+marry anybody, is admirably sustained.</p>
+
+<hr class='full' />
+
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:x-large'>UNCLE MARY</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:small'>A Novel for Young or Old</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:large'><i>By Isla May Mullins</i></p>
+<p class='tight center' style='margin-bottom:1em'><i>Author of "The Blossom Shop" books, "Tweedie," etc.</i></p>
+<p class='tight center' ><i>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Since</span> the great success of POLLYANNA there have been many efforts to
+achieve the "GLAD BOOK" [Trade Mark] style of fiction, but none so
+successful as Mrs. Mullins' UNCLE MARY.</p>
+
+<p>Here is a story, charming in its New England village setting, endearing
+in its characters, engrossing in its plot, and diverting in its style.
+The PAGE imprint has been given to many books about beautiful characters
+in fiction,&mdash;Pollyanna, Anne Shirley, Rose Webb of "SMILES," and Lloyd
+Sherman of the "LITTLE COLONEL" books. To this galaxy we now add "Uncle"
+Mary's prot&eacute;g&eacute;, Libbie Lee.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Mullins is an author gifted with the ability to appeal to the young
+in heart of whatever age. Her characters are visually portrayed. Her
+situations have the interest of naturalness and suspense. The reader of
+UNCLE MARY will become in spirit an inhabitant of Sunfield; will
+understand the enjoyment of the sudden acquisition of wealth, a
+limousine, and&mdash;an adopted child (!), by the sisters, "Uncle" Mary and
+"Aunt" Alice; will watch with interest the thawing and rejuvenation of
+"Uncle" Mary, the cure of Alice, and the solving of the mystery of the
+wealth of sweet little Libbie Lee.</p>
+
+<hr class='full' />
+
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:x-large'>THE RED CAVALIER</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='font-size:small'>Or, The Twin Turrets Mystery</p>
+<p class='tight center' style='margin-bottom:1em; font-size:large'><i>By Gladys Edson Locke</i></p>
+<p class='tight center'><i>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Here</span> is a mystery story that is different! The subtlety and strangeness
+of India&mdash;poison and daggers, the impassive faces and fierce hearts of
+Prince Bardai and his priestly adviser; a typical English week-end house
+party in the mystery-haunted castle, Twin Turrets, in Yorkshire; a vivid
+and contrasting background.</p>
+
+<p>And the plot! Who is the mysterious Red Cavalier? Is he the ghost of the
+ancestral portrait, that hangs in Sir Robert Grainger's strange library?
+Is he flesh and blood, and responsible for the marauding thefts in the
+neighborhood? Is he responsible for Prince Kassim's murder? Or is it
+only coincidence that one of the guests at the masked ball happened to
+wear the costume of the Red Cavalier?</p>
+
+<p>Miss Locke has been able to weave a weird and absorbing tale of modern
+detective romance, the strangeness of India in modern England.</p>
+
+<p>There is Lady Berenice Coningsby, a bit <i>d&eacute;class&eacute;</i>; Ethelyn Roydon, more
+so; Princess Lona Bardai, "Little Lotus-Blossom," sweet and pathetic;
+Mrs. Dalrymple, the woman of mystery; Miss Vandelia Egerton, the
+spinster owner of Twin Turrets. There is dashing Max Egerton and the
+impeccable Lord Borrowdean; Captain Grenville Coningsby; Prince Kassim
+Bardai, with the impenetrable eyes, and Chand Talsdad, his venerable
+adviser. Which of them is the Red Cavalier?</p>
+
+<hr class='full' />
+
+<p class='center' style='font-size:x-large'>Selections from<br />The Page Company's<br />List of Fiction</p>
+
+<hr class='minor' />
+
+<p class='center'>WORKS OF<br />
+<span style='font-size:large'><b>ELEANOR H. PORTER</b></span></p>
+
+<p><b>POLLYANNA: The GLAD [Trade Mark] Book (510,000)</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist, in an editorial for the
+<i>Philadelphia North American</i>, says: "And when, after Pollyanna has gone
+away, you get her letter saying she is going to take 'eight steps'
+to-morrow&mdash;well, I don't know just what you may do, but I know of one
+person who buried his face in his hands and shook with the gladdest sort
+of sadness and got down on his knees and thanked the Giver of all
+gladness for Pollyanna."</p>
+
+<p><b>POLLYANNA: The GLAD [Trade Mark] Book.</b> <span class="smcap">Mary Pickford edition</span></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated with thirty-two half-tone reproductions of scenes from the
+motion picture production, and a jacket with a portrait of Mary Pickford
+in color.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25</p>
+
+<p>While preparing "Pollyanna" for the screen, Miss Pickford said
+enthusiastically that it was the best picture she had ever made in her
+life, and the success of the picture on the screen has amply justified
+her statement. Mary Pickford's interpretation of the beloved little
+heroine as shown in the illustrations, adds immeasurably to the
+intrinsic charm of this popular story.</p>
+
+<p><b>POLLYANNA [Trade Mark] GROWS UP: The Second GLAD [Trade Mark] Book (253,000)</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>When the story of <span class="smcap">Pollyanna</span> told in The <i>Glad</i> Book was ended, a great
+cry of regret for the vanishing "Glad Girl" went up all over the
+country&mdash;and other countries, too. Now <span class="smcap">Pollyanna</span> appears again, just as
+sweet and joyous-hearted, more grown up and more lovable.</p>
+
+<p>"Take away frowns! Put down the worries! Stop fidgeting and disagreeing
+and grumbling! Cheer up, everybody! <span class="smcap">Pollyanna</span> has come
+back!"&mdash;<i>Christian Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>MISS BILLY (93rd thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+G. Tyng, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>"There is something altogether fascinating about 'Miss Billy,' some
+inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to demand the individual
+attention of the reader from the moment we open the book until we
+reluctantly turn the last page."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>MISS BILLY'S DECISION (78th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+Henry W. Moore, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>"The story is written in bright, clever style and has plenty of action
+and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are her friends."&mdash;<i>New
+Haven Leader</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>MISS BILLY&mdash;MARRIED (86th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+W. Haskell Coffin, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>"Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss Billy is
+just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just as much gladness.
+She disseminates joy so naturally that we wonder why all girls are not
+like her."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>SIX STAR RANCH (95th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>"'Six Star Ranch' bears all the charm of the author's genius and is
+about a little girl down in Texas who practices the 'Pollyanna
+Philosophy' with irresistible success. The book is one of the kindliest
+things, if not the best, that the author of the Pollyanna books has
+done. It is a welcome addition to the fast-growing family of <i>Glad</i>
+Books."&mdash;<i>Howard Russell Bangs in the Boston Post</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>CROSS CURRENTS</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50</p>
+
+<p>"To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its sorrows as
+well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal."&mdash;<i>Book News
+Monthly</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE TURN OF THE TIDE</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50</p>
+
+<p>"A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to the
+development of the life of a dear little girl into a true and good
+woman."&mdash;<i>Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio.</i></p>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+
+<p class='center'>NOVELS BY<br />
+<span style='font-size:large'><b>ELIOT HARLOW ROBINSON</b></span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90</p>
+
+<p class='center'>A book which has established its author in the front rank of American
+novelists.</p>
+
+<p><b>SMILES, A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS (29th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>E. J. Anderson, former managing Editor of the Boston <i>Advertiser</i> and
+<i>Record</i>, is enthusiastic over the story and says:</p>
+
+<p>"I have read 'Smiles' in one reading. After starting it I could not put
+it down. Never in my life have I read a book like this that thrilled me
+half as much, and never have I seen a more masterful piece of writing."</p>
+
+<p><b>SMILING PASS: A Sequel to "SMILES," A Rose of the Cumberlands</b></p>
+
+<p>The thousands who have read and loved Mr. Robinson's earlier story of
+the little Cumberland mountain girl, whose bright courage won for her
+the affectionate appellation of "Smiles," will eagerly welcome her
+return.</p>
+
+<p>"Applied sociology, mixed with romance and adventure that rise to real
+dramatic intensity. But the mixture is surprisingly successful. The
+picture impresses one as being faithfully drawn from the living models
+with sympathetic understanding. The book is effective."&mdash;<i>New York
+Evening Post</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance of Lorraine</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated with reproductions of sketches made by the author, and with
+a portrait of "The Maid of Mirabelle," from a painting by Neale Ordayne,
+on the cover.</p>
+
+<p>"The spirit of all the book is the bubbling, the irrepressibly
+indomitable, cheerful faith of the people, at their very best, against
+the grave Quakerism from the United States standing out grimly but
+faithfully. The tale is simply, but strongly told."&mdash;<i>Montreal Family
+Herald and Weekly Star</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>MAN PROPOSES; Or, The Romance of John Alden Shaw</b></p>
+
+<p>"This is first of all a charming romance, distinguished by a fine
+sentiment of loyalty to an ideal, by physical courage, indomitable
+resolution to carry to success an altruistic undertaking, a splendid
+woman's devotion, and by a vein of spontaneous, sparkling humor that
+offsets its more serious phases."&mdash;<i>Springfield Republican</i>.</p>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+
+<p class='center'>THE ROMANCES OF<br />
+<span style='font-size:large'><b>L. M. MONTGOMERY</b></span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90</p>
+
+<p><b>ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (364th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus.</p>
+
+<p>"In 'Anne of Green Gables' you will find the dearest and most moving and
+delightful child since the immortal Alice."&mdash;<i>Mark Twain in a letter to
+Francis Wilson</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I take it as a great test of the worth of the book that while the young
+people are rummaging all over the house looking for Anne, the head of
+the family has carried her off to read on his way to town."&mdash;<i>Bliss
+Carman</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>ANNE OF AVONLEA (259th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by George Gibbs.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we have a book as human as 'David Harum,' a heroine who outcharms
+a dozen princesses of fiction, and reminds you of some sweet girl you
+know, or knew back in the days when the world was young."&mdash;<i>San
+Francisco Bulletin</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (45th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by George Gibbs.</p>
+
+<p>"The author shows a wonderful knowledge of humanity, great insight and
+warmheartedness in the manner in which some of the scenes are treated,
+and the sympathetic way the gentle peculiarities of the characters are
+brought out."&mdash;<i>Baltimore Sun</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>ANNE OF THE ISLAND (68th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by H. Weston Taylor.</p>
+
+<p>"It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of Anne, and the
+privilege of being on intimate terms with her throughout the process has
+been properly valued. The once little girl of Green Gables should have a
+permanent fictional place of high yet tender esteem."&mdash;<i>New York
+Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (20th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by John Goss.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan Haskell Dole compares Avonlea to Longfellow's Grand Pre&mdash;and
+says, "There is something in these continued chronicles of Avonlea like
+the delicate art which has made Cranford a classic."</p>
+
+<p>"The reader has dipped into but one or two stories when he realizes that
+the author is the most natural story teller of the day."&mdash;<i>Salt Lake
+City Citizen</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: The Mary Miles Minter Edition</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated with twenty-four half-tone reproductions of scenes from the
+motion picture production, and a jacket in colors with Miss Minter's
+portrait.</p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25</p>
+
+<p>"You pass from tears to laughter as the story unfolds, and there is
+never a moment's hesitation in admitting that Anne has completely won
+your heart."&mdash;<i>Joe Mitchell Chapple</i>, <i>Editor, The National Magazine</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Mary Miles Minter's 'Anne' on the screen is worthy of Mark Twain's
+definition of her as the 'dearest and most moving and delightful child
+since the immortal "Alice."'"&mdash;<i>Cambridge Tribune</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (52d thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>"A purely idyllic love story full of tender sentiment, redolent with the
+perfume of rose leaves and breathing of apple blossoms and the sweet
+clover of twilight meadow-lands."&mdash;<i>San Francisco Bulletin</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the sweet and
+simple life of the primitive environment."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE STORY GIRL (46th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>"It will be read and, we venture to predict, reread many times, for
+there is a freshness and sweetness about it which will help to lift the
+load of care, to cheer the weary and to make brighter still the life of
+the carefree and the happy."&mdash;<i>Toronto, Can., Globe</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"'The Story Girl' is of decidedly unusual conception and interest, and
+will rival the author's earlier books in popularity."&mdash;<i>Chicago Western
+Trade Journal</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE GOLDEN ROAD (28th thousand)</b></p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90</p>
+
+<p>In which it is proven that "Life was a rose-lipped comrade with purple
+flowers dripping from her fingers."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now and then, by
+delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos. Any true-hearted human
+being might read this book with enjoyment, no matter what his or her
+age, social status, or economic place."&mdash;<i>Chicago Record-Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+
+<p class='center'>NOVELS BY<br />
+<span style='font-size:large'><b>ISLA MAY MULLINS</b></span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75</p>
+
+<p><b>THE BLOSSOM SHOP: A Story of the South</b></p>
+
+<p>"Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and lovable&mdash;as is a fairy
+tale properly told."&mdash;<i>Chicago Inter-Ocean</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP: Or, the Growing Up of Anne Carter</b></p>
+
+<p>"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing as
+a breeze that blows through a pine forest."&mdash;<i>Albany Times-Union</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>ANNE'S WEDDING</b></p>
+
+<p>"Presents a picture of home life that is most appealing in love and
+affection."&mdash;<i>Every Evening, Wilmington, Del</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE MT. BLOSSOM GIRLS</b></p>
+
+<p>"In the writing of the book the author is at her best as a story teller.
+It is a fitting climax to the series."&mdash;<i>Reader</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>TWEEDIE: The Story of a True Heart</b></p>
+
+<p>"The story itself is full of charm and one enters right into the very
+life of Tweedie and feels as if he had indeed been lifted into an
+atmosphere of unselfishness, enthusiasm and buoyant optimism."&mdash;<i>Boston
+Ideas</i>.</p>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+
+<p class='center'>NOVELS BY<br />
+<span style='font-size:large'><b>DAISY RHODES CAMPBELL</b></span></p>
+
+<p><b>THE FIDDLING GIRL</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65</p>
+
+<p>"A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful vein of
+sympathetic comprehension."&mdash;<i>Boston Herald</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE PROVING OF VIRGINIA</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65</p>
+
+<p>"A book which contributes so much of freshness, enthusiasm, and healthy
+life to offset the usual offerings of modern fiction, deserves all the
+praise which can be showered upon it."&mdash;<i>Kindergarten Review</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>THE VIOLIN LADY</b></p>
+
+<p>Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65</p>
+
+<p>"The author's style remains simple and direct, as in her preceding
+books."&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Smiles', by Eliot H. Robinson
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,11387 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Smiles', by Eliot H. Robinson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: 'Smiles'
+       A Rose of the Cumberlands
+
+Author: Eliot H. Robinson
+
+Illustrator: H. Weston Taylor
+
+Release Date: August 9, 2007 [EBook #22287]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'SMILES' ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"SMILES"
+
+A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+By ELIOT H. ROBINSON
+
+"SMILES": A Rose of the Cumberlands . . . $1.90
+
+SMILING PASS: Being a Further Account
+of the Career of "Smiles": A Rose of the
+Cumberlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE  . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance
+of Lorraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+MAN PROPOSES; or, The Romance of
+John Alden Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.90
+
+GO GET 'EM! The True Adventures of an
+American Aviator of the Lafayette Flying
+Corps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.50
+By Eliot H. Robinson and Lieutenant
+William A. Wellman.
+
+WITH OLD GLORY IN BERLIN; or, The
+Story of an American Girl's Life and
+Trials in Germany and Her Escape from
+the Huns  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00
+By Eliot H. Robinson and Josephine
+Therese.
+
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+
+53 BEACON STREET, BOSTON
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+[Illustration: "A MAN AND A WOMAN--AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING" (See
+Page 374)]
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"SMILES"
+
+A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS
+
+BY
+ELIOT H. ROBINSON
+Author of "Man Proposes"
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY
+H. WESTON TAYLOR
+
+THE PAGE COMPANY
+BOSTON--PUBLISHERS
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Copyright, 1919, by
+The Page Company
+
+Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
+
+All rights reserved
+
+First Impression, May, 1919
+Second Impression, June, 1919
+Third Impression, July, 1919
+Fourth Impression, August, 1919
+Fifth Impression, September, 1919
+Sixth Impression, October, 1919
+Seventh Impression, December, 1919
+Eighth Impression, February, 1920
+Ninth Impression, September, 1920
+Tenth Impression, August, 1921
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+TO MY BOYS
+This Story of a Girl
+Who Loved Children
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The Keynote of Life is Love--
+Lacking it, naught is worth while--
+The Symbol of Service, the Cross
+And the Sign of Courage, A Smile.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+I wish to acknowledge, most gratefully, the valuable assistance rendered
+to me, in the preparation of the chapters dealing with the medical and
+hospital incidents, by Robert W. Guiler, M.D.; by Alonzo J. Shadman,
+M.D., to whom I am indebted for my description of the unusual operation
+in Chapter XXI; and by Miss Elizabeth E. Sullivan, Superintendent of
+Nurses at the Boston Children's Hospital. And, above all, I desire to
+make acknowledgment of the debt of gratitude that I owe to Mr. Henry
+Wightman Packer for his helpful criticism throughout the writing of this
+story.
+
+ELIOT HARLOW ROBINSON.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                                    PAGE
+
+      I. DONALD MACDONALD, M.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   1
+
+     II. ENTER BIG JERRY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
+
+    III. AN INNOCENT SERPENT IN EDEN  . . . . . . . . . . .  25
+
+     IV. "SMILES" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
+
+      V. GIVING AND RECEIVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
+
+     VI. AN UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57
+
+    VII. "SMILES'" GIFT AND THE "WRITING" . . . . . . . . .  66
+
+   VIII. SOME OF SEVERAL EPISTLES . . . . . . . . . . . . .  77
+
+     IX. THE HIGH HILLS, AND "GOD'S MAN"  . . . . . . . . .  91
+
+      X. "SMILES'" CONSECRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
+
+     XI. ADOPTION BY BLOOD  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
+
+    XII. THE THREE OF HEARTS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
+
+   XIII. GATHERING CLOUDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
+
+    XIV. SOWING THE WIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
+
+     XV. REAPING THE WHIRLWIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
+
+    XVI. THE AFTERMATH  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
+
+   XVII. THE PARTING PLEDGE AND PASSING DAYS  . . . . . . . 171
+
+  XVIII. THE ADDED BURDEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
+
+    XIX. "SMILES'" APPEAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
+
+     XX. THE ANSWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
+
+    XXI. A MODERN MIRACLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
+
+   XXII. VICARIOUS ATONEMENT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
+
+  XXIII. TWO LETTERS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
+
+   XXIV. NEW SCENES, NEW FRIENDS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
+
+    XXV. THE FIRST MILESTONE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
+
+   XXVI. THE CALL OF THE RED CROSS  . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
+
+  XXVII. THE GOAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
+
+ XXVIII. "BUT A ROSE HAS THORNS"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
+
+   XXIX. AN INTERLUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
+
+    XXX. DONALD'S HOMECOMING  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
+
+   XXXI. THE VALLEY OF INDECISION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
+
+  XXXII. THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE  . . . . . . . . . . . 341
+
+ XXXIII. WHAT THE CRICKET HEARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
+
+  XXXIV. A LOST BROTHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
+
+   XXXV. THE HALLOWED MOON  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+                                                           PAGE
+
+"A man and a woman--as it was in the
+beginning" (See Page 374)  . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
+
+"One dusty, but dainty, foot was held
+between her hands"  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
+
+"She was kneeling beside a low, rounded mound"  . . . . . .  48
+
+"Read the brief article twice, mechanically,
+and almost without understanding" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
+
+"Holding the girl in clinging white close to him" . . . . . 347
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+DONALD MACDONALD, M.D.
+
+
+The man came to a stop, a look of humiliation and deep self-disgust on
+his bronzed face. With methodical care he leaned his rifle against the
+seamed trunk of a forest patriarch and drew the sleeve of his hunting
+shirt across his forehead, now glistening with beads of sweat; then, and
+not until then, did he relieve his injured feelings by giving voice to a
+short but soul-satisfying expletive.
+
+At the sound of his deep voice the dog, which had, panting, dropped at
+his feet after a wild, purposeless dash through the underbrush, looked
+up with bright eyes whose expression conveyed both worship and a
+question, and, as the man bent and stroked his wiry coat, rustled the
+pine needles with his stubby tail.
+
+The picture held no other animate creatures, and no other sound
+disturbed the silence of the woods.
+
+By the hunter's serviceable nickeled timepiece the afternoon was not
+spent; but the sun was already swinging low over the western
+mountaintop, and its slanting rays, as they filtered through the leafy
+network overhead, had begun to take on the richer gold of early evening,
+and the thick forest foliage of oddly intermingled oak and pine, beech
+and poplar, was assuming deeper, more velvety tones. There was solemn
+beauty in the scene; but, for the moment, the man was out of tune with
+the vibrant color harmonies, and he frankly stated the reason in his
+next words, which were addressed to his unlovely canine companion, whose
+sagacity more than compensated for his appealing homeliness.
+
+"Mike, we're lost!"
+
+City born and bred though he was, the man took a not unjustifiable pride
+in the woodcraft which he had acquired during many vacations spent in
+the wilds; hence it was humiliating to have to admit that fact--even to
+his dog. To be sure, the fastnesses of the border Cumberlands were new
+to him; but his vanity was hurt by the realization that he had tramped
+for nearly an hour through serried ranks of ancient trees and crowding
+thickets of laurel and rhododendron--which seemed to take a personal
+delight in impeding the progress of a "furriner"--and over craggy rocks,
+only to find, at the end of that time, that he was entering one end of a
+short ravine from the other end of which he had started with the vague
+purpose of seeking the path by which he had climbed from the valley
+village.
+
+Moreover, a subtle change was taking place in the air. Faint breezes,
+the sighing heralds of advancing evening, were now beginning to steal
+slowly out from the picturesque, seamed rocks of the ravine and from
+behind each gnarled or stately tree, with an unmistakable warning.
+
+There was clearly but one logical course for him to pursue--head
+straight up the mountainside until he should arrive at some commanding
+clearing whence he could recover his lost bearings and establish some
+landmarks for a fresh start downward. With his square jaw set in a
+decisive manner, the man picked up his gun, threw back his heavy
+shoulders, and began to climb, driving his muscular body forcibly
+through the underbrush.
+
+The decision and the action were both characteristic of Donald
+MacDonald, in whose Yankee veins ran the blood of a dour and purposeful
+Scottish clan. Aggressive determination showed in every lineament of his
+face, of which his nearest friend, Philip Bentley, had once said, "The
+Great Sculptor started to carve a masterpiece, choosing granite rather
+than marble as his medium, and was content to leave it rough hewn."
+Every feature was strong and rugged, which gave his countenance an
+expression masterful to the point of being almost surly when it was in
+repose; but it was a face which caused most men--and women over
+thirty--to turn for a second glance.
+
+To-day, the effect of strength was further enhanced by a week's growth
+of blue-black beard. But his eyes, agate gray and flecked with the green
+of the "moss" variety, were the real touchstones of his character, and
+they belied the stern lines of his mouth and chin and spoke eloquently
+of a warm, kindly heart within the powerful body, a body which, to the
+city dweller, suggested the fullback on a football team. Indeed, such he
+had been in those days when great power counted more heavily than speed
+and agility. Not but that he possessed these attributes as well, in a
+degree unusual in one who tipped the scales at one hundred and ninety.
+
+To some it seemed an inexplicable anomaly that a man of his type should
+have selected, as the work to which he had dedicated his life, the
+profession of medicine, and still more strange that he had become a
+specialist in the diseases of children. Yet such was the case, and many
+a mother, whose heartstrings were plucked by the lean fingers of
+Despair, had cause to bless the almost uncanny surgical skill which his
+highly-trained brain exercised through the medium of his big, spatulate,
+gentle fingers.
+
+As "Mac" had, in the old days, smashed his way through the opposing line
+of blue-jerseyed giants on the football field, and as he now plowed
+through the laurel and rhododendron, so had he won his way to the
+forefront of the younger generation of his profession until, at the age
+of thirty-five, he had become recognized as one of the most able
+children's specialists in America. A "man's man," blunt of speech to the
+point of often offending at first the cultured women with whom his
+labors brought him into contact, he was worshipped in hundreds of homes
+as an angel of mercy in strange guise, and was the idol of hundreds of
+little folk to whom he had brought new health and happiness.
+
+The toilsome upward climb brought its reward at length, and Donald's eye
+caught sight of a clearing, and unmistakable signs of near-by
+civilization, if a scattering mountain settlement of primitive dwellers
+in that feudal country which lies half in West Virginia, half in
+Kentucky, may be so designated.
+
+No sooner had he stepped into the partially cleared land, and caught
+sight of a small, isolated cabin beyond, so toned by wind and weather
+that it seemed almost an integral part of its natural surroundings, than
+his own presence was detected, as the sharp and surly barking of an
+unseen dog evidenced. Mike made answer to the challenge, and instantly
+other, more distant, canine voices joined in the growing clamor.
+
+As man and dog advanced across the clearing, not one, but half a dozen
+gaunt curs, summoned to the spot by a warning which meant the approach
+of a stranger, much as their clannish masters might have been in other
+years, mysteriously appeared from all sides and rushed forward, their
+lips drawn back from threatening teeth, their bristling throats rumbling
+ominously.
+
+Donald sharply commanded the likewise bristling Mike to keep to heel,
+threw his rifle to hip and backed hastily toward the cabin. He had no
+wish to employ his weapon, and as retreat was the other alternative, for
+his companion's sake, if not his own, indeed, discretion seemed to be,
+by all odds, valor's better part.
+
+A noisy and exciting moment brought him to the cabin's door, still face
+to the enemy. Fumbling behind him with his left hand, Donald found and
+lifted the latch. The door swung suddenly open under his weight, Mike
+scurried between his legs, and the combination resulted in his downfall,
+precipitate and sprawling.
+
+Simultaneously came a startled exclamation in a treble voice, the
+clatter of a fallen kettle and then a quick cry of pain.
+
+In an instant Donald had scrambled ungracefully to his feet and found
+himself face to face with a picture that he was destined never to
+forget.
+
+Backed by a big stone fireplace, in which the embers were glowing
+ruddily, stood a young girl clad in a simple one-piece dress, which left
+neck, arms and legs bare. One dusty, but dainty, foot was held between
+her hands, while she balanced on the other. A tumbling mass of rich
+brown curls, shot with gleaming threads like tiny rays of captive
+sunshine, fell, unbound, over her shoulders, and partly veiled a
+childlike face, tanned to an Indian brown and now twisted with pain, but
+nevertheless so startlingly sweet and appealing that the man gasped in
+astonishment.
+
+[Illustration: "ONE DUSTY, BUT DAINTY, FOOT WAS HELD BETWEEN HER
+HANDS"]
+
+As it is with many who wear bluntness like a cloak, Donald possessed a
+deep-seated appreciation of the beautiful, without being capable of
+expressing it. But now he vaguely realized that here, where he would
+last have looked for it, he had blundered upon a child whom Mother
+Nature had designed lovingly and with painstaking care, perhaps in order
+to satisfy herself that, in the bustle of creation which nowadays left
+her little time for attention to fine detail, her hands had not wholly
+lost the cunning which was theirs when the world was young and women
+were few and fair.
+
+Her face had the qualities of a sweet wild-flower, delicate of form yet
+hardy enough to stand up under the stress of a storm. A critic might
+have declared the sensitive mouth a shade too broad for the tapering
+lines which formed the firmly rounded chin; he might have said that the
+upper lip, against which its companion was now tightly pressed to check
+its trembling, was too short for classic beauty; but he would hardly
+have been able to find a flaw in the molding of the straight, slender
+nose or the broad forehead, or the cheeks which curved as symmetrically
+as the petals of a damask rose, or--if he were human--with the faint
+shadows at the corners of the lips which were not dimples, but
+fascinatingly suggested them. But, above all, it was the child's eyes,
+heavy with a sudden rush of unshed tears that merely added to their
+appealing charm, which left the strongest impression on the man. They
+were remarkable eyes, long of lash and of a deep blue with limpid
+purple shadows and golden highlights.
+
+Her form, untrammelled by confining clothing and bending naturally, was
+slender and lithesome, but full of curves which told that the bud of
+childhood was just beginning to open into the blossom of early
+maturity--about fifteen or sixteen years old, Donald guessed her to be.
+
+At her feet lay an overturned kettle the contents from which, a simple
+stew, was sending up a cloud of steam from the rough floor, and
+explained the reason for the misty eyes and tenderly nursed ankle.
+
+The whole picture was graven on his mind in a single glance; but, the
+next instant the sunniest, most appealing of smiles broke through the
+girl's pain-drawn tears.
+
+"Yo' ... yo' looked so funny a-fallin' over thet thar dawg, an'
+a-rollin' on the floor," her words bubbled forth.
+
+"I'm glad that you have something to laugh about, but dev ... deucedly
+sorry that I made you burn yourself, child," answered Donald, awkwardly.
+"It must hurt like the ... the mischief," he added, as he stepped
+forward to examine the injury with a quick return to his professional
+manner.
+
+"Wall, hit _do_ burn, kinder. But taint nothin'." She sniffed bravely,
+but a tear overflowed its reservoir and made a channel through a smudge
+on her cheek.
+
+"Well, I happen to be a doctor--when I'm not on a vacation--so I can do
+a little toward repairing the damage I caused." He was already
+unfastening the small first-aid kit which experience had taught him
+never to go without.
+
+"Taint nothin', sir, really. I'll jest put some lard on hit, an' ..."
+began the girl, timidly backing away.
+
+Donald did not stop to argue, but placed his strong hands on either side
+of her slender waist and lifted her lightly to the homemade table, while
+she gasped and again the wonderful smile, more shy this time,
+transformed her tear-stained face. In silence, and with flying,
+experienced fingers, the physician applied a soothing salve to the
+blotchy red, fast-swelling burn on the ankle, and deftly bandaged it.
+
+"There," he said. "You won't know, in a few minutes, that anything has
+happened."
+
+"Thank ye, sir," said the girl, as he lifted her again and allowed her
+to slip gently to the floor. "Yo' shore knows how ter do up a foot."
+
+She hopped gingerly over to the fireplace, and began to clear up the
+wreck of supper, first calmly lifting the dog away from the steaming hot
+meat which his quivering nose was inquisitively approaching.
+
+"Be careful. Mike might ..."
+
+"Oh, he won't bite _me_." She broke into his warning, and gave a playful
+tug at the coarse hair on the animal's neck. Somewhat to Donald's
+surprise, the dog wiggled ecstatically at the friendly advances and paid
+his lowly homage by licking her bare foot.
+
+"Never mind that mess, I'll clean it up if you'll get me a shovel. And
+of course I mean to pay for it," said Donald hastily.
+
+"In course yo' won't do no sech thing. We-all's got plenty uv
+pertaties,--I growed 'em myself,--this yere meat haint hurt a mite, an'
+water's cheap," she responded. "Yo' jest take a cheer, mister, an' yo'
+kin hev supper along with us as soon as grandpap comes, which'll be
+right soon, I reckon. We-all don't see stranger folks much up yere, an'
+he'll be plumb glad thet ye drapped in." She tossed a morsel of meat to
+the expectant Mike; then added shyly, "An' so be I."
+
+"Well, I certainly 'drapped,'" laughed Donald. "It looked as though all
+the dogs south of the Mason-Dixon line had gathered to give Mike and me
+a warm, if not cordial, welcome, so we didn't stop to knock before
+coming in."
+
+"Lucky fer ye thet yo' struck a cabin whar the latch string air allus
+out," she answered, her silver laughter echoing his. "I hadn't a' ought
+ter hev been so skeered, but I warn't payin' no attention ter all the
+barkin', fer I jest allowed thet the dawgs hed treed a coon, er somep'n.
+Yo' see they haint exactly fond o' strangers, an' they be powerful
+fierce. I reckon they'd hev gobbled Mike right up."
+
+Donald glanced affectionately at the wiry mass of bone and sinew which
+went to make the police dog every inch a warrior, and doubted it. The
+child had finished her task, and started the stew to heating again over
+the fire, and now she turned, swept back the mass of curls from her
+heated face with a graceful motion of her shapely arm, and stood
+regarding him with frank curiosity. Donald had no intention of
+remaining longer, or accepting the hospitable invitation, but there
+was a touch of romance in the adventure, and a strong appeal in the
+girl herself, which caused him to hesitate, and linger to ask a few
+questions about the neighborhood and her life. When he did regretfully
+pick up his cap and rifle, and call the dog, who turned protestingly
+from her-who-dispensed-savory-pieces-of-meat, he found that he had
+suffered the fate of all who hesitate, for a glance through the window
+showed him that, although the glowing, iridescent reflection from the
+western sky still lingered in the mountain top, embroidering its edge
+with gold, it was fast fading, and already Night had spread her dusky
+mantle over the eastern slope. Already darkness had blotted out the
+lower reaches.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+ENTER BIG JERRY
+
+
+As Donald stopped, uncertain, there came the sound of measured, heavy
+footfalls on the beaten dirt path outside the cabin. The girl's face
+lighted up joyfully; she hopped to the door, flung it open, and a
+slightly stooping, but gigantic, form stepped in out of the darkness,
+caught her up in his huge arms and submitted with a quizzical smile
+while she pulled his face toward hers by tugging at his long beard, and
+kissed him.
+
+Across the tumbled masses of her hair the newcomer's still piercing dark
+eyes, blinking a little under their shaggy brows as the fire leaped in
+the draft from the open door, caught sight of Donald as he stood back
+among the shadows. He straightened up suddenly, and his brows drew
+together in a suspicious scowl.
+
+The city man knew enough of the primitive code of the mountain people to
+understand that the presence of a man,--especially a strange man,--alone
+in the house with a young woman, was fraught with unpleasant
+possibilities. But, before he could speak, the child-woman had launched
+into a vivacious, if ungrammatical, explanation and story of what had
+occurred. In substantiation she now raised her short skirt and lifted
+the bandaged foot, with utter freedom from embarrassment, and laughed
+deliciously until an answering smile crept slowly into the eyes of the
+old mountaineer.
+
+With a simple courtesy, which seemed to hold something of innate
+majesty, he stepped forward, and extended a weatherbeaten hand, several
+sizes larger than Donald's, and boomed out in a deep voice that matched
+his physical proportions, "Yo're suttinly welcome, stranger. What
+happened warn't no fault o' yourn, and I'm plumb obleeged ter ye fer
+fixin' up my granddarter's hurt. Draw up a cheer fer the stranger,
+Smiles, he'll jine us in a bite er supper. The fare's simple, but I war
+raised on't, and 'pears ter me thet I top ye some."
+
+"I should say that you did. You make me feel small, and it's not often
+any man does that ... physically, I mean."
+
+The two clasped hands, and Donald winced as his own powerful fingers
+cracked under the crushing pressure of those of the older man, who
+seemed to take a boyish delight in this display of his tremendous
+strength.
+
+"What a colossus he is," thought Donald, as he gritted his teeth to keep
+back the involuntary exclamation of pain, for, although the massive
+shoulders and Jovian head of the mountaineer were stooped forward, he
+towered fully three inches above the six foot city athlete, and his
+iron-gray beard, rusted with tobacco juice about his mouth, swept over
+his chest almost to his waist.
+
+"Thanks for the invitation," he said aloud, as he covertly nursed his
+right hand. "It's mighty kind of you, but I don't want to impose longer,
+and, besides, I'd better start back to Fayville before it gets dark
+altogether. If you'll just tell me the most direct way, ..."
+
+"Wall, I reckon the most _dee_rect way air ter go straight through the
+woods thar a piece, an' then jump off'n a four hundred foot cliff," the
+old man chuckled titanically. "But I likewise reckon taint pra'tical;
+leastwise, not onless yo' happen ter be one o' them new-fangled
+aviationeers I've hearn tell on. However, here ye be, an' here yo're
+goin' ter stay twill atter supper. Come, child. Sot on another plate fer
+the doctor man."
+
+"Donald MacDonald's my name, sir."
+
+"Peers like yo'r paw stuttered when he give yo' thet name," laughed the
+giant. "Mine's Jerry Webb--'Big Jerry,' they mostwise calls me
+hyarerbouts." There was simple pride in the nickname evident in his
+voice.
+
+"Of course, if you really want me to stay, I'd be glad enough to do it,
+Mr. Webb, although I don't like to cause any more trouble for Miss ..."
+
+"'Rose' air the given name of my leetle gal, but folks gener'ly calls
+her Smiles, fer short." The old man spoke with a noticeable tenderness
+toning his big voice.
+
+"And there's no need of explaining the reason," answered Donald in a low
+aside so that the child, who was busy over the stewing kettle on its
+primitive crane, might not hear. "I never expect to see another to equal
+hers."
+
+His host sent a sharp glance at him, then, softening, it travelled to
+the graceful form of the girl silhouetted against the ruddy glow of the
+open fire, whose reflection outlined her warm flesh with a tint of
+burnished copper.
+
+"Yes," he responded simply. "Seems like, when thet leetle gal's sweet
+face lights up with a smile, hit's like a sunbeam a-breakin' through the
+leaves an' playin' on a waterpool in the quiet woods."
+
+"Oh," interrupted Rose with a cry. "I done plumb ferget ter git the milk
+from Uncle Perly's, but 'twon't take more'n a minute. Kin I take Mike?"
+she added, pleadingly, as she buried her slim fingers in the rough hair
+on the dog's neck, while he stood sniffing acquaintance with the huge
+boots and homespun pantaloons of the giant.
+
+"Sure; that is if you're not still afraid that the neighbors' dogs will
+make a meal of him," smiled Donald, and the object of the conversation,
+who seemed to sense its meaning, sprang eagerly erect and placed his
+forepaws on the girl's breast.
+
+"No dawg haint a-goin' ter tetch him whilst he's with me," she responded
+with quiet assurance. "Come, Mickey."
+
+"Which air a fact," supplemented her grandfather, as girl and dog
+disappeared with a rush and a bark. "Dumb beasts an' children worships
+Smiles--an' hit haint scarse to be wondered at, fer she love 'em all.
+An' she's more rememberful than her grandpappy. Yo' see, we don't
+gener'ly hev milk fer our coffee, 'ceptin' when company comes."
+
+In some distress at this frank announcement, Donald said, "But I don't
+like to have you put yourselves out for me. I wouldn't have stayed
+if...."
+
+"Now, don't let thet idee disturb ye a mite. We're glad ter hev ye with
+us, an' what fer air friends ef hit haint ter be an excuse fer a leetle
+extry celebration? Set down, set down thar."
+
+Donald obeyed, and, while his host moved ponderously about, depositing
+the contents of a bundle which he had brought, studied his surroundings
+curiously. It was his first experience within a real "feud country"
+cabin, and he was interested to see how closely its appearance coincided
+with what his imagination had painted from reading fiction woven about
+them. To his quiet delight he found that it might almost have served as
+an illustration for such a book, as, one by one, he mentally checked off
+the salient features. There were the hand-hewn timbers of wall and
+unsheathed ceiling; the yawning rough stone fireplace with its wrought
+iron crane, and, above it, a rifle whose unusual length proclaimed its
+ownership; the strings of dried herbs and red pepper pods--few, to be
+sure, and dusty with age--suspended from the rafters; and, in one
+corner, a crude ladder leading into the loft.
+
+Only one thing was missing, the wall-beds or bunks, for the hand of
+civilization had pointed to one improvement, and doors, obviously not a
+part of the original simple structure, opened into a small addition,
+roughly partitioned into two sleeping rooms. They were of equal size,
+but there was no need of labels to proclaim their occupants, for one was
+so nearly filled with a bed which would have served for Golden Locks'
+biggest bear, that the rough clothing which was suspended from wooden
+pegs on the opposite wall hung against it, whereas the other contained,
+besides a narrow bed, a small chest of drawers with a cheap mirror above
+it, and a chair. The one window was draped with a daintily-flowered
+material, which Donald decided was calico, a cover of the same material
+lay across the chest, and on it--in the place of honor between an old
+comb and brush stood a small blue-and-white jar, whose cheaply glazed
+surface caught the flicker of the fire and winked at him as though it
+were aware of the absurdity of anything so trivial being held in such
+high esteem. More of the "calico," which really was an inexpensive but
+tasteful chintz, hung against the wall and served to hide from prying
+eyes the child's meagre wardrobe, and a bow of it was perkily tied to
+the back of the chair.
+
+Donald smiled his amusement and caught an answering grin on Big Jerry's
+face. "She haint like we-all," he said. "Wants ter hev bright an' purty
+things erbout, an' ..." he lowered his voice, "durned ef she didn't make
+me a _necktie_ of thet thar stuff--seen one on a 'furriner' once." The
+visitor felt a warm satisfaction over the thought that his own costume
+didn't include such excess adornment.
+
+"I put hit on ... once, ter please her, but I reckon hit didn't make
+much of a showin' under _this_." He ran his fingers reflectively through
+his heavy beard for a moment; then, with his voice still a forte
+whisper, he added, "Say, stranger, I've got a leetle drap o' white
+liquor hid out in the woodshed whar Smiles kaint find hit, an' ef yo'd
+delight ter wet yo'r throat afore she comes back, why ..."
+
+The door flew open with a bang, and Rose and Mike tore in, panting and
+a-glitter with diamond drops of rain. Instantly the expression of simple
+guile on the old man's face changed so ludicrously to one of overdone
+innocence that it was all Donald could do to keep from laughing.
+
+"Storm's a-comin'," cried the girl, gayly, while the dog rushed madly
+around the room, with his nose to the floor and barking hilariously,
+until his master seized him by the back and held him, squirming. A flash
+of distant lightning substantiated the announcement, and a few seconds
+later their ears caught the crescendo reverberations of thunder as it
+echoed down the valley.
+
+Mike growled uneasily and crouched close to his master's legs, but Rose
+ran again to the door and stood, heedless of the rain which beat in
+upon her wind-whipped skirt, peering out with evident delight. A still
+more vivid, zigzag flash rent the serried masses of black storm-clouds
+which were rolling up over the mountain's top, edging the nearer one
+with fire, and she laughed merrily and clapped her hands like a child.
+
+"Shet thet door, yo' young vixen," bellowed Big Jerry, plainly
+disturbed. The girl obeyed, and gave him a kiss, and the whining dog a
+reassuring pat, as she hurried back to finish setting the table--a
+simple matter, for there was no spotless damask, glittering silver and
+cut glass to deck the white-scoured top of the plain slab which formed a
+substantial table for many purposes.
+
+In a moment she had announced, quite informally, that supper was served;
+but, just as the two men arose to take their places, there came a long
+"hulloo-oo" above the sound of wind and rain. Again Rose dashed to the
+door, with the cry, "Why, thet's Judd Amos; I knows his call."
+
+Without reason or warning Donald experienced a quick tightening about
+his heart, the absurdity of which caused him to smile. What on earth was
+it to him if this mountain child's color heightened a shade at a
+familiar call in a masculine voice?
+
+The next instant a tall youth, as lean and sinewy as an Indian, stumbled
+into the room, with his rough coat about his head, and water streaming
+from his drenched clothing and the barrel of a gun, which was every whit
+as modern and efficient as Donald's own.
+
+"Gosh a'mighty," he said. "Thought I'd be drownded, shore. Hit's a-goin'
+ter be a rip-snorter ... worst storm er the summer, by the way hit's
+started." Then, as he dashed the rain from his eyes, and, for the first
+time caught sight of the visitor, he stopped short in none too pleased
+surprise, if the black look which went toward Donald from beneath his
+lowering brows meant anything.
+
+"Make ye acquainted with Donald MacDonald, a doctor man from the city,
+Judd," boomed the giant's hearty voice. "Doc, shake hands with a
+neighbor uv ourn, Judd Amos."
+
+As Donald stood up he managed to silence Mike's throaty growl with a
+warning shove with his foot. The men formally clasped hands, their eyes
+looking steadily into each other's from the same level, and this time,
+primed by his earlier experience, the city man exerted all of his
+strength, and felt a glow of childish satisfaction as the other winced.
+
+"Set ye down, Judd. Draw a cheer up by the fire, yo're soaked," said Big
+Jerry. "Honey-rose," he added, addressing the girl in a wheedling tone,
+"Judd 'pears ter be powerful soaked an' cold. Kaint he ... kaint we-all
+hev jest a drap o' white liquor?"
+
+He stroked his beard and pushed aside his drooping mustache in
+anticipation, but to no avail, for her answer, uttered firmly and with
+no suggestion of a smile in her deep eyes this time, was, "'Deed yo'
+kaint; nary a drap. Yo' know, an' Juddy, _he_ knows ..." to Donald
+there seemed to be some special significance in her words, "thet thar
+haint a-goin' ter be nary a drap o' thet devil's brew in house o' mine.
+Why, I be plumb s'prised at ye, grandpap."
+
+The tremendous old man rubbed his whiskers faster and hemmed
+apologetically. "In course I haint got none ... in the cabin ..." he
+glanced quickly at Donald, "an' I didn't mean nothin', Smiles. Come,
+swing yo'r cheer erround ter the table, Judd, we'll jest fergit the
+eeliments, an' enjoy a dry celebration in the doctor's honor ... all
+'cept Judd, he air plenty wet," he added, in a jocose attempt to turn
+his mistake into a jest. "Rose hurted her foot, an' doc, he done hit up
+fer her real nice."
+
+More bashfully than before, the girl extended the injured member in its
+now mud-bedraggled bandage for the newcomer's inspection.
+
+Donald had been watching the scene with quiet amusement over the child's
+assurance, and had noticed not only the look of sorrowful resignation on
+her grandfather's face, but the dull flush which mounted the swarthy
+cheeks of the younger man. Judd's mouth retained the straight line for
+some time, but a quick burst of light-hearted song on Smiles' lips, as
+she turned to dish up the savory stew, showed that the incident was
+forgotten by her as soon as it was ended.
+
+"Better let me lift it down for you," said Donald, as she swung the
+crane with its heavy iron kettle from the fire. "We don't want any more
+burns here to-night."
+
+He jumped up and acted on the words without giving the matter a thought,
+but it seemed to him that the girl's pleased, "Thank ye, sir," was a bit
+embarrassed, and that the men regarded him with blank surprise. Not for
+a minute did it dawn upon him that his act had not been according to the
+code of the mountains.
+
+They were all seated at last, but yet another surprise was in store for
+the visitor, for Rose folded her hands, bent her head until the curls
+veiled the glowing face, and began a simple blessing. Big Jerry sat bolt
+upright with his eyes screwed up ludicrously, and, although Judd bent
+his head the merest fraction, it was with obvious embarrassment, and his
+flashing optics kept sending suspicious glances at the "furriner" as
+though to discover if he were laughing at them all. In fact, nothing was
+further from Donald's mind. It had been long since he had partaken of a
+meal at which grace was said, but the simple, homely words touched a
+chord of memory and made it vibrate to a note which brought both pain
+and pleasure.
+
+The host's stentorian "Amen" was the signal for attack, and for a time
+the business of satisfying the demands of healthy hunger was paramount
+to all things else. It was no feast of wit and wisdom, but of something,
+for the time being, more desirable, and the application of the other
+three gave Donald an opportunity to study covertly the unusual group of
+which he had so unexpectedly become a part.
+
+Although he was essentially a man of action, his brusqueness of manner
+was, in part at least, a pose which had become unconscious, and, deep
+within his heart, in a chamber carefully locked from the gaze of his
+fellow men, dwelt Romance and Imagination--the spirit gifts of a mother,
+whose death, five years before, had brought him his first black grief.
+Had this visioning power been lacking in him he could never have
+accomplished the modern miracles which he had already wrought many times
+in constructive and restorative surgery. Now, the spirit of imagery in
+his soul was stirred by something in the romantic unreality of his
+surroundings--the rude, yet interesting room which served all family
+purposes save that of slumber; the mellow radiance from a crude lamp and
+the ever-changing light of the open fire; the long, wavering shadows
+within the cabin; and, without, the banshee wailing of the storm wind
+around the eaves, the occasional crash of thunder, the creaking of limbs
+and fitful dashes of rain. He found himself leaning back in his chair
+and mentally attempting to dissect and study not the bodies, but the
+personalities, of the three who were the representatives of a type, in
+manners and customs at least, new to him.
+
+In his boyhood, and before the pressing demands of his profession had
+enslaved him, Donald had been an insatiate reader, and now he
+endeavored to recall to memory some of the stories which he had read
+about this strange people, whose dwelling place was within the limits of
+the busy, progressive East, yet who were surprisingly isolated from it
+by natural barriers, and still more so by traditions slow to perish.
+Pure of stock he knew them to be, for their unmixed blood had had its
+fountain source in the veins of some of America's best and earliest
+settlers; primitive in their ideals, strong in their simple purposes and
+passions, the products of, and perhaps even now factors in, blood feuds
+whose beginnings dated back generations. And, although he laughed at
+himself for his imaginings as he remembered that the twentieth century
+was ten years old, he found himself assigning both the men places in his
+memory picture.
+
+Big Jerry, slow of speech, patriarchal in looks and bearing, powerful in
+body, became, to his mind's eye, the venerable chieftain of a mountain
+clan. Judd, with his aquiline face, which was undoubtedly handsome in a
+dark, brooding way, beneath its uncombed shock of black hair which swept
+low over his forehead, sinewy with the strength, quickness and muck of
+the natural grace of a panther, was the typical outlaw of the hills.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+AN INNOCENT SERPENT IN EDEN
+
+
+Donald turned his appraising gaze upon the child, and here the illusion
+yielded to another, quite different.
+
+Even her primitive dress, her unbound hair, her crude forms of speech
+and soft, drawling intonation--such as the throaty, unvarying
+pronunciation of "the" as though it were "ther," and "a" like
+"er"--which sounded so deliciously odd to his New England ears, could
+not erase from his mind the impression that she did not belong in the
+picture. To be sure he had, during his tramps, already seen many a wild
+mountain flower so delicately sweet that it seemed out of place amid its
+stern environment. But Rose affected him differently, although the
+difference was subtle, indefinable.
+
+In the company of the men he was conscious of the reserve which one of
+his type instinctively feels when first in the presence of people of
+another race or class. With her he was already wholly at his ease.
+Donald finally attributed this to the fact that she was, after all,
+merely a child--one of a class which is akin the world over, and which
+he understood better than any other.
+
+As the simple meal progressed, Big Jerry began to ply the visitor with
+questions, and press him to talk on many subjects connected with the
+wide world of men; and, as Donald's natural reticence yielded to the
+naive interrogations, he answered with a readiness which somewhat
+surprised even himself. The child ate little; but sat with her elbows on
+the table, her firmly rounded chin resting on her clasped hands, and
+drank in his words. Her luminous eyes were fixed on his face, and
+expressions of wonder and delight chased each other across her own
+countenance, like wavering light and shade on a placid pool.
+
+Judd, too, remained silent, ill at ease, and his dark, morose eyes ever
+shifted from the face of the man to that of the girl. Once, while Donald
+and his host were engaged in an animated discussion, he awkwardly
+attempted to draw Rose into personal conversation; but he relapsed again
+into moody silence when he received a frank, though smiling, rebuff.
+Clearly the meal was not an enjoyable one for him.
+
+All things of human invention come to an end, and at last Big Jerry
+lifted his towering frame from his chair to indicate that the supper was
+over. With obvious relief Judd crossed to the door and, opening it,
+announced that the storm had nearly passed. It was still raining,
+however.
+
+"Ef yo' air goin' back ter the village, stranger, I'll be pleased ter
+sot ye on yo'r way," he announced as he drew on his coat, and to
+Donald's mind the sentence carried an unmistakable _double entente_.
+
+Nevertheless he answered promptly, "Thanks, I'd be much obliged if you
+would. Perhaps Mr. Webb can spare me a lantern, too, since these paths
+are unfamiliar to ..."
+
+"Sho, yo haint a-goin' out er this house ter-night, friend," broke in
+the old man. "Leastwise, ef yo'r willin' ter put up with sech
+accommodations as the loft room offers ye. Thar haint no sense of yer
+takin' er five-mile walk through them drenched bushes, an' gittin'
+soaked yerself."
+
+"In course yer goin' ter stay," echoed the girl, with childlike delight.
+"Besides, I wants ter hear lots more erbout the city an' city folks."
+
+"But I have already imposed enough on your hospitality," protested
+Donald, hesitatingly, since the invitation held a strong appeal for him.
+
+"Yo' haint imposed at all. Set yo'rself down. I shore appreciates yo'r
+company."
+
+Judd scowled from the doorway, then flung back over his shoulder a
+short, "Wall, I reckon I'll be startin' home now," and, without further
+words, he went out, closing the door behind him with unnecessary
+violence. Donald said nothing, but he was frankly amused; for it was
+very apparent that the young mountaineer felt that he had a proprietary
+interest in Rose, and was undisguisedly jealous of the stranger who was
+held in such high favor.
+
+Rose, however, lost no time thinking of her lover,--if lover she regarded
+him,--but flew about the final household duties, humming happily, and
+now and then breaking into unfinished snatches of song like a wild wood
+bird. Evidently the slight burn no longer troubled her and was already
+forgotten.
+
+Her work finished, she joined the two men, who were smoking their pipes
+before the blazing fire, and seated herself crosslegged at her
+grandfather's feet. Mike got up leisurely from his post beneath his
+master's chair, stretched forward and back, yawned prodigiously, and
+then lay down with his shaggy head on the girl's bare legs. As Donald
+talked, Rose played with the dog, rolling him over and rubbing his
+underbody until his mouth opened in a grotesque animal imitation of her
+own wonderful smile, which constantly flashed to her lips like a ray of
+light, only to vanish as swiftly, and leave its slowly fading afterglow
+in her deep eyes.
+
+"Dr. Mac," said the child timidly, during a moment of contented silence,
+her natural use of his intimate nickname, both startling and pleasing
+Donald, "yo-all allowed thet yo' doctored children mostly. I loves
+babies more'n anything else in the world, 'ceptin' only grandpap;
+they're so purty an' sweet an' helpless-like, thet I reckon the Lord
+loves 'em powerful, an' the' haint nothin' finer then takin' keer of
+'em."
+
+Donald nodded with pleasure, and the girl continued, dreamily:
+
+"I allows thet, when God made people an' put the breath o' life inter
+them, he hadn't quite got outer his mind what he done on an earlier day,
+an' was jest improvin' on hit; fer hit sorter seems ter me thet big men
+an' women air like growin' trees, fashioned fer ter stand up agin ther
+eliments an' storms most times; but babies air like tiny leetle
+flowers--so weak an' tender thet we hev ter take mighty good keer of
+'em. Don't yo' never feel, somehow, like yo' was tendin' a gyarden of
+purty flowers, an' a-drivin' away the grubs an' bugs what would make 'em
+wilt an' die?"
+
+"To be sure I do, my child," he answered, wondering if she realized how
+apt was her simile, since most disease is, indeed, caused by "bugs an'
+grubs." "And many people, with imaginations like yours, have felt
+exactly the same. Did you ever read a poem called 'The Reaper'? No, I
+suppose not," he added, as the girl shook her curls, while a wistful
+look crept into her eyes.
+
+"It was written by Longfellow, a very famous poet who used to live near
+my home city of Boston, and no man ever loved little children better
+than he did. I had to learn the verses years ago when I was a schoolboy,
+and I remember the first of them still:--
+
+    "'There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,
+      And, with his sickle keen,
+    He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
+      And the flowers that grow between.'
+
+"For--he has the Reaper say--the Lord has need of the pretty flowers to
+make his garden in Heaven more bright and fair."
+
+"I never thought er thet," said the girl seriously, "but I reckon hit's
+so. Grandpap's bearded like the grain, but somehow he 'pears ter me more
+like er big pine tree, fer grain bends before ther wind, an' he haint
+never bent ter no storm."
+
+"And I? Am I a tree, too," queried Donald with amusement.
+
+She studied him judiciously and then answered with quiet assurance,
+"Yo're the oak. Hit don't bend, neither."
+
+"And yourself?"
+
+"Why," she laughed, "I'm jest a rose like my name. A rose jest growrn'
+inter er bush."
+
+"To be sure you are. Except that roses have thorns."
+
+"I hev thorns, too," she said with conviction, and Donald doubted
+it--then.
+
+"I should plumb love ter take keer of babies an' make 'em well an'
+strong like yo' do," she went on pensively.
+
+"Perhaps you may, someday. You'll have babies of your own."
+
+"Yes," was her simple reply, "I shall have babies ter love an' keer for,
+but I meant thet I wanted ter help all little children."
+
+"A children's nurse, perhaps, like those who work with me," and he went
+on to tell her graphically of the wonderful things done at the
+Children's Hospital, upon the staff of which he was.
+
+Rose listened, as enchanted as a child with a fairy story,--and indeed
+such it was, a modern fairy tale wherein medicine was a magic potion,
+and the merciful knife a magic wand. Told in simple language which she
+could understand, his story of the work in which his very life was bound
+up seemed to her like an epic, and, when he paused, she drew her breath
+with a sigh of keen delight, and cried, "Oh, granddaddy. Haint thet a
+wonderful thing fer ter do? I shorely wants ter be a trained nurse like
+thet when I grows up."
+
+"Perhaps you will, some day, who knows?" said Donald thoughtlessly.
+
+"An' what would this hyar old pine do without the rosebush blossomin'
+close beside him? What would the leetle wild mountain flowers hyarabouts
+do without thar Smiles ter take keer o' them?" asked the old man
+tenderly, but with a hidden undercurrent of distress.
+
+"But ef I could larn ter take _better_ keer o' them ..." began the girl.
+
+The old man moved uneasily, then said, "Wall, yo're only a leetle
+rosebud yerself now, an' hit's more'n time yo' closed up fer the night.
+Run erlong ter bed, hon."
+
+Obedient, but a little rebellious, Rose got up slowly, kissed the
+strong, weather-scarred cheek of the old man and turned toward the door
+of her room.
+
+"Good night, Smiles," called Donald. She hesitated a moment, then ran
+back to him with childish impetuosity, flung her slender arms about his
+neck and kissed him, too, whispering, "I loves ye, Dr. Mac, fer thet yo'
+loves little children."
+
+The frank embrace embarrassed him a little, and he felt the thrill of an
+almost unknown glow in his heart. Many a time his patients--even those
+as old as Rose--had kissed him thus; but something in her act left a new
+impression. Judged by the standards of the mountain folks she was almost
+a woman, and he knew it.
+
+Mike pattered to her door as it closed, scratched upon it with a low
+whine, and then lay down close against it.
+
+There was a moment's silence in the room as the men, each busy with his
+own thoughts, puffed steadily. Then Big Jerry carefully knocked the
+ashes from his pipe and remarked, "Hit haint no fault er yourn,
+stranger; but I haint altergether pleased at ther thoughts yo'r comin'
+hes placed in my leetle gal's head. She won't easy ferget what yo' done
+told her, an' ... an' I couldn't bear fer ter lose her."
+
+"I'm sorry. I spoke without thinking that it might result in her
+becoming discontented," answered Don. "To-morrow I'll try to make her
+understand--what is a fact--that although her loving heart might be ever
+so eager, her ways and those of the city are so utterly different that
+she couldn't possibly hope to go there and become a nurse such as I
+described. You understand what I mean."
+
+"Yes, an' I'd be powerful obleeged ter ye, friend," replied the old man
+with evident relief. "Hit's es yo' say. Rose air er mountain gal by
+bringin' up, ef not by birth, an' 'tis hyar thet she rightfully belongs
+now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+"SMILES"
+
+
+"'Not by birth?'" echoed Donald, in surprise. "But I thought that she
+was your granddaughter?"
+
+"An' so she be--or perhaps my darter," hastily answered Jerry, realizing
+his error too late. "I reckon I shouldn't hev told ye," he added in
+distress.
+
+"Don't let any such idea worry you, Mr. Webb. Where she came from is
+nothing to me, and, indeed, after to-morrow I shall probably never see
+her again. I've got to admit, though, that you have aroused my
+curiosity, and I'd like to hear the story that's behind her presence
+here, if you are willing to tell it."
+
+The giant hesitated, then said slowly, "Wall, I kaint think of no reason
+why yo' shouldn't hyar hit. Hit happened this erway.
+
+"Twar one mornin', thirteen summers ergone, an' I war ergunnin' down in
+ther woods er piece, not fur from ther Swift River. I rekerlect hit war
+er purty mornin', with ther dew still er-clingin' ter ther grass, an'
+sparklin'--like jewels, an' ther wood birds war singin' like they war
+special happy. I clumb erround er big rock, an' all of er sudden I
+seen--I seen er leetle mite of er gal, standin, thar, jest es still es
+still. She warn't more'n three year old, I jedged, an' she suttinly
+come from ther city, fer her leetle dress warn't like none I'd ever
+seen--hit hed sorter loose panterloons ter hit, an', although her legs
+war bare--an' all scratched an' bleedin'--thar war tiny socks an' shoes
+on 'em. Thar war tears in her big blue eyes an' on her purty cheeks, but
+she warn't cryin' none, then. No, sir; she war jest erstandin' an'
+erlookin' up ter whar a robin war singin' in an oak tree, an' her leetle
+mouth war open fer all ther world like a rosebud. Wall, es I stood thar,
+erwatchin' like I'd seen er fairy, she smiles--yo' know thet smile of
+her'n, like a rainbow breakin' fer er minute through the rain, an' then
+fadin' erway slow?
+
+"I calls ter her sorter soft-like, an' dang me ef she didn't come
+walkin' right up ter me, not a mite erfeered. She made a funny leetle
+bow, held out her chubby hand an' says, 'How do ye do, big man. Hev ye
+seen my pappa an' mamma?'
+
+"I tuck her on my knee, an' leetle by leetle--fer she couldn't talk
+much--she told me thet they come from a great, big city whar war
+'lectric and steam cyars an' policemen, fer ter play in the woods, an'
+thet her pappa an' mamma hed gone out on the water in a boat ter ketch a
+fish fer baby's breakfast. Thar boat hed runned erway with her pappa an'
+mamma, she said, an' they war settin' in hit cryin'.
+
+"I reckoned what hed happed ter them, fer tharerbouts the Swift River
+air a most deceevin', treetcherous stream, what looks innocent, but hes
+a powerful swift current what don't show. City folks haint no business
+ter go campin' in woods thet they don't know nothin' erbout," he
+interpolated.
+
+"Wall, I left the leetle gal ersettin' on the rock, an' runned es fast
+es ever I could down stream ter the rapids. Her folks warn't nowhar ter
+be seen, but I found part of thar canoeboat, smashed ter splinters, an'
+I guessed the rest." He paused, and smoked steadily for some time before
+continuing.
+
+"In course the baby couldn't tell us much, 'ceptin' thet her name war
+Rose. She didn't remember the name of the city whar they come from, but
+she said thet erfore they come inter the woods, she slept all night on a
+train.
+
+"We found ther campin' outfit of her paw an' maw, an' whar hit stood I
+built up a leetle mound with a sorter cross on hit, in thar memory.
+
+"In course, I tried ter find out arterwards whar they come from, but hit
+warn't no sorter use. Thar war no address on anything in the tent or
+thar spare-close, and no one hed seen them in Fayville or tharerbouts,
+so I reckoned thay come clar ercross the mountains from Kentuck. Mebbe,
+ef I hed hed more money, I mought hev found out erbout them; but us war
+powerful po'r them days. An'--mebbe, again, hit war wrong--but maw an'
+me couldn't holp thinkin' thet the leetle gal war sent us by the good
+Lord, fer we didn't hev no children, hevin' lost a leetle gal jest
+erbout es old es Smiles, ten years back."
+
+"I don't think that you have any cause for reproaching yourself, Mr.
+Webb," broke in Donald, reassuringly. "It seems to me that you did all
+you could do, under the circumstances. Certainly the child was
+fortunate, for you have been very kind to the little waif."
+
+"We war mostly kind ter ourselves," was Big Jerry's simple rejoinder.
+"She shorely hes been a ray of sunshine in this hyar cabin--'specially
+since maw died three years ergone, since when Rose hes taken keer of
+hit, an' me. She air a leetle mite of a tyrant, et times, but I reckon
+I'm ther better fer hit.
+
+"Wall, we brung her up like our own flesh an' blood, but altho' she
+called my woman 'Maw', she allus called me 'Grandpappy.' An' we didn't
+never try ter make her fergit her real paw an' maw, an' every
+birthday--leastwise we calls ther day she come ter us her birthday--she
+puts wild flowers on the mound I made. She's growed up like the other
+children hyar, and 'twar them what fust called her Smiles; but 'twarnt
+long erfore maw an' me sorter got inter the habit of doin' hit too, fer
+hit suits her right well."
+
+The speaker became silent, his memory dwelling in scenes of the dimming
+past, while Donald's thoughts were busy with the story which he had just
+heard. The inherent difference between _her_ personality and that of the
+average mountain girl was explained. The curtsy which she--a
+three-year-old baby--had made Big Jerry, seemed to indicate that she
+had been a flower of city hothouse culture before being transplanted to
+the wilds, and there growing up, in outward semblance at least, in
+conformity with her environment. But, Donald felt, within the child lay
+an ineradicable strain of breeding, making her different from these
+others, an inherited fineness of soul of which her peculiar charm was
+evidence.
+
+A little later his host arose, and said with native courtesy, "I reckon
+yo're tired enough ter want ter go ter bed, stranger, an' I'll show ye
+ter yo'r loft room."
+
+The pair bade each other good-night, and Donald climbed the homemade
+ladder to his resting place beneath the roof, on which the rain was
+still keeping up a continuous patter. He felt that he was weary enough
+so that no rocking was needed to induce slumber, but it was nevertheless
+some time before he really fell asleep. And when he did it was with the
+mental picture of the child's smile, like a quickly vanishing sun-rift
+in the mist, before his closed eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Donald was awakened the next morning by the sound of laughing voices,
+and Mike's hilarious barking, outside his little window. Looking through
+it he beheld a delightful picture. On the dew-sprinkled grass of the
+little clearing about the cottage were merrily romping the dog, Rose and
+a small child. Beyond, lay the mountain's wooded descent, rich in
+variegated greens and seemingly rising like an island shore from a sea
+of pearly vapor, tinted with delicate mauve, rose and amber by the sun,
+which had itself not yet risen above the valley mist. Scrambling into
+his outer garments, the man ran down to join them in their game.
+
+"Look out, er yo'll git yo're feet wetted, Mr. doctor man," cried Rose
+gayly, as she drew her own bare foot through the grass and held it
+forward shining with dew.
+
+"Do you think a little thing like wet feet would stop me from getting
+into the game?" he answered. "And you called me a sturdy oak! Who is the
+little buttercup?" he added, looking at the child whose shock of bright
+golden curls made his nickname an apt one.
+
+"She's Lou, Judd's leetle sister, an' her house air jest over thar
+beyond ourn. Yo' guessed rightly, she _air_ one er my flower children,
+ain't ye, honey-sweet?" Rose dropped to her knees in the wet grass, and
+gathered the bashful child against her tenderly. The baby buried her
+face in her friend's neck without speaking, and in a moment Rose stood
+up, saying, "We-all thinks a heap er Lou, 'specially Judd."
+
+"I've got a little niece at home just about Lou's age. Her name is
+Muriel. Would you like to hear about her and her playthings? She's got a
+tiny pony and cart," he said, and soon the child was sitting in his lap,
+listening wide-eyed to the description of dolls who opened and shut
+their eyes, and wonderful mechanical toys which walked and turned
+somersaults, monkeys which climbed poles and other equally incredible
+things.
+
+"He air a funny man, an' he tells funny stories," giggled the child,
+when Donald had exhausted his memory and imagination. "In course thar
+hain't no sech things."
+
+"Indeed thar _air_, ef he says thar air," chided Rose with implicit
+faith in her friend.
+
+"What, doll babies thet open an' shet thar eyes, an' say 'maw' an' 'paw'
+like weuns, Smiles?" asked the baby, unconvinced.
+
+"Wait until I go back home, and I'll send you one that can do every one
+of those wonderful things," laughed Donald. "I mean to send Rose a
+present, too."
+
+"Oh," cried the latter, "I shall be more'n obleeged ter ye."
+
+"What would you like best," he asked.
+
+She thought seriously a moment, then said, "I reckon I should like best
+a white dress an' cap, like the nurses wear."
+
+Donald experienced a pang of regret, but responded lightly, "Very well,
+that shall be yours, and I'm also going to send you a little book of
+poems called 'The Child's Garden of Verses', written by another man who
+looked on babies as flowers, too."
+
+At this moment the sound of quick footsteps caused them to look up. Judd
+Amos was coming around the side of the cottage, and the night had
+apparently not taken the black look from his countenance.
+
+"Oh, Juddy," cried the baby, wriggling free of Donald's arms. "Thet man
+thar air er goin' ter send me er doll baby thet opens an' shets hits
+eyes, Juddy."
+
+"We're obleeged ter ye; but I reckon thet I kin buy Lou all the presents
+she needs," said Judd gruffly. "Yo' maw wants ye ter come ter breakfast,
+sis," he added, and picked the baby up in his long arms, giving her an
+undoubtedly affectionate hug as he saw that the tears had sprung to her
+eyes.
+
+"That's nonsense," snorted Donald angrily, as Judd disappeared with his
+burden. "I'll send the doll to you--along with the dress and book--and
+he can't stop _you_ from giving it to her."
+
+"I reckon he _kaint_," Rose responded with eyes flashing. "I kin make
+Judd Amos do jest whatsoever I tells him." And Donald thought that she
+probably spoke the truth.
+
+"Haint we a-goin' ter hev no breakfast this mornin'?" came Big Jerry's
+deep voice, toned to assumed anger, as he appeared with an armful of
+wood, and, laughing merrily, Rose blew him a kiss and disappeared
+within-doors.
+
+During the morning meal, which was quickly prepared, the girl talked
+continually of the delights of being a children's nurse, and as he
+observed the look of worry on the old man's face, Donald determined to
+put an end to the child's rosy, but impossible, dream as soon as
+possible. His duty was plain enough, even if he had not given his
+promise to Rose's grandfather; yet the more he saw of her the stronger
+grew the unbidden thought of what a wonderful woman she would make if
+she could be taken to the city and given the advantages of education.
+
+His opportunity came when, breakfast over, Big Jerry started for the
+door, announcing that he would be back in a few moments.
+
+"I'll wait for you to return before I go, and talk to the child as I
+agreed," said Donald, in an undertone. The old man nodded his
+understanding.
+
+Hardly knowing how to commence, Donald turned to the girl and said
+hesitatingly, "Little Rose, I've got to go along in a few moments, but
+first I must tell you something which I'm afraid will cause you
+disappointment."
+
+Smiles stepped close to him, with her large eyes filled with a surprised
+question.
+
+"It is this. I wish, indeed, that you might grow up to be a nurse for
+little children, such as my story last night set you to dreaming of
+being, but, although I'm sure you would be a splendid one, it is
+impossible, you know, dear."
+
+"Why haint hit possible?" she demanded.
+
+"Well, you see, dear child, nurses of that sort have to study and know
+almost as much as doctors. They have to train--go to school in the
+hospital, that is--for three years."
+
+"But I haint erfeered ter work. I _wants_ ter study, an' larn," she
+cried eagerly.
+
+"Yes, I know, but ... well, it costs a lot of money in the first place;
+nurses don't get any pay while they're learning, and they have to
+deposit three hundred dollars before they can take the course, one
+hundred each year. Besides that, they have to have a good education to
+start with. Probably you don't know what is meant by a 'High School,'
+but a girl must have gone through one--studied steadily for twelve or
+thirteen years--or at least have an equivalent amount of education,
+before she can hope to enter the Children's Hospital."
+
+"Wha ... what do 'equivalent' mean?" she asked, with her lips beginning
+to tremble a little from disappointment.
+
+"It means that you would have to know as much as though you had gone
+through a High School, and be able to pass an examination proving that
+you do."
+
+Very slowly Rose turned back to recommence her work, and Donald sensed,
+rather than saw, that the tears were very near to the surface. Another
+roseate dream of childhood had been ruthlessly shattered, and he hated
+himself for having witlessly engendered it in her mind, since it could
+only be born to die unrealized.
+
+When she spoke again, it was to say with a telltale quaver in her
+subdued voice, "I reckon thet us mountain folks kaint never do
+worthwhile things, fer all sech take er mighty lot er larnin'."
+
+"There are two kinds of learning in this world, Rose, one of the mind,
+and the other of the heart. And without the benefits which come from the
+latter, the things of the former would be of little use. You may be sure
+that helping one's neighbors, as you are always helping yours; being
+happy yourself and making others contented and happier, and bringing
+smiles to the lips of friends by the example of your own sweet smile;
+are things very much worth while," said Donald, haltingly, but with
+sincerity. He placed his arm about her slender shoulder, with the
+half-hope that she would accept his comfort, and perhaps cry out the
+last of her disappointment with her head on his breast. Instead, she
+turned sharply away and went on with the work she had started, and the
+man followed her grandfather outside, realizing that hers, like most
+battles within the soul, must be fought out alone.
+
+In a few moments, and while he was still talking to Big Jerry, Rose
+joined them on the stoop. A quick glance at her flowerlike face told
+Donald that her childish--but none the less real--grief was banished,
+for a smile of victory curved her lips.
+
+"Ef ye haint a-goin' ter the city right away, doctor," said his host,
+"we would be downright pleased ter hev ye come up ergin. I've come ter
+like ye right well."
+
+"Indeed I shall--come every day if I may, for you and little Rose seem
+like old friends of mine already. And, when I do go back next week, you
+may be sure that I shall not forget either of you, or your hospitality."
+
+He picked up his rifle regretfully, whistled to Mike, who came bounding
+to him, but whose tail drooped ludicrously when he understood by canine
+instinct that the call meant separation from his new comrade, and with a
+final good-bye wave, struck off into the woods.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+GIVING AND RECEIVING
+
+
+The call of the Jungle Folk, "Good hunting," was not fulfilled during
+Donald's day in the forest. Game there was aplenty, but he made clumsy
+work of following the fresh tracks in the wet wood mould, and missed the
+one wild creature that he saw, for he shot at it rather by instinct than
+design, and was not sorry that his bullet went wide. Indeed, love of the
+out-of-doors and the thrill of the chase, rather than the wish to slay,
+drew him into the woods for his brief respites from work and for
+recreation each summer. He seldom killed except for food; the convulsive
+pain-drawn death struggle, the cry of mortal agony, and the despairing
+look in the glazed eyes of dumb, stricken animals held no fascination
+for him. He saw too much of such things among human beings.
+
+The day, truly, was a glory. The storm of the previous night had cleared
+and revivified the air, which, for many days, had been oppressively
+sultry; the irregular patches of sky, glimpsed through the branches,
+were a transparent blue; the springy ground was bright with wild
+blossoms and colorful berries,--dogwood and service berry,--adder's
+tongue, bleeding heart and ferns in rich profusion. His subconscious
+senses drank in the manifold beauties, but his active mind was otherwise
+engaged.
+
+To-day the solitude, usually so appealing, so restful after fifty
+work-filled weeks amid the noisy turmoil of the city's life, lacked
+something of its customary charm and satisfaction. The man found himself
+with a real longing for the companionship of the simple old man and the
+intimate appeal of the child, whose acquaintance he had enjoyed for a
+few hours only. It was on them, rather than on his present occupation,
+that his thoughts were bent.
+
+At last approaching night found him safely back in the valley village,
+where the keeper of the primitive boarding house expressed her
+solicitation over his prolonged absence, as she handed him several
+letters which had arrived the day previous. One epistle, from his
+associate physician, Dr. Bentley, carried a pressing plea that he return
+to Boston as soon as possible, and perform a difficult operation. The
+call was so urgent that Donald regretfully concluded that duty demanded
+his compliance.
+
+He determined, however, not to leave without paying a final visit to his
+new friends, and, soon after sun-up the following morning, set forth for
+Big Jerry's cabin, carrying, as a present for Rose, a woven sweetgrass
+basket filled with such simple confections as the general store
+afforded. Nor had he forgotten a generous supply of pipe tobacco for her
+grandfather.
+
+Donald plunged into the woods and headed for Swift River, whose broken,
+winding course he followed upward until he reached the rapids of rushing
+molten silver and the low, but dangerous, fall which marked the spot of
+the early tragedy in the child's life. As he stood there, cap in hand,
+the sound of a low treble voice in song fell on his ears, coming from a
+place not far distant.
+
+Some one, alone under the cathedral arches of the forest, was softly
+chanting the words of the simple, familiar hymn, "Nearer, My God, to
+Thee," and, impelled by the unusualness of the thing at such an hour and
+in such a place, Donald moved quietly forward until the solitary singer
+was in view.
+
+It was Rose. She was kneeling beside a low, rounded mound covered with
+fresh-gathered forest vines, and sprinkled with wild flowers.
+
+The meaning of the picture flashed at once into the man's mind. This was
+the "birthday" of little Smiles--the anniversary of her advent to a new
+life--and this her yearly pilgrimage of love and filial homage to those
+barely remembered two who had given her being.
+
+Donald waited in silence, leaning against a concealing tree trunk, until
+the child had ended her act of simple devotion by throwing an unaffected
+kiss from her finger tips, not towards the dead earth, but upwards to
+the spirit world above.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE WAS KNEELING BESIDE A LOW, ROUNDED MOUND"]
+
+Then, as she arose and moved slowly away, her light step barely
+disturbing the grass, Donald followed and overtook her. The girl's
+greeting, although more subdued than on the morning before, was none the
+less delighted, and, with her hand snuggled warmly in his, they made
+their way to the cabin.
+
+"I bids ye welcome, doctor," sang out Big Jerry, as he caught sight of
+them. "Hit shor' air a fine day fer ter spend in ther woods."
+
+"And I cannot spend it there," answered Donald, ruefully. "I've been
+called back to the city to attend a little sick patient, and leave
+Fayville on the noon train."
+
+"Wall, now, thet air too bad, an' hit's mighty kind er ye ter come way
+up hyar erfore yo' left," said the old man, while the girl's new
+disappointment, caused by the announcement, was evident enough without
+verbal expression.
+
+"I brought you a package of tobacco, a little token of my appreciation
+for your kindness to me night before last, Mr. Webb; and Rose a
+'birthday' gift, just a few sweets in a basket which I found at the
+store, and which struck me as pretty."
+
+Jerry stumblingly expressed his gratitude for the present, and Rose
+unconsciously curtsied, much as she must have thirteen years before. Her
+lips and eyes smiled her shy thanks, but it appeared to Donald that
+mischievous amusement struggled with appreciation in her look.
+
+"Something seems to be amusing you, little lady. Let me into the
+secret," said Donald.
+
+Her silvery laughter broke from her lips, as she answered, "I'm shor'
+obleeged fer the compliment yo' paid thet basket. I made hit myself."
+
+"_You_ did? Why, it's wonderful, but it looks as though I'd been
+carrying coals to Newcastle. Newcastle is the name of a town in England
+where a great deal of coal comes from," he hastened to add, in
+explanation.
+
+"Like kerryin' water ter the river. I makes them leetle baskets odd
+times, an' sells 'em ter the storekeeper in Fayville, but I never hev
+none fer myself, somehow, an' I haint never a-goin' ter part with this
+hyar one, leastwise ef I kin keep hit."
+
+"Of course you may. It's my present to you just the same; but don't be
+afraid that it is meant to take the place of the other things I have
+promised you."
+
+While he had been talking to the child, Big Jerry had picked up Donald's
+rifle, and now stood caressingly running his hand down the blue-black
+barrel, and over the polished black walnut stock.
+
+Its owner watched him with inward amusement, yet fully understanding the
+woodman's love for a perfect weapon. As an ordinary man would lift a
+child's airgun, the giant tossed the rifle to a firing position,
+snuggled the butt against his shoulder, and leaned his gray-bearded
+cheek on it affectionately. Finally he lowered it regretfully to the
+ground, and remarked, with the suggestion of a sigh, "This hyar shor'
+air a mighty purty weepon, doctor. I reckon she'll drap a bullet purty
+nigh whar hit's aimed ter go."
+
+"Try it," encouraged Don, catching a look of almost boyish delight cross
+the old man's face.
+
+"Air she loaded? I haint right familiar with these hyar repeatin' guns,
+with thar leevers an' sich."
+
+The other threw a cartridge into the breech, and handed the weapon over,
+with the remark, "She shoots a trifle high, compared with the average
+rifle, I've found--perhaps an inch at a hundred yard range."
+
+"Thank ye, sir," replied Jerry, and added simply, "I reckon I'll jest
+chip the top off'n thet big rock erfore the oak tree, yonder." With the
+last word came the gun's flash, and to Donald's amazement he saw a tiny
+cloud of white dust rise from the peak of the boulder.
+
+Rose was already running lightly towards the target accompanied by the
+excited Mike, and her twinkling legs held such fleetness that the
+trained athlete barely caught up with her as she finished the dash, and
+triumphantly laid her finger on a leaden mark across the stone.
+
+"Good Lord," gasped Donald, as Big Jerry approached more sedately, "I
+thought that I could shoot some, but that ... that beats anything I ever
+saw in the West, or on the stage. And with an unfamiliar gun, too."
+
+"She shoots erbout ther same ter the left, too," commented the marksman
+judiciously. "But et thet she air a moghty fine rifle-gun, an' I shor'
+would be pleased ter own her, only I reckon yo' haint anxious ter sell."
+
+"I'd as soon think of selling Mike, or any other of my good friends,"
+promptly responded Donald, whereat a quick shadow of disappointment
+crossed the old man's countenance.
+
+"I erpreciates the feelin' thet ye hev fer hit," he said as he handed it
+back. "Er gun air mighty nigh like blood kin ter a hunter."
+
+"But we sometimes part even with certain of our kindred when the right
+man comes along whom we can trust to love, honor and cherish them,"
+laughed the younger man. "And, since I feel that I would be insulting
+that gun to fire it again after the way _you_ fired it, I'm going to
+honor it by giving it to you."
+
+"Why ... why, in course I'm mightily obleeged ter ye, doctor; but I jest
+couldn't think of acceptin' hit from ye," stammered Big Jerry,
+struggling between the dictates of honor and insatiate desire.
+
+"Don't say another word, my good friend; she's yours and I have several
+others at home. Only please don't use it in any shooting feuds--if there
+are such things still in existence nowadays. Since my profession is to
+save human lives, I mustn't have a part in the taking of them even by
+proxy, you know." Don's eyes were laughing.
+
+"Yo' hev no cause fer worriment erlong thet line," earnestly answered
+Jerry, as he patted the rifle, cradled in the crook of his arm like a
+child. "My fightin' day air over, praise ter Gawd. Thar war a time when
+I war sorter proud of ther notch thet's cut in the stock er my fust gun;
+but now ... wall, I'd give a good deal ef 'twarn't thar. I figgers,
+nowerdays, thet hit haint the Lord's purpose thet humans should spill
+each other's blood, leastwise onless thar's somethin' bigger et stake
+then spite er revengement."
+
+"Tell him erbout the shootin' matches at the County Fairs whar yo' used
+allus ter bear erway the prize, grandpap," interposed Smiles hurriedly,
+with the obvious design of changing the current of the old man's
+thoughts.
+
+The latter seated himself on the rock, his face lighting with
+reminiscence, as he complied, with the words, "Wall, ef I does say hit,
+thar warn't many in Kentuck er West Virginny could handle a shootin'
+iron with Big Jerry in them days, an', come County Fair time, I mostwise
+allus kerried off the money prize an' the wreath give by ther queen.
+'Twarn't fancy shootin', like they hes on the stage yo' war er-speakin
+of, p'raps, but hit took a stiddy hand an' a clar eye ter do the trick.
+Gener'lly the spo't ended with the pick er the rifle shooters a-trying
+ter cut down ten weighted strings et a hundred paces, an' more times
+then once I done hit in as many shots."
+
+Then, as though somewhat ashamed at the boastfulness in his words, he
+added hastily, "But I take no credit fer thet Gawd give me the skill
+ter do hit, an' I might hev used hit ter better purpose then ofttimes I
+did, fer I was overproud er my skill.
+
+"I shor' thanks ye fer this hyar rifle-gun, an', come Thanksgiving time,
+I hopes ter send ye a wild turkey bird killed by hit."
+
+"If you do that I shall be more than repaid," responded Donald. "Well,
+good friends of mine, I must be on my way; but don't think that you have
+seen the last of me. I've found the ideal spot in which to spend a
+vacation, and next summer I'll be back here again, D. V."
+
+"What's 'D. V.'?" asked the girl, curiously.
+
+"It stands for _Deo Volente_--Latin words which mean, 'God willing.'"
+
+"I hopes thet yo' _does_ come back, an' we-all will be here ter welcome
+ye, D. V." said Rose; then added, shyly, "I hev a gift fer yo' ter take
+back home ter leetle Muriel, ef yo're willin'. Hit's in the cabin, an',
+ef yo'll wait, I'll run an' git hit fer ye."
+
+"Of course I'll be glad to take it to her, my child, and I know that
+she'll be delighted both with it and the stories I shall tell her about
+Smiles. But wait, I will go with you, for there is one thing more I want
+to do before I leave, if you can find me a piece of string."
+
+With a question in her wide-eyed glance, Rose led him back to the little
+mountain homestead and, as soon as they were inside, hurried to produce
+the desired article.
+
+"Now then, hold up your arms," commanded Donald lightly.
+
+Rose obeyed, and, slipping the string about her yielding waist, he drew
+it taut and tied a knot to mark the resultant measurement. Following the
+same procedure, he took the circumference of her chest, the length of
+her arm, and from her neck to a few inches above her slender ankle.
+Suddenly her puzzled expression gave place to one of understanding, and
+the starry smile broke over her countenance.
+
+"You've _guessed_," cried Donald with feigned disappointment.
+
+"Ef hit's a secret, I won't even whisper hit ter no one," the child
+responded gayly.
+
+"Good. It _is_ a secret, but not a dark one."
+
+"I reckon thet hit's all white," she gurgled. "An' now I hev a secret
+fer _yo_' ter keep--leastwise till ye gits ter the city. Yo' promise,
+too?"
+
+"I solemnly swear," said Don, and, breaking away, the girl ran into her
+own room and bashfully brought out a paper bundle through the top folds
+of which protruded the twisted reed handle of a basket, somewhat similar
+to the one of her own manufacture which he had given her. "This hyar
+basket's fer the little girl; but, inside hit's something fer yo' ter
+remember leetle Rose by. Also thar's a writin', askin' ye ter do
+something fer me an' ef yo' kin do hit I will shor' be mightily obleeged
+ter ye."
+
+"I can't guess what on earth it is, but you may be sure that I will do
+it if it can be done," he answered earnestly. "Good-by, Smiles. Even
+without your gift as a reminder I shouldn't have forgotten you, and I
+shall not think of the Cumberlands without seeing your dear little
+face."
+
+Donald took both her small hands in his big ones, and, yielding to a
+sudden impulse, bent down and drew her towards him. For just an instant
+she held back slightly, and the color swiftly mantled her cheeks. Then,
+as he was on the point of releasing her, a little ashamed of his
+intention, she freed her hands and, flinging them about his neck, kissed
+him warmly again.
+
+With the fresh, childlike pressure of her young lips on his, Donald went
+hurriedly out, and, after a last hearty handclasp from Big Jerry, turned
+towards the woods, an unaccustomed song in his heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+AN UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE
+
+
+"I wants ter hev speech with ye, stranger."
+
+The words, spoken in a harsh voice, fell gratingly on Donald's ears, and
+brought to an abrupt end the happy thoughts with which his mind was
+occupied. He stopped, forcing the growling Mike behind him, as Judd
+stepped out from the bushes, squarely across his path.
+
+"I would be glad to stop and talk with you, Judd, but I'm due in
+Fayville before noon, and have already stayed too long at Big Jerry's."
+
+"Yo' hev," was the prompt and surly reply.
+
+"What the devil do you mean by that?" snapped Donald, with rising ire.
+
+"What I says, goes," was the reply. "This hyar place air a powerful good
+one fer yo' ter keep erway from, stranger."
+
+"Indeed? Well, you don't own it."
+
+The younger man's color heightened, and his lean jaws clamped together.
+
+"I warns ye fair," he said, after a brief pause.
+
+"And I don't accept such a warning from any one," shot back Donald,
+momentarily growing more angry. "It's no business of yours, whether I go
+or stay."
+
+"I makes hit my business," replied the other sullenly. "Big Jerry air
+growin' old an' foolish, I reckon; but I seen what I seen, an' thar
+haint no city man ergoin' ter come up hyar an' make trouble fer a gal uv
+our'n."
+
+"Judd, it's you who are the fool. I don't admit your right to discuss
+this, or any matter, with me, but Rose is nothing to me but a very good
+friend. Besides, she's only a child."
+
+"She's nigh onter old ernough ter wed," was the uncompromising answer.
+"An' ef she haint nothin' ter ye, the more shame on ye fer tryin' ter
+make her love ye, an' mayhaps break her heart."
+
+"But I haven't tried to make her love me," broke in Donald impatiently.
+
+"Then fer what did yo' put yer arms erbout her an' kiss her, like I seen
+ye through the winder awhile back, I wants ter know?" demanded the
+other, as he hastily frustrated Donald's attempt to step by him.
+
+The man felt his own face flush hotly, and was angry over this visible
+display of feeling.
+
+"I tell you she's only a child. I kissed her as I would any little girl
+of whom I was fond."
+
+"Yo' love her, an' yo' haint the man ter say hit."
+
+"Very well, then. Supposing I admit that I love her, what is it to you?"
+replied Donald, with a flash of heat.
+
+"I loves her, too. I've loved her since she come ter these hyar
+mountains, a leetle baby; an' I don't calkerlate ter hev yo', er any
+city man, make a plaything uv her. Hit's man ter man, now. Air yo', er
+haint yo', a-goin' ter leave hyar, an' keep erway?"
+
+"As I told you before, it's none of your business," replied Don shortly.
+
+"An' es I told ye before, hit air. Now I tells ye thet yo' haint
+a-comin' back."
+
+"That ... remains to be seen," Donald answered wrathfully as he stepped
+past Judd, this time unimpeded.
+
+He had not gone more than a score of swinging strides, keeping the
+bristling dog close beside him, when he heard the staccato crack of a
+rifle, and simultaneously the high-pitched whine of a bullet past his
+head.
+
+Once before, in the Maine woods, he had been an unwilling target, on
+that occasion for an overanxious deer hunter. Then he had sprung up,
+waving his arms and shouting a warning, but now instinct told him that
+the opposite procedure was the proper one, and he threw himself
+precipitately into the enveloping rhododendrons. As he did so, from the
+path above him came a derisive laugh which set his blood boiling.
+
+It awakened in Donald all the blind, fighting spirit which, in gridiron
+days, had driven him with clinched teeth into the thick of the battering
+melee. He sprang into a crouching posture, face turned toward the
+taunting sound, every muscle taut, every nerve tingling, and with but
+one thought surging through his brain--the desire to charge back and
+attack Judd, barehanded.
+
+Slowly the red demons of primitive passion vanished before the returning
+light of wisdom, born of maturity and the restraining power of
+civilization. He quickly realized that he had no right to make a fool of
+himself for the sake of such a cause, and in such a childish manner. His
+duty was paramount to the satisfaction of an atavistic impulse, and,
+placing a strong mental grasp upon his nerves, which cried for drastic
+action, Donald turned downward into the footpath again, and broke into a
+run.
+
+Haste was doubly essential, for little time remained before the hour for
+the departure of his train, and, even in Virginia, it _might_ leave
+according to schedule. As he crashed impetuously through a bush whose
+branches blocked the path, he heard again the laughter from above him
+and caught a new note therein--that of exultation.
+
+Donald stifled an oath, while an additional reason for returning to the
+mountain burned its way into his heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the path above, Judd deliberately blew the fouling smoke from his
+rifle barrel, turned about, and, with a satisfied smile mingling with
+the expression of hate on his lips, climbed back towards Jerry's cabin.
+
+In its doorway stood Rose. The happy flush still lingered delicately on
+her cheeks, and her limpid eyes were full of a soft, dreamy light.
+
+"What war yo' ershootin' at, Judd?" she cried, as the man came into
+view, carelessly swinging his long weapon.
+
+"Et a pole-cat," was his brief reply, as he removed his broad straw hat
+and sank with the unconscious grace of a wild animal onto the stoop at
+her feet.
+
+Neither broke the silence for several minutes, but the man scarcely took
+his burning gaze from the child's lovely face. At length she sighed ever
+so gently, and, seating herself beside him, dropped her firm chin into
+her cupped hands.
+
+"Smiles," began Judd, with all the harshness gone from his voice, "I
+don't enjoy fer ter hear yo' sigh thet erway, er ter see ther fur-off
+look in yo'r purty eyes, 'cause I fears thet hit means thar's some one
+else then me in yo'r heart."
+
+Instantly she sat up straight, and turned her eyes, full of surprise,
+upon him. "Why, Juddy!" she said.
+
+"Ef hit's thet doctor man, I likes hit least uv all, Smiles," the man
+continued, speaking bitterly. "He haint come fur no good, leetle gal,
+an' I don't want fer yo' ter think on him."
+
+"I reckon I thinks on whom I likes," she responded briefly.
+
+"Don't go fer ter git angry with me, Rose gal. Hit aint thet I wants ter
+be selfish er onreasonable, but ..." Judd stopped. Words of passionate
+love trembled on his lips, but were held there by a barrier of
+inherited reticence in matters of the heart. Iron reserve and laconic
+speech were essentially typical of his breed; but, at length, the eager
+utterances strained against the fetter of his will, and broke them.
+
+"I kaint speak as I desires to, Smiles. I fears I kaint make ye
+understand what's in my heart; but I've keered mightily fer ye, dear,
+ever since yo' war a smilin' leetle baby gal, an' now ... now yo'r most
+a woman grown, an' I love ye, want ye more come each new day an' each
+new night. Thar haint one ef them passes but thet I make excuse fer ter
+see ye, an' jest ther sight o' yo'r sweet face somehow kindles a light
+inside me that burns, 'thout scarcely dimmin', till I sees ye agin.
+Thet's ther reason I said what I done, a moment back.
+
+"I jest kaint bear fer ter think uv yo' lovin' some one else then me. I
+... I keers so much thet I believes I'd rather see ye dead then thet,
+Rose gal."
+
+Fairly trembling with the sweep of his unloosed emotion, the reserved,
+strong-willed man paused, and, as the girl stood up hastily, she was
+trembling, too.
+
+"Why, Juddy," she cried softly, distress in her voice, "I didn't rightly
+understand thet yo' felt thet erway. I likes ye, in course, but I'm only
+a leetle gal, an' I haint keerin' fer any one ... thet erway. I ... I
+don't enjoy fer ter hyar yo' say sech words ter me now, Juddy."
+
+"I reckon yo'r right, an' I shouldn't hev told ye yet, Rose," answered
+the man, almost humbly. "I kin bide my time, but I wants ye ter know
+thet I feels es I does. I'm a-goin' ter keep right on lovin' ye more an'
+more, and, when yo'r older, I plans ter ask ye ter marry with me."
+
+"I likes ye ... indeed I likes ye, Judd, but ... oh, please don't ever
+go fer ter do that. I kaint never marry ye, Judd."
+
+The man stiffened, and his face grew black again. "I believes thet yo'
+air in love with thet doctor man, atter all," he shot out.
+
+"I haint neither," cried the girl, angrily stamping her bare foot, "I
+does love him, but I haint _in_ love with nobody, 'ceptin' grandpap."
+
+"Yo' submitted ter his takin' ye in his arms an' kissin' ye," burst out
+the mountaineer.
+
+"Judd Amos, yo'r a mean, spyin' sneak, an' I hates ye!" stormed Rose,
+while her eyes filled with angry tears.
+
+"I didn't go fer ter spy on ye, Smiles," he protested, "I seen ye by
+chance. But, whether yo' love him er not, yo' might jest as well fergit
+him. He keered fer ye jest because yo' air er purty mountain flower, an'
+he haint never ercomin' back hyar ergin."
+
+"He air, too," contradicted the girl rebelliously. "He air ercomin' back
+an' he's promised ter help me git edercation."
+
+Judd laughed shortly.
+
+"I warned him fair ter keep erway, an' p'inted my warnin' with a rifle
+ball."
+
+Rose's eyes widened in horror.
+
+"Yo' ... yo' means yo' shot him, Judd?" she whispered, with both hands
+pressed to her breast.
+
+"Shot him? No. I didn't aim fer ter hurt him, an' 'twarn't in nowise
+necessary. I jest put a bullet past his head an' he run like a skeered
+rabbit."
+
+"Taint so. He never run from no one," she cried staunchly.
+
+"Wall, hit shor' appeared like hit ter me," was the gloating answer.
+
+Feminine instinct gave Rose an intuitive insight into the real reasons
+which underlay Donald's apparent flight; but pride sealed her lips, just
+as she was on the point of explaining triumphantly that the doctor had
+been called back home that day, and that it was the following summer
+when he would return.
+
+"Juddy," she said gently, after a moment, "yo' hed no reason fer doin'
+what yo' done. Hit war mighty wrong, but I fergives ye. I wants ter
+still be friends with ye. I wants ye ter help me, Juddy."
+
+The last words were breathed softly, and the naive appeal in her voice
+brought the hostile man quickly back to submissive and worshipful
+fealty.
+
+"Yo' know thet I'd do enything in the world fer ye, Smiles," he answered
+simply.
+
+"I believes thet yo' _think_ yo' would, Judd, but I wonders ef, deep in
+yo'r heart, yo' really keers ernough fer me ter ... I kaint scarcely
+explain what I means. I reckon I air powerful ignerrant in
+speecherfyin'."
+
+"I don't rightly know what yo' means, Smiles, but I give ye my promise
+ter do whatsoever yo' wants, ef hit takes my life," he declared
+earnestly, his former selfish desire to bend her will into compliance
+with his own for the moment yielding to his blind eagerness to prove his
+love.
+
+Youthful and unsophisticated in worldly wiles as she was, the eternal
+feminine in Rose sensed her victory and power, and, still maintaining
+her half commanding, half tenderly appealing tone, she outlined her
+plan, for the accomplishment of which his aid was all essential.
+
+Judd protested, pleaded and stormed--all to no avail. He felt himself
+like a man caught in a snare of his own weaving--a snare strengthened by
+fair, yet unbreakable, silken threads added by the child.
+
+Finally, miserable at heart, he yielded, and departed with his hand
+tingling from the impulsive affectionate pressure of Smiles' fingers
+upon it. But, as the conscious thrill which it caused in his being
+lessened, his thoughts became immersed in gloom, through which no
+encouraging light made its way. He realized that he had lost the first
+battle for her heart, and the loss brought closer the dark spectre of
+ultimate defeat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+"SMILES'" GIFT: AND THE "WRITING"
+
+
+"Now, my boy, let us hear an account of your trip. Did you enjoy it, and
+find anything of especial interest in the mountains of the feud
+country?"
+
+The doctor's father lighted his after-dinner cigar, and leaned back with
+the indolent satisfaction which a man ripe in useful years may feel when
+surrounded by his family. Since the death of his wife, he and his
+children had been more inseparably attached one to another than ever,
+and each drew a full measure of happiness from these all-too-infrequent
+reunions, when Donald could be with them. Even little Muriel was not
+left out of the group, for she had been granted the exceptional
+privilege of sitting up an extra hour, and listening to the wonderful
+hunting tales told by her beloved Uncle Don, upon whose lap she was now
+contentedly curled. Her mother and father sat near by.
+
+"Yes, to both questions," responded Donald.
+
+"Did you shoot any bears?" queried his little niece, expectantly.
+
+"No bears this trip, although I almost scalded to death a bare-legged
+little girl," was the reply. And with Rose thus made the central figure
+of his recital at the very outset, Donald proceeded to tell of his
+experiences and new friendships; but consciously refrained from
+mentioning the unpleasant incident with which his trip ended, and
+Smiles' parting embrace.
+
+His faithful reproduction of the soft mountain dialect brought frequent
+smiles from his listeners, and filled the child with delighted
+amusement.
+
+"I just love Smiles," she cried, as he finished his story.
+
+"Indeed, so does every one who knows her. _You_ do, don't you, Mike?"
+added Donald, and the dog beat a tattoo on the rug with his stumpy tail.
+
+"Witchery," laughed his father. "Even your clumsy description has
+strangely stirred my youthful blood, and 'I longs fer ter see this hyar
+wonderful child dryad of ther primeval forest.' If you ever go back
+there, you had better wear magic armor as protection against that
+illusive smile which seems to have cast a spell of enchantment over your
+civilized senses."
+
+"Pshaw, you needn't be concerned about my feelings for her. She's no
+siren, but a very real little person. I'll admit that she's amazingly
+attractive; but she's merely a child."
+
+"Children grow up," teased his sister.
+
+"I'm aware of that natural phenomenon," answered Donald, somewhat
+curtly. "But ... Great Scott, can't I describe a fifteen--no,
+sixteen-year-old little savage, without all you people imagining that
+I'm going to be such a fool as to fall in love with her?"
+
+"Sometimes it isn't what one says, but the way he says it, that
+incriminates," put in his brother-in-law, adding his voice to the
+general baiting which had apparently disclosed a tender spot.
+
+"Hang it all, I believe that I'll go back and ask Smiles to marry me, if
+only to put an end to your teasing," cried Don with a laugh not entirely
+natural. "At least I might perhaps succeed in frustrating _your_ obvious
+designs, Ethel. Oh, I'm not blind!"
+
+"I've almost concluded that you _are_--or hopeless," answered his
+sister. "However, I'm perfectly willing to admit that I would like to
+see you married to Marion Treville--she's my closest friend, and would
+certainly make you a perfect wife."
+
+"Too perfect, by far. Can you imagine me hitched with that proud and
+classic beauty? I should go mad."
+
+"But I want my pretty basket that little Smiles made for me," broke in
+Muriel, to whom the present remarks held no interest, and who emphasized
+her demand by seizing his cheeks.
+
+"To be sure you do, and I want to see my present, too. I'll bring them
+right down."
+
+Not at all ill pleased at this opportunity to escape from his family's
+jesting, which, for some indefinable reason, aroused his belligerency,
+Donald jumped up hastily and departed for the sanctuary of his bedroom,
+to get the bulky bundle with its mysterious enclosure. Minutes slipped
+by, and he failed to return to the group downstairs.
+
+At last his absorption was broken into by the arrival of Muriel, whose
+entrance into the room, with the traces of tears on her cheeks, brought
+him back to the present with a remorseful start.
+
+"You didn't come down, an' you _didn't_ come down, Uncle Don, an' now
+mother says it's bedtime, an' I want Smiles' basket to take with me."
+
+"Why, I'm terribly sorry that I've been so long, sweetheart-mine. I
+stopped to read the letter she wrote to me, and, I'm ashamed to say,
+forgot that you were waiting for me. But see, here's your present.
+Little Rose made it all herself for you. Isn't it pretty?"
+
+With a cry of delight the child gathered the simple basket into her
+chubby arms and bent her head over it. "Oh, don't it smell sweet, Uncle
+Don. Does Smiles smell like that?"
+
+"Perhaps not exactly," he replied, chuckling.
+
+"Now please show me what she sent to you. Was it a basket, too?"
+
+"No, not a basket. It's a very great secret; but, if you'll promise not
+to tell a soul, no matter how they tease, I'll show it to you."
+
+"Cross my heart, an' hope to die," said the child earnestly, making
+across her pinafore the mystic sign, so potent to the childish mind.
+
+Donald opened a drawer in the chiffonier and took out a small and
+obviously cheap glazed blue-and-white vase. The child took it
+wonderingly and, removing the cover, sniffed audibly and deeply.
+
+"My. _This_ smells like Rose," she said with conviction.
+
+"You're right, it does, indeed, because it _is_ roses--dried wild rose
+petals which she gathered and preserved herself. I saw it in her little
+cabin, and know that it was her most precious possession, yet she gave
+it to 'Uncle Don' as a keepsake, so that he might remember her whenever
+he smells of it."
+
+"Wasn't she just _too_ sweet to do that. My, how I would like to see
+her, Uncle Don."
+
+"Well, perhaps you may, some day."
+
+The sentence echoed out of the past, carrying his recollection back to
+the night when he had heedlessly spoken the identical words to Smiles,
+and there entered his mind the sudden realization of what amazing
+potentialities for good or evil often lie hidden in the simplest
+utterances.
+
+The sound of his sister's light tread in the hallway caused Donald to
+return his homely gift to its hiding place hurriedly, and little Muriel,
+with roguishly twinkling eyes, imitated his action as he laid his finger
+on his lips as a seal of secrecy.
+
+"Well, you _two_ kids," laughed Ethel, as she caught sight of the
+picture framed by the doorway.
+
+"I'm glad that I haven't wholly forgotten how to be one," answered her
+brother, as he kissed first his little niece, and then the basket which
+she held up with the demand that it be paid similar homage, and bade
+them good-night.
+
+Rejoining the diminished group in the living-room, Donald was
+preoccupiedly silent, until his father asked,
+
+"Well, have you read your little friend's 'writing'? I confess to a mild
+curiosity as to what sort of a letter a girl like her would write, and
+what sort of a request she would be likely to make of you."
+
+Don drew from his pocket the letter, painfully scrawled on cheap, and
+not overclean paper, and handed it over. Adjusting his eye-glasses the
+older man read aloud:--
+
+     Dear Dr. Mac,
+
+     Truly I want to be a nurse like you told me about some day.
+
+"Well," commented the reader, "at least she starts right off with the
+business in hand, without any palavering.
+
+     And I reckon that even a little mountain girl like me can be one
+     if she wishes hard enough and works hard, too.
+
+"Why," he interpolated again, "there doesn't seem to be any evidence of
+your weirdly wonderful spelling and grammar here."
+
+"Go on," answered Donald, smiling slightly.
+
+     I reckon it will take me a long, long time to get education and
+     earn all that money, but I can do it, Dr. Mac. I am sure I can do
+     it. I told my grandfather all that I mean to do, and he won't try
+     to stop me none. Of course he does not want for me to go away from
+     him, but I explained that I _had_ to, and of course that made it
+     all right.
+
+     When you was telling us what those nurses done, something seemed
+     like it went jump inside my heart, and straightways I know that the
+     dear Lord meant for me to do it, too. I read a story once about a
+     girl in france named Jone of Ark and I reckon I felt like she done
+     when she see the angel.
+
+     I know I can do it, Dr. Mac, if you will help me a little bit like
+     you promised. Most of all I figures I need a heap of book learning,
+     and it is books I wants for you to get me. You know the books I
+     need to have, Dr. Mac, and in this letter I am going to put $10.
+
+     It is an awful lot of money; but I reckon books cost a good deal,
+     and you can bring me the change next summer, for I have not got no
+     use for money here. Don't be afeared. It is my own money. It was in
+     my father's pocket among the camp things granddaddy found, and
+     there was some more. Grandfather, he kept it for me until I was a
+     big girl and now I am keeping it for a rainy day, like the copy
+     book says, although I don't think money would be much use to keep
+     off the rain.
+
+     Their is a preacher man who lives on our mountain winters, when he
+     can not travel about none, and I know I can get him to help me
+     learn if I help his wife with her work, and I can read pretty well
+     now and write pretty well when I have a spelling book to study the
+     words out of, although I have to go sorter slow, for they do not
+     allus spell words like they sound, and sometimes I cannot find them
+     at all. I guess my book is not a very good one.
+
+     I reckon it will take me a long while to earn more than $300; but I
+     am going to work awful hard, making baskets and other things, and I
+     am going to get Judd Amos, our naybor, to sell them for me at the
+     village store, for he goes down their trading every week, and he
+     will do anything I ask him, like I told you.
+
+     This is a pretty long letter and it has taken me all the evening to
+     right. I hope that you can read it. Well, I guess that is all now
+     from your loveing little friend.
+
+     I most forgot to say please give my love to Mike.
+
+                                                            ROSE WEBB.
+
+"Well, I've got to admit that I have seen many a letter, written by a
+grown-up, that fell a long ways short of that one in clarity of thought
+and in accomplishment of a definite object," said Mr. MacDonald, as he
+handed it back. "Do you suppose that her eagerness to become a nurse is
+just a passing childish whim, or has she really got sand enough to put
+her almost impossible plan through?"
+
+"Clairvoyancy was not included either in the Harvard or Medical School
+curriculum," responded Donald, with a shrug.
+
+"Meaning that the things of the future are in the laps of the gods. Of
+course, but I was merely asking for your personal opinion. I'm not
+jesting now; that letter really aroused my interest in the child."
+
+"Well, then, I believe that Smiles really possesses the strength of
+purpose to go through with even so difficult a task as she has set for
+herself. Remember, she comes of city stock, and hasn't the blood of
+those unprogressive mountaineers in her veins."
+
+"And you? Are you going to help her as she asks? What about your promise
+to Big Jerry?"
+
+"I lived up to both the spirit and letter of that, when I tried to
+explain to the child the almost unsurmountable difficulties which lay
+between her and the accomplishment of her dream. Besides, I know that
+she has told the truth in her letter, and has somehow managed actually
+to win over the old man. I can't help feeling mighty sorry for him, if
+the foster birdling is really going to fly away from his nest after he
+has reared and loved her so tenderly, but, after all, it is only the
+history of the human race. Still, I can't blame him if he looks on me as
+a serpent who stole into his simple Eden, carrying the apple of
+discontent."
+
+"There have been, of course, plenty of cases similar to this, where the
+adventurer's spirit was really big enough and the vision strong enough
+to carry him or her through to victory," mused Donald's father. "Such a
+one was the immortal Abe Lincoln, who came from just such surroundings.
+But the task is doubly hard for a young girl, and the experiment of thus
+breaking away from the ties and traditions of many years, and seeking a
+place in a wholly new, wholly dissimilar life, cannot but be fraught
+with dangers. There, in that simple environment she naturally appealed
+to you as not only an attractive child, but as a somewhat unusual
+personality. Tell me, lad, how will, or would, she measure up, if
+transplanted a few years hence into city life, where the standards of
+comparison are so utterly different; so much more exacting?"
+
+"Frankly, I don't know," responded Donald. "Since I read her letter I
+have been asking myself that question, and the answer worries me, since
+I feel in a way responsible for having opened the gates before her
+untrained feet. Somehow I cannot disassociate little Rose from her
+present environment, and, although she certainly _has_ an unusual charm
+for such a child, I must admit that, in part, at least, it was the
+result of--no, not that, but made more obvious by--her surroundings."
+
+"Well, she has apparently decided to take the moulding of her life into
+her own hands and, without knowing the quotation, determined to be 'the
+master of her fate and captain of her soul.' However, a little more
+education can scarcely hurt her, and, if she succeeds in saving up some
+money, it will come in handy enough as a 'dot,' in case she marries your
+friend, Judd Amos, and raises a family of mountain brats."
+
+Donald's reply was unnecessarily positive.
+
+"I'll wager that she'll never do that." And with that the conversation,
+as far as it concerned Smiles, ended.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During purloined hours in the next few days the eminently successful
+young physician might have been seen engaged in strange errands, which
+took him into such places as a dressmaker's establishment, and several
+stores which sold textbooks. It was also a noteworthy fact that the
+decidedly soiled and crumpled ten-dollar bill, with which he had been
+commissioned to purchase the means through which education might be
+acquired, was never taken from the special compartment in his bill
+folder.
+
+Then the flood of fall practice engulfed him, and gradually the memory
+of little Smiles faded from his busy mind, although it never quite
+vanished, and from time to time fresh breezes from the distant
+Cumberlands fanned it to life like a glowing ember.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SOME OF SEVERAL EPISTLES
+
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   I
+
+                                        Commonwealth Avenue
+                                             Boston, Massachusetts.
+                                                  September 15, 1912.
+
+Dear little Smiles:
+
+If you had been able to look inside of my heart when I opened your
+present and read your letter, you would have beheld as many different
+lights and shadows there as you can see in your own eyes when you look
+in the glass over your bureau.
+
+The sight of that little jar, and the scent of the spiced rose-petals,
+brought you so near to me that I thought I could almost see you by just
+closing my eyes--which may seem to you a funny way of "seeing" a person.
+It made me very happy.
+
+The letter, too, pleased me a great deal; but I must tell you that it
+also troubled me. That is when the shadow fell on my thoughts of you.
+
+The reason? I will tell it to you, because I feel that I should,
+although please do not think that I want to croak like an old black crow
+in one of your pine trees.
+
+If you have really set your whole heart upon becoming a nurse when you
+grow up, and your granddaddy has consented, it is not for me to say that
+you cannot do it. But I _do_ know the path which you must travel. I
+know that it is much steeper, much more rocky and full of briary bushes
+than any one your feet have ever climbed on your mountain, and you will
+have to keep a very brave little heart inside you, if you hope to reach
+the summit. And then, if you succeed, instead of finding a fairy castle
+filled with all sorts of pleasant things, you will only discover another
+long and weary road which must be traveled until your tired little body,
+and heart, made heavy by the sufferings of little children, long for the
+quiet restfulness of your dear old mountain home.
+
+Am I still trying to discourage you? I suppose that I am, for, you see,
+_I_ can look back along that road which lies _before_ you, and I can
+remember the rocks I had to climb over, and the bushes I had to struggle
+through, and yet I know that it was far easier for me than it will be
+for you.
+
+You have read parables in the Bible. Well, I am preaching a modern
+parable. "Book learning" is a sword and buckler--or perhaps it would be
+better to say that it is a suit of strong hunting clothes and thick
+leather knee-boots, and I was pretty well clad like that when I started
+my trip, while you are dressed only in thin gingham, with your legs and
+feet bare--as I first saw you. Please shut your eyes, dear child, and
+try to see the parable picture I have drawn for you.
+
+Have you done it? The picture is not as pretty as the one I painted the
+night I told about how fine it was to be a nurse, is it? But it is more
+nearly true to life.
+
+Now, think hard before you make up your mind as to whether or not you
+really mean to go ahead, for--after all, little Smiles--each boy and
+girl has soon to decide, all alone, what he or she is going to do with
+that strange thing which we call life.
+
+If your courage is really as strong as that of the wonderful Joan of
+Arc, I, too, believe that you can succeed and make your dream come
+true, and of course I will help you, gladly--in every way that I can.
+
+Now I am all through preaching. It is out of my line, and I promise not
+to do it again. Within a few days you will, I hope, get a boxful of the
+books which I have sent you as you asked me. Most of them are just what
+you wanted--school books--but on my own hook I added one or two not
+strictly for study--like plums in a dry bread pudding. And, of course,
+there is something else in the box and _I_ guess that _you_ can guess
+what it is.
+
+This, little Smiles, is the longest letter I ever wrote to anybody, I
+think. Don't you feel proud? It must end now, however; but not before I
+ask you to give my best regards to your kind granddaddy.
+
+Don't let the cold winter that is coming, chill your warm affection for
+
+                                       Your sincere friend,
+                                                 Donald MacDonald.
+
+P.S. I told Mike what you wrote to him, and he wigwagged a message of
+love back to you with his tail.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   II
+
+                                            Big Jerry's Cabin
+                                                 in Webb's Gap, Virginia.
+                                                      Sep't. 20, 1912.
+
+Dear Doctor Mac:
+
+Oh, dear doctor, can you ever forgive me for waiting two whole days
+before I wrote you back to thank you with all my heart for the many
+wonderful things which came in that box? It was like a fairy's treasure
+chest. And most of all I am obliged for that letter you wrote me. It was
+the first letter I ever got from any one and I shall keep it as long as
+I live. I think, of all the things I got, I like that the best. Those
+others you could _buy_, but you had to _make_ that yourself,
+and it seemed like I could almost hear you talking the words in your
+strong voice, like the sound of the falls in the Swift River.
+
+When I looked inside that box I could not make up my mind what I liked
+best. The many books kind of scared me when I opened them and remembered
+I had got to know all that much; but the book of beautiful poetry I just
+love. I have read all of the poetrys and know some of them to speak
+already.
+
+Then there is that nurse's dress. O how I love it, and how I wish for
+you to see me in it. I plans to put it on a little while everyday and
+pretend that I am a real nurse _like I am going to be_. I done it
+yesterday, and somehow when I shet my eyes and run my hands over its
+crackely stiff whiteness, it seemed to me that the room was full of
+sweet little babies for me to take keer of.
+
+And now, doctor, I must tell you that I done what you said for me to do.
+I closed my eyes up tight like granddaddy does when I say prayers, and I
+saw little Smiles acliming that rough path, and walking along that rough
+road you wrote about, but by the side of that long road I kept aseeing
+beautiful little flowers what were fading and drooping and calling out
+in tiny voices like baby chickens for Rose to keer for them. So doctor,
+the picture did not scare me none.
+
+The Lord give Joan of Arc (I know how to spell it now) a silver armor to
+protect her, and I reckon the white nurse's dress that you give me is my
+armor.
+
+Now doctor I must tell you about little Lou and the wonderful doll you
+sent to her. She was so funny when I give it to her that I got a chreek
+in my side laughing. First thing, she held it up tight against her and
+when it went Ma-a-a-like a calf, she dropped it quick and run and hide
+under the bed. But pretty soon she crep out again and I showed her how
+to make it shut its eyes.
+
+Then she jumped around and cried. 'O Smiles, hit _kaint_ do them things
+but hit _does_ do them.' Well, pretty soon, Judd Amos, her brother, come
+in and, when he saw it in Lou's arms, his face got as black as a storm
+cloud and he went for to take it away from her.
+
+I just stepped in front of him, and said, 'Judd Amos, if you ever go for
+to take that doll baby away from her, or even _touch_ it, I won't never
+speak to you again.'
+
+He was powerful mad with me, but he seen that I meant like I said, so
+Lou can keep her doll. And what do you think she has named it? She has
+named it Mike. Even Judd had to laugh a little when she said that was
+the doll baby's name.
+
+I am making baskets as fast as ever I can and Judd is going to take them
+to the store at Fayville for me. I went down with him and seen the
+storekeeper man myself last week, and he promised me to buy all that he
+can from me.
+
+Granddaddy shoots with your rifle gun most every day. He can hit a
+string like he used to, but he would not shoot a apple off my head like
+a man did in the book that had about Joan of Arc in it, although I
+wanted him to.
+
+I have ritten a piece of poetry like Mr. Eugene Fields did, and this is
+it
+
+    The cold may make my lips turn blue,
+    But it can't freeze my love for you.
+
+Your happy and loving little friend
+
+                                                                Smiles.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   III
+
+                                       Commonwealth Avenue
+                                            Boston, Massachusetts.
+                                                 October 24, 1912.
+
+Proprietor of the General Store,
+Fayville, ---- County,
+West Virginia.
+
+Dear Sir:
+
+I am informed that you are occasionally purchasing, through one Judd
+Amos, of Webb's Gap, sweetgrass baskets made by a little mountain girl
+of that settlement.
+
+I am interested in her work, and herewith enclose a money order in the
+sum of ten dollars ($10.00) with which I will ask you to purchase at a
+rate reasonably in advance of the one you are now paying, all the
+baskets which she sends to you. You may express them to my address each
+month, and I will forward further funds upon request.
+
+Please do not mention my name in connection with this transaction; but,
+if any questions are asked, merely say that you have obtained a city
+market for them.
+
+                                             Very truly yours,
+                                                  (Dr.) Donald MacDonald.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   IV
+
+                                            Webb's Gap. Vir.
+                                                 November 24, 1912.
+
+Dear Dr. McDonald:
+
+How many letters do you guess I have written to you so far this month?
+24. Yes, I have written you a long letter every day, telling you all the
+things I did, and thought, but of course I did not mail them, for I knew
+that you would get tired of reading them.
+
+But this one I am going to send, for grandfather has asked me to let you
+know that he has shot that wild turkey bird for your Thanksgiving--which
+is Thursday--and has sent it to you by express package from Fayville. I
+was with him when he did it.
+
+Evenings come right early now and we went into the woods just before sun
+down. It was right beautiful, and I wished that you could have been with
+us. I will try and tell you what I saw like I do in my daily letters
+that my teacher says are practice themes. (I could not have spelled that
+to save my life a month ago.)
+
+Well, except for the big pine trees which never seem to change, just
+like granddaddy, all the tall forest people and the half grown-up
+children-bushes, had put on bright new dresses in honor of Thanksgiving
+time. They were red, made of many colored patches like Bible Joseph's
+coat,--yellow green and brown, some as bright as God could paint the
+colors, some soft, like they had been washed and washed.
+
+Granddaddy thought it was beautiful too--although he called it "purty."
+But he did not like the brown grass and fallen pine needles, and called
+the marsh near the river an ugly mudflat; but _I_ thought it was
+beautiful, for that oozy mud was deep purple (the reverend told me the
+word), and the little pools of water were all gold. Those are the colors
+that kings dress in, yet that old mudflat wore them, too.
+
+Well, finally, when it began to grow dusk, we found a wild turkey bird
+roosting on a tree limb and granddaddy said, 'Hush, I aims ter shoot hit
+right thru ther head.' When you get it look where the bullet went.
+
+Now perhaps you would like to hear about what I have been doing. Well, I
+have been doing many things, but most of all I have been studying.
+
+The minister, whose name is Reverend John Talmadge, came back to our
+mountain when it began to get cold, for he is in not very good health
+and can't go about much, although he sits out doors most of the time.
+
+He is my very good friend, and I have found out a lot about him. One
+thing is that he went to college like you did, and he knows a great deal
+more than there is in all those books, even. So you see he can help me a
+good deal. He is even going to teach me some Latin, _D. V._ I think that
+God must have sent him to our mountain.
+
+Every day I study the books you sent, first with him and then at home,
+and I am getting along so nice that last week, when the teacher in our
+little school was away, they let me be the teacher.
+
+And who do you think was one of my pupils? It was Judd Amos. He has
+bought some books and is learning, too. I reckon he does not want a girl
+to be smarter than he is at book learning, which he says is nonsense for
+girls. But I know that it is not nonsense. Why, I can travel in far-off
+lands and see things that I did not even know _were_, by just reading
+books, and the reverend has lent me some to read.
+
+Then I am still making my baskets, and what do you think? The storeman
+is buying all I can send him, and paying me more than he used to for
+them! He says that city folks like to buy them for they smell so sweet
+and like the woods. I am saving all my money and, with what I had, have
+nearly $75 already, and, by next summer, will have over $100. Isn't that
+wonderful? Granddaddy pays me 10 cents a week for keeping house for him,
+too. Isn't he good?
+
+Don't you think I ought to be a very happy little girl? Well, I am, and
+I guess my face is getting all out of shape, I find so many things to
+smile about.
+
+                                            Your affectionate friend,
+                                                 Rose.
+
+P. S. Please give my love and a turkey drumstick to Mike.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   V
+
+                                            Commonwealth Avenue
+                                                 Boston, Massachusetts.
+                                                      December 23, 1912.
+
+Dear little Smiles:
+
+Although I am very busy, for the Winter has given colds to many little
+folks here, I can not let Christmastide go by without writing a letter
+to you, little forest friend. It was very dear of you to send me that
+basket of holly, which I found waiting for me when I returned, tired
+out, last night.
+
+Its dark green leaves and bright red berries looked up at me when I
+undid it, almost as though they were your personal messengers and were
+trying eagerly to say, "Smiles wishes you a Merry Christmas through us."
+The basket was indeed a work of art, but to me it seemed even more than
+that--a labor of love.
+
+I could almost imagine you tramping through the snow-covered mountain
+woods and gathering the holiday berries, and the picture which my mind
+painted was so attractive that I heartily wished I might have been
+there, too.
+
+I am delighted with the accounts of the progress you are making in your
+studies, and your all-too-infrequent letters themselves tell the story.
+I'm afraid that I shall not know you next summer. Write me just as often
+as you feel like doing so, dear, and if I do not always reply you may
+know that it is only because I am so very busy.
+
+Now I have two pieces of news to tell you. I am sure that you will be
+very much pleased with one of them and I hope will be with both.
+
+First, Muriel's mother had a wonderful present just a little ahead of
+Christmas day--not from Santa Claus, but from Old Father Stork. It is a
+fine baby boy, whose eyes are almost the color of yours, and his name is
+to be "Donald MacDonald Thayer." I suppose I have now got to be extra
+good in order to set my namesake the right example.
+
+Knowing how dear all little ones are to your heart, I am sure that you
+will be almost as pleased as we are over this happy event, and I can
+almost see your sweet face light up with its wonderful smile as you read
+this.
+
+Second, I am engaged to be married some day, if I can ever find time.
+_Her_ name is Marion Treville and she is very good and kind, and every
+one thinks she is very beautiful, too.
+
+I hope that you have by this time received the little friendship box
+which I sent to you and your grandfather. The dress is a present from
+Muriel, who loves your basket more than any of her toys, and continually
+speaks of you as her "dear friend Smiles"; the hair ribbon is from Mike
+and the book from
+
+                                                 Your sincere friend,
+                                                      Donald MacDonald.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   VI
+
+                                                 Webb's Gap
+                                                      January 7, 1913.
+
+Dear Dr. MacDonald:
+
+When I tell you that there has been a great deal of trouble here, you
+will understand why I have not written you long before this, to thank
+you for those lovely Christmas presents.
+
+Grandfather was delighted with his tobacco, although he has not smoked
+it yet, and all my gifts made me very happy. The dress dear little
+Muriel sent me is so lovely that I don't believe I shall ever dare to
+wear it, especially as, when grandfather saw me in it, he looked so
+sorrowful as he said, 'Hit's powerful purty, but hit haint my Smiles no
+more,' that he almost made me cry. I wonder if I can really ever leave
+him? He needs me very much now.
+
+Oh, I was so happy for all of you when I read about Muriel having a dear
+little baby brother. I sat right down and wrote a verse. The reverend
+helped me with some of the words, but still I'm afraid that it is not
+very good and I am afraid you will laugh at it. It is the best I can do
+now, and I guess I will send it to you in this letter.
+
+Now I must tell you that your friend, my grandfather, has been very sick
+since Christmas. The doctor from Fayville has been to see him several
+times and he says the trouble is--I know that you will laugh at me now,
+but I can only write what it sounds like to me--'Aunt Jina pecks her
+wrist.' He has pains in his heart and has to keep very still, which he
+does not like to do, so I am the nurse and, whenever I feed him, or give
+him the medicine that the doctor left, I put on my nurse's dress.
+
+Of course I have not been able to go to the reverend's for my lessons,
+and I have not been able to study much, except when grandfather is
+asleep; but he--the reverend, I mean--comes to our house as often as he
+can, and we take turns in reading aloud to grandfather, sometimes from
+the book you sent me, but most times from the Holy Bible, which he likes
+best.
+
+The reverend says that it is better than medicine to sooth a troubled
+heart, and I reckon it must be so, for it almost always puts grandfather
+to sleep, and the trouble is with his heart, like I told you.
+
+Then, beside that, a little wild mountain flower was born to a neighbor
+of ours last week. We tried--oh, so hard--to make it live, but the cold
+was so bitter here that God took pity on it and took it back to his
+garden in Paradise.
+
+At first I could not help crying, and I came home and tore up the verses
+that I wrote, but then I remembered what you told me about the Reaper,
+and I went back to the poor, sorrowful mother and told her. And I
+remembered what you said about making people smile by smiling myself, so
+I did that, too.
+
+This is not a very happy letter, but grandfather is getting better every
+day, and summer will soon be here now. The new year seems to me like the
+top of a snow covered mountain. When we have climbed over it, it is not
+long before we can hurry down into the valley where the sun is warm and
+the flowers bloom.
+
+                                                 Your affectionate friend,
+                                                      Rose Webb.
+
+P. S. I am very glad that you are going to be married.
+
+(The Enclosure)
+
+    Deep the world with snow was covered,
+    Cold and barren was the earth,
+    Low the Christmas angels hovered
+    As a little babe had birth.
+
+    Just a tender little flower,
+    Dropped upon the world below
+    Out of God's eternal bower--
+    Pink as sunrise, white as snow.
+
+    But the little blossom stranger,
+    As its earthly life it starts,
+    Need fear neither cold nor danger,
+    For 'tis planted _in our hearts_.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                             VII
+
+                                             "Thayerhurst"
+                                                  Manchester-by-the-sea.
+                                                       August 15, 1913.
+
+My dear little Smiles:
+
+This is going to be a very short letter, and can you guess why? Early
+next month I am going to run away from my work and everything here, and
+hurry down to your mountain for two whole weeks of wonderful vacation.
+So the next time you hear from me the words will come from my lips
+instead of my pen.
+
+I have been very glad indeed to hear that Big Jerry has been so well
+this summer, and I am sure that he has many more years of virile health
+ahead of him. I am keenly looking forward to seeing him cut a string
+with the new rifle.
+
+The weather has been terribly hot in Boston this month and caused much
+suffering, but it is quite cool and very pleasant here by the ocean.
+
+Every night that it is possible, I spend here with my sister's family,
+partly because I love to see my little namesake, even for a moment,
+partly to escape the city's heat and obtain some really refreshing rest.
+It makes me almost ashamed sometimes, when I think how comfortable I am,
+and how uncomfortable are the little children in the crowded city, most
+of whom have no woods, fields and streams like yours to play in, and
+many of whom never see anything out of doors except dirty, paved streets
+which get so hot that they burn the feet, even though the fire engine
+men frequently send rushing streams of water through them.
+
+But I know that a fighter must always keep in the best possible
+condition, and we doctors _and nurses_ have declared war on an enemy who
+has killed millions and millions, and never takes a day off.
+
+I wonder how you will like the ocean when you see it. Very much, I am
+sure, it is so immensely big--like the sky--so beautiful, and more full
+of ever-changing colors than even your mountains.
+
+They tell me that little Muriel plays beside it all day long on the fine
+white sand and over the rocks, while baby brother lies near by on a
+blanket, kicking and gurgling, and holding long, wordless conversations
+with the white clouds and sea birds high overhead.
+
+This has been a much longer letter than I expected it to be, and now I
+must chop it off short with just five more words,
+
+                                                  Your affectionate friend,
+                                                       Donald MacDonald.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE HIGH HILLS, AND "GOD'S MAN"
+
+
+    Sun hath sunk in radiant splendor,
+      Now the colors fade away
+    And the moon, with light more tender,
+      Sheds its silver on the bay.
+
+    Eventide is softly casting
+      O'er the earth a magic spell,
+    And a love-song, everlasting,
+      On the night wind seems to swell.
+
+    Deeper grow the lengthening shadows,
+      Darkening the heaven's blue,
+    One by one the stars are gleaming,
+      Night is nigh, would you were, too.
+
+Donald hummed the words in his not unmelodious baritone, as he climbed
+up the forest path down which, twelve months before, he had rushed
+headlong, in blind anger.
+
+The spell of the high, forest-clad hills, and the new-born night was upon
+his spirit. Pleasant anticipations filled his heart, and left no room
+for painful recollection as he hastened over the needle-strewn pathway
+on which the white radiance of the full moon, shining through the
+branches, made a tracery of silver and black.
+
+Let men whose minds are governed wholly by cold commonsense, and whose
+souls hold no spark of vitalizing imagination, scoff at moon-witchery
+and lunar madness. Let them declare that the earth's haunting satellite
+is merely a dead world which cannot even shine with its own light. Magic
+it _does_ wield. And, just as it distorts and magnifies all commonplace,
+familiar objects, so it twists the thoughts of men; just as it steals
+away the natural colors from the things of earth, and substitutes for
+them those of its own conception, so it alters the hues of man's
+meditation.
+
+The usually exuberant Mike trotted in silence, close to his master's
+heels, and now and then cast suspicious glances aloft at the tall
+spectre things which he knew to be trees.
+
+Donald knew that it was rather absurd of him to be toiling up the
+five-mile mountain path that night, when the next morning would have
+done just as well; but he had thankfully thrown off the shackles of
+civilization along with its habiliments. For two free, full weeks he
+meant to live like a child of the out-of-doors, and to draw a brimming
+supply of new energy from Mother Nature's never-failing breasts. Every
+moment was precious.
+
+As he neared the Gap, his winging thoughts flew ahead to Big Jerry's
+cabin and to the child-woman who had so attracted him a year before.
+Once more he told himself that she was nothing to him, and that now,
+especially, he had no right to allow her, child though she were, to hold
+so large a place in his heart. Yet what chance has reason in
+competition with moonlight?
+
+The clearing, with the cabin beyond it, came into view. The little house
+was likewise a victim of the prevailing necromancy, for its rough,
+hand-split and weatherbeaten shingles were now a shimmering
+olive-silver.
+
+Mike gave voice to a joyful yelp, and tried to crowd past his owner's
+legs, for he had seen, or sensed, Rose even before the latter became
+aware of the presence of their little friend. She was standing, alone,
+on the outer edge of the tiny stoop, whose darkened doorway formed a
+black background, against which her figure appeared, cameo-like. The
+flooding brightness lifted her form and face, seen in profile, into
+sharp relief, and the shadow which it cast on the grass made her appear
+the more tall and slender. Grown and subtly altered she undoubtedly was,
+thought Donald. The girlish curves and lithesomeness had not departed;
+but they carried a suggestion of approaching maturity. Her wavy hair no
+longer hung unbound about her face, but was dressed in two braids, one
+of which had fallen forward across her breast. Shoes and stockings
+covered her legs; but the simple dress still left her neck and arms
+bare, and the flesh was robbed of its color and made alabaster, the
+golden threads stolen from the dark hair and replaced by a silver sheen,
+so that there was something ethereal, but startlingly beautiful, in the
+picture.
+
+Holding the violently wriggling Mike in check, one hand on his collar,
+the other grasping his jaws, Donald stole silently forward until he had
+passed the corner of the cabin, and his own shadow had crept forward,
+and laid itself at the girl's feet.
+
+Suddenly she perceived it, and turned with a question in her shadowy
+eyes. Her lips parted, then curved into the familiar magic smile, as she
+cried, "Oh, Doctor MacDonald. You've _come_."
+
+Mike twisted free, and, with a mad bound and wiggle, threw himself on
+the girl, who caught him in her arms. Then, holding him against her, she
+somehow succeeded in extending one hand, shapely and slender, to meet
+the man's two eager ones.
+
+"Oh, grandpap," she thrilled through the doorway. "Hurry out hyar. Dr.
+Mac hes come fer ter see ye."
+
+A sense of vague disappointment possessed Donald as he heard her lapse
+into the musical, but provincial, dialect; but, seeming to read his
+thought that the year of study had not been able to alter it, she
+whispered, "I always talk like I used to, to him, for he likes it best."
+
+"I see, and you're quite right, too," was his low-voiced reply, as he
+heard the old man's heavy tread crossing the bare floor within.
+
+"Wall, wall, stranger. We air shor'ly powerful pleased fer ter welcome
+ye ergin," came in Big Jerry's deep and hearty voice, as he emerged from
+the darkness, and caught Donald's hand in the old, crushing vise.
+
+For a few moments they all chatted happily, and then Jerry said, "Erfore
+I fergits hit, us wants ye ter stay up hyar this trip. Ther loft-room
+air yourn, an' leetle Rose hes fixed hit up special fer ye--curtains et
+ther window, er rag rug on ther floor, an' ther Lawd knows what else."
+
+"Do you really want me to?" cried the newcomer in pleased surprise.
+
+"Of course we really want you," answered the happy girl.
+
+"Then, by Jove, I'll be only too glad to, although I had not thought of
+such a thing."
+
+"I allows thet yo' kin regard this hyar cabin as yo'r home whenever
+yo're hyarerbouts, an' we wants fer ye ter feel thet hit _air_ home,"
+said the giant with simple courtesy.
+
+"I can't tell you how much that means to me--real hospitality like
+that," began Donald, hesitatingly. "You know I ... I haven't any real
+home and haven't had ... since mother left us, and my sister was
+married. Of course," he added hastily, "my rooms are pleasant and
+comfortable, and all that; but they're only a place to work, sleep and
+eat in, and there isn't any of that indefinably vital something--a soul,
+perhaps--which makes a _real_ home a sacred spot, no matter how big or
+how small it may be. I get frightfully lonely there, sometimes."
+
+"I didn't allow thet a man could git lonely in the city," replied Jerry.
+
+"'In the city?' My dear man, one can be _twice_ as lonely there as any
+place I know of. The very life makes for shut-inness, in mind as well as
+body, and there are thousands and thousands of men, and women, too,
+there, who know scarcely a soul outside of the very few with whom their
+daily work brings them in contact; and _they_ are mere acquaintances,
+not friends. They see only the four walls of the rooms in which they
+work and sleep, and the walled-in streets between the two.
+
+"These very streets seem to me to typify the city's life--so hard, so
+filled with hurrying, jostling crowds of people, all equally intent upon
+their own narrow, selfish affairs, people who would think a fellow crazy
+if he spoke to them pleasantly, as you did to me the first time I saw
+you. There are thousands who never even lift their eyes to the narrow
+strips of sky between the tall buildings. _They_--and they only--know
+what real loneliness is.
+
+"Of course I'm not one of those unfortunates," he added quickly, "for I
+have many friends, and am making new ones daily; but that is the
+atmosphere I live in fifty weeks of the year. Do you wonder that it gets
+on my nerves at times, and that I long to run away from it all and get
+into the big, open spaces in the warm heart of friendly nature?
+
+"Do you think that I can ever feel lonesome in the forest and fields,
+with living things always about me which are ready to share themselves
+with me?"
+
+"I reckon I haint never thought uv thet. This hyar mountain country
+air's whar I hev lived in contentment all my life, an' I allows thet
+hit's good ernough fer me ter keep on livin' in, twill I dies."
+
+Rose remained silent, although obviously disturbed by Donald's words;
+but, before she could voice her thoughts, another figure quietly joined
+the group--a tall, stooping man, clean shaven, and with an aesthetic
+countenance seemingly out of its natural environment.
+
+"Why, it's my minister man," cried Rose joyfully. "Wherever did you come
+from?"
+
+"My wanderings brought me close home, and I could not pass by without
+calling on my two good friends in Webb's Gap."
+
+"An' we air downright glad fer ter see ye, reverend," answered the host.
+"This hyar air the doctor man from the city, what leetle Rose hes told
+ye so much erbout."
+
+Donald already felt drawn to the strange divine, their common interest
+in the girl acting as a lode-stone, and he clasped his hand with
+friendly pressure. The other returned it less vigorously, but no less
+sincerely, and Donald experienced a peculiar mesmeric thrill which
+startled him a little.
+
+"Perhaps I should apologize," began Mr. Talmadge in a low voice, the
+timbre of which still retained the resonance of early culture. "I came
+on this happy scene--or at least to the corner of the house--while you
+were speaking of life in the city, and I could not very well help
+pausing and listening.
+
+"I know your feelings only too well, Dr. MacDonald. I was born, bred and
+worked in New York until my health became undermined by just such
+influences as you mentioned; and I was forced to run away, too, and seek
+the hills 'whence cometh my help.'"
+
+"And deep in your inner consciousness you don't regret the change, do
+you?" asked Donald.
+
+"No. Perhaps I am selfish--a shirker--and there are times when the old
+call to get back where I know that the need is greatest comes like a
+clarion. But for myself, the disaster--which once seemed like a
+curse--has turned out to be a blessing, as is so often the case. I have
+learned a great lesson, doctor."
+
+"What lesson?" queried Rose.
+
+"God's," responded the minister, quietly. "It may seem strange to you,
+my dear, but, although I was reared in a religious family, went through
+a great theological school, and was the rector of a city church for ten
+years, I never fully knew Him until I came here."
+
+"Why, Mr. Talmadge!" gasped the girl in astonishment, while Donald said
+bluntly, "Do you really believe that you know Him, now?"
+
+"I do. Not, of course, in all the fullness of His mysterious majesty,
+but as a friend whose ways are no longer hidden from my eyes."
+
+"Frankly, I wish I might say as much," said the doctor. "I, too, was
+brought up in a religious household, but small good it did me, for, when
+I became old enough to think for myself, the glaring errors and
+inconsistencies in my childhood belief became so apparent that I became
+hopeless of ever understanding the truth which might lie within that
+astonishing maze. I quit going to church long ago."
+
+"Doctors are generally regarded as an atheistic lot," smiled the
+minister.
+
+"That's slander. We may--in the aggregate--be agnostic.... I suppose
+that I am."
+
+"I ... I don't understand," said Rose in distress, "but I don't like for
+to hear yo' say that, Dr. Mac."
+
+"It may not be as bad as it sounds, my child," laughed Mr. Talmadge. "An
+atheist is indeed a terrible person, who doesn't believe in our heavenly
+Father, but an agnostic is only one who confesses that he doesn't know
+... but may be quite willing to learn."
+
+"Oh, learn ... I mean teach him, then," she said earnestly. "You are
+God's man and know everything about Him, Mr. Talmadge."
+
+"Indeed I don't--far from it, and I imagine that your friend doesn't
+want to hear a sermon on the mount."
+
+"_I_ do," she cried, "there's lot of things I want to hear about, but
+I've always been afraid to ask you, till now."
+
+Rather gruffly Donald added his word, "I hope that I am broad-minded
+enough not only to receive, but to welcome, any light on a subject which
+is, I imagine, the most vitally important one in life."
+
+"Well, then, suppose we hold a little spiritual clinic for our Rose's
+benefit primarily, remembering that where two or three are gathered
+together in His name, God will be with them. And, after all, what time
+could be more fitting than this silent, holy night; what place more
+suitable than this great temple of the out-of-doors, for us simple
+children of His to seek understanding?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+"SMILES'" CONSECRATION
+
+
+If, half an hour previous, Donald had been told that, during the first
+evening of his long anticipated visit to his forest of enchantment, he
+was to play the part of patient in a spiritual clinic, conducted by a
+wandering backwood preacher for the instruction of a seventeen-year-old
+mountain girl--as well as for his own enlightenment--he would have
+scoffed at the idea; yet, oddly enough, he felt no sense of displeasure
+or antagonism.
+
+In the company of this unaffected man of God, the simple old mountaineer
+and the equally simple girl only, vanished all the self-conscious
+reserve and reticence which usually attacks the modern city dweller when
+called upon to speak of things spiritual and eternal, and which had so
+often bound Donald's tongue, even when his inner being cried aloud for
+expression.
+
+"I hardly blame you for your attitude of mind, doctor," began Mr.
+Talmadge. "Although it is certain that the knowledge of God starts from
+Himself a ray of pure white light, the dogmas, creeds and
+theologies--invented by many men of many minds--have raised between it
+and our spiritual eyes a glass clouded with earthly murkiness, through
+which we now see darkly. Only as mankind grows in spiritual stature, and
+lifts his head above the clouds, can he hope to see the ray in all its
+purity and glory."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that's so," assented Donald. "But I'm afraid that my
+difficulties lie deeper than the unessential differences in dogma.
+However, since our little friend is the one who has questions to ask,
+let her conduct the catechism."
+
+Rose was speechless with embarrassment, but finally managed to say, "I
+reckon I'm so ignorant, that I can't say the things that are in my
+heart. Please, Dr. Mac, you ask the reverend the questions and let me
+just sit and listen. Only don't use too big words, for I want to
+understand."
+
+"All right, I'll be cross-examiner, but please believe, Mr. Talmadge,
+that what I may say is not intended to be argumentative, but rather
+honestly inquisitive. I really would like to find out if any one can
+reasonably explain some of the many things in religion to the acceptance
+of which I have been unable to reconcile myself."
+
+"I'll do it gladly, if I can. But, before you begin, let me apologize
+for what I said in ill-timed jest about doctors being atheists. I
+suppose that, in one sense, there isn't a more truly religious class of
+men in the world."
+
+"I can't agree to that, either," said Donald.
+
+"Perhaps not, but tell me this. Isn't the structure and functionings of
+the human body infinitely more wonderful to you, who have made an
+intimate study of it, than it can be to us who have not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. It's the most marvellous thing on God's earth," answered
+Donald, unthinkingly employing an expression heard in childhood.
+
+"There!" cried Mr. Talmadge. "He's convicted out of his own mouth, isn't
+he, Rose? 'God's earth', he says."
+
+"A mere figure of speech," the physician laughed.
+
+"A statement of fact, sir. There are mighty few of you doctors who will
+not, within your hearts of hearts, agree that a Supreme Being must have
+designed this earthly temple which we call our body, the world we dwell
+in, and established the laws that govern both. And, knowing, as none
+others can, _how_ wonderfully the former is constructed, is not a
+doctor's appreciation of the Almighty's power bound to be sincere?"
+
+"Granted. But that isn't being religious," Donald protested.
+
+"It is the foundation of all true religion," was the quiet answer.
+
+The physician was still dubious. "Well, perhaps. Still, I doubt if many
+ministers would agree that merely because a man may believe in a
+superhuman creative power, he is religious, if, at the same time he
+says--as I must--that he doesn't and can't subscribe to many of the
+things which we were taught as children to believe as 'gospel truth.'"
+
+There was the sound of a shocked and troubled "Oh," from Rose, but the
+minister's composure was in no wise ruffled.
+
+"The trouble is, I imagine, that you have mentally outgrown the
+willingness to accept certain statements blindly, as children and
+primitive minds do, and yet have made no really earnest endeavor to lift
+the veil and look behind it with the intent of finding out if a simple
+and understandable truth may not lie hidden there."
+
+"But how is one going to get behind a plain statement of what is
+apparently meant to be fact, such as the description of the creation in
+Genesis?" demanded Donald, somewhat impatiently. "Science is absolute,
+and I, for one, know that the Darwinian theory of life, or one
+substantially like it, is true. Why, a study of human anatomy proves it,
+even if we did not have conclusive evidence in anthropology and geology.
+So, in the very first words of the Bible, we start off with a conflict
+between its tenets, and what human learning shows us to be an
+indisputable fact."
+
+"Do we?" smiled the minister.
+
+"Don't we?" answered Donald.
+
+Rose sat looking first at one, then at the other, with a puzzled look in
+her eyes, for it was all Greek to her.
+
+Noticing this, Mr. Talmadge said, "I guess that we've started a bit too
+strongly for our little listener, but we want her to accompany us from
+the start," and he briefly, in simple words, outlined the Darwinian
+theory, which brought an outraged grunt from Big Jerry. Then he turned
+back to Donald, and said, "Take the story of ... well, say the prodigal
+son, for an example. Was that the account of real happenings, think
+you?"
+
+"Of course not. Merely a parable." The other's mind reverted to the one
+which he himself had preached by letter to little "Smiles."
+
+"The Bible is filled with parables," said Mr. Talmadge, simply. "Why
+should we regard certain stories as allegories merely, and others as
+historically accurate statements of fact when they are difficult to
+credit as such? Especially why should we do so in the face of the
+obvious fact that the earlier part of the Old Testament is simply
+tradition, handed down, orally at first, by an intensely patriotic and
+rather vain race? _Sacred_ tradition it is, to be sure; but that should
+not deter us from endeavoring to analyze it in the light of reason.
+Besides, hasn't it ever occurred to you that in a translation from the
+original Hebrew, some of the finer meanings of the old words are sure to
+have been lost or distorted?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so."
+
+"As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word '_Yom_,' which, in the story of
+the Creation, has been translated 'day,' also means 'period.' And it is
+a rather interesting thing, in this connection, that the biblical
+account mentions an evening to each of the first six 'days,' but not to
+the seventh, which shows that _it_ isn't finished yet. Science tells us
+that this last period, since the creation of mankind, has already
+lasted many thousands of years--although the length of time ascribed to
+it varies greatly--and this gives us some idea of how long those other
+'days' might have been. Besides, in this case, we do not have to be
+'finicky' about the meaning of the ancient word, for in the Psalms there
+is a verse which says that a thousand years in _His_ sight are ..."
+
+"Are but as yesterday," Rose completed the quotation in her gentle
+voice. "You see, those were God's days, not ours."
+
+"Well, I'll be ... blessed," said Donald. "It is logical enough, isn't
+it? The trouble in this case, at least, was that I never consciously
+tried to reconcile what I regarded as the old and new beliefs."
+
+"But, Mr. Talmadge," Smiles' perplexed voice broke in. "If human beings
+just developed from a kind of monkey ..."
+
+"The anthropoid ape wasn't exactly a monkey, although he may have looked
+and acted like one," laughed Donald.
+
+"Well, but how could the Good Book say that God created man in His own
+image?"
+
+"Do you remember what Paul said, in his wonderful epistle to the
+Corinthians? He answered your question when he wrote, 'There is a
+natural body, and there is a spiritual body ... and as we have borne the
+image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly.'
+What does the Bible say that God is, Rose?"
+
+"'God is a spirit,'" whispered Smiles, reverently.
+
+"Exactly. And Dr. MacDonald will tell you that 'spirit' comes from a
+Latin word which means 'breath.' When God perceived that some of the
+earth creatures had, according to His plan, developed sufficiently in
+mind so that they could rule the world, He breathed into them some of
+His own spirit, and thus created them in His own image--for of course a
+spirit hasn't form and shape like beings of flesh and blood."
+
+"Hasn't He?" gasped the girl. "Why, there is a picture of Him, like a
+great big man with long beard, in my Bible."
+
+"Merely symbolic, dear child, and I have always felt that it was a vain
+symbolism, in both senses of that word. You look them up in your new
+dictionary to-morrow. In trying hard to picture God, men have made Him
+in the likeness of the most wonderful things their eyes had ever
+seen--themselves--and just increased His size. As for the beard, that is
+supposed to be a sign of power and strength.
+
+"Of course, in fact, God isn't a man or even a super-man, but a spirit,
+combining the spiritual elements of both male and female."
+
+"I reckon I jest hev ter think of er somebody fer ter worship," broke in
+the hitherto silent Jerry. "Jest something like ther wind air er bit too
+onsartain fer me."
+
+"And for millions of others," answered the minister quickly. "Of course
+there isn't the slightest bit of harm in people thinking of Our Heavenly
+Father as a Being with a form which our eyes might see if they were only
+given the power to behold heavenly, as well as earthly, things. The
+conception of the Omnipotent as a physical embodiment has in the past
+been of incalculable advantage in making an appeal to an aboriginal type
+of mind, since it really requires some sort of material personification,
+which it can at least visualize, the conception of which serves as an
+incentive for well-doing, and a deterrent from evil doing. It is
+therefore infinitely preferable as a working basis to an unembodied
+force."
+
+Big Jerry brought a smile to the lips of the other two men by bursting
+out, "Durned ef I understand. Them words air too powerful ederkated fer
+me."
+
+"But," said Rose, "what you say kind of frightens me, Mr. Talmadge. If
+we can't ever see God, even in Heaven, how can we be sure that He _is_?"
+
+"Have you ever seen ... love?" queried the minister softly.
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Yet you know that _it_ is. You've never seen, tasted, touched or
+smelled thought, but you know that it exists. In the same mysterious way
+we know, and we shall know more perfectly hereafter, that the Great
+Spirit--I've always loved that beautiful Indian expression--_is_."
+
+"Yes," she said, somewhat uncertainly. "I _think_ that I understand. But
+it's powerful hard to understand how I can be His little child if He
+isn't a person."
+
+"I don't wonder that it puzzles you, dear. It is hard for even the
+oldest of us to try to imagine something entirely different from what we
+have actually seen with our mortal eyes, and we can hardly conceive of a
+spirit, or even a ghost, as something without some sort of a form, even
+though it be a very misty one. But the _real_ you isn't the flesh that
+we can see and touch, but the spirit that dwells inside, and, just as
+some of your earthly father and mother is in your body, so you have
+something of God within you, which was given you at birth. We call it
+..."
+
+"My soul."
+
+"Yes. And as that was part of Him you are His child ... so are we
+all--spiritual children."
+
+"And Jesus? Was He His son in the same way?" whispered the girl.
+
+"Exactly, only to a far greater degree than we can hope to be, for to
+Him the Heavenly Father gave His spirit in fuller measure than He ever
+had before to mankind, so that He might set an example to the world and
+teach us the way we should try to live."
+
+There was silence for a moment, and then Smiles spoke the thought that
+had been troubling her. "But, Mr. Talmadge, if God hasn't any body and
+our spirits are like him, why heaven ..."
+
+Mr. Talmadge sent a glance of smiling appeal at the doctor as though to
+say, "Now I'm in for it. How can I explain heaven as a spiritual
+condition?" Aloud he said, "I won't pretend to know just what heaven is
+like, but, of course, our spirits won't need an earth like this to walk
+on."
+
+"But," persisted the child, "the Good Book says that there are many
+mansions there, and golden streets, and also that it is a land flowing
+with milk and honey."
+
+"So it does, and very likely there are, in the realms of the spirit,
+things which correspond to those that we have known on earth, but I am
+quite sure that they are not _material_ things."
+
+"Ef thar haint no real heaven, thar haint no real hell," broke in Big
+Jerry, whose mind had been slowly grasping the meaning of the minister's
+words. "I reckon thar must be a place uv punishment fer sinners."
+
+Painstakingly, as though explaining to a child, Mr. Talmadge answered,
+"Mr. Webb, did you ever do something wrong, because of which your
+conscience troubled you later?"
+
+"Reckon I hev. Reckon I suffered the torments uv the damned fer hit."
+
+"Did you ever burn your hand?"
+
+"Yes, I done thet, too; powerful bad."
+
+"Which caused you the most suffering, your conscience or your hand?"
+
+"I erlows thet my conscience done hit."
+
+"That is the answer to your implied question. God doesn't need to give
+us new bodies, and send them into a place of fire and brimstone to
+punish us for our sins. If the soul suffers, it is in hell, even though
+it may still be in our mortal bodies. That it must suffer, when we do
+wrong, we know. But, Mr. Webb, I do not think that it is meant to be
+punishment in the sense of retribution--getting even--so much as it is
+for correction. You know that men put gold through the fire to purge it
+of the dross that makes it dim and lustreless. That is what the fires of
+the spirit are for; that is why the Bible speaks of Hell as a place of
+fire. It is another parable."
+
+"Yes, I see," said Rose, but the old man shook his head, unconvinced.
+Then the girl asked suddenly, "But why was God so good as to give us
+part of Himself and let us make it impure and suffer, Mr. Talmadge?"
+
+"Ah, now you are getting into the depths of religion and I'd rather not
+discuss that until you have had a chance to think over what we have
+talked about already. All that I wanted to do to-night was to get both
+you, and the doctor, to thinking for yourselves. Come and see me,
+doctor, if you want to continue this discussion. I've got theories on
+any subject that you may mention, I guess," he laughed. "But I won't
+count the evening wasted--even leaving out the pleasure I have had--if I
+have helped to open your eyes, ever so little, to the light."
+
+"Oh, you have ... and mine, too," answered Rose. "I mean to think
+_hard_, but if I get very puzzled, I'll come to see you about it. But,
+anyway, I mean to be God's little child all my life--as well as a
+trained nurse. And I mean to help Dr. Mac, always, to be a child of our
+heavenly Father, too," she added, simply. As Donald arose to bid the
+minister good-night, his eyes were a little misty, for the girl's
+unaffected declaration had moved him more deeply than he had ever been
+moved in his life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ADOPTION BY BLOOD
+
+
+For a little while Donald lay awake under the eaves in his loft room,
+but his sleeplessness was the result neither of worry or nervous
+tension. His mind, indeed, was unusually contented. None of the
+disturbing thoughts of difficult tasks on the morrow assailed it; he
+felt only an unwonted peace and contentment. The impressions left by the
+evening's talk still swayed and uplifted his soul. Yet, deep within his
+consciousness, there was a vague realization that it would be long, if
+ever, before he could hope to pattern his life by the precepts of the
+man of God who had so stirred him. Happily, he could not foresee how
+soon mortal passions were to repossess him wholly, to blot out the new
+spiritual light which was his.
+
+In her little room below, Rose, too, lay awake, her youthful mind
+teeming with wonderful, new ideas garnered from the seeds sown by the
+"reverend"; but the insistent call of slumber to her tired, healthy body
+in time lulled her busy thoughts to rest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Oh, Doctor Mac, come _quick_! Grandpappy's hurted."
+
+Sound asleep, and even then visioning the girl whose terrified voice
+suddenly wove itself into the figment of his dream, when the first word
+fell upon his ears, Donald was wide awake, and he was half out of bed
+before the last was spoken.
+
+He paused only long enough to draw on his hunting breeches and thrust
+his bare feet into their tramping boots--which left a hiatus of
+unstockinged muscular calf--hurriedly dropped down the ladder, and in
+two strides was out of doors.
+
+Near the wood pile stood the old mountaineer, on his countenance
+expression of mingled pain and chagrin, the latter dominating. His right
+hand still grasped the keen-edged axe, while Rose stood beside him,
+clasping his brawny left forearm with both of her small but sinewy
+hands.
+
+As Donald approached them on the run he noticed that the girl had
+sacrificed her treasured hair ribbon to make a tourniquet halfway up the
+old man's arm, and that blood was running down his hand and falling from
+the finger tips with slow, rhythmical continuity.
+
+"Hit haint nothin' et all, Smiles," Big Jerry was rumbling forth. "Hit
+air jest er scratch. I don't know how I come fer ter do hit an' I reckon
+I ought ter be plumb ershamed. Why, Smiles, I been erchoppin' wood fer
+nigh onter fifty year, an' I haint never chopped myself erfore. Hit war
+thet tarnation knot. But hit haint nothin', this hyar haint."
+
+"Come over to the well where we can give it a wash," was Donald's curt
+command, and Big Jerry followed him obediently, while the girl hastened
+ahead and drew up a bucket full of pure, sparkling, ice-cold spring
+water. The doctor tipped it unceremoniously over the giant's arm, and,
+as the already coagulating blood on the surface was washed away, made a
+hasty examination of the slanting, ugly gash beneath.
+
+"Superficial wound. No artery or major muscle severed," he announced, as
+though addressing a class. "Still, you were right in taking the
+precaution of applying that tourniquet, Rose. I suppose it was bleeding
+pretty merrily at first."
+
+"Hit war spoutin' powerful," she answered, in her stress of excitement
+lapsing into the language of childhood.
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. That is in a way a good thing in such cases,
+however. It automatically cleanses the wound of any infectious matter.
+Look, Rose," he added, as though explaining to a clinic, "see how the
+blood is thickening up into a clot? That is chiefly the work of what we
+call 'white corpuscles'--infinitely tiny little organisms whose sole
+purpose in life is to eat up disease germs which may get into the veins,
+and to hurry to the surface when there is a cut, cluster together and
+die, their bodies forming a wall against the wicked enemies who are
+always anxious to get inside the blood for the purpose of making
+trouble."
+
+"I told ye 'twarnt nothin'," said Big Jerry, not without a note of
+relief in his voice, however. "A leetle blood-lettin' won't do me no
+hurt. I'll jest wind a rag eround hit, an' ..."
+
+"Not so fast," laughed Donald. "In all probability 'a rag just wound
+round it' would do the business, for your blood is apparently in
+first-class condition, with its full share of the red corpuscles; but
+you might just as well have the benefit of the hospital corps since we
+are on the ground. The red corpuscles," he added, addressing Smiles,
+"are the other good little chaps who continually go hurrying through the
+body, feeding it with oxygen and making it strong. Run into the house
+and get my 'first aid' kit, from my knapsack, child. You'll remember it
+when you see it, for I had to dig it out the very first time that I saw
+you."
+
+The girl hurried cabinwards, fleet as the wind, and, as the two men sat
+down on a woodpile to wait for her, Donald had an opportunity to take
+note of his ludicrously inadequate costume.
+
+It seemed little more than a minute before Rose returned with his kit,
+but it was not brought by a mountain maid. In that almost incredibly
+short time the child had changed her gingham dress for the immaculate
+costume of a trained nurse, and the transformation in apparel had been
+accompanied by one in mien no less noticeable. Dainty and fair as a
+white wild rose she was, yet seriously businesslike in expression.
+Donald was startled for a moment. It came to his mind that he was
+looking upon a vision of the years to come, and the picture caused his
+heart to beat a little faster; but, although the light of appreciation
+shone in his eyes, his only comment was, "Are your hands as clean as
+that dress?"
+
+"Yes, doctor."
+
+"Now how the deuce did she come to use that stereotyped response?" he
+wondered; then said, aloud, "Then undo that roll of gauze bandage and
+tear off a piece about six feet long ... be careful! Don't let it touch
+the ground."
+
+Then he immediately gave his attention to Big Jerry, and smiled with
+professional callousness as he caught the giant's wince when the
+antiseptic fluid which he poured on the wound started it smarting.
+
+"Now for your first lesson in the scientific application of a bandage,
+Smiles," he said.
+
+Very carefully she followed his directions, and at length the split end
+was tied with professional neatness. But, as his fingers tested the
+knot, the girl seized one of his hands and exclaimed, with solicitude,
+"Why, you're hurt, too, Doctor Mac!"
+
+She indicated on one of his fingers a small jagged tear from which the
+blood was slowly oozing.
+
+"How the dickens did I do that?" he demanded in surprise.
+
+"Sliding down the ladder from the loft-room, I reckon. See, there's a
+piece of splinter in it still."
+
+"Right-o, Miss Detective." He turned to the old man and remarked, "It
+looks as though your blood and mine had been mixing, this morning. Why
+not complete the ceremony and make it an adoption by blood; the way they
+used to do in some of the Indian tribes, you know?" he added, half
+jestingly, and acting on a sudden impulse. "You can take me into the
+clan as ... well, as your foster-son."
+
+"Thar haint no clan nowadays, I reckon, but ef yo' wants fer ter be my
+foster-son I'd shor' be pleased fer ter hev ye es such, lad."
+
+"Great. I feel like 'one of the family' already, and if you _will_ adopt
+me as a new son--with all the privileges and obligations of one--I'll
+appreciate it, no joking."
+
+As a pledge of their compact the city and mountain man clasped hands
+solemnly, while Rose stood by, delightedly smiling her benediction upon
+their act. "Why," she cried, "that makes me your little foster sister,
+Doctor Mac. Oh, I'm so glad!"
+
+"Yes, so it does." Donald answered with a cheery voice, but no sooner
+were the words spoken than a sense of rebellion took possession of him.
+"Idiot!" he muttered, shaking off the feeling with an effort of his
+will.
+
+"But haint ... aren't you going to do up your hurt finger, too?" she
+queried anxiously.
+
+The man seized the broken sliver with his fingers and jerked it out,
+examined the tiny incision and then thrust the wounded member into his
+mouth. "Don't ever tell any of my patients that you saw me do this," he
+laughed, with a return to good humor, "but that is my way of treating a
+minor injury ... then I forget it. It's a fearful secret," he added,
+lowering his voice, "but nature, aided by sun and air, are wonderful
+healers, and just ordinary saliva, if a person is healthy, is both
+cleansing and healing."
+
+"Thet air the way anumals cures thar hurts," remarked Jerry.
+
+"Yes, it is nature's way, and if the blood is pure, and the cut not so
+deep as to make infection likely, there isn't a much better one, after
+all. However, Miss Nurse, you may practice your art on my finger, too,
+if you want."
+
+He held his hand out, and, flushing with childish happiness, Rose bound
+up the little scratch painstakingly, answering Donald's brief word of
+commendation with a flashing smile. Indeed, experience with many nurses
+of many grades of ability made him aware that her untrained fingers held
+an unusual degree of natural knack which augured well for the future.
+
+During a simple breakfast, leisurely eaten, the trio talked over in
+detail the varied happenings of the year that had passed, and Donald was
+as astonished as he was pleased to discover what diligent application
+the girl had exercised in her studying, and what results she had
+attained, despite the manifold handicaps under which she had labored.
+Her ministerial friend and mentor had truly guided her feet far along
+the lower levels of learning. Yet the old and well-remembered childish
+charm had been in no wise lessened, and the unaffected simplicity with
+which she dropped into the mountain tongue, when speaking to her
+grandfather, caused Donald to glow with sympathetic appreciation.
+
+As they finished eating, Big Jerry remarked, "Hit air a powerful fine
+mornin' fer ter spend huntin', my boy. I reckon yo'll wish ter git inter
+the woods right smart, an' ef yo' desires ter make a day uv hit,
+Smiles'll fix ye up er leetle lunch ter take erlong."
+
+"Oh, I'm not exactly sure what I shall do," answered Donald, with slight
+hesitation. "Perhaps what I need most, to start with, is just plain
+rest, and I rather guess I'll laze around this morning, and maybe go
+down to Fayville to get my grip this afternoon."
+
+"Wall, thet air a good idee. Jest make yo'rself ter home. I've got a
+leetle bizness ter attend to up the mountain a piece, an' I allows yo'
+kin git erlong 'thout me fer a while." He departed, disappearing with
+surprising rapidity, and left the man and girl together.
+
+Donald sank onto the doorstep, leaned against the side post, and sucked
+away at his pipe with lazy contentment, alternately watching Rose as she
+flew busily about her simple household duties, and sending his gaze out
+over the broad stretch of peaceful mountainside, which lay dozing in the
+warm morning sun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE THREE OF HEARTS
+
+
+At length Donald said, abruptly, "You haven't asked me anything about
+Miss Treville, Smiles."
+
+There was a perceptible pause in the girl's dish-drying, and the simple
+mountain ballad that she was happily humming broke off in the middle of
+a minor cadence. The man regarded her with curiosity as she slowly
+approached him, saying, "I didn't mean to be so forgetful, doctor, and
+I'm plumb ashamed. I should be pleased to have you tell me all about
+her."
+
+"Why, I don't know as there is much to tell," he replied, a little
+nonplussed by the unexpectedness of the implied question. "Of course she
+is very nice and very lovely, as I wrote you."
+
+"What does she look like?"
+
+"I am afraid that I cannot hope to give a very accurate description of
+her, Rose. It would perhaps be easier if you had ever visited an art
+museum, and seen statues of some of the Greek goddesses, for people say
+that she looks like one of them. You see she is quite tall for a
+woman--almost as tall as I am myself--and ... well, her form and the way
+she carries herself is queenly. Then she has hair darker than yours,
+and ... her eyes are gray, I guess, although, come to think of it, I
+never noticed particularly. She isn't pretty like a wild-flower, but
+very beautiful, more like a stately cultivated bloom. When you have seen
+conservatory blossoms you will know better what I mean. She is very
+serious, too. Even when she is quite happy it is sometimes a bit hard to
+tell it, for she seldom really smiles.... I wish she would," he added,
+as though to himself, "she has wonderful teeth."
+
+"Oh, she must be very lovely," mused Rose, and added with slight
+hesitancy, "I reckon you must love her powerful."
+
+"Yes, of course," Donald answered, and then added, as though a logical
+reason for his affection was necessary, "You see, I have known Marion
+all her life. She is my sister's closest friend, and almost grew up in
+our house."
+
+"I wish I had," said Rose, the note of envy in her voice being
+outweighed by the childlike sincerity which her words carried. "What
+does she do?"
+
+"Do? Why, I don't know, exactly--what all society girls, with plenty of
+money at their disposal, do, I suppose. Of course she has clubs which
+she belongs to, and she goes to dances and theatres and ... I think she
+is interested in some sort of charity, too." He had an uncomfortable
+feeling that he was failing to make out a very strong case for the woman
+to whom he was engaged, and at the same time wondering why any
+vindication of her should seem necessary, since he had always regarded
+her as a bit too perfect, if anything.
+
+"Oh, that is lovely, for the Bible says that the greatest of all is
+charity," cried Rose, her eyes sparkling. "And does she go about helping
+poor, lonesome city people, and the dear little poor children? It must
+be wonderful to have lots of money, so that you can do all sorts of
+things to make them happier and better."
+
+"Confound the child," thought Donald, although his exasperation was
+directed rather at himself, than at her. "It's positively indecent the
+way she gets inside one. Judged by the standards of her class, Marion is
+a splendid girl--head and shoulders above the average--yet these
+unconsciously searching questions of Smiles' are ... Hang it all, I wish
+I had had sense enough not to open the subject."
+
+Aloud he said non-committally, "Yes, of course it is wonderful and I
+know that you would do it if you were able."
+
+"I _shall_ do it," was the confident answer. "I can't give money but I
+can give myself." There was a moment of silence; then Rose added softly,
+"I guess she loves you a lot, too, you are so good to ... to people, and
+do such wonderful things. When do you calculate to get married to her,
+Doctor Mac?"
+
+"Married?" he repeated in a startled voice, "Oh, some day, of course;
+but you know how terribly busy I am, and ..." He stopped, visualizing
+himself at that moment as he lolled indolently in the doorway of that
+mountain cabin, and wondering if the same thought were in her mind as
+was in his. At the same time came a welcome interruption in the
+appearance of a small child, brown as the proverbial berry, and bearing
+in her arms a large and rather dilapidated appearing doll. For an
+instant Donald failed to recognize her, and said, "Hello, here comes one
+of your little friends to see you, Smiles. Why, I do believe ... yes,
+it's Lou. Come along. You're not afraid of the doctor man who sent you
+that doll."
+
+Lou advanced, one finger in her mouth, the corners of which were lifting
+in a shy smile. Sensing the approach of another old friend, Mike bounded
+out of the doorway where he had lain panting in the shadow, and so
+energetic was his greeting that the child was very nearly upset by it,
+although as soon as she could regain her equilibrium she flung her
+little arms around the roughly coated neck, without a trace of fear.
+
+"Mike's got er broken leg," she announced. The words gave Donald a start
+until he saw that she was holding out to him her doll, one of whose
+limbs flapped about in piteous substantiation. "Kin yo' make hit well
+ergin?"
+
+Examining the injured member, whence the sawdust blood had issued
+through a deep incision in the cloth, Donald replied seriously, "It will
+require a rather serious operation, but I guess that I can mend it with
+the assistance of Nurse Smiles. We will have to sew up the wound and put
+the leg in splints."
+
+"Hit haint ergoin' ter hurt her much, air hit?" begged Lou, with all
+the solicitude of a young mother.
+
+"No. We'll give her an anesthetic--something to put her sound
+asleep--and I guess that she won't know anything about it." Rose joined
+them laughingly, bringing a threaded needle and some bits of cloth for
+stuffing and in a few minutes the operation was complete, even to the
+application of splints, roughly shaped by Donald's jack-knife.
+Throughout the process the physician explained each step to Rose, who
+cried as they finished, "Oh, I love to do it. It's lots more fun than
+book studying or weaving baskets."
+
+"Well, we might have a real lesson in 'first aid' this morning, if Lou
+can stay and be your little patient. Bring out that roll of bandages
+again."
+
+What a merry hour they spent, helped by Mike, who insisted in doing his
+share by licking the patient at every opportunity. The air was so warm
+that Lou's little dress could be taken off, and as she giggled or
+screamed with merriment, Donald and Rose treated her for every
+conceivable fracture, sprain or injury, the former all the while
+explaining in the simplest language at his command the major facts of
+human anatomy.
+
+Rose proved to be an astonishingly apt pupil, and after each
+demonstration insisted on going through both the procedure and
+explanation alone.
+
+Finally, in the course of demonstrating an unusually intricate piece of
+bandaging, Donald put his arms about Smiles, the better to guide her
+hands, and impulsively drew her close against him. He could not see her
+face, but he perceived that a quick flush mantled her neck and
+delicately rounded cheek. She moved away hastily, saying in a low voice,
+"I reckon you oughtn't do like that, Doctor Mac."
+
+"Why, Smiles!" came his response in a hurt tone.
+
+"I don't mean for to hurt you, and of course I cares for you like I used
+to, but I guess it ain't ... isn't ... just right for you to put your
+arms around me ... that way now. I'm most grown up now, and ... and ...
+you're pledged to ... to some one else." During her speech the color had
+flamed brighter and brighter.
+
+The man was both surprised and chagrined. He realized, of course, that
+in many respects Rose was indeed, 'most a woman now'--that she was far
+more mature in certain ways than city-bred girls of the same age; for,
+while they might be infinitely more sophisticated in worldly ways than
+she, they are still children, whereas she had already entered into the
+problems of life and for several years had not only been in full charge
+of a home, but in intimate touch with the issues of life and death in
+the little community. Understanding all this, he nevertheless looked
+upon her as a child because of the childlike simplicity which
+characterized her still.
+
+"I see," he answered slowly and a little ashamed, then added lightly,
+"but you have apparently forgotten that you adopted me as a
+foster-brother this morning."
+
+For a moment she said nothing; then the old misty smile touched her
+lips, and she replied, "I shor' most forgot that, and it makes it all
+right. Please, Doctor Mac, don't think that I didn't enjoy for you to do
+it."
+
+There succeeded another brief, awkward silence. Then Smiles slipped her
+arm about Donald's neck with frank, childlike affection, and leaned
+close to him, her young, warm being thrilling his senses, as he full
+well realized Marion's infrequent embraces never had.
+
+Shocked and distressed by his own emotions, Donald was the first to
+withdraw his encircling arm, with an intent to continue the lesson. But
+it was ended.
+
+During the brief interlude Lou had stood regarding the man and girl
+uncomprehendingly. Now she piped up, "Smiles loves ye er heap, I reckon,
+doctor man, an' so does I. Ef she don't marry with ye, I'll do hit when
+I gits bigger."
+
+"My, but I'm a fortunate man to have _three_ fair ladies love me, and I
+won't forget your promise," Donald laughed merrily.
+
+"But my brother Juddy don't love ye none," said the child, innocently
+bringing a cloud over the friendly sunshine in her hearers' hearts.
+Donald looked at Rose uneasily as he answered.
+
+"Oh, I hope he will like me some day. We should be the best of friends,
+for we both care for the same two dear girls."
+
+"Where _is_ Juddy?" came Smiles' somewhat troubled query.
+
+"Oh, he air away ergin; up in ther mountain."
+
+The shadow deepened on Rose's face and Donald caught the sound of a
+distressed, "Oh."
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked without special thought.
+
+"It haint ... it isn't anything ... leastwise it isn't anything that I
+can tell you about, doctor Mac. I ... I just don't like for him to go up
+there."
+
+A feeling closely akin to jealousy stirred Donald's heart. Did that
+uncouth young mountaineer really mean something to her after all?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+GATHERING CLOUDS
+
+
+Despite Smiles' ingenuous proffer of a sister's affection, Donald was
+troubled with an unreasonable dissatisfaction over the course which the
+events of the morning had taken, and he knew that it was unreasonable,
+which made it worse. Now he suddenly announced that he guessed he would
+not wait until the afternoon before going down to Fayville to get his
+small amount of baggage.
+
+The girl was troubled, also, without knowing just why, and she watched
+his departure with an unhappy feeling that somehow the changes which the
+year had made in both their lives had raised a misty barrier between
+them--intangible, but not easily to be swept away. Furthermore, young as
+she was, she intuitively sensed that hers was the necessity of
+reconstructing their friendship on a new foundation, because she was a
+woman. The man could not do it.
+
+Meanwhile Donald performed his downward journey with none of the
+lightness of heart which makes a long walk a pleasure, rather than a
+task. Going down the wooded descent, where the dew still lay wet beneath
+the heaviest thickets, was not so bad; but, when he had obtained his
+grip and gun, and started on the back trail, his discomforts commenced.
+As the main street of the little village changed its character, first to
+a road and then a cart path through the fields, it grew deep with dust,
+and, although no air stirred, it seemed to rise, as water does by
+capillary attraction, until his clothing was saturated and his mouth and
+nose overlaid with a film of it. Overhead the sky burned, and from the
+brown fields, which stretched to the wooded base of the mountain, heat
+waves rose as though the dry earth were panting with visible breath. An
+insect chirped half-heartedly in the grass, and then left off as though
+the effort were too great, and a small striped snake leisurely wove a
+sinuous path through the dust ahead of him, and vanished with a faint
+hiss.
+
+It was better when he struck the woods, for there was shade; but the air
+was more sultry and the added exertion of climbing started the
+perspiration and turned the coating of dust to sticky grime. Still the
+breeze delayed, and the fragrant odors of the woods were cloying. His
+luggage grew heavier and yet more heavy; his arm and back began to ache
+painfully.
+
+When physical discomfort is accompanied by morose introspection, the
+result is certain to be unpleasant, and Donald's thoughts were in dismal
+grays and browns, which ill-matched the radiant colors of external
+nature.
+
+Certainly Smiles was not to blame, he thought, as he trudged up and up.
+The fact still remained that they lived on utterly different planes, and
+that he had not the slightest idea of falling in love with her, or, even
+mentally, violating his pledge to Marion. Pshaw, she was nothing but a
+child! It was foolish, absurdly so, yet somehow he felt that his world
+was out of joint, and, since he could not, or would not, determine just
+what the trouble was, he could not take active measures to bring about a
+readjustment.
+
+With a conscious effort of his will he put the mountain child out of his
+thoughts, and attempted to analyze his real feelings for the city girl,
+to whom he was betrothed. He could assign no reason to the vague, but
+persistent, feeling which frequently possessed him, when he was apart
+from her, that she was not his natural mate. Her poise and reserve,
+which sometimes irritated him, he knew to be really virtues, in a way as
+desirable as they were rare in women, even of her class; her unusual
+beauty fully satisfied his eye; she was a reigning queen, the desired of
+many men and he had won her, although he hesitated a little over the
+word "won." Finally, he was certain that she loved him, after her
+fashion. Why should he, a man as reserved as he was, and one who had
+little time to spend on the romantic embellishments of life, ask for
+more? Yet there was mute rebellion in the depths of his heart, and even
+the memory of that milestone night, eight months before, when the spirit
+of Christmastide had added its spell to the influences of life-long
+propinquity, and they had, almost without spoken words, crossed the
+border and pledged themselves to one another, brought no thrill.
+
+"I _know_ that she is a wonderful woman, and a real beauty," mused
+Donald, half aloud. "The trouble must be ... yes, _is_, with me. She's
+too wonderful for my simple tastes; that's the truth, as I told Ethel.
+Oh, well, perhaps I can learn to live up to her ... but I hate this
+society stuff."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Donald's return to the cabin, weary and uncomfortable in body and mind,
+found Big Jerry sitting heavily in a chair, with Smiles hovering about,
+and, from the expression on the face of each, he sensed at once that
+something was wrong. The old man was saying, somewhat laboriously, "Hit
+don't pain me ... much, Rose, gal. Hit haint nothin' ... ter mention.
+I'll jest set still hyar erwhile, an' ..."
+
+As the girl caught sight of Donald's big form in the doorway, her face
+brightened momentarily; but it clouded again with swift pain when he
+touched his heart with a significant gesture, accompanied by a
+questioning look. She nodded, then said aloud, "Here's our Doctor Mac
+back ergin, grandpappy. I reckon he kin do somethin' fer ter help ye."
+
+The newcomer attempted a cheery laugh, and said, "Well, I'm not much
+good unless we can turn Time's flight backward, and make him a child
+again temporarily. Kiddies are my specialty, you know, and although I've
+a few grown-up patients, left over from the time when I took whatever
+came, and was thankful, I am killing them off as fast as I can."
+
+He spoke facetiously, with the design of instilling a lighter element in
+the conversation; but, although Jerry smiled wryly, the girl looked so
+shocked that Donald hastened to add, "Please don't be alarmed, dear, of
+course I didn't mean that literally. And you know that I will do
+anything in my power to help. I only wish that I knew more about
+troubles affecting the heart," he added.
+
+"Reckon the doctor down in Fayville hed ought ter say the same thing,"
+interposed the old man. "I erlows he didn't do me no good, fer I got
+better es soon's I quit takin' the stuff he left me."
+
+"Don't be too hard on him, foster father. After all, what you probably
+needed most was to give that big heart of yours a rest, and that is what
+did the business then, and will now. Well, I'll look you over anyway. I
+guess professional ethics won't be outraged, with the other physician
+five steep, uphill miles away."
+
+While he talked he had been opening his suitcase, and now took out a
+compact emergency bag which experience had taught him never to go away
+without, and at whose shining, unfamiliar contents Smiles' eyes opened
+with fascinated amazement. Taking out a stethoscope, Donald bade the
+giant open his soft, homemade shirt, and planted the transmitting disk
+against the massive chest, padded with wonderful, bulging muscles.
+
+"O-ho," he said under his breath, as he finally laid the instrument
+aside; for his intently listening ears had caught the faint, but clearly
+discernible sound of a systolic murmur, deep within.
+
+"Air the trouble 'Aunt' ... what the other doctor said hit was?"
+questioned Rose.
+
+"Angina pectoris? He may have had a touch of that last winter of course,
+but my guess is that it's something a bit different now."
+
+"I haint erfeered ter hyar the truth," rumbled Jerry, straightening up
+like a soldier before the court martial.
+
+"Well," answered the doctor, "I should say that you have a touch of
+another jaw-breaking Latin phrase, namely, an aneurism of the thoracic
+aorta."
+
+"Hit shor' sounds powerful bad," grunted Jerry. "But then I reckon thet
+doctors likes ter use big words."
+
+"Right. For instance, we prefer to call an old-fashioned cold in the
+head, 'Naso-pharyngitis.' The worse it sounds, the more credit we get
+for curing it, you see. Well, 'sticks and stones may break our bones,
+but _words_ will never hurt us,' so don't let that Latin expression
+worry you. Just take things a bit easy, don't overdo physically or get
+overexcited, and you'll be good for many a moon yet," he added lightly.
+
+Jerry fastened up his shirt with big, fumbling fingers and walked slowly
+outside, while Rose, tears of pity shedding a misty luminousness over
+her eyes, stepped close to Donald and laid her hand appealingly on his
+arm, "Is it something pretty bad, Doctor Mac?" she breathed.
+
+"Well, it's apparently a mild case ... so far."
+
+"But the trouble ... is it ... is it dangerous?"
+
+He hesitated an instant, then responded quietly, "Nurses have to know
+the truth, of course, and I am sure that you have a brave little heart,
+so I'm not afraid to tell you that it _is_ bad. It is almost sure to be
+fatal, in time, but not necessarily soon. If he will take things easy,
+as I told him to, he'll live for a considerable time yet; but we mustn't
+allow him to get very greatly excited, or do any very heavy work."
+
+Suddenly very white, but calm and tearless, Smiles answered, "I reckon I
+can help him better if I know all about it, doctor. I _got_ to help him,
+you know. He's all I have now in the whole world."
+
+"Of course you're going to help him--we both are--but ... you have me,
+little sister, and your life work," he answered with awkward tenderness.
+"Now let us see if I can make you understand what I believe the trouble
+to be. In its incipient--that is, its early stages, it would be rather
+hard to tell from angina pectoris, for the symptoms would be much the
+same--pain about the heart and shortness of breath. But one can get
+over the latter, and feel perfectly well between attacks."
+
+He picked up from his open suitcase a folded newspaper which he had
+tossed in half read, on leaving the city, and drew for her a crude
+diagram of the heart and major arteries.
+
+"This biggest pipe which goes downward from the heart is called the
+great artery, and it and its branches--just like a tree's--carry the
+blood into all parts of the body, except the lungs. Another name for it
+is the descending thoracic aorta, and that is where grandfather's
+trouble is. If you knew something about automobile tires I would explain
+it by saying that he had a blow-out, but it's something like this. The
+pipe has an outer surface and an inner lining. At one time or another
+something happened to injure and weaken the former--disease does it
+sometimes--perhaps it may have been a severe strain or crushing blow on
+his chest."
+
+"A big tree fell on him early last winter," cried Rose, with sudden
+enlightenment. "His chest is so big and strong that he didn't think that
+it hurt him, 'cept to lame him considerable."
+
+"That may have caused the trouble. Well, what happens is this. The blood
+is pumped by the heart through that weakened pipe, and, little by
+little, it forces the lining out through the weakened spot, making
+something like a bubble filled with blood. In time that might grow until
+you could actually see the swelling, and all the time, the containing
+tissue is getting thinner and thinner. Now you can yourself guess the
+reason why he mustn't do anything to over-exert his heart. Hard work, or
+great excitement, makes our hearts beat faster, and sends the blood
+through that big artery with extra force and ..."
+
+"The bubble might ... break," whispered "Smiles," with a frightened look
+on her young face.
+
+"Yes. We call it a rupture of the aneurism, and when that happens mortal
+life ends."
+
+"Oh," she shuddered slightly. "I must keep him very quiet, Doctor Mac. I
+am strong and can do all the work. You tell him that he mustn't do
+anything, please, doctor."
+
+"I'm not sure that that would be the wisest plan, Rose. He has been so
+strong and active all his life it would break his great heart to be tied
+down like an invalid. I'm sure that he would be happier doing things,
+even if as a result he didn't live quite so long. Don't you think so,
+yourself?"
+
+She nodded, and he continued, "Of course he is so big and strong he can
+do common, simple tasks without anything like the amount of exertion
+required by an ordinary man, and, so long as he doesn't strain himself,
+or get very much excited, we may reasonably expect him to live for a
+good while yet. Besides, as the aneurism progresses there will come a
+steady, boring pain and increased shortness of breath, which will
+themselves help to keep him quiet."
+
+"But can't I give him some medicine?"
+
+"The best medicine that he can possibly have will be your happy,
+comforting smile and tender love, my child."
+
+She furtively wiped a stray tear from her cheek and smiled bravely up
+into his face, in a wordless pledge that to the administration of this
+treatment she would devote herself without stint.
+
+"May I ... may I have that paper," she answered appealingly, as he
+started to crumple it up, preparatory to tossing it into the fireplace.
+"We don't often have city papers to read, you know."
+
+"Why, of course; I didn't think," he answered, smoothing it out and
+handing it to her. She took it eagerly, and had read barely a minute
+before she cried, delightedly, "Why, Doctor Mac. _You're_ in this paper.
+Oh, did you read what it says?"
+
+"Hang it," thought Donald, "I forgot all about that fool story, or I
+wouldn't have given it to her." But she was already reading the brief
+article aloud, slowly but with appreciatory expression.
+
+                EXCEPTIONAL FEE PAID BOSTON DOCTOR
+
+     Dr. Donald MacDonald Operates on Multi-Millionaire's Child
+
+     What is rumored to have been one of the biggest fees paid to a
+     physician in recent years, was received lately by the brilliant
+     young children's specialist of this city, Dr. Donald MacDonald.
+
+     A few weeks ago he was summoned to Newport in consultation with
+     local and New York physicians over the five-year-old daughter of J.
+     Bentley Moors, the millionaire copper king, and finally saved the
+     child's life by performing successfully one of the most difficult
+     operations known to surgery--the removal of a brain tumor.
+
+     The child had already totally lost the power of speech, and had
+     sunk into a comatose state, the operation being performed at Dr.
+     MacDonald's suggestion as a final desperate resort.
+
+     His associates on the case are unstinted in their praise of his
+     skill, and declare that few other surgeons in America could have
+     carried it through with any hope of success.
+
+     The child was completely cured, and in his gratitude her father
+     sent the young doctor a check which--it is said--represented an
+     amount larger than many men earn in a lifetime.
+
+"What does 'comatose' mean, Doctor Mac?" asked Smiles.
+
+"It means a condition during which the body appears to be lifeless. A
+tumor is a growth--in that particular case here, inside the skull, which
+pressed on the child's brain, paralyzing, or shutting off, all the
+senses."
+
+"Oh, wasn't it wonderful to do what you did ... it was almost like the
+miracles our dear Lord performed, for you gave sight to the blind and
+raised up one who was _almost_ dead. I am so glad for that little child
+and her dear father, and I don't wonder that he gave you a lot of money.
+Was it ... was it as much as a ... a thousand dollars?" she asked in an
+awed tone.
+
+"Yes, indeed, much more than that, in fact."
+
+"Not five thousand?"
+
+Donald laughed. "The newspaper men, who had somehow or other got wind of
+the story--goodness knows how--tried mighty hard to get me to tell them
+how much, but I wouldn't. However, since I know that you can keep a
+secret, I will tell you. It was just ten times the amount of your last
+guess."
+
+"Oh!" she gasped, as the result of the multiplication dawned upon her.
+"Why, it was a fortune, and ... and _I_ know you."
+
+"Of course it pleased me," was his answer, "but not half as much as the
+result of the operation, dear. If a doctor is really in earnest, and
+bound up in his work, he never thinks whether the little sufferer
+stretched before him in bed, or on the operating table, has a father
+worth a million dollars, or one in the poorhouse. That is the reason why
+we have to charge for our services by a different standard from men in
+almost any other kind of work. The rich man has to help pay for the poor
+man, whether he wants to or not. I meant to charge that very rich man
+enough so that I could give myself to a great many poor children without
+charging them anything, perhaps; but he had a big heart and sent me that
+check for several times what I should have charged without even waiting
+for me to make out a bill. And his letter, which came with it, said that
+even fifty thousand dollars was poor compensation for a life worth more
+to him than all the money in the whole world."
+
+"A little child's life _is_ more precious than all the gold that ever
+was," said Smiles seriously, "for only God can give it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+SOWING THE WIND
+
+
+The noonday meal was a rather quiet, constrained affair. None of the
+three was in a talkative mood, Donald was still distrait, Big Jerry
+obviously in physical and mental distress, and Rose too full of troubled
+sympathy for conversation. Frequently Donald caught her gaze fixed on
+the old man's face with an expression of unutterable love; and as often,
+when she saw him watching her, her face lighted for a moment with a
+tender, compassionate smile.
+
+The eagerly anticipated vacation and reunion had truly begun badly, and
+it was with a sense of relief that Donald finished the simple dinner,
+and announced that he guessed he would go for a little tramp in the
+woods, while Rose was performing her household tasks.
+
+"Hain't yo' ergoin' ter tote yo'r rifle-gun?" queried Big Jerry, as he
+noticed that the doctor was leaving the house without a weapon.
+
+"No, not this trip. I'm not in a mood for hunting. All I want is a
+walk,--and a stout club and Mike will be protection enough against
+anything in these woods. Good-by, Smiles. I'll be back before
+supper-time, hungry as a bear."
+
+He left the clearing for the virgin woods at random, striding along
+briskly and with rising spirits, and at first unmindful of the direction
+that he was taking.
+
+In fact he had, subconsciously--even in his recreation--refused to
+follow the easiest way, and had struck out on the up-mountain trail.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a while Donald walked on, regardless of whither. Then the
+consciousness of the fact that he was in a--to him--unknown part of the
+mountain, and nearing the summit, brought with it a recollection of the
+words spoken that morning by little Lou, "Judd air erway ergin ... up in
+the mountain."
+
+Still, he kept on, for, although he told himself that he had not the
+slightest intention of seeking the mountaineer, or the solution of
+Smiles' troubled look, and most certainly was not courting trouble,
+purposeless curiosity impelled him higher and higher into the hitherto
+unexplored fastnesses. Now the timberlands lay beneath him, for,
+although the hardy laurel continued in profusion, albeit somewhat dried
+and withered, the trees were thinning out and becoming more scraggly,
+and more frequently the naked rocks, split and seamed, thrust themselves
+up through the baked soil, "like vertebrae in the backbone of the
+mountain," thought Donald. Now they were toned and softened by moss and
+lichen; now barren of vegetation, rugged and gaunt, split asunder by the
+ancient elements. In the distress which had come like a cloud over the
+sunlight of his spirits, so gayly anticipative a few hours previous,
+they flung a wordless challenge to the battling instinct in the man, and
+he accepted it with the thought that the best balm for troubled minds is
+strenuous bodily action.
+
+Eager and joyous over the new game, Mike tore about, panting, and
+dashing from side to side through the underbrush on real, or imaginary,
+scents, now stopping to dig madly for a moment, then racing on to catch
+up with his master, who frequently had to haul him over the precipitous
+crags by the shaggy hair on his muscular back.
+
+The air was cooler here, and as invigorating as wine; the sky was a
+transparent blue.
+
+At last, somewhat tired of pushing his way over rocks and through virgin
+underbrush with no objective, he was on the point of turning to retrace
+his footsteps, when Mike stopped short with nose a-quiver and bristles
+lifting on his neck.
+
+"What's up?" asked the man. As usual he addressed the dog as though he
+were a sentient being. "Trouble ahead? Some wild animal there, old boy?"
+
+But, instead of retreating, he grasped his cudgel more firmly, and
+cautiously parted the thick bushes in front of him.
+
+To his surprise, Donald found that he was almost on the edge of a sharp
+declivity leading down into a natural bowl-like hollow, so shut in with
+high rocks and underbrush that it was, in effect, a retreat almost as
+good as a cave for concealment. And that it was so used, or had been at
+some time, was made evident by the presence of a rude hut, little more
+than a lean-to since one end was wholly open, which snuggled against the
+further bank.
+
+With growing curiosity and caution, he worked his way along the edge,
+for now a faint odor of wood-smoke reached his nostrils, and there came
+to his ears the sound of some one, or something, moving within the
+shelter, a presence which the dog had apparently detected much sooner
+than had his master.
+
+At length he reached a point of vantage, partly hidden by a cleft rock,
+from which he could look fully into the interior of the shack. It was
+obviously not a habitation, although a fire was burning briskly within
+it. Near by stood a small keg or two, what appeared to be a large tub or
+vat, and, over the fire, was a queer metal object, the shape of which
+caused Donald to wonder for a brief instant if necromancy still existed,
+and he had stumbled upon the retreat of a mountain wizard. Almost
+immediately, however, the true explanation flashed through his mind.
+
+It was a crude illicit distillery--the hidden "still" of a mountain
+moonshiner! At the same moment a tall man in typical mountain costume
+moved into view and bent over the fire.
+
+In his interest Donald had forgotten Mike; but, at the appearance of the
+man, his companion gave voice to a sharp and hostile challenge.
+
+The furtive toiler turned like a flash, and, seizing the rifle which
+leaned against the wall near at hand, sprang out and levelled it at the
+intruder whose head was visible above the rock, for he had been too much
+surprised to move.
+
+"Put up yo'r hands!" he cried, and Donald complied with the order
+without perceptible hesitation, at the same time pushing into full
+sight. The man below was Judd!
+
+For a moment neither spoke, and the silence was pregnant with serious
+possibilities. Then Donald regained partial control of his shaken
+self-possession, and with his hands still held above his head, slid
+awkwardly down into a sitting posture on the edge of the bank.
+
+"Do you know, Judd," he remarked at last, with an assumption of
+coolness. "I thought _that_ sort of thing had ceased to exist, even in
+these wild mountains," and he nodded toward the distillery.
+
+"I allows thet yo' hev er habit of thinkin' wrong," was the surly
+response. "You haint no doctor man. Thet's er blind. Yo' be er revenuer,
+I reckon, an' es sich I've got ter put er bullet inter ye."
+
+"Don't be a fool," snapped Donald, even in this dangerous predicament
+unable to resort to conciliatory words when addressing Judd. "I'm
+nothing of the sort, and you know it."
+
+There was another spell of nerve-racking silence. Then the outlaw said
+slowly, "I reckon yo' speaks ther truth. Yo' haint smart ernough fer er
+revenuer. One er them wouldn't come er still-huntin' 'thout er
+rifle-gun, an' _with_ er barkin' dawg."
+
+"Well, I'm glad that's settled," answered Donald, uttering a forced
+laugh. "My arms are getting tired, held up like this, and, as you have a
+rifle and I haven't, I suggest that I be allowed to resume a more
+natural position."
+
+Without waiting for the permission, he dropped his hands to the bank
+beside him.
+
+Donald's action placed Judd in an obviously unpleasant dilemma. He knew
+it, and therein lay the intruder's best chance.
+
+"I haint never shot er man in cold blood erfore, but I reckon I've got
+ter do hit now," he said sullenly. "Yo' know too damned much erbout
+sartain things what don't consarn ye."
+
+"If they don't concern me--as I am willing to admit--why waste a
+bullet?" answered Donald, mentally sparring for time. "As a law-abiding
+citizen I might reasonably feel that you still ought to be put out of
+existence; but, it's no hunt of mine, since I'm not a federal officer. I
+haven't any particular desire to get a bullet through me, and I know
+perfectly well that you don't care for the thought of adding the crime
+of murder to the misdemeanor of illicit liquor making."
+
+"I haint erfeerd ter shoot ye," blustered Judd, and added significantly,
+"Yo're body wouldn't never be found, and yo' wouldn't be ther first
+pryin' stranger what got lost in these hyar hills, and warn't never
+heard of more."
+
+"Admitted. But what's to be gained in taking the chance? I'm ready--yes,
+anxious--to give you my word of honor that I'll forget what I've
+stumbled on here this afternoon. Come, be reasonable, Judd."
+
+"Wall, ef you'll swa'r thet ..." began the mountaineer dubiously.
+
+"I do," broke in Donald with undisguised eagerness. "I solemnly swear
+never to tell a soul about the existence of this still, so help me God.
+There, I hope that satisfies you. You need not be afraid of my not
+keeping my oath, but just the same, I think you're a fool to do this.
+You're almost sure to be caught at it, sooner or later, and a federal
+prison isn't a particularly pleasant place."
+
+"I don't reckerlect hevin' asked any advice from _yo'_," was Judd's
+surly reply.
+
+"Well, I don't expect that you'll follow it," answered the other, as he
+scrambled to his feet. "And since we don't seem to hit it off very well
+together, I guess I'll be starting along."
+
+"No yo' won't ... leastwise not yet!" Judd's words came with crisp
+finality, and were reinforced by a quick movement of his rifle to the
+hip. "I haint through with ye yet, stranger. Last year I warned ye fair
+thet this hyar mountain war an on-healthy place fer ye. 'Pears like yo'
+didn't believe hit, but I means thet ye should this time. Erfore yo'
+goes I'll hear ernother sworn promise from ye, an' I reckon yo' kin
+guess what hit air."
+
+"I can. And you're not going to get it. No, by God, not if you put a
+coward's bullet into me for refusing," burst out Donald, with his
+pent-up anger breaking its bounds at the other's dictatorial demands. "I
+agreed that what you did with your time wasn't my business, but what I
+do with mine, is. And I don't take orders from you in the matter,
+understand?"
+
+The mountaineer's lips drew back, his body quivered, and the finger on
+the rifle's trigger trembled.
+
+Above him, Donald stood equally tense and pale. He felt that he should
+be praying as he had never prayed before, but wrath possessed his spirit
+wholly, and his mind was completely concentrated on that lean
+forefinger, whose slightest tension meant death. Moments like these come
+but once in the lifetime of the average man, if, indeed, they ever come
+at all; but, when they do, when he suddenly finds himself face to face
+with some cataclysmic upheaval in human or external nature that
+threatens to rend the thin but impenetrable curtain which separates him
+from eternity, the salient characteristic of his being is unmasked and
+stands forth, naked. If he be at heart a coward, even though he may
+honestly never have suspected himself of cowardice, he will try to flee,
+or cringe and grovel for mercy; if his soul is stayed upon the immortal
+and everlasting truths, he will face what Fate may hold with the
+resigned fortitude which was the martyrs'; but, if he is merely a man,
+strong with the courage of the beast, refined and strengthened in the
+fires of intellect, he will be more likely to stand his ground
+unflinchingly and cast his defiance in the teeth of the danger which
+threatens, wrathful, but unafraid.
+
+Donald was of the latter breed. He made no move; but the cords and veins
+in his muscular neck and hands swelled visibly, and his dark gray eyes
+took on a steely glint, as they bored steadily into Judd's glowering
+black ones.
+
+Suddenly, with a deep oath, the mountaineer dropped the butt of his gun
+to the ground. Both men breathed a deep sigh, and the latter said: "No,
+I kaint shoot an unarmed man, even ef he _air_ a skunk. But hark ye. I
+warns ye now fer the last time. Clar out uv this hyar mountain terday,
+er go armed an' ready, fer, by Gawd A'mighty, I aims ter shoot ye dead
+the next time I meets ye. Hit's yo' er me now."
+
+When the other dropped his weapon, Donald had almost decided to make an
+attempt to clear the atmosphere by telling him again that his suspicions
+were utterly groundless and that, so far from having any intention of
+stealing the affections of the mountain child whom Judd loved, he was
+betrothed to another. But, at the challenge to fight, something, which
+he could neither explain afterwards nor control then, swept away the
+half-formed resolve, and the heat of primal hate sent a burning flush
+through him and drove cool reason utterly from its throne.
+
+"If you didn't have that gun, you damned coward, I'd come down there
+this instant, and thrash you within an inch of your worthless life," he
+shouted, heedless of consequences; too angry to care what might happen.
+And simultaneously, spurred on by his own blind passion, he slid down
+the bank and, with fists clenched, advanced on Judd. A yard ahead of him
+bristled Mike, a canine fury with gleaming teeth bared and muscles
+tensed for a spring. His master's quarrel was his also.
+
+"Call off thet damned dawg, ef yo' don't want fer him ter git shot,"
+raged the other, white with anger. "I reckon thet the time _hes_ come
+fer me ter teach ye a lesson; p'raps then a rifle bullet won't be nowise
+necessary. Yo' tie up thet devil, an' I'll hev it out with ye, now."
+Wrath robbed him, too, of all caution and he flung his gun far to one
+side as Donald, with hands that trembled so violently that he could
+barely tie the knots, slipped his handkerchief through Mike's collar and
+fastened him securely to a stout bush. Then he faced the infuriated
+mountaineer.
+
+"Hit's yo' er me," panted the latter, assuming a pantherlike crouch.
+
+"Let it go at that," answered the city man, dropping naturally into a
+fighting position.
+
+The veneer of our vaunted civilization is, at the best, thin, and every
+man, in whose veins runs red blood, has within him pent-up volcanic
+forces which require but little awakening to produce a soul-shattering
+upheaval. Donald knew that his being shouted aloud for battle--why, he
+didn't pause to analyze. Judd knew full well what _he_ was fighting
+for. It was the woman whom his heart had claimed as his mate, regardless
+of what his chances of winning her were.
+
+In college days, Donald had been a trained athlete, and he was still
+exceptionally powerful, although city life and his confining work had
+robbed his muscles of some of the flexibility and strength which had
+once been theirs, and were now possessed by those of his opponent. In
+weight, and knowledge of the science of boxing, he far surpassed Judd;
+but these odds were evened by the fact that _his_ mind--thoroughly
+aroused though it was--held only a desire to punish the other severely,
+whereas Judd's passion burned deeper; blood-lust was in his heart and he
+saw red. Nothing would satisfy him short of killing the man who seemed
+to be the personification of his failure to win Smiles.
+
+The mountaineer opened the fight with a furious rush. Donald
+instinctively side-stepped, and met it with a jolting short-arm blow to
+the other's lean jaw, which sent the aggressor to the ground.
+
+Like a flash he was up again, wild to close with his rival and get his
+fingers about his throat. There, in the little natural amphitheatre,
+with only the ancient trees as silent witnesses, was staged again the
+oft-fought fight between the boxer and the battler, but the decision was
+not to rest on points. No Marquis of Queensberry rules governed, no
+watchful referee was present to disqualify one or the other for unfair
+tactics.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+REAPING THE WHIRLWIND
+
+
+It was not long before Donald realized that, whatever had been Judd's
+primary purpose, he was now fighting to kill, and he sought desperately
+to drive home a blow which would knock him out. But, with all his
+greater skill, it was not easily to be accomplished. The mountaineer was
+tough, agile and actuated by a rage which mere punishment only
+increased. And punishment he took aplenty; while Donald remained almost
+unscathed, as he met rush after rush, and a storm of wildly flailing
+blows, with an unbroken defence.
+
+Nor was it long before the other realized that absolute necessity called
+for him to break through that guard, and clinch with his opponent, if he
+were to hope to be successful in carrying out his design. Gathering his
+physical forces for a final desperate assault--which right and left hand
+blows on his already battered, bleeding face could not check--he broke
+through Donald's defence, and flung his sinewy arms about his rival.
+
+For a moment both men clung desperately to one another, their breath
+coming in labored gasps.
+
+Then, suddenly, the mountaineer twisted his leg about one of Donald's,
+catching him off his guard, and they went heavily to the ground
+together.
+
+Whatever had been the city man's advantage when they were on their feet,
+he shortly discovered that the woodman's great agility and crude skill
+in wrestling gave him the upper hand in this more primitive method of
+combat. Over and over they rolled, gasping for breath, and, although
+Donald exerted his great, but now rapidly failing, strength, more than
+once he felt the clutch of the other's lean, powerful fingers gripping
+his throat and shutting off his breath, before he could tear them free.
+
+The end came suddenly.
+
+During a deadly grapple--with first one man, then the other, on
+top--Donald called into play the last of his nervous reserve force, and,
+with a mighty effort, broke free, and flung Judd face downward on the
+ground. The latter's right arm was extended, and, grasping the sweaty
+wrist, he drew it up and back, at the same instant crowding his knee
+into the spine of the prostrate man.
+
+Judd cursed and wriggled frantically; but only succeeded in grinding his
+battered face into the torn turf. It was some seconds before the
+conqueror could gain breath enough to speak. At last he panted out, "Now
+I've got you. If you move I'll dislocate your shoulder like _this_!" An
+involuntary shriek of agony was wrung from the defeated man's bleeding
+lips.
+
+"I'll let you up when ..."
+
+"Oh, ooooh!" came a startled, terrified cry from above him. Donald
+lifted his eyes, and saw Rose standing on the bank where he had stood.
+
+For an instant he remained as though turned to stone, staring at the
+girl with growing dismay. Finally he got slowly to his feet,
+instinctively gave partial aid to Judd as he too struggled up, his
+burning eyes also fixed on Smiles. It seemed as though the two
+dishevelled, dirt-covered and bleeding men typified the brute in nature,
+and stood arraigned there before the spirit of divine justice, for the
+slender girl's white dress, and no less white face, against the
+background of dark green, made her appear almost like an ethereal being.
+
+Her breast was rising and falling rapidly as was indicated by the
+palpitating movement of her hand pressed close against it; her lips were
+parted and her large, shadowy eyes filled with uncomprehending fear and
+pain.
+
+"What ... what do hit mean?" she whispered.
+
+As Judd made no answer Donald finally succeeded in summoning up an
+unnatural laugh and lied reassuringly, "It ... it isn't anything
+serious, Smiles. Judd and I got into a dispute over ... over which was
+the better wrestler, and I have been showing him a few city tricks."
+
+"Thet air a lie!" The mountaineer's words lashed out like a physical
+blow, and the crimson flamed into the other's cheeks--and those of
+Smiles as well.
+
+"Hit air er lie," he repeated with a rasping voice, as he dashed the
+blood and dirt from his lips. "We war fightin' ter kill, an' I reckon
+yo' kin guess what hit war erbout," he added, flinging the last words up
+at the girl.
+
+Once again Donald attempted to save her still greater distress by a
+white lie. "I chanced to stumble on his hidden still, Smiles, and he
+thought that I would betray him."
+
+"Oh, Juddy," cried the girl wringing her hands, "I've been erfeerin'
+this. In course I knowed erbout hit, fer yo' showed me the still
+yerself, but I've been worryin', and hit war ter warn ye ... ter beg ye
+ter quit fer leetle Lou's sake erfore hit war too late thet I came. Yo'
+must quit, oh _please_, Judd." In her eagerness she ran down the bank
+and toward him. "_I_ knows thet Doctor Mac wouldn't tell, but hit's a
+warnin'."
+
+As though hypnotized, Judd gazed into her pleading face, with his
+passion for her overwhelming that other one, which had so short a time
+before swayed him. He stepped to meet her with a gesture of
+hopelessness, and, realizing that he was for the moment forgotten,
+Donald moved softly to the mountaineer's rifle, ejected the cartridges
+from the magazine and pocketed them unobserved.
+
+"I _kaint_ quit, Rose," answered Judd, looking into her face with a
+hungry expression. "I kaint stop. Hit's my work, an' hit pays better
+then ever hit done. I wants ter make money ... fer yo'. Besides, ef hit
+hadn't ha' been fer the white liquor what I sell ter the storeman down
+in Fayville, I wouldn't have been able ter sell yo'r baskets for ye. I
+wouldn't hev had no money ter give ..."
+
+He checked his impetuous, unconsidered words too late. The girl's quick
+mind delved into his unspoken thought. She started and stepped back,
+crying, "'To give?' Judd Amos, war hit yo' thet paid me ther extry price
+on them baskets?"
+
+Confused and distressed, the other remained silent until she repeated
+her question insistently. Then he answered pleadingly, "I loves ye,
+Smiles. Yo' know hit, an' so does _he_. I wanted ter holp ye, an' 'twar
+ther only way."
+
+Even while Donald--rejoicing in the opportunity to regain his
+self-possession--had stood apart from the other two, none of the
+conversation had escaped him. With his wrath now fanned to flame afresh
+by Judd's apparent falsehood, he, too, burst into hot words without
+pausing to consider the effect of them on the girl, "What? You dare
+attempt to curry favor with her by lyingly claiming credit for the
+additional money her work brought, you cur? You didn't know that I held
+the cards to call that outrageous bluff, too, did you? You didn't know
+that I bought every one of those baskets, and told the storekeeper what
+price to pay for them, did you?"
+
+No sooner had the anger-impelled words left his lips than Donald felt
+heartily ashamed of himself, and wished that he might unsay them. Half
+afraid, he turned his eyes toward the girl to find his fears realized.
+Her eyes were flaming from her deathly white face, and a mingled look
+of hurt pride and bitter scorn struggled for supremacy on her lips.
+
+"Yo' ... yo' think I would accept yo'r charity?" she cried. "Yo' think I
+would take money gifts from any man? I allows ter pay ye both every cent
+uv thet money; and I hates ye ... I hates ye both."
+
+For an instant she stood trembling with anger and mortification, then
+turned and sped up the bank and away into the woods.
+
+Judd sank down with a muffled groan, but Donald, shocked at the result
+of his ill-advised and hasty words, forgot his late adversary and sprang
+in pursuit, crying, "Smiles. Dear child, wait. I want to talk with you,
+to explain...."
+
+He ran over rock and crag blunderingly into the forest in the direction
+she had taken, and, as he disappeared, Mike, who, during the combat, had
+continually raged at his leash in futile frenzy, made a last desperate
+effort, snapped the leather collar, although the effort drew a yelp of
+pain from him, and tore after him.
+
+He passed his master and overtook the fleeing girl, sagaciously sensing
+the situation; but, as she paid no heed to his appealing barks and tugs
+at her skirt, but merely ran the faster, he turned back to await his
+lord. Body-weary and discomforted, Donald likewise gave up the chase as
+the sound of Smiles' flight grew more distant and died away.
+
+Eventually she too dropped into a walk, and finally stopped altogether,
+with a deep, gasping sob. Throwing herself down at the foot of an
+ancient tree, she pressed her flushed face hard against the rough bark,
+her mind in a wretched turmoil.
+
+For the first time in Smiles' young life her eyes had been opened, and
+she had looked upon the brute passions of men, had tasted the bitter
+gall of trust abused, had felt an anger which brought with it the desire
+to hurt another as she herself had been hurt.
+
+Stabbed to the quick of her soul, she lay on the moss-bedded roots of
+the impassive tree, her body quivering with soundless, shuddering sobs.
+
+She hated herself, the two men--and Judd less than Donald, for she had
+known and excused his shortcomings, while in her childish eyes Dr.
+MacDonald had been all that was noble, a super-man, an idol whose feet
+were now clay. She hated the world where such things were possible.
+
+For a long time Rose lay as she had fallen, hardly moving, and
+when--pale and dry-eyed--she did arise to return to the cabin through
+the twilight shadows, something beautiful, but indefinable, which had
+gone to make up the fresh, childlike charm of her face, had vanished.
+
+Meanwhile, Donald walked heavily on with bowed head, heedless of the
+direction he took. The sound of rushing waters finally struck upon his
+ear, and his heated, dirt-covered body turned instinctively in their
+direction. A few minutes brought him to the river at a point where it
+tore through a narrow ravine of rock, in dashing cataract and noisy
+rapid. Donald, with increasing lameness, made his way painfully along
+the craggy bank until it descended to the river's edge, and, kneeling
+beside the leaping waters, he plunged his bruised, aching hands and face
+into them gratefully.
+
+As he stood up again at last, his ears caught faintly above the river's
+tumult the distant crack of a rifle, followed immediately by another
+sound nearer at hand on the bank above him.
+
+It was the agonized yelp of pain from a dog. Donald sprang erect, his
+heart seeming to lift with a convulsive action, and crowd his throat. He
+well knew that canine cry, now filled with mortal agony.
+
+Almost blind with reborn rage and fear, Donald sprang up the steep bank,
+scrambling, stumbling, heedless of boughs which lashed across his face,
+and rocks which bruised his legs. He reached the top, and, parting the
+bushes, found what he had sought--and feared to find. On the stubbly
+grass lay little Mike, whining and biting at a spot on his side where
+the tawny hair was already matted and dark with flowing blood.
+
+Made speechless by the clutching pressure in his throat, and suddenly
+dizzy from a mist which rose before his eyes, the man bent and lifted
+the panting animal--his bosom friend and faithful companion through many
+days and nights--in his trembling arms.
+
+Mike painfully turned his head and licked his master's drawn face. The
+next instant came the sound of crashing underbrush, and, through
+vistas, Donald saw a man approaching them on a lumbering run. It was Big
+Jerry. His beard and clothing were dishevelled, and, as he drew near,
+his deep, gasping breaths became audible. From his ghastly gray and
+working face his deep eyes looked forth with an expression which spelt
+pain of body and wrack of mind.
+
+Donald stood up, with the dog clasped to his breast, and a terrible
+expression on his countenance.
+
+"Mike ... my friend ... shot ... he is dying," came his words, in an
+unnatural voice. "God have mercy on the man who did it. I shall not!"
+
+The giant's frame seemed to collapse visibly; two big tears started from
+his eyes and ran down the furrows of his cheeks as he moved closer and
+laid his big, shaking hand on the dog's head.
+
+"_I_ done hit," he answered dully.
+
+Mike licked the wrinkled hand which moved in slow caress over his jaws.
+
+"You?" whispered Donald in amazed unbelief.
+
+"Gawd help me, yes. I shot him ... I wish hit hed er been myself,"
+returned the old man, between breaths which came in deep, body-shaking
+gasps.
+
+Slowly the doctor bent, laid his chum back on the ground, and knelt
+beside him until the fast glazing eyes--which never wavered from
+his--closed forever, and the pain-tortured little body lay still. Big
+Jerry, too, sank down and dropped his massive head onto his hands,
+while his frame rose and fell with convulsive heaving.
+
+"Hit war this erway," he began to speak at last, and told his story in
+broken, laboring sentences. "I war erhuntin' with ... with yo'r
+rifle-gun in the woods thar beyond ther ravine. Jest es I war startin'
+fer the cabin, I seen ... I seen a man erstandin' hyar on the bank, er
+peerin' down towards the river, thar. I looked whar he war erlookin',
+an' seen ye down thar, bathin' yo'r face in ther water. The man war
+ertotin' a rifle-gun, an' uv a sudden he drapped ter his knee an' raised
+hit, an' I knowed he war kalkerlatin' ter shoot ye.
+
+"I tried fer ter shout, ter cry out a warnin' ter ye, but my voice hed
+somehow lost hits power, an' wouldn't kerry above the noise of the
+falls. Thar war but one thing fer ter do, an' hit called fer powerful
+quick action.
+
+"Yo' war my foster-son, an' ef 'twar yo'r life er his'n I allowed I
+knowed whar my duty lay. But I didn't aim fer ter kill him.... I wish
+ter Gawd I hed. 'Taint boastin' none fer me ter say ter ye thet I aimed
+only fer ter shoot the arm what war holdin' the gun.
+
+"In course hit takes time fer ter tell ye all this, but I acted like I
+thought. Then ..." he paused, and went on only with a supreme effort,
+"then, jest as I started the trigger-pull, I seen ... I seen leetle Mike
+spring out o' the bushes straight at ... at the man. I _seen_ him, I
+tells ye, erfore I fired. My mind told me not ter pull thet trigger,
+an' ... an' I done hit. My aim war true, but ..." he stopped altogether.
+
+"The man," asked Donald at length, through clenched teeth. "What
+happened to him?"
+
+"He turned et the crack of my gun. He ... he seen me, and run off inter
+the wood thar."
+
+There ensued a long silence. Then Donald's hand stretched out and
+grasped that of the sorrowing giant.
+
+"Jerry," he said steadily. "Don't feel so bad, it wasn't your fault. You
+did all that man could do. You were trying to ... to save my life, just
+as ... as Mike was, God bless the little dog. He must have realized that
+Judd was following me by the exercise of a sense beyond our knowledge,
+and rushed back to attack him--for my sake."
+
+"Yo' said ... yo' said ... 'Judd.' How did yo' come ter know 'twar him?"
+
+With new and deepened remorse, Donald sadly outlined the chief incidents
+of the quarrel, without, however, mentioning the discovery of the still,
+or the immediate cause of the combat.
+
+"Gawd help us all ef er new feud hes broken out hyar," said Jerry
+solemnly, as he finished. "But yo' air my friend, enjyin' ther
+hospitality of my roof, an' from this day Judd Amos air my mortal enemy,
+even though he be my next neighbor."
+
+Donald sadly removed his coat, and, wrapping it around the body of his
+chum, arose, and the silent, painful journey home was begun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE AFTERMATH
+
+
+Supper was over. With kindly hands night had laid her deep purple mantle
+over the new-made mound back of the cabin, hiding it from the grieving
+gaze of the three who sat before the door in painful silence beneath the
+star-pierced dome of heaven. In the poignancy of her own sorrow, and her
+overwhelming sympathy for Donald, when she had come to a realization of
+the meaning of the bundle which he brought out of the woods and laid so
+tenderly down on the grass before the cabin's stoop, every vestige of
+Smiles' anger had instantly vanished.
+
+"Oh, the pity, the uselessness of it," cried Donald's heart, as his
+thoughts again and again turned back to the tragic series of events
+which had made the afternoon a thing of horror. The bitter
+culmination,--the death of Mike, poor, courageous, self-sacrificing
+little Mike--was the most needless of all, for, although he had not
+mentioned the fact to Big Jerry, Donald knew that in all human
+probability Judd's rifle was empty of cartridges. And, although Jerry
+himself uttered no word of complaint, the physician knew, only too well,
+that the gripping excitement, against which he had warned the old man
+only a few hours earlier, had brought its inevitable aftermath. The
+giant's breath came with labored, audible gasps, and his very appearance
+told the story of the increased pain within his breast. For these
+disasters--as well as the mortal enmity of the young mountaineer and the
+heart-ache of the innocent girl--he, and he alone, was to blame. Donald
+groaned under his breath.
+
+The silence was finally ended by Smiles crying out bitterly, "Oh, Doctor
+Mac, I can't understand why grandfather pulled that trigger, and shot
+dear little Mike. He saw him spring at Judd."
+
+"It wasn't in any wise his fault, dear heart. He could not possibly have
+helped it. You see our brains are telegraph stations from which the
+nerves run like wires, carrying messages to all the different parts of
+our bodies. Big Jerry had sent a command to his finger, ordering it to
+pull the trigger, and the muscles had started to obey. The second
+message countermanding the first--quick as it was--came too late to halt
+the purely muscular action; that is all."
+
+"Another good evening, my friends," came a cheery voice, and the
+mountain minister approached out of the shadows, and joined them. "I am
+just back from a journey into the wilderness, like John the Baptist's,
+and ... Why, what's wrong? Do I see the ghost of a sorrow sitting amid
+this group, which should be so happy?"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Talmadge," cried Rose, jumping up and stepping to his side as
+he paused. "Many ghosts are here to-night. I think that you took God
+away with you on your journey, for His spirit has not been in Webb's Gap
+this afternoon."
+
+"Tell me, what has happened, my dear?" he answered quietly, as he seated
+himself within the circle.
+
+Then, step by step, the whole unhappy story was haltingly poured into
+his ears, save only that Smiles consciously refrained from mentioning
+the cause which Judd had--by implication--given for the quarrel and
+Donald kept his promise and made no allusion to his finding of the
+still. Since the minister asked no questions and made no comment
+concerning the cause, it is fair to assume that he guessed the truth and
+wisely held his own counsel. When he had brought the patchwork recital
+to an end, the doctor laughed with a bitter note.
+
+"You see how much good the brief glimpse which I had last night of the
+eternal light did me! Before one full day has elapsed, I sound a lower
+depth in primitive, brutal passion then I ever had before in my life. I
+am sick at heart when I think how quickly and easily I could forget
+everything which goes to make up civilization. There was no excuse for
+it--that's the worst part. I was infinitely more to blame than Judd,
+even leaving out of consideration the fact that a greater degree of
+self-restraint and forbearance should reasonably have been expected of
+me, a city-bred man, than of him, a more primitive son of the hills."
+
+Donald placed his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands
+with a stifled sound, which might have been groan or curse, and very
+gently Smiles' hand stole up in the darkness and stroked his tumbled
+hair, until the man's own fumblingly sought and held it close, to find
+mute comfort in her warm clasp.
+
+"Perhaps I understand better than you think the reasons which underlie
+these most unhappy events," answered the old man slowly. There was no
+rebuke in his quiet voice.
+
+"Although it is true, doctor, that the deeper we get into the heart of
+primal nature, the closer we get to the heart of nature's God, it is
+equally true that the nearer we also get to the primal in man.
+
+"I cannot help feeling that the city's laws and conventions trammel the
+spirit in its free exercise of self, which is ill; but yet the inbred
+realization of those very laws and conventions, and the fear of
+consequences if they are broken, act as a salutary check on the
+primitive passions inherited by every one of us from our savage
+ancestors.
+
+"Of course, I know that, in places where men are crowded together, such
+man-made laws and conventions are wise and necessary; but the life which
+results is not--cannot be--full and natural as it may be in an isolated
+place like this, when honest obedience is paid to the still higher laws
+of God--and it is for _that_ obedience which all of us must strive
+constantly.
+
+"You failed in the test to-day; but, believe me, there are many in
+these mountains who, lacking all the advantages of training and
+education which are yours, meet it. Their lives are lived under nature's
+higher laws in perfect sincerity, and, although they might not conform
+to the standards of so-called civilization, they are surely purer in
+God's sight than those of millions who pattern theirs by printed
+precept."
+
+"I reckon," murmured Smiles, "that St. Peter had to put many black marks
+on three books to-day ... yes, mine too, for I was wickedly angry. It
+was hate that made me run away from Doctor Mac, and if I hadn't done it,
+M ... M ... Mike wouldn't have been shot." She leaned her head against
+Donald's arm, and cried softly.
+
+"'The wages of sin is death,'" said the minister. "And he paid the
+penalty for you, Dr. MacDonald, sacrificing himself because of his great
+love. Poor little Mike. Such faithful animals as he must have souls, and
+his is now in its own paradise."
+
+No one spoke for a little, and then Mr. Talmadge continued to muse
+aloud.
+
+"Mere repentance, such as the doctor now feels, is not enough. You
+remember the parable of the woman who drove the evil spirit from her
+fleshly temple, and swept it clean, but failed to fill its place with
+another guest, and seven other devils came and repossessed it? So it is
+always with human life, Dr. MacDonald. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so
+does the spirit. If a man does not fill his soul--swept free of past
+evil by repentance--with that which is actively good, the repentance is
+of little avail."
+
+"Yes, yes, I can readily understand that, for it has a parallel in
+bodily illness," answered Donald, somewhat impatiently. "We all know
+that, when the sick physical being is freed of its disease, it is left
+weak and an easy prey for new troubles. We can bring back to it the
+strength to resist by giving nerve-and tissue-building food and tonics,
+but how is the spirit to be ..."
+
+"How persistently the earth-man kicks against the pricks," cried Mr.
+Talmadge. "Child, your friend will not lift his eyes from the maze of
+doubt. You pledged yourself to help him. Help him now."
+
+Her face suddenly glowing with light, Rose turned to Donald eagerly, and
+said without hesitation, "Oh, Doctor Mac, don't you see? The answer is
+so clear, so simple that even I know it. The dear God spirit is
+everywhere, just waiting for you to call it to your aid. Please pray to
+Him to give you new strength so that you may not be weak again, and I
+will pray, too."
+
+"Yes," supplemented the minister, "'Whence cometh my help? My help
+cometh even from the Lord, which hath made heaven and earth.'"
+
+Donald was strongly moved at the eager interest in him which these two
+displayed. Shifting uncomfortably he replied, "I need His help, I know;
+but ... but I guess I have forgotten how to pray for it."
+
+"Open your heart with sincerity, and He will enter and bestow the
+strength you need in order to take up your task anew, and carry on until
+your purpose here on earth has been accomplished. That is all that
+prayer need be, for He is ever more ready to give than we to receive.
+Verbal petitions are vain and empty things; honest communion with Him
+_is_ prayer."
+
+He arose, content to say no more, and to leave the sorely troubled
+spirit of the stranger to Smiles' tender ministrations. "I am deeply
+sorry for you in your distress, Dr. MacDonald, but although there is
+small comfort in the remark, I cannot help but feel that what has
+happened was ordained to complete your lesson, so that you may leave
+these hills with a new understanding and higher purpose in life. Good
+night, and God be with you all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PARTING PLEDGE AND PASSING DAYS
+
+
+"Doctor Mac," began Smiles timidly, at length. "I'm sorry for what I
+said to you this afternoon, and I want to take it back. I guess when
+you're angry you don't see things as they are, and I'm sure that you
+were only being very, very kind to me when you ... you bought those
+baskets. I love you for it, really I do, and if ... if you want me to
+keep the money, and it would hurt your feelings if I...."
+
+"Of course I want you to keep it, dear. Yesterday you took me for a
+foster-brother, and I hope that you will always let me do for you as I
+would for a real flesh-and-blood sister."
+
+"I promise, and I will always do the same for you if I can, dear Don,"
+she whispered softly, adding, "but somehow to-night--oh please don't
+laugh at me now--somehow to-night I feel more like ... like a mother,
+than a sister to you."
+
+"And I truly think you are--a spiritual mother, little woman. I need you
+much more than you need me, I guess."
+
+"Do you know," he went on, after a moment, "I am beginning to believe
+that I was wrong this afternoon when I said that ... that Judd lied
+about adding to the money he received for your baskets. Of course I
+have no way of making sure, unless you have kept accounts, but I
+actually begin to think that he did."
+
+"I _know_ it," she replied promptly; but with a troubled voice. "Judd
+has been very wicked, but he doesn't lie. I think that he meant it the
+way ... the way you did, too; but he's different and I mean to give it
+all back to him." There was another pause, and then Smiles said gently,
+"Donald, it makes my heart ache like, to tell you this, but I've got to
+now. I want that you should go away early to-morrow morning."
+
+"What?" he burst out angrily, springing to his feet. "And have him
+believe that I ran away from him again? No, how can you ask it, Rose?"
+
+"It isn't that. We know, and _he_ knows now, that you're not afraid of
+him. But this mountain is his home, and, if you stay here, there is sure
+to be more trouble, and I couldn't bear that, Don. Even if one of you
+wasn't ... wasn't hurt in the body, wicked thoughts would hurt your
+souls. I know it is so, and you _must_ go ... but, oh, how I am going to
+miss you."
+
+For a moment Donald stood tense; then his body relaxed weakly and he
+answered, "Yes, you are right, Smiles. It _is_ up to me to go; but I
+know that some day these clouds are going to be lifted somehow, and we
+shall see each other again and be happy together."
+
+"I know it, too," she answered, with a sob catching her breath. As she
+spoke, the clouds, which had been covering the moon for some time,
+broke, letting the cool, white light flood the mountain side like a
+promise, and her face lit up with the old wondrous smile. "Of course we
+will," she cried. "Why, I mean to be your own special nurse some day,
+and help you always. Good-night, dear Don."
+
+She turned and ran quickly into the cabin, so that he should not see the
+tears which followed the smile.
+
+"Rose war right erbout yo'r goin',--I reckon she air allus right," came
+Big Jerry's voice. "Yo' hev got ter go; but I'm ergoin' ter miss ye
+powerful, likewise, lad."
+
+"But I'll see you again, too, before long. I've got some of my sense
+back, and I mean to write Judd that I am engaged to a girl in the
+city--not that I want his friendship after what has happened,
+however--and I will be down here again, for a few days at least, when
+the atmosphere has cleared--perhaps early this winter."
+
+"Taint likely yo'll ever see me ergin on earth, son," Jerry said
+heavily. "Reckon I'm most done fer."
+
+"Your heart? Is it very bad?" queried Donald.
+
+"I allows hit's nigh ter bustin'," was the steady response. "But mebbe
+I'll last some while yet--I hopes so, fer leetle Smiles' sake. I haint
+blind ter what hes happened, an' I knows thet the time air comin' when
+she's es plumb sartain ter fly erway from this hyar mountain es a
+homein' dove; fer she hes heard the call uv her city blood, an' hit
+haint ter be denied. But I reckon she haint ready ter leave the old nest
+yet, so I aims ter stay on erwhile longer ... fer her, though hit haint
+goin' ter be in no wise easy fer ter do."
+
+The younger man knew not what answer to make to this affecting
+declaration; but the necessity of a reply was forestalled, for Big Jerry
+stepped closer and continued earnestly, "Since yo' wished fer ter be a
+son ter me, I air ergoin' ter treat ye es sich, an' tell ye something
+thet I've done fer the leetle gal, an' thet she don't yet know erbout.
+
+"Back in the spring when I seen thet her mind war made up ter be a
+nurse, an' I knowed thet my own time war comin', I sold the timber
+rights ter these hyar woods ter a city lumber company fer a thousand
+dollars. They haint ergoin' ter cut fer some years yet, an' by thet time
+I won't be hyar ter grieve, an' Smiles won't neither.
+
+"Thet money, an' a leetle more what I hev saved, air ter be hern ...
+hit's in er savin' bank down ter the city now. But thet haint all I
+wants ye ter know. The reverend drawed a last will an' testiment fer me,
+leavin' this hyar land ter her--she haint blood kin of mine, yo' know,
+nor adopted by law-an' I reckons hit will be val'able some day, fer a
+city stranger told me oncet thet thar's coal on hit. So my leetle gal
+haint ergoin' ter start her new life penniless, an' ... an' now I wants
+ter name ye ter be her guardeen till she air growed up. I hopes yo'll
+accept ther charge, fer I trusts ye, son."
+
+"Accept? Indeed I will, and it makes me mighty happy to realize that I
+mean something to both of you. I've been playing that she was my sister,
+but now she will really be as much to me as though she were."
+
+The two men clasped hands again in full understanding, and as a symbol
+of a trust bestowed and accepted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At sunrise the following morning Donald once more turned his face toward
+the valley, whence he had climbed lightheartedly less than two days
+previous. He had come with a beloved companion. He went alone, save for
+crowding memories--some bright, but far more black as storm-clouds and
+shot with malignant flashes of lightning.
+
+His vacation--a travesty on the name--was ended; the castle which his
+dreams had built on this remote mountain was a shattered ruin. Yet,
+through the dark series of crowding events, ran a fine thread of
+gleaming gold, and Donald felt that it had not been broken by his
+departure. No, it was spun by Destiny to stretch on and on into the
+unseen future, at once for him a guide-line to a higher manhood, and a
+tie binding his life to that of the girl whose pathway--starting so far
+removed from his--had so strangely converged with it.
+
+To continue his hunting trip in another location, with Mike no longer
+his companion in it, was unthinkable. The empty spaces made the void in
+his heart unbearable, and he at once returned to Boston and joined his
+family at their summer home, to their amazement and delight.
+
+But the man now returned to them after little more than a week's absence
+was vastly different from the one who had left. All marked the
+alteration in him, and over and over in family council tried, vainly, to
+account for it, for Donald had withheld far more than he told of his
+experiences, and minimized what he did tell.
+
+But he knew, as well as they, that a new chord had been struck within
+him, and by its vibrations his whole life was being tuned anew.
+Something of the old boyishness and impetuosity was gone, a new
+purposefulness--not of the will but rather of the spirit--had supplanted
+it and engendered an unwonted serenity. Was it born of the words of the
+strange mountain prophet, or the impelling appeal of the no-less-strange
+mountain child, whose mysterious smile, though seen less frequently than
+on his first visit, still cast a spell over his senses, even in memory?
+He could not say.
+
+Whatever uncertainties had disturbed his heart before, when his thoughts
+had turned upon her, none now remained. The die was cast. Smiles had
+made her place in his life, and would always occupy it, but merely as a
+dear charge and comrade. Half-child, half-woman, she still appealed to
+him in both capacities as perhaps none other ever had; yet he could now
+admit that fact frankly, and at the same time tell himself that there
+was, there could be, nothing else.
+
+With the mists of uncertainty dispelled, and his mind purged of the
+passions which had, so unexpectedly, possessed it, Donald's life
+returned to its old ruts. His work absorbed him as before, he accepted
+Marion as more fully a part of his life than she had previously been,
+and, in so doing, found an unexpected contentment. If, at times, he
+still felt that she was not all that he might desire, at least she was
+of his class and he understood her thoroughly.
+
+"My work furnishes enough of romance for me," he sometimes thought.
+"And, if I want to remain a civilized human being, I had better stick to
+the life in which I was brought up. I never suspected how much of a
+'cave man' I was until I got into the heart of the primitive. Whew!
+Supposing I had killed Judd that afternoon! There were a few moments
+when it would have been a pleasure to have done it. Or supposing he had
+killed me! He wanted to, right enough. Puck was right."
+
+And so, while the months passed, Fortune smiled on the brilliant young
+physician, and daily laid new tributes of wealth, honor and affection at
+his feet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the mountain cabin it was otherwise.
+
+Changes, born of the travail of tragic happenings, cast their
+ever-lengthening shadows over Smiles' life, blotting out the golden
+sunlight of childhood, and overlaying it with the deeper tones of
+womanhood.
+
+Judd, her companion since baby days, she no longer called "friend," and
+he, for his part, steadily avoided her and the cabin which had once been
+a second home to him. Big Jerry, uncomplaining ever, day by day grew
+more feeble and pain-wracked, and so became more and more a dear burden
+to her. Only Mr. Talmadge, of her real intimates, remained unchanged in
+his relations with her, unless it was that in his deep and understanding
+sympathy he brought her greater spiritual and mental comfort than ever.
+The other neighbors were kind always, in their rough, well-meaning way;
+but he was her chief guide and comforter, and in him, and the books
+which Donald conscientiously sent to her every few weeks, she found the
+strength to carry forward.
+
+So, in the never-ending tasks which her daily life provided, and which
+she performed with distress in her heart, but a smile on her lips, Rose
+saw the weeks come and go, bringing in their slow-moving, but
+inexorable, train, autumn, fall and another winter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE ADDED BURDEN
+
+
+It was mid-winter. The twilight sky--cold and pale, more green than
+blue--brought the thought of new-made ice. Stripped long since of their
+verdure, the wooded Cumberlands lay, like naked, shivering giants,
+across whose mighty recumbent torsos the biting winds swept
+relentlessly.
+
+In contrast with the desolation without, inside Big Jerry's cabin all
+was as bright, warm and homelike as a merry fire, the soft glow of the
+evening lamp and the presence of the heart of the spot--the girl
+herself--could make it.
+
+Thankful for the blessings of the cheery home and her grandfather's
+presence in it still, and softly humming an old ballad which he loved,
+Rose was busily engaged in preparing an early supper, when she was
+interrupted by the sound of a low, uncertain knock on the door.
+
+She opened it, wonderingly, and the firelight leaped out into the night
+and disclosed the unshaven face and gaunt form of Judd.
+
+Save on rare occasions, and then at a distance, she had not seen him
+since that fateful day on the mountain's summit, when his passionate
+love and hate, intermingled, had driven him to commit the great offence
+against the unwritten laws of the feudal clan, by attacking one upon
+whom the sacred mantle of hospitality had been placed, by which act he
+had incurred Jerry's enmity, and made himself love's outlaw.
+
+The months had dealt harshly with him. Not only was his clothing frayed
+and soiled; but his face was so unnaturally pale that the deep-set eyes
+beneath their lowering black brows seemed to burn like embers, and there
+were many new lines on his countenance not graven there by wind and
+weather.
+
+Shocked at the change in him, and suddenly filled with womanly
+compassion which sounded the knell of anger, Rose called, gently, "Judd!
+Why, Judd! Come in."
+
+He shook his head. "I reckon I haint welcome in this hyar cabin, Smiles,
+an' taint on my own ercount thet I comes ter ye."
+
+"Why, what is the trouble?" was her startled inquiry.
+
+"Hit ... hit air leetle Lou. I erlows she's sick er somethin'."
+
+"Lou? Tell me quick, Judd. What is the matter with her?"
+
+"I don't rightly know." The answer was made with obvious distress. "She
+haint been her sunshiny self fer quite some time, an' ter-night ...
+wall, she air actin' so sorter ... queer, thet I got skeered."
+
+"I'll go over home with you at once," said Rose, as she hastily caught
+up and drew a shawl about her head and shoulders. "Grandpap," she called
+softly through the door to the old man's bedroom, "I'm ergoin' out fer
+er leetle time. One of ther neighbors air sick. Don't fret, fer I'll be
+back right soon, dear."
+
+There was a brief, rumbled reply; and, closing the door behind her on
+the warm comfort within, the girl joined the mountaineer in the crispy
+evening, now almost dark. She shivered a little, and he marked the
+involuntary act, and drew back a step.
+
+In silence they walked rapidly up the narrow path, slippery from a
+recent fall of light snow. Once Rose slipped, and instantly Judd's
+sinewy arm was about her waist, steadying her. Then, as she regained her
+balance and started forward, it tightened and drew her suddenly to him
+in a passionate, crushing embrace. She made no effort to struggle free,
+or voice her heart's protest against this outrage, but stood with her
+body rigid and unyielding within the circle of his arm until he slowly
+released her, mumbling, "I reckon I air plumb ershamed of myself,
+Smiles. I didn't go fer ter do hit, an' I knows thet I haint deservin'
+ter tetch so much es ther hem of yo'r skirt."
+
+She did not answer, and neither spoke again until his cabin was reached.
+
+When the door was opened, Smiles caught sight of the child sitting
+motionless on a stool near the fireplace. Her lips were parted and in
+her eyes was an odd look of semi-vacuity.
+
+"Lou!" cried Rose, pausing in alarmed astonishment.
+
+A light of recognition sprang into the child's eyes, she stood up a
+trifle unsteadily, and said, with a low throaty laugh of delight, "Hit
+air my Smiles. I awful glad ter see...." She started toward her friend;
+but her course suddenly veered to the left, waveringly, and her
+wandering gaze fell upon the now sadly battered doll lying in one
+corner. "To see ye, Mike," was the ending of her sentence, as she
+trotted to Donald's gift and began to cuddle it.
+
+"Yo' haint erbeen ter see Lou fer er long, long ..." The piping voice
+trailed off into silence.
+
+"Why, Lou, sweetheart. What is the matter? Don't you know your own
+Smiles?" pleaded the deeply distressed girl, as she gathered the child
+to her breast.
+
+The baby's hands dropped the doll unceremoniously and sought her
+friend's cheeks. Looking up with big eyes into the face drawn close to
+her own, she replied in a strangely slow, hesitant manner. "In course I
+remembers ye, Smiles. Yo' air the nurse what lives with ... with thet
+thar doctor man ... in the big city, whar air monkeys thet ... clumb
+sticks an' ... an' doll babies what close thar eyes ... an' say ... an'
+say ... My head hurts me, Smiles, hit do."
+
+She lay still in the loving arms for an instant, and then wriggled free
+and, sliding to the floor, picked up and began to rock the doll again,
+the while crooning a wordless lullaby.
+
+With anxiety growing akin to terror, Smiles felt the irregular pulse, as
+Donald had taught her how to do, and pressed her hand to the pale cheek
+and forehead.
+
+"She _is_ sick, Judd, and I'm kind of frightened, too. You can't take
+care of her here, and I mean to take her home with me, right now. I
+reckon you had better go down to the village and get Dr. Johnston,
+quick."
+
+The man had started, with words of protest trembling on his lips; but,
+as his look turned on his little sister, as she now leaned drowsily
+against the girl's knees, he stifled them unspoken, while a spasm of
+pain crossed his worn face. With a dull nod of acquiescence he held out
+his arms to receive the child, whom Rose had lifted and wrapped in a
+blanket from her little bed that had been brought in near the fire.
+
+The return journey was quickly and silently made, and, delivering the
+slight bundle to Smiles when her cabin was reached, Judd set off into
+the night, concern lending wings to his feet.
+
+"Grandpap, hit's Smiles back ergin'," called the girl softly. "An' I've
+brought leetle Lou Amos. She haint feelin' right well, an' I allows I
+hev got ter take keer of her here."
+
+The old man uttered a low growl of protest, which caused Rose to run to
+him and tenderly lay her hand on his lips, with the words, "Hush,
+grandpap. The baby haint in nowise ter blame fer ... fer what Judd
+done. In course we hev got ter keer fer her."
+
+Big Jerry nodded an abashed assent, and said no more.
+
+Smiles undressed her new charge, who struck uncertain terror to her
+heart by drowsily talking on and on, in snatches of unrelated sentences
+running the gamut of her limited experiences and with the childish words
+often failing, half formed. She put the baby in her own bed, and, after
+the belated supper had been eaten and cleared away, and the old man made
+as comfortable as possible for the night, Smiles lay down beside the
+baby, whose silence and more regular breathing indicated that she was at
+last asleep.
+
+The morrow's sun was well above the valley horizon before Judd returned
+with the country doctor, and again the former refused to enter the
+cabin. While the physician remained, he paced back and forth, back and
+forth, with weary, nervous strides; but even in his stress of mind he
+unconsciously kept out of view from the window in Big Jerry's room.
+
+At last Rose and Dr. Johnston reappeared, and, breathing hard, Judd
+hastened to join them.
+
+"It's brain fever, the doctor says, Judd," said Smiles at once. "He's
+left some medicine for me to give her, and you know that I'll nurse her
+for you like she was my own baby."
+
+"Air hit ... air hit _bad_, doctor?" asked the mountaineer, with a catch
+in his voice.
+
+"Well, of course it ain't an ... er ... exactly easy thing to cure, but
+I reckon she'll get well of it. By the way, Amos, how long has she been
+a-goin' on like that?"
+
+"I kaint rightly say, doctor. She hes acted kind er strange-like fer
+quite er spell, now thet I comes ter think on hit; but I didn't pay no
+pertickler attention to hit ontil er day er two back," answered the man
+contritely.
+
+"Hmmm," said the doctor. "Oh, I guess we can pull her through all right,
+and I will get up here as often as I can. Well, I reckon I'll be
+stepping along back."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But little Lou did not fulfil the country practitioner's optimistic
+prophecy. The change in her condition, as day after day crept by,
+growing longer and colder, was almost imperceptible; but it was steadily
+for the worse. The mountain winter closed in with unusual rigors, and
+Smiles' cabin continued to be a hospital where she passed her hours
+ministering equally to the keen-minded, but bodily tortured old
+man--whose heart pained constantly and with growing severity, and whose
+breathing became daily more labored--and the child whose mind steadily
+became more clouded and her physical functions more weak.
+
+Like a gaunt, miserable dog which had been driven from his home, Judd
+haunted the cabin. When she stole out one morning, to speak with him
+about Lou, Smiles cried, "Oh, if Doctor Mac were only here now! _He_
+would know what to do, I'm sure."
+
+Judd's hands, blue with cold, clenched so violently that the knuckles
+grew a bloodless white, and the look of pain, lying deep down in his
+eyes, changed to a flash of burning hate.
+
+"Don't never speak thet man's name ter me, gal."
+
+The words were spoken in a harsh voice and he strode abruptly away.
+
+At more and more infrequent intervals, the village doctor made his
+toilsome way up the slippery mountain side, sat regarding the little
+patient with a hopelessly puzzled look, and finally departed, shaking
+his head; but he never failed to leave behind him another bottle of
+obnoxious medicine on the chance that if one did not produce an
+improvement, another might. Even to the girl it was all too apparent,
+however, that he was aiming blindly into the dark.
+
+There came a time when the child spoke scarcely at all, save to moan
+piteously something about the pain in her head; her emaciated legs
+barely carried her on her uncertain course; her vague, sweet eyes turned
+inward more and more; and it was with the greatest difficulty, and only
+by the exercise of infinite patience that Smiles could feed her. The
+little mountain blossom was wilting and fading slowly away.
+
+On the afternoon of the first day of January Dr. Johnston spent a long
+time at the cabin, striving against the impossible to solve the problem
+which confronted him like an appalling mystery, far too deep to be
+pierced by the feeble ray of science at his command.
+
+At last he arose with a gesture of finality, and announced to the
+anxiously waiting girl, "I reckon I'm done. I won't go so fur as to say
+that a city specialist might not be able to help her; but hanged if _I_
+can. The trouble is too much for me, and I guess Lou is just a-goin' to
+die."
+
+Sudden tears welled into Smiles' luminous eyes, and ran unheeded down
+her cheeks, now unnaturally thin and wan.
+
+"Hit haint so," she cried in a choked voice. "Lou haint ergoin' ter die,
+Dr. Johnston!"
+
+Suddenly she stopped, as her thoughts flew backward on the wings of
+memory. Her eyes grew larger, a strange light came into them. Then,
+speaking slowly, almost as though the words were impelled by a will
+other than her own, she added with a tone of absolute certainty:
+
+"Yo' allows _yo'_ don't know what the trouble air, but _I_ does."
+
+The doctor was startled and looked as though he thought that he was
+about to have another patient on his hands.
+
+"Hit air a brain tumor thet she hes got, I knows it, an' I knows one of
+the few doctor men in this hyar country what kin cure hit. He air
+_ergoin'_ ter cure hit fer me, an' leetle Lou haint _ergoin'_ ter die."
+
+Uncertain what to make of this outburst, the doctor departed rather
+hastily. Smiles caught up her shawl and ran immediately to Judd's
+lonely, cheerless abode, which she entered without a thought of
+knocking. She found the man sitting dejectedly before a feeble fire.
+
+He sprang up, voiceless terror apparent in the look which he turned upon
+her white face, but, without pausing for any preliminaries, Rose said,
+"The doctor, he's been ter see our little Lou again, Judd. He allows
+thet he can't do anything more for her, and thet she has got ter die."
+
+The man--whose whole world was now centred in the child to whom he had,
+for a year, been father and mother as well as brother--sank down on his
+chair and buried his face in his hands.
+
+"I knowed hit," he muttered in a dead voice.
+
+"Hit haint so," cried the girl, who had by this time wholly relapsed
+into the mountain speech, as she frequently did still, when laboring
+under the stress of emotion. "Hit haint so, Judd. We kin save her. We
+hev _got_ ter save her."
+
+"Thar haint no way." The words were tuned to despair.
+
+"Thar _air_ a way. Thar's one man who kin save Lou's life fer ye, an' we
+must get him ter do hit.".
+
+She had mentioned no name, but Judd sprang swiftly erect, fists clenched
+and shaking above his head. "Do yo' think thet I'd be beholden ter
+_thet_ man, after what I done ter him? Do yo' think thet I'd accept
+even my sister's life et his hands? I hates him like I does the devil
+what, I reckon, air ergoin' ter git my soul!"
+
+"Judd!" cried the girl, "yo' don't know what yo'r ersayin'. Hit's
+blasphemy. Ef Doctor Mac kin save Lou's life--an' he _kin_--yo'd be a
+murderer,--yes, a murderer uv yo'r own flesh an' blood, ter forbid him."
+
+Spent by the force of his previous passionate outburst, the man sank
+tremblingly back into the chair again.
+
+"I kaint do hit, Smiles," he answered piteously. "I kaint do hit, an'
+hit's a foolish thought anyway. He wouldn't come hyar. Hit takes money
+fer ter git city doctors, an' I haint got none."
+
+"He will come ef I asks him, an' I hev money, Judd," she said with a
+pleading voice.
+
+"No, no, no. Ef Lou dies, I reckon I'll kill myself, too; but I forbids
+ye ter call the man I wronged, an' hates."
+
+Slowly the girl turned away, with a compassionate glance at the bent,
+soul-tortured youth, went out of the cabin, and softly closed the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+"SMILES'" APPEAL
+
+
+It was snowing when she stepped outside,--a soft, white curtain of
+closely woven flakes rapidly dimming the early evening glow and bringing
+nightshades on apace. The wind, too, was rising; its first fitful gusts
+drove the snow sweeping in whirling flurries across the open spaces, and
+then whistled off through the leafless trees.
+
+Rose shivered. The wind greeted her boisterously. It clutched her shawl
+in hoydenish jest, tore one end of it free from her grasp, and ran its
+invisible, icy fingers down her neck.
+
+The cabin of the nearest neighbor--Pete Andrews--was only a few rods
+distant; but, before the girl reached it in the face of the momentarily
+increasing storm, she was panting, and her face, hair and clothing were
+plastered with clinging flakes.
+
+"Mis' Andrews, I hates ter ask er favor of ye such er powerful mean
+night; but I needs help," said Smiles, as soon as the door had been
+opened, letting her in, together with a whirl of snow which spread
+itself like a ghost on the rough floor.
+
+"Yo' knows thet I'd do enything in ther world fer ye, Rose gal. I reckon
+I owes ye my life since when ... when Gawd Almighty tuck my baby back
+ter thet garden er His'n in Paradise," answered the frail, weary-looking
+woman, whose eyes quickly suffused with tears.
+
+"Hit haint repayment I'm askin' of ye, but er favor, Mis' Andrews. I
+wants ye ter help me save ther life of another mountin flower, what's
+nigh faded plum erway."
+
+"Lou Amos?" asked the woman. She had already turned to get her own
+shawl.
+
+"Yes, hit's leetle Lou. She air powerful sick, an' I wants fer ye ter
+stay ter-night with her an' grandpap, ef yo' will. Thar haint nothing
+ter do but stay with them."
+
+"In course I'll do hit fer ye, Smiles," was the ready answer, and her
+lank, slouching husband nodded a silent assent, as she turned to him.
+
+"But what air yo' reckonin' ter do? Yo' kaint go nowhar in this hyar
+storm. I don't recollect hits like on the mountain, no time."
+
+The girl did not answer; but held the door open while the other stepped
+out, only to catch her breath and flatten herself against the cabin's
+wall as a sheet of mingled sleet and snow struck her. By continually
+assisting one another, the two made their way slowly over to Jerry's
+home; and, when they paused within its shelter, Rose held her
+companion's arm a moment, and said, "Thar haint no use tryin' ter
+prevent me, Mis' Andrews, cause I'm ergoin' ter do hit. I'm ergoin' down
+ter Fayville, an' send a telegram message fer er city doctor thet I
+knows, ter come hyar an' make Lou well. Don't go fer ter tell grandpap
+whar I've gone er he'll worry erbout me, an' thar haint no cause ter.
+The storm's et my back, an' hits all down hill goin'. I hates ter tell a
+lie ter him, but I allows I've got ter, this one time."
+
+In sudden terror over the mad plan, the older woman began to protest;
+but Rose shook off her detaining hand, and put an end to the sentence by
+leading the way hastily into the cabin.
+
+"Thar's a leetle child what needs my help, an' I've got ter take keer of
+her fer er while, grandpap," Smiles said at once. "Mis' Andrews hes come
+over fer ter stay with ye and Lou, now haint thet kind uv her? I'll git
+back es soon es ever I kin, but don't yo' fret ef hit haint erfore yo'
+goes ter bed ... or even till mornin' time."
+
+She furtively obtained a few bills from her precious store, kissed the
+old man's haggard, wrinkled cheek, and the white forehead of the baby
+who lay on the bed, almost inert save for the restless moving of her
+head from side to side, and the low moans which came with almost every
+breath, and hurried out into the storm.
+
+In later years Rose could be induced to speak only with the greatest
+reluctance of that journey down the snow-swept mountain path--for the
+blizzard was as fierce as it was rare--and even the recollection of it
+brought a look of terror into her eyes.
+
+There was flying horror abroad that night, and the demented trees
+quivered and tossed their great arms so wildly that they cracked and
+broke, to fall crashing in the path. Yet, accomplish the five mile long,
+perilous descent, in the midst of lashing sleet and snow, over a
+slippery, tortuous path, she did. With her clothing torn by flaying
+branches and clutching wind, and drenched by icy water as the snow
+melted; with her hands and lips blue, and her feet numb; with her wavy
+hair pulled loose from its braids and plastered wetly against her
+colorless cheeks; she eventually stumbled into the rude building which
+contained the railroad and telegraph office at the terminus of the
+branch line at Fayville. Then she fell, half unconscious, into the arms
+of the astonished agent, who came to the door when he heard her stumble
+weakly against it.
+
+"Good God, child, where did you come from?" he cried.
+
+Smiles' lips moved faintly, and he caught an echo of the words which she
+had been repeating mechanically, over and over, "She haint ergoin' ter
+die!"
+
+"I reckon she ain't, if human will can save her ... whoever _she_ is,"
+muttered the man, as he laid the exhausted girl on a rude waiting bench,
+poured between her bruised lips a few drops of smuggled whiskey from a
+pocket flask, and then unceremoniously cut her shoe lacings and removed
+her sodden, icy boots.
+
+After a moment, she sat weakly up, and--punctuated by gasps drawn by
+exquisite pain--managed to pant out, "I've got to send a telegram ...
+to-night ... now. Oh, _please_, Mister, don't wait for anything."
+
+"There, there. We'll take care of your message all right. Don't worry,
+little woman," he answered, reassuringly. "But I ain't a-goin' ter send a
+tick till you're thawed out. My missus lives upstairs, an' she'll fix
+you up."
+
+He half-carried, half-helped the weary girl up the narrow stairs, and,
+having surrendered her into the charge of a kindly and solicitous woman,
+hastened to rekindle the wood fire in the stove. As its iron top began
+to regain the ruddy glow which had scarcely faded from it, Rose crept
+near, holding out her bent, stiffened hands.
+
+"Now, take it easy, little girl," cautioned the agent. "Not too close at
+first."
+
+"And take off your dress and stockings, dear," said his wife. "Don't
+give no thought to him,--we've got three daughters of our own, most
+growed up."
+
+The agent departed, with a heavy clamping of feet on the stairs, and
+gratefully--but with hands which were so numb that she had to give up in
+favor of the woman--Rose obeyed; and soon her teeth stopped their
+chattering, and the red blood of youth began once more to course through
+her veins, while her drenched, simple undergarments sent up vaporous
+white flags which indicated that the watery legions of the storm king
+were fast surrendering to their ancient enemy--Fire.
+
+The older woman wrapped a blanket about the girl, as her husband came
+upstairs again with a pad of telegram blanks, and said, "Now, I'll write
+out the message you've got to send for you, if you want me to."
+
+"Thank you, sir. I'm obliged to you and your missus. I reckon you can
+put the words better than I can, for I haint ... I have never sent one
+before. It's for Dr. Donald MacDonald, who lives on Commonwealth Avenue,
+up north in Boston city. And I want to tell him that little Lou Amos is
+most dying from a brain tumor. And tell him that she is nearly blind and
+'comatose'...."
+
+"That word's a new one to me, how do you spell it?" interrupted the
+agent, with pencil plowing through his rumpled hair.
+
+"I ... I guess I've forgotten. Spell it like it sounds, and he'll know.
+And tell him that I will pay him all the money I've got, if he'll only
+come quick."
+
+"How shall I sign it? It has to have your name, you know."
+
+"Say it's from his foster-sister, Rose."
+
+Laboriously the man wrote out the message, and the floor was littered
+with discarded attempts before he was satisfied; but in time the
+distant, slow clicking of the telegraph key below was sending not only
+the child's eager appeal to its destination many hundred miles north,
+but a message of renewed hope into the heart of Smiles.
+
+"It will cost you more'n a dollar," said the man, as he appeared again.
+"But if you haven't got that much, why ..."
+
+"I've got it right here," responded the girl, turning on him for an
+instant a glowing smile of gratitude for his halting offer. "I'm truly
+more'n obliged to you, sir ... and your wife. I reckon God meant that
+you should be here to-night to help save the life of a dear little
+child," she added simply.
+
+"Now I'll just put on my things and be startin' back home."
+
+"Startin' home? Well, I reckon not. You're a-goin' to stay right here
+to-night, and let my woman put you straight to bed. That's what you're
+a-goin' to do."
+
+Smiles' protests were all in vain, and soon the weary body and mind were
+relaxed in the sleep which follows hard on the heels of exhaustion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was close on to midnight when Dr. Donald MacDonald reached his
+apartment after a rare theatre party with his fiancee. His day's work
+had been exacting, and he was doubly tired. The thought of bed held an
+almost irresistible appeal.
+
+As he inserted his latch key in the lock, he heard the telephone bell in
+his office ringing insistently; his heart sank, and cried a rebellious
+answer.
+
+Combined force of habit and the call of duty caused him to hasten to the
+instrument, however, without stopping to remove hat or coat, and to his
+ear came a small, distant voice saying, "A telegram for Dr. Donald
+MacDonald. Is he ready to receive it?"
+
+"Yes ... Hold on a minute until I get a pencil.... All right, go ahead."
+
+"It is dated from Fayville, Virginia, January 1, 1914. 8:30 P.M. Are you
+getting it?"
+
+"Yes, yes. Go on," cried the man, with increasing heart pulsations.
+
+"'Dr. Donald MacDonald, Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass. Lou Amos dying
+of brain tumor almost blind and 'k-o-m-o-t-o-s-e'"--she spelt it
+out--"'Come at once if possible I will pay.' It is signed, 'Your
+foster-sister Rose.' Did you get it? Yes? Wait a moment, please, there
+is another one dated and addressed the same. The message reads, 'Girl
+came alone down mountain in howling blizzard. Case urgent. Signed,
+Thomas Timmins, Station Agent.' That is all."
+
+"Thank you. Good-night," said Donald mechanically, as he replaced the
+receiver.
+
+Through the partly open folding door he could dimly see that enticing
+bed, with his pajamas and bath robe laid across it. It seemed to him as
+though it were calling to his weary body with a siren's voice, or had
+suddenly acquired the properties of the cup of Tantalus. He hesitated,
+and moved a step toward it. Then the vision of Rose as he had last seen
+her, with the ethereal smile trembling on lips that struggled bravely
+to laugh, and in deep misty eyes, came between it and him.
+
+Still clad in hat and overcoat, he seated himself at the desk and called
+up first the information bureau of the South Terminal Station, then his
+young associate, Dr. Philip Bentley, in whose charge he was accustomed
+to leave his regular patients when called away from the city for any
+length of time; and finally a house used as a semi-club by trained
+nurses.
+
+When his last call was answered he asked, "Is Miss Merriman registered
+with you now? This is Dr. MacDonald speaking."
+
+After a wait of several minutes, during which he felt himself nod
+repeatedly, a sleepy voice spoke over the wire, "This is Miss Merriman,
+Dr. MacDonald. I'm just off a case."
+
+"Good. I'm lucky ... that is if you're game to take another one
+immediately."
+
+"Yes, doctor. Do you want me to-night?"
+
+"No, to-morrow ... this morning, that is, will do. I shall want you to
+meet me at the South Station, New York train, at seven o'clock."
+
+"Yes, doctor. What sort of a case is it?"
+
+"Same as the last you assisted me in--brain tumor. But we're going
+further this trip ... the jumping-off place in Virginia. It's up in the
+mountains, so take plenty of warm clothes."
+
+"Very well, doctor." Then there came a little laugh, for these two were
+excellent friends now, and the query, "Another record-breaking fee?"
+
+"I'll tell you to-morrow," he replied. "Don't forget, seven o'clock
+train for New York. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, doctor."
+
+Donald turned away from the desk, and for a moment stood motionless.
+
+"God bless her brave, trusting, little heart," he said half aloud.
+
+And he was not thinking of Miss Merriman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE ANSWER
+
+
+More than once Rose caught herself wondering if, after that day was
+done, she would ever be able to smile again. In obedience to the
+doctor's prescription for Big Jerry, which it was ever her first duty to
+fill, she never looked towards him--as he sat bent over before the fire,
+eyes heavy with pain, breath coming in deep rasps, but lips set firmly
+against a word of complaint--without sending him a message of love and
+compassion through the intangible medium of that smile. Yet, as the
+weary hours dragged on with plodding feet, it seemed to her as though
+each new one was not an interest payment on a fund of happiness stored
+within her heart, but a heavy dipping into the principal itself.
+
+Before she had taken her early morning departure back up to the mountain
+over the sodden, slippery path, she had received a telegram that Donald
+had sent off as his last act before yielding to the lure of bed, and
+which brought her the hope-engendering word that he would be with her as
+soon as swift-speeding trains could bring him.
+
+But that was yesterday. By no possibility could he reach them before the
+coming evening, and surely never had the sun taken so long to make his
+wintry journey across the pale blue sky.
+
+Hour after hour Rose sat by the bedside of little Lou, and tenderly
+stroked her cold small hands while she hummed unanswered lullabies, each
+note of which was the chant of a wordless prayer. The sufferer lay so
+white, so utterly still, save for the periods when her every breath was
+a faint moan or she suddenly shook and twisted in a convulsive spasm,
+that time and again the girl started up with a cry of terror frozen on
+her lips but echoing in her heart, and bent fearfully over to press her
+ear close against the baby's thin breast. As often it caught the barely
+discernible beat of the little heart within.
+
+The baby's eyes, now piteously crossed, had turned upward until the
+starlike pupils were almost out of sight. There were long periods when
+only the occasional twitching of the bloodless, childishly curved and
+parted lips, or the uneasy moving of the golden crowned head on the
+pillow, betrayed the fact that the spark of life still glowed faintly.
+Could she, by the power of will and prayer, keep that spark alight until
+the one on whom she pinned her faith should arrive, and fan it back to a
+flame by his miraculous skill? That was Smiles' one thought.
+
+The violet shadows of evening began at last to tinge the virgin
+whiteness of the out-of-doors, and Rose caught herself starting eagerly,
+with quickened pulse, at every new forest sound. The crunching tread of
+Judd, who paced incessantly outside the window, grew almost unbearable.
+She counted the steps as they died away, and listened for them to
+return, until her nerves shrieked in protest, and it was only by an
+effort that she curbed their clamoring demand that she rush to the door
+and scream at him; bid him stand still or begone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through the shadows Donald was once again making his way up the now
+familiar mountain side. To have climbed up the footpath with Miss
+Merriman and their essential baggage would have been impossible, and he
+had, after much persuasion, finally succeeded in hiring a man in
+Fayville to drive them up in a springless, rickety wagon. This had
+necessitated their taking a much more circuitous route, and what seemed
+like an interminably long time.
+
+During the railway journey from the Hub, he had told his companion all
+of the relevant facts, and much of the story of Rose, and the nurse's
+sympathetic interest in the recital had made her almost as anxious as
+the man himself to arrive at their destination and answer the girl's cry
+for aid.
+
+Once she had voiced a doubt as to the wisdom of leaving his urgent
+practice and taking such a trip on so slender grounds.
+
+"But how do you know that it _is_ brain tumor, doctor, or that there is
+either any chance of saving the child's life, or any real need of a
+surgeon? At the most you have only the conclusion of a country doctor
+who can hardly be competent to determine such a question."
+
+"I have considered all that, Miss Merriman," he had replied, shortly,
+and then added, as though he felt that an explanation were due,
+"Frankly, when I made up my mind to go, I wasn't thinking of the patient
+so much as I was of my foster-sister. Perhaps she won't appeal to you as
+she has to me; but I really feel a strong responsibility for her future,
+and I don't want her faith in m ... in physicians to be shattered. You
+see, I have held up the ideal of service, regardless of reward, as our
+motto." He sat silently looking out of the car window for a moment,
+while the nurse studied his serious, purposeful face and mentally
+revised her previous estimate of him. Then he went on, with an
+apologetic laugh, "Besides--Oh, I know that it sounds utterly
+preposterous, but there are times when a man's groundless premonitions
+are more real to him than any logical conclusions of his own. This is
+one of those times."
+
+The subject dropped.
+
+Donald had, in addition to a fortnight's compensation in advance, given
+Miss Merriman a return ticket and sufficient money to cover all
+necessary disbursements, and told her that she must, of course, look to
+him for any additional salary. Under no circumstances, he said, was she
+to accept what Rose was sure to try and press upon her.
+
+At length the plodding horse turned into the little clearing before
+Jerry's cabin, and, as it appeared, the watcher outside, his face
+twitching, slunk silently away into the forest, where his racked soul
+was to endure its hours of Gethsemane.
+
+Rose heard them. She hastened to the door, and her white lips uttered a
+low cry which spoke the overwhelming measure of her relief.
+
+"I just _knew_ you'd come!" she said, as the man, numbed with cold,
+swung his companion to the ground. The girl gave her a quick glance of
+surprise; but her eyes instantly returned to the doctor's face with an
+expression which Miss Merriman decided was as nearly worship as she had
+ever seen.
+
+Donald did not return her greeting in words at first; but, after he had
+paid the driver, so liberally that the latter was left speechless, and
+they had entered the cabin, he held out his strong arms to her. Smiles
+swayed into them and pressed her face against the thick fur of his coat
+with an almost soundless sigh that told the whole story of anxious
+waiting and the end of the tension that had left its mark on her
+childlike face.
+
+"This, Miss Merriman, is my little foster-sister, Rose. And Miss
+Merriman is a nurse who has come to help us," said he, as he released
+her, and passed on to greet the old giant, who had slowly pulled his
+shattered, towering frame from his chair, and now stood with a gaunt
+hand held out in welcome, while a ghost of his one-time hearty smile
+shadowed his lips. Big Jerry's flowing beard was now snow-white, and
+Donald was shocked at the change which had taken place in him.
+
+Their greeting was brief and simple, as between men whose hearts are
+charged, and, as soon as he had eased him back into his seat, Donald
+spoke with a quick assumption of his professional bearing.
+
+"Now, about our little patient. How is she, Rose?"
+
+"Close to the eternal gates, I'm afraid," whispered the girl, with a
+catch in her voice. "Oh, Donald, we cannot let her ..." she turned
+abruptly and led the way to the door of her tiny bedroom. The doctor
+stepped inside and looked briefly, but searchingly, at the child who lay
+there, silent, and the semblance of Death itself. With her lips caught
+by her teeth, and her hands clasped tightly together to still her
+trembling, Rose watched him.
+
+His next words, spoken as he stepped back into the cabin and shook
+himself free of his greatcoat, were brusquely non-committal. "And the
+doctor? Where is he?"
+
+"The doctor? Why, he ... he isn't here; he hasn't been here for days. He
+doesn't even know that you were coming ... that I had sent for you."
+
+"What? But I don't understand, child. Of course he ought to be here."
+Donald's voice was so sharp that it brought the tears, that were so near
+the surface, into Smiles' eyes, perceiving which, he hastened to add
+more gently, "There, there, of course you didn't know; but I can hardly
+hope to diagnose ... to determine what the trouble really is, or where
+the growth, if there is one, is located, unless I get a full history of
+the case from him and his own conclusions to help me."
+
+"But ... but, Donald, he didn't _have_ any conclusions. He said it was
+... was brain fever, first, and then he gave up trying and told us that
+Lou had just got to die. Besides, _I_ know the ... the history...." She
+stopped, with a little wail of distress.
+
+"'Brain _fever_!' Then who ... the telegram certainly said 'tumor.'"
+
+"Yes, yes. _I_ said that. Oh, I can't tell you why; but I just _know_
+that it is, Donald, for little Lou has been exactly like you told me
+that baby up north was--the one you saved by a ... a miracle. Oh, don't
+you remember? It was in the paper."
+
+Her sentences had become piteously incoherent; but their significance
+slowly dawned upon him. To Miss Merriman the conversation was somewhat
+of an enigma, and she stood aside, regarding Rose with an expression
+half bewildered, half frightened. Had this strange child summoned so
+famous a physician, whose moments, even, were golden, to the heart of
+the Cumberlands on her own initiative and on the strength of her own
+childish guess, merely? It was incredible, a tragic farce.
+
+Perhaps something of similar import passed swiftly through the man's
+mind, for he placed his large hands upon the girl's slender shoulders,
+and, for an instant, sent a searching gaze deep into her eyes, now
+luminous with unshed tears, as he had first seen them. They looked up at
+him troubled, but frankly trusting.
+
+"Do you mean, Rose," his words came slowly, "that you sent for me
+without a doctor's suggestion and advice; that you did it on your own
+hook?"
+
+She nodded. "I just couldn't bear to have her die. She is all that ...
+that Judd has got in the world, now, and I knew that you could save her
+for him."
+
+His hands felt the controlled tension of her body, and he impulsively
+drew her close to him. When he answered, his voice was strangely gentle.
+
+"It's all right, little doctor. I'm glad that you did, and only hope
+that I can help. Now, let's all sit down here before the fire--how good
+it feels after that bitter ride, doesn't it, Miss Merriman?--and you
+will tell me all that you can about the baby's trouble--every single
+thing that you have noticed from the first, no matter how little it is.
+You see, that only by knowing exactly how the patient has acted can the
+surgeon even hope to guess where the trouble has its seat. Once before I
+told you that a nurse has got to face the truth, understandingly and
+bravely, and I may as well tell you about some of the difficulties which
+lie in the path that we must tread to-night. Your faith has been
+almost--sublime, dear. I wonder if it would have failed if you had
+known how like a child in knowledge--a child searching in the dark--is a
+surgeon at such a time as this?"
+
+"I ... I don't believe that I understand, and you kind of frightened me,
+Don. I thought that all you would have to do would be to ... to cut out
+that awful thing that is stealing away Lou's precious life. Wasn't that
+what you did for that other little child?"
+
+"Yes, but ... how am I going to explain? If there is a tumor, as we
+think, I'll do my best to take it away; but, in order to do that, I
+have, of course, got to go inside of her skull right to the brain
+itself, and the trouble might be here, or here, or here." He touched her
+now profusion of curls at different cranial points. "That is the riddle
+which you and I must solve, and I have got to look to you for the key.
+The human brain is still a book of mystery to us. Some day, physicians
+will be able to read it with full understanding; but so far, we have,
+after thousands of years, barely learned how to open its covers and
+guess at the meaning of what lies hidden within."
+
+Rose had edged close to Miss Merriman on the rough bench before the
+fire, and, with the older woman's arm about her, now sat, wide-eyed and
+wondering, while Donald talked. As he kept his gaze fixed on the glowing
+heart of the fire, he seemed, in time, to be musing aloud rather than
+consciously explaining.
+
+"This much we have learned, however; that certain parts of the brain
+control all the different actions or functions of the body--I've called
+it a telegraph station once before...." he paused, and both thought of
+little Mike in his last home under the snow ... "with different keys,
+each sending its message over a separate wire. So you see that, if we
+can learn exactly what the message has been, I mean by that just how
+certain parts of the body have been affected--Miss Merriman would call
+them the 'localizing symptoms'--we can often tell almost exactly which
+key is being disarranged by the pressure of a foreign growth, such as a
+tumor. Do you think that you can understand that, Rose?"
+
+She nodded slowly.
+
+"That is the first, the great and most difficult thing for us to do. The
+rest depends, in part, upon the mechanical skill of the surgeon, but far
+more upon Fate, for there are certain kinds of growths which may be
+removed with a fair chance of success--it is only that, at present--and
+others ... but we won't consider the others. Lou is young, and in one
+way that is in our favor. If there _is_ a tumor, there is less
+likelihood of infiltration," he added, glancing at the nurse.
+
+Rose opened her lips as though to ask a question, and then decided not
+to, but her expression caused Donald to say, "Come child, don't look so
+frightened."
+
+"But I didn't know ... it's so ... so terrible. How can any one live if
+his head is cut open like that?"
+
+"It sounds desperate, doesn't it," he answered, lightly, "But with our
+anesthetics, which put the patient quietly to sleep, and our new,
+specially made instruments, the trained and careful surgeon can perform
+the operation quite easily--as far as the mechanical part goes, I mean.
+But, you can see how all-important it is for you to tell me just how Lou
+has been affected. I know what a good memory you have; make it count
+to-night."
+
+With her breathing quickened, and eyes shining from pent-up excitement,
+Rose began. Simply and painstakingly she recounted everything which she
+had observed about the baby's strange behavior from that painful night
+when she had brought her from Judd's lonely cabin, through the long days
+in which she had steadily weakened and failed, to the time when the
+invisible hand of Death seemed to have begun to pluck at the thread of
+life itself.
+
+Donald listened intently, without a word of interruption, until she
+suddenly broke off her recital with the words, "Oh, I can't think of
+anything more, truly I can't; and I'm so afraid ... afraid that it
+hasn't been enough to help."
+
+Miss Merriman's encircling arm closed comfortingly about the girl, and
+she patted the head which turned and burrowed into her shoulder, but she
+said nothing, waiting for the man to speak. He mused for a moment, and
+then his words came with the crisp incisiveness of a lawyer in
+cross-examination.
+
+"As she lost control of her legs and began to waver and stumble when she
+tried to walk, did she seem to turn, or fall, to one side more than to
+the other? Think!"
+
+The anxiety deepened in Smiles' eyes; but she answered without
+hesitation, "No, I don't think so. It was more as though her little body
+was plumb tuckered out."
+
+"And her hearing? Did that fail?"
+
+"No, not until just toward the last, anyway. Even when she couldn't seem
+to answer me, somehow I was quite sure that she understood, when I
+spoke, or sang, to her. She would kinder smile, but, oh, it was such a
+pitiful smile that it 'most broke my heart."
+
+"She seemed to understand, eh?" He paused, and the room was very still,
+except for Big Jerry's stentorian breathing. "Can you say quite
+certainly--don't be afraid to answer just exactly what you think--can
+you say, then, that, aside from the general weakness of all the powers
+of her little body and mind, the headache and occasional sickness, the
+most noticeable thing in all her strange behavior was that she wasn't
+able to talk clearly, and this increased until she wholly lost the power
+of speech which happened before she became as ... as I see her now?"
+
+"Yes, doctor."
+
+Donald turned abruptly to the nurse. "Barring the use of technical
+phraseology, and a possible expression of his own, probably valueless,
+conclusions, could any doctor, such as is likely to be practising in
+Fayville, have given me any more information, or told it better?"
+
+"No, doctor."
+
+At these unexpected words of praise the girl's smile appeared mistily
+for a moment, and then quivered away.
+
+There was silence again in the cabin, while the man turned his
+thoughtful gaze back to the fire, which had now turned to glowing orange
+embers. A far-off look, alien to his keen, masterful face crept into it.
+Finally he seemed to shake off his new mood, and spoke with a queer
+laugh.
+
+"I told you on the train that I was the victim of an uncanny
+premonition. I guess that Horatio was right about there being many
+things outside the ken of our limited philosophy. What psychic whisper
+from a world whose existence we men of 'common sense'"--he spoke the
+words sarcastically--"are loath to credit; what inspiration, born of the
+memory of that story of the case of the Bentley Moors' child in New
+York, which I told her in words of one syllable six months ago, was it
+that brought the light of truth to this girl's mind, when the village
+doctor utterly failed to catch so much as a glimmer of it?"
+
+"Then you think, doctor ...?" began Miss Merriman.
+
+"My diagnosis coincides with Smiles',--a tumorous growth on the brain,
+probably upon the third left frontal convolution ... right here," he
+said in explanation, as he touched his forehead between the left eyebrow
+and the hair. "Rose, you have done excellently. Now we, too, will do
+what we can, and we shall need your help in full measure to-night. I
+know that it is going to be bitterly hard for you, perhaps the hardest
+thing that you will ever be called upon to do in all your life; you've
+got to be a woman, and a brave one. I'd spare you if I could, but...."
+
+"But I don't want to be spared, Donald," she interrupted, eagerly.
+
+"I know, and I trust you more than I could any grown-up woman here in
+the mountains. It's hardly necessary to tell you again, that a nurse is
+a soldier, and must be not only brave, but obedient. If we decide to ...
+to go ahead I will be, not your friend, but your superior officer for a
+while, and, if my orders seem harsh and even cruel, you must not
+hesitate, or feel hurt. You understand that, don't you, dear?"
+
+"Yes, doctor. I understand."
+
+She spoke bravely, but her voice trembled a little.
+
+"Good. Before I make my final examination, Miss Merriman and I have got
+to change our clothes. She will use your room and I the loft; but first
+let us bring Lou's bed out here by the fire."
+
+It was done.
+
+"Now," he continued, "while we are getting ready, there are a number of
+things which you have got to do, and you will have to work fast. First,
+make grandfather comfortable in his room, and build up this fire. Then
+heat up as much water as the big kettle will hold, and see that a
+smaller one is scoured absolutely clean. Start some water heating in
+that, too. Finally, undress Lou completely, and wrap her in a blanket.
+Can you remember all that?"
+
+"Yes, Donald ... yes, doctor."
+
+Donald smiled, and added, "One thing more. Partly fill a pillow-case
+with sand, or dirt, if it is possible to get any. Perhaps the ground in
+the wood-house isn't frozen so hard but that you can get it."
+
+She nodded wonderingly.
+
+In a quarter of an hour her duties were completed and Miss Merriman and
+Donald had appeared, clad in their spotless white garments of service.
+Rose, likewise, was in her play uniform, which was now considerably too
+small for her, and her appearance in it would have caused a smile if it
+had not been more provocative of tears.
+
+Six months earlier the doctor and nurse, assisted by others of the most
+skilled and highly trained that the metropolis afforded, had prepared to
+perform the same desperate service in humanity's cause, within the
+perfectly appointed operating room of a modern city hospital. How
+different was the setting now!
+
+In the rude, but homey room of the mountain cabin, lighted only by
+old-fashioned lamps and lanterns and the pulsating blaze of the fire in
+the cavernous fireplace, whose colorful gleam touched with gold the
+scoured copper of pot and kettle, the three workers, in the immaculate
+garments of a city sickroom, bent intently over the naked form of the
+nearly insensible child, to whose alabaster body the leaping flames
+imparted a simulated glow of warm tones.
+
+The general examination was brief, and made in silence. Then Donald drew
+the covering over the little body as a sculptor might the cloth over his
+statue, and straightened up with a look in his gray eyes that was new to
+Rose.
+
+He spoke in curt sentences. "Of course the case is far more desperate
+than our last, Miss Merriman. It's the proverbial 'one chance in a
+thousand.' On that single thread hangs the child's life."
+
+Suddenly he startled Rose by giving a short, mirthless laugh, and,
+turning away, he began to speak in an undertone, as though unconscious
+of the presence of the other two, for, despite his previous calm, the
+thought of what was in prospect had keyed up his nerves to a pitch where
+they quivered like the E string of a violin.
+
+"Good God, what a colossal nerve a man is sometimes called upon to have
+in this world. Of course she'll die in twenty-four hours if I _don't_
+operate; but only a fool--or a genius--would tackle _this_ operation
+under such impossible conditions. Practically none of the things here
+that science says are necessary. 'A fool, or a genius.'"--He suddenly
+smote his hands together, and said, "I hope that I'm a fool for
+to-night. God takes care of them ... and drunkards. I wish I had a
+strong slug of Judd's white whiskey, it might steady my nerves.
+
+"Where _is_ Judd?" he snapped out, aloud, turning to Rose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A MODERN MIRACLE
+
+
+"I don't know. He was here when you came, but I saw him going up the
+mountain into the woods. But I'll answer for him; I'll take that chance,
+doctor. She is nearly as dear to me as she is to him, and I know that
+she is going to die, unless ... unless ..."
+
+"I knew you'd say it. Well, we'll operate, Miss Merriman."
+
+Donald's voice was calm, impersonal again, and his tone had a steely
+quality, as though his lancet or scalpel had become endowed with a
+voice, and spoken.
+
+Silently, and with practised hands, the nurse began to unpack his bag
+and lay out upon a sheet, which she obtained from Rose and spread over
+the rough table, the many strange instruments, bottles, rolls of
+bandages and sponges in their sterile packages.
+
+"Have you any baking soda--saleratus, Rose?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Good. Put about a teaspoonful in the smaller kettle, and boil these
+instruments for ten minutes, while we are making the final preparations.
+I want some hot water, too."
+
+He turned away, and for a moment stood looking up at the calm heavens in
+which the stars made openings for the white eternity beyond to shine
+through. Something in the scene bore his thoughts back to that summer
+evening when the mountain man of God had tried so earnestly to minister
+to his own disease. Snatches of sentences re-echoed in his memory. Then
+he stepped back to Smiles' side and his voice was soft, as he said, "I
+suppose that, whenever a surgeon begins an operation like this one, he
+has an unformed prayer deep in his heart, though he may not realize to
+whom he prays. There was never more occasion for one than to-night,
+Rose. I know that the Great Healer is nearer to you than to me. Ask Him
+that my hand may not falter."
+
+She nodded again, sweetly serious.
+
+Once more his accustomed bluntness of manner returned, and he snapped,
+"Oh, why in the devil didn't I have sense enough to bring another
+assistant?"
+
+"I am here, doctor," answered the girl.
+
+"Yes, yes, I know." He regarded her with the old, searching look. Then,
+to the nurse, "It's only one of the many chances we have got to take.
+When you put the patient under the anaesthetic you will show Rose exactly
+how it is administered, for she will have to keep her unconscious
+without any further aid from you after I begin to operate. We have _got_
+to trust her, Miss Merriman," he added shortly, as he caught the
+expression of grave doubt which the nurse could not keep from appearing
+on her countenance. "See that she washes and sterilizes her hands
+thoroughly. That hot water, Rose. I want a basinful."
+
+She supplied it, then departed to do the rest of his bidding, and for
+some moments was kept so busy that she did not realize what the other
+two were doing at the bedside, other than to note that Donald had raised
+the head of the bed by blocking up the legs with firelogs, and covered
+it with a rubber sheet such as she had never seen before.
+
+When she did, however, return to the side of the little sufferer, whose
+face was far whiter than the clean, but coarse, sheet which covered the
+emaciated body, a low cry of protest and grief was wrung from her lips.
+Already most of the lovely ringlets of spun gold, which had won for the
+baby Donald's characterization of "Little Buttercup," gleamed on the
+rough floor, and the ruthless but necessary sacrifice was being
+continued.
+
+There were tears on her cheeks as she aided the doctor to scrub the
+shorn scalp, until the child moaned and turned her head from side to
+side.
+
+"He is my commanding officer. He told me that I must always remember
+that, and obey," whispered Rose to herself, as Donald, in his
+abstraction, began to snap forth his orders in a manner and tone which,
+for a moment, made her shrink and quiver. His words were often
+unintelligible to her, until Miss Merriman, silent-footed and efficient,
+translated them into action, as, before the wide eyes of the mountain
+child, there began to unfold the swift drama of modern surgical science
+at its pinnacle, amid that fantastic setting.
+
+Strange words, indeed, were those which now fell on her attentive ears,
+many of them far outside the bounds of her limited vocabulary; yet,
+stranger still, she soon began to grasp their meaning intuitively, and
+her quick native perception, keyed high by emergency, led her often to
+anticipate the physician's wish, and act upon it. More than once she won
+a look of surprise from the older woman.
+
+Donald's directions to Miss Merriman were curt and incisive; but soon he
+did not limit his speech to them. Rather he seemed to be uttering his
+thoughts aloud; the old habit of making a running explanation for the
+benefit of a clinic or the better understanding of an assistant was
+subconsciously asserting itself, and it was to Rose as though she were
+listening to the outpouring of a fountain of knowledge, whose waters
+engulfed her mind and made it gasp, yet carried her along with them. It
+was all a dream, a weird, impossible nightmare to her; the familiar room
+began to assume a strange aspect, and the man's words came to her as do
+those heard in a sleeping vision--real, yet tinctured with unreality.
+
+"In this case the elastic tourniquet will stop the blood flow as
+effectively as the Heidenhain backstitch suture method, I think, Miss
+Merriman, and it will be much simpler. I'm glad I brought it. Have you
+the saline solution, and the gauze head-covering ready?"
+
+"Yes, doctor."
+
+"Then you may administer the ether--use the drop method, and don't
+forget to show her just how to regulate it.
+
+"No blood-pressure machine," he muttered. "Oh, well, we've just got to
+trust to her being able to stand it, and ..."
+
+"And to God," whispered Rose.
+
+He glanced quickly up, as though he had already forgotten her presence,
+and added, gently, "Of course."
+
+The small pad of gauze, which Miss Merriman laid over the baby's face,
+grew moist; a strange, pungent odor began to fill the room. As she bent
+over to watch intently what the nurse was doing, Rose suddenly found
+herself beginning to get dizzy.
+
+"Stand up, Smiles," came the sharp command. "Here, hold this
+handkerchief over your mouth and nose. Now, take the bottle yourself ...
+so ... a drop on the pad ... now. Yes, that's right, just as Miss
+Merriman has been doing. Little Lou is wholly unconscious, we must keep
+her so.
+
+"Remember, now your test is beginning, and I expect you not to fail me.
+A great deal depends on you, Rose. You are a soldier on the firing-line
+now, and you are going to keep up, whatever happens. It may be for half
+an hour, but you will keep up, for me, for Lou, whatever happens.
+Remember! _Whatever happens!_"
+
+He looked fixedly into the unnaturally big eyes which were turned up to
+his like two glorious flowers, and she nodded. With a pang of regret he
+noticed how thin her face was, and how white,--so pale that the color
+had fled even from the sweet, sensitive lips which smiled ever so
+faintly at him, and then at the nurse, as the latter made the quiet
+suggestion that she try to keep her eyes always fixed on the pad of
+gauze, and not let them be drawn away from it if she could possibly help
+it.
+
+But at first she could not, and so she saw the pitiful little head,
+stripped of its golden crown, first covered with a clinging veil of wet
+cloth, over which, from behind the ears to the top of the forehead, a
+circular band of rubber tubing was adjusted and drawn tight into the
+flesh--"to stop the blood, like I did for grandpappy when he cut his
+arm," she thought. Then the head was gently raised and settled into
+position on the sand-filled pillow, which cradled it firmly.
+
+Only the gurgling breath of the mercifully unconscious baby, and the
+crackling of the fire, broke the silence as the surgeon adjusted and
+posed his patient's head, as an artist would his model's.
+
+A piercing light flashed before the girl's eyes, and she saw that now
+Miss Merriman held a strange-looking black tube, which shed a circle of
+concentrated sunshine on the gauze-covered head. It was her first
+experience with a flashlight, and she marvelled at its power.
+
+Now there came another dart of light, thin and fleeting, and she knew
+that a knife was poised in mid-air. Involuntarily she closed her eyes
+tight; a shudder ran through her. Donald's voice spoke impersonally, and
+steadied her.
+
+"I shall expose the third left frontal convolution of the brain through
+the fronto-parietal bone, and, in making the osteoplastic flap, I intend
+to leave a wide working margin above the size of the opening which may
+actually be necessary in order to reach the growth. It has got to be
+fully exposed at once. I can't afford to delay, under the
+circumstances."
+
+The gleam of the scalpel held her unwilling gaze with the fascination of
+horror; she drew her breath with a sound between a shudder and a sigh as
+it descended....
+
+"I _must_ keep my eyes on the ether pad," came the command from her
+whirling brain.
+
+Many nights thereafter, Rose was to start up from troubled sleep with
+strange sounds and stranger words echoing in her brain--words like
+"bevelled trephines," "Hudson forceps," "elevators," "Horsley's wax,"
+"rongeurs," "clips" and "sponges,"--but during the actual operation she
+was scarcely conscious of them, and her principal feeling was one of
+dumb rebellion which grew until she found herself almost hating _this_
+Donald, who could speak with such unconcern and apparent callousness, at
+such a time. As well as she could, she willed her swimming gaze to
+remain fixed on the pad which she must keep moist. The difficulty of the
+task had suddenly become increased, for the pad seemed to become an
+animate thing. Now it appeared to retreat into the distance, and again
+it came floating back until it seemed about to smother her. There was a
+droning note in her ears; the words spoken by the other two sounded
+mixed and indistinct.
+
+Of only one sentence, repeated monotonously in Miss Merriman's clear
+voice, was she really conscious. "Rose, a drop of ether ... a drop of
+ether ... a drop of ether."
+
+She wanted to speak, to ask them if the room were not frightfully hot;
+but she could not.
+
+Rose had never fainted in her life, but she had once seen a neighbor
+swoon, and she realized vaguely that, as the minutes passed, her
+consciousness was slowly slipping from her. The air was close and heavy
+with strange smells. She felt as though she were swaying like a
+pendulum. The old, familiar objects grew grotesquely large and hazy; the
+deep shadows in the corners multiplied, and began to dance a solemn
+minuet, advancing, retreating; advancing, retreating....
+
+"Another drop of ether."
+
+She took a fresh mental grasp on herself, and held Duty, like a visible
+thing, before her eyes.
+
+Again that queer, far-away voice.
+
+"Look, Miss Merriman. Can you see that neoplasm under the membrane? Ah
+... now the flat dissector ... no, the blunter one ..."
+
+The voice trailed away into nothing, and another recalled her failing
+senses, with the battle cry:
+
+"Rose, another drop of ether."
+
+Then it began again, "Thank heaven, there is no infiltration, the growth
+is well localized and encapsulated. Steady, steady.... Ah, very pretty."
+
+The word caught her flickering thoughts, and angered her. How could any
+one use it about anything so awful?
+
+There was another misty moment. Then, "The operation is, in itself, a
+success, I think.... Now if the child's vitality ... I never did a
+better one ... another sponge ... excellent ... Are the sutures
+ready?... Quick, take the ether bottle, Miss Merriman!"
+
+Suddenly the girl felt a painful grasp on her arm. Some one was shaking
+her roughly.
+
+"Rose," came the same strange voice, "we need some more wood for the
+fire. Go out to the woodpile, and get some."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+VICARIOUS ATONEMENT
+
+
+In happy ignorance of the fact that the order had been given merely to
+get her outside, Smiles stumbled to the door with blind thankfulness,
+and, as soon as she had closed it behind her, crumpled up in an
+unconscious heap on the snow.
+
+Within doors, the nurse was saying, "I think she's fainted, doctor. I
+heard her fall."
+
+"Probably," was the callous response. "Don't worry about her, the cold
+will bring her around. We've got to get these sutures in. But, say,
+hasn't she been a brick?"
+
+Donald's prophecy was correct. Rose came to her senses a moment later,
+and, trembling and sobbing uncontrolledly, stumbled through the darkness
+to the woodpile, and sat down on it. For a time she was powerless to
+move, but when, at length, she did re-enter the cabin, with an armful of
+wood, although her face was drawn and white, her self-control was fully
+restored.
+
+Already the surgeon and nurse were bathing off the sewn wound with
+antiseptic fluid, and it was not long before the little injured head was
+wrapped in the swathing bandages which covered it completely, down to
+the deathlike, sunken cheeks.
+
+The period of coming out from under the merciful anaesthesia ended, the
+drooping flower was restored to its freshly made bed, the evidences of
+what had occurred removed, and then Smiles turned to her beloved friend
+with a pleading, unspoken question in her eyes.
+
+"I can't tell you yet, dear. I have ... all of us have done our mortal
+best and now the issues are in higher hands than ours. I hope ... But
+come, tell me, Rose, what made you feel so sure that the trouble _was_ a
+tumor on the brain. Was it merely a guess, based on what I had explained
+to you?"
+
+"No. I ... I just _knew_ it. I reckon that God told me so," was her
+reply.
+
+"Well, God was certainly right, then," smiled Donald, glad of any chance
+to relieve the tension. "Do you want to see the growth? See, it is as
+large, nearly, as a walnut. Do you wonder that, with this thing pressing
+more and more into her brain, Lou was robbed of her power to talk and
+act?"
+
+The girl broke down at last and wept hysterically, which caused Donald
+to look as uneasy as any mere man is bound to in such a circumstance;
+but Miss Merriman came to his rescue with comforting arms, and the
+words, "There, there, dear. Cry all you want to now. It's all over, and
+Dr. MacDonald will tell you that if she gets well--as we believe that
+she will--little Lou will be as healthy and happy a baby as she ever
+was in her life. He's taken out that wicked growth, kernel and all, and
+it will never come back again. Will it, doctor?"
+
+"Almost certainly not. Rose, we couldn't have done without you to-night.
+You have been the brave little soldier that I told you to be; but I'm
+afraid that it has been a terrible strain for you. Of course, it was an
+exceptional operation, rare and dangerous; but it has given you a pretty
+vivid idea of what trained nurses have to go through frequently. Has it
+changed your mind? Do you still think that you want to go ahead and give
+your life to such work?"
+
+"Would you ask a real soldier if he wanted to quit, or keep on fighting,
+after he had been in one battle, and seen men killed and wounded? It's
+got to be done, hasn't it, if the poor sick babies and grown-up people
+are to be made strong and well again? And I've just _got_ to help do it,
+Donald."
+
+He gave Miss Merriman a significant look; but his only response was,
+"Well, unless you want another job--that of bringing back to life people
+who have starved to death--you had better get us a bite to eat and some
+of your strong coffee. My internal anatomy ..."
+
+"Oh, I plumb forgot. You haven't had a thing to eat--nor poor
+granddaddy, either. I'm so ashamed I could _die_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two hours later, after she had finished making the old man as
+comfortable as possible for the night, Rose rejoined the other two in
+the main cabin. She came just in time to catch Donald in the act of
+half-heartedly trying to conceal a deep yawn.
+
+As he, in turn, caught sight of her sympathetic smile, he said, "We have
+given our patient a mild sleep inducer; and now, Rose, I want you to go
+up into my loft room right away, and get a long night's sleep yourself.
+You've been under a mighty heavy strain to-day; there are many other
+hard days coming, and we can't have another patient on our hands."
+
+The girl nodded, sleepily; but she had not taken one weary step before a
+different thought struck her, and she turned back to cry, contritely,
+"But you ... and Miss Merriman. There won't be any place for you to
+sleep, or for her either. Oh, what can we do?"
+
+"Just forget about us, my child. I shan't undress to-night, anyway, and
+can roll myself in my big fur coat and camp out in your little room,
+since Lou must stay out here where it is warmer. And as for Miss
+Merriman ... if I catch her so much as closing her eyes for one minute,
+to-night, I'll wring her neck."
+
+The nurse laughed; but Smiles' lips set, purposefully. "I forgot again.
+Of course some one has got to sit up with little Lou, and I'll do it.
+Why, Donald, poor Miss Merriman has been traveling and working all day
+long, and she's just tired to death--she must be. Of course she has got
+to get some rest. You go right up into the loft room, dear ..." and she
+began to push the nurse gently toward the ladder.
+
+"Rose," cut in the doctor, sternly, although his eyes held a pleased
+twinkle, "you're apparently forgetting one thing--that I'm boss here for
+the present, and that my nurses must learn to do as they are told,
+without arguing. I'm sorry for Miss Merriman, too; but she knows just
+what to do if anything happens, and you don't--yet. Besides, it won't be
+the first time that she has stayed up twenty-four hours at a stretch,
+will it?"
+
+"No, indeed--nor forty-eight," answered the nurse, as she smoothed the
+pillow under the little patient's head. "I shall want you fresh and
+strong to help me with the 'day shift,' Smiles dear. And, as the doctor
+says, orders are orders."
+
+The girl's tired eyes suddenly filled again, this time, with hurt,
+rebellious tears, and a pout, almost like a child's, appeared on her
+lips as she turned and moved slowly toward the ladder in the far corner.
+Donald watched her with sympathetic understanding and the thought, "She
+must think me a brute"; but, before he could speak the word of
+consolation which was on his tongue, she whirled about, just as she had
+when sent to bed on the first night of their acquaintance, and running
+back, threw herself into his arms. As she clung to him passionately,
+sobbing without restraint from weariness and the break in the tension
+which had kept her up for so long, she whispered, "Oh, I love you so,
+dear Don. You have been so good, so good to me, and I'm so very happy."
+
+"Well, well," answered the man huskily, as he patted her shoulder, "you
+certainly have a funny way of showing it; but, after all, women are
+queer creatures. I'm happy, too, dear--happy to be here and to have been
+able to help you. And now," he concluded, lightly, "my happiness will be
+complete if you will just let me see that sunny smile on your face, as
+you obey that order which I have had to give you three times already."
+
+The tired girl, for the moment more child than woman, leaned back in his
+arms and looked up at him with an expression so transcendently appealing
+that it was only by the exercise of all his moral force that he was able
+to restrain the impulse to crush her to him. He saw that the nurse was
+regarding him with a peculiar expression, and as she, in turn, caught
+his eye and turned hastily away with a little added color in her cheeks,
+Donald recovered himself, lightly kissed the forehead so close to his
+lips, and said, "Now for the fourth, and last, time, '_go to bed_.'
+Good-night, little sister."
+
+This time Rose actually departed, and, after the physician had given
+Miss Merriman a few final directions, and bidden her call him instantly,
+if anything appeared to be going wrong, he said good-night to her also,
+and stepped toward the little room which he was to occupy. On reaching
+it he paused, for there had come a low, uncertain knock on the cabin
+door.
+
+Lest it be repeated more loudly, and disturb the quiet into which the
+room had finally settled, Donald forestalled the nurse's act, hurried
+softly to the door, and opened it a few inches.
+
+He started. There, leaning dejectedly against one of the pronged cedar
+posts on the tiny stoop, was a spectre figure, ghastly of
+countenance--Judd's. The doctor read in it the awful anguish of
+uncertainty which had driven the mountaineer, against his will, back to
+the cabin which held for him either hope or blank despair--and the man
+he hated.
+
+Donald slipped outside, and closed the door softly behind him. He
+touched the inert form on the shoulder, and said in an undertone, "Come
+with me away from the house, Judd."
+
+The other followed him, with dragging feet and sagging shoulders, his
+obedience being like that of a whipped dog. As he reached the rock
+before the gnarled oak, which, in happier days, had been the target for
+Big Jerry's first practice shot with the rifle that was later to play a
+part in the tragedy of Mike's death, Donald stopped and faced the man
+who had sworn himself his mortal enemy. The sight of the rock had
+re-awakened bitter memories; but they perished still-born as his gaze
+turned on the dimly seen figure beside him.
+
+"Judd," he began, almost kindly, "you know why I came here this time?"
+
+The other made an indistinct sound of assent.
+
+"I ... I operated on your little sister's brain, to-night. Wait. It was
+absolutely necessary, if she were to have even a single chance for life.
+She was dying, Judd. The operation was a desperate one--a last resort. I
+can't promise you anything certainly, but she's still alive, and I
+honestly believe that she is going to live--and get well."
+
+For an instant the listener stood motionless. Then his pent-up emotions
+broke their bounds in one deep, shuddering breath, and he sank down
+beside the boulder, flung his tensed arms across it, and buried his face
+on them.
+
+At last he spoke, hoarsely, and without raising his head. "I done my
+damnedest ter kill ye, an' now yo' ... yo' saves Lou's life fer me. I
+reckon I don't know how ter thank ye, er repay ... but ... my life air
+yourn ter take hit, ef yo' likes."
+
+"Nonsense," was the sharp response. "And as for thanks, why I don't want
+any. I did it for Smiles' sake."
+
+The kneeling body quivered once; but, when the answer came, it was
+uttered in even tones. "Yes, I reckoned so. Yo' hev the right ter do
+things fer her, an' I ... I haint. She ... she warnt fer me ... never. I
+warnt never worthy uv her."
+
+"She isn't for me, either," said Donald. "And besides, I'm no more
+worthy of her than you, Judd. I should have told you long ago--I was a
+fool not to have done so--I'm going to marry another girl,--a girl at
+home whom I have known all my life."
+
+"Do Rose know hit?" came the mountaineer's quick, suspicious query.
+
+"Of course she does; she's known it for a year. Judd ..." he seated
+himself beside the younger man. "I want to tell you that I was
+altogether to blame for ... for what happened up there last summer. I
+should have told you then, and ... and I'm sorry."
+
+"No, hit war I who war ter blame."
+
+"Well, let's both try to forget it, now. You owe me nothing for
+to-night; but you owe Rose a debt of gratitude that you can never hope
+to pay in full, my boy."
+
+"I knows hit. I kaint never pay even part uv hit."
+
+"I think that you can."
+
+"How kin I?"
+
+"I don't pretend to be much of a preacher, but I can say this as a man,
+Judd. By trying to live the kind of a life she would have you live. She
+wants to be your friend."
+
+"I haint fit ter be named friend uv her'n, after what I done," he
+replied, dully.
+
+"But _we're_ going to forget all about that, and certainly she won't
+hold it against you, lad. I heard your Mr. Talmadge talking about ...
+about religious things, once, and I think that, if he were here now, he
+would tell you that Smiles and little Lou, together, have made what ...
+what the Bible calls 'atonement' for what ... for what you did. Smiles'
+love and your baby sister's suffering have brought us together; each has
+had a chance to realize and confess that he was wrong and had been
+wicked; and now the way is clear for us to be ... friends. At least I'm
+willing, if you are, to shake on that."
+
+Judd sprang to his feet, and his lean hand shot out to grasp the one
+which Donald held out to him in the darkness. And their firm clasp was a
+seal to the bond that the quarrel between them was ended for all time.
+
+"Rose will be glad, Judd. I can't let you see Lou to-night; but come
+to-morrow morning ... come early before I leave, and we'll tell them all
+about it, and start things all over again. Good-night, my boy," said
+Donald, heartily.
+
+And there was a new light on the face of each man, as one returned to
+Jerry's cabin, and the other strode, with restored hope, to his own
+abode, which had been once so cheerless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+TWO LETTERS
+
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   THE FIRST
+
+                                                 Big Jerry's Cabin,
+                                                      January 15, 1914.
+
+My dear Dr. MacDonald,
+
+Although this is theoretically only my semi-weekly report, made in
+accordance with your instructions, I feel in the letter-writing mood,
+for a wonder, so I _may_ overstep professional bounds, and become
+loquacious--if one can do that with pen and ink.
+
+Rose talks about you so continually that I am actually myself beginning
+to regard you as an intimate friend, instead of an austere and somewhat
+awe-inspiring "boss." I should probably not be brave enough to say that
+to your face; but I find that my courage rises in adverse ratio to my
+nearness to you.
+
+First, however, for my report. The little patient is still convalescing
+in a highly satisfactory manner, and with a rapidity which speaks
+volumes both for her own strong constitution and this mountain as a
+health resort.
+
+The wound remains perfectly healthy and is healing without suppuration
+or parting--which "speaks volumes" for your skill. I am quite certain
+that the scar will be merely a thin white line, and not in the least a
+disfigurement. The silk stitches are ready to be removed and the others
+nearly dissolved.
+
+Yesterday that funny, countrified doctor, from down in the village, came
+up to see her--fame of your operation having spread. He "reckoned" that
+the child's recovery was nothing less than a miracle, and that he takes
+his hat off to you. I told him that most physicians did.
+
+He also "allowed" that, if I wanted him to take out the stitches, he
+could do it, but I "reckoned" that I could attend to that a little
+better than he. Was that _lese majeste_?
+
+I did my best to be very humble, and said, "Yes, doctor" constantly, and
+he tried to appear very professional; but I think he stood a little in
+awe of me. You don't know how I enjoyed the feeling.
+
+But, to return to our report. Lou is gaining strength rapidly; I let her
+get up and play about longer each day, and have reduced the bandages to
+the minimum. It was most affecting when they were removed from her eyes.
+I forgot that I was a nurse, and cried with Smiles until the child
+cried, too, without having the slightest idea why. She is such a sweet,
+merry little imp that I do not wonder that you felt more than mere
+professional interest in her case. Every one here loves her.
+
+Indeed, I am enchanted with the place and people, and have made up my
+mind to stay on a week or ten days after I call myself off the case, and
+take a vacation which I really owe to myself.
+
+Poor Big Jerry is wonderful--so pathetically patient under his
+suffering, which is now acute. I am afraid that he cannot last many
+weeks longer, and, more than once, I have had to give him a hypodermic
+to deaden his pain. Somehow he reminds me of a huge forest tree that has
+been struck and shattered by a lightning bolt.
+
+Then there is Judd. Rose says that he has been very, very wicked; but
+that only adds to his fascination in my eyes, and if he should decide
+some day to snatch me up and carry me off bodily to a cave, I don't
+think that I should struggle or scream _very_ hard. However, I'm afraid
+there is no chance of that, as he apparently doesn't know that I exist.
+
+He puts me in mind of a mountain eagle, with those overhanging brows and
+piercing, coal-black eyes of his; but I must admit that he is
+disappointingly tame when he looks at Smiles--as he does most of the
+time, to my furious jealousy. Alas, the eagle then becomes a sucking
+dove. _She_ is apparently oblivious to the obvious fact that he is madly
+in love with her. Poor Judd!
+
+Last, but by no means least, there is Smiles herself. I wish that I
+could adequately express my thoughts about her, but I can't. However, I
+no longer wonder how a mountain child like that could have captivated
+you so, as I did when you first described her to me.
+
+She is adorable. For the life of me I can't understand how a girl, bred
+in this wilderness, could have such a fine soul and personality--not to
+speak of her intellect, which daily startles me more. But, of course,
+she is of cultured stock--she _must_ be--and I have always believed that
+the forces of heredity are paramount to those of environment. Do I sound
+like a school-mar'm? Well, that is what I am.
+
+It may surprise you to learn, as much as it does me to realize, that I
+have turned back to schooldays with an enthusiasm which I never felt
+when I was going through them, and that I spend more time as a teacher
+than as a nurse. Smiles simply _absorbs_ education--I never knew
+anything like it--and I am as confident as she that her dream of going
+through the "C. H." and becoming a trained nurse, will come to pass. And
+won't she make a wonderful one? Be warned that when she _does_ go north
+I intend to dispute with you the right to regard her as a protege.
+
+I couldn't love her as I do, already, if she were not so completely
+human, and it amuses me immensely the way she wheedles the natives and
+keeps them in good humor by using that comical mountain lingo--although
+she can speak as grammatically as any one, when she wants to. She just
+smiles at one of them, and says, "Now haint thet jest _toe_ sweet of
+ye," and they fall down and worship.
+
+Don't be surprised if you hear me say some day, "Wall, doctor, thet air
+shor' er powerful preety operation, an' I air plumb obleeged ter ye fer
+thet yo' let me holp ye with hit." I'm catching it, too.
+
+I hope that you will forgive the liberties which I have taken in writing
+like this, but I had to do it.
+
+                                                  Sincerely yours,
+                                                       Gertrude Merriman.
+
+P.S. You were right in your conjecture. Since you would not accept the
+whole, or any part of Smiles' precious savings--and your refusal nearly
+broke her heart until I made her understand that physicians never
+charged _members of their family_--she wanted me to take it.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                   THE SECOND
+
+                                                 Webb's Gap,
+                                                      Jan. 22, 1914
+
+Dearest Doctor Mac,
+
+My heart is broken. Dear granddaddy died last night. Of course I know
+that it had to be, and that he is so much happier now in the spirit
+body, and with Ma Webb (he talked about her all yesterday, and I really
+think that his soul was speaking with hers); but he was so dear to me
+that I can hardly bear to think that he has gone away.
+
+Wasn't he a splendid man, Don? I am sure that there could not have been
+any better, nobler men, even in the city, and I know that you loved him,
+too.
+
+Before he died he told me all the wonderful things that he had done for
+me, although I did not deserve it--how he had left me all that money and
+made you my guardian. I am so glad for that.
+
+He was in terrible pain toward the end, and I don't know what I should
+have done without dear Miss Merriman who stayed on purpose to help me. I
+think that God sent her here special. And she has helped me in so many
+other ways too--especially with my studying. She is sure that I will be
+able to pass that awful examination, although it frightens me. Oh, if I
+_can_, I can take that hospital training and be a nurse at last, for I
+am rich now. Just think, dear granddaddy left me _more than a thousand
+dollars_--and I have my basket money, besides!
+
+And so, dear Donald, the first part of my great dream is really coming
+true. It isn't just the way I dreamed it, for I didn't mean for
+granddaddy to be dead; but I guess things never happen just as we plan.
+When we look forward to something pleasant, which we want very much to
+happen, we never think that there may be unhappiness mixed with
+it--perhaps it is better that way, for if we did we wouldn't work so
+hard to make it come to pass.
+
+I am afraid that I have not said that very well; but I feel that it is
+so, now. I am going to Boston; I will be near you, and will learn to do
+the work I love; but now I realize that I could never, never have done
+it until granddaddy went away. So that is the shadow on my golden dream.
+
+And last night there came the great sorrow that I have been dreading so
+many months; and yet I know that he is happier, and I have you and Miss
+Merriman, and the work I am going to do, to make me forget--not him, but
+my sorrow--and take the pain from my heart.
+
+Little Lou is almost well again, and both she and Judd are going to stay
+with Mrs. Andrews the rest of the winter. And, oh, Doctor Mac, he has
+promised me never to make white liquor again.
+
+I have saved the best news for the last. _Miss Merriman is going to take
+me to Boston with her._ She says that her family have taken an apartment
+in the city, and that I may live with them until I get into the
+hospital. This makes me very happy, and I hope that you will be pleased,
+too.
+
+I know that everything is going to be very different there in Boston,
+and that you are so busy that I cannot see you very often, and, besides,
+when I do get into the hospital I must be careful to remember that you
+are a very great doctor and I am only one of many probationers (Miss
+Merriman told me the word). But, although we cannot be chums like we
+have been, you must never forget that I am always
+
+                                            Your loving foster-sister,
+                                                 Smiles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+NEW SCENES, NEW FRIENDS
+
+
+So another leaf was turned in the Book of Fate, and Smiles' life
+underwent another metamorphosis as complete as the one fifteen years
+previous.
+
+There was a sudden severance of all old ties, save that of memory, an
+abrupt entrance into a new existence, so utterly different from the one
+that she had known that it could scarcely have seemed stranger to her if
+she had actually been translated into another sphere.
+
+Yet that same Fate, which had tried her heart in its crucible fires, and
+found its gold as unalloyed as her smile, now smiled, in turn, and Rose
+was deeply appreciative of that fact. She knew that in Gertrude Merriman
+she had found a friend who was a blessed comforter for her in her days
+of trial; in truth, the nurse was destined to be more than that, a wise
+counsellor as well. Herself a girl of breeding, a college graduate, and
+a product of the same mill through which the mountain child had set her
+heart and fixed her mind upon going, she would be able to smooth many a
+rough spot from that path which Donald had pictured in his allegory,
+draw the thorns from many a bramble.
+
+For the first time Rose parted from the friends whom she had known
+practically all her life, and from the rugged, picturesque mountain
+which had been home to her, and turned her face toward a new life. Like
+a child venturing into the fairyland of dreams, she journeyed with her
+companion through the teeming cities of the East, Miss Merriman so
+arranging it that they should spend a day in each, for--with wisdom born
+of experience--she realized that such travel was in itself a broadening
+education, and that, moreover, in the new wonders and new delights which
+each hour held, Smiles' grief would find its best assuagement.
+
+There was another reason in Miss Merriman's mind for making the trip a
+leisurely one. She knew that the girl was as far from being ready to
+step into the new existence, without material readjustment in her
+manners, as she was already mentally removed from the old. To be sure,
+she possessed a natural grace of manner which could not but charm any
+one who met her; but she was almost as free from external conventions as
+one of her own wild birds, except for the few which she had
+unconsciously acquired by her association with the older woman, and with
+Donald; and, in her love for, and pride in, her protege, Miss Merriman
+wanted Rose to be able to fit, without embarrassment, into whatever
+company she might find herself.
+
+Hers was a comparatively easy task, for Smiles took to "manners" as
+readily as a chameleon adapts its exterior to suit the color of its
+surroundings. In the woods she had learned to mimic the note of the
+birds or the chattering of the squirrels; in the hotel dining-room she
+copied the behavior of her companion just as faithfully, and if, on
+occasion, she found herself perplexed as to the proper use of some
+strange implement of eating, she frankly, and without a thought of
+embarrassment, sought information on the subject. People regarded her
+with open amusement, sometimes; but more often their gaze spelt
+admiration, and Rose was happily unconscious of both kinds of glances.
+
+Furthermore, in obedience to instructions from Donald, contained in a
+special delivery letter which reached her just before they started
+North, and in which he purported to be speaking and acting as the
+child's guardian _ipso facto_, Miss Merriman fitted her charge out with
+a simple, but complete, wardrobe, to Smiles' never-failing surprise and
+delight that so many pretty things should be all her own.
+
+When the two were ready to leave the metropolis--whose size, splendor
+and feverish bustle left Smiles mentally gasping--the nurse sent a
+telegram to Donald, and one raw February evening found him impatiently
+pacing the South Terminal Station, awaiting the arrival of the train
+from New York.
+
+Six months before, the prospect of some day being Smiles' guardian had
+seemed vaguely pleasant. Now it was an immediate fact, and the
+responsibilities engendered, the possible difficulties attendant on it,
+lay heavily upon his mind. He, too, thanked Heaven for Miss Merriman.
+
+The train gates were opened at last, and Donald hastened down the long
+platform, his eyes searching eagerly for those whom he sought. They fell
+first upon the nurse, just descending the steps, then turned and stayed
+upon the graceful, slender figure which followed her. Was it really
+Rose? Could that young woman, clad in a simple black traveling dress
+and long coat which, even to his masculine perception, appeared modishly
+stylish and amazingly becoming, be the mountain child whom his memory
+clothed in homemade calico? Her face was unwontedly pale beneath the
+small, close-fitting black hat, yet it was so utterly sweet that Donald
+felt his pulses start again with the old strange thrill.
+
+If his mind harbored any idea that she might run into his embrace, it
+was doomed to disappointment, for, with the habiliments of city
+civilization, Smiles had acquired its reserve. Her greeting was a very
+demure and somewhat weary one,--it both pleased and irritated him,
+somehow. Indeed, she spoke scarcely a word, and it was not until they
+had finished dinner in the quiet, homelike hotel, whither Donald had
+taken them, that her new shyness began to yield to his presence. Then
+the story of the marvels which her eyes had beheld came pouring forth
+with all the old-time childlike eagerness.
+
+When they were nearly ready to leave, Miss Merriman said, with a half
+real, half assumed show of firmness, "Now, Doctor MacDonald, since I am
+off duty I can speak my mind plainly, and I mean to. I know that you are
+Smiles' guardian; but you can't have her. She's mine, and she's going to
+live with my family until she enters the hospital. So there."
+
+Donald breathed a mental sigh of relief, and responded, laughingly, "And
+I, apparently, haven't anything to say about it! Oh, very well. I've
+lived long enough to learn that there is no use arguing with a woman, so
+I yield gracefully, although I'm afraid that it is establishing a bad
+precedent. If I begin to take orders from you like this, it is going to
+be hard to put you back in your place and to act the role of stern
+superior myself. I warn you, though, that I mean to get even with you on
+our next case, so prepare yourself to be bullied frightfully.
+
+"You see what a horrible disposition I really have, little sister," he
+added, smiling at Rose, who informed him that she was not in the least
+frightened, and to prove it, slipped her hand into his for a moment with
+the childlike confidence that he loved.
+
+So it was arranged; a taxicab bore them to the homey little apartment in
+the Fenway, where Smiles was taken to Mrs. Merriman's maternal bosom,
+and, after humbly begging his ward from them for the next afternoon,
+when he meant to introduce her to his family, Donald departed,
+whistling.
+
+Tired, but strangely contented, Rose was at last shown to her dainty
+pink and white bedroom, with its inviting brass bed, beside which she
+knelt for a long time in thankful prayer. Nor was it strange, perhaps,
+that her pillow was moist with tears of gratitude and happiness before
+she fell asleep.
+
+Smiles awoke early. The air in the room was very cold, but during her
+trip northward she had learned the mysteries of steam radiators, and she
+sprang up, closed the windows, and turned on the heat with a little
+silent laugh as her thoughts travelled back to the rude cabin on the
+mountain. In memory she saw herself crawl shiveringly from her bed, in
+the cold gray of a Winter daybreak, clad only in a plain nightgown, to
+build a blaze in the big stone fireplace so that the room might be warm
+for Big Jerry when he awoke. The smile faded from her lips, and they
+trembled slightly as she whispered his name. Poor grandpap, he had
+suffered sadly from the cold during those last few months when he could
+not keep the circulation up in his massive body by accustomed exercise.
+
+Below her lay the still sleeping city. Snow covered the untenanted
+portions of the Fens, and hid its ugly nakedness with a soft mantle,
+which seemed to hold a silken sheen, as the first flush of morning
+touched it. How strange all her surroundings appeared. Gone was the far
+sweeping expanse of forest-clad mountain side, stretching off to the
+sunrise; in its place lay a level space closed in by substantial
+buildings of marble, granite and brick--the Art Museum, Latin School and
+clustered hospitals,--their walls changing from ghostly gray to growing
+rose and gold. She drew a comfortable dressing gown--the gift of her new
+friend--about her girlish form, and sat down by the window in the
+familiar posture with her chin on her cupped hands. By Miss Merriman's
+description of the view which the window gave upon she recognized the
+creamy brick building of the Children's Hospital, snuggled like a gentle
+sister by the side of the impressive marble walls of its big brother,
+the Harvard Medical School, and, as the light grew and gave definition
+to its outlines, she felt as though it were actually drawing nearer to
+her. In imagination she went to meet it; she entered its doors and took
+her place among those who toiled there with loving hearts and skillful
+hands; and thus Miss Merriman found her, half an hour later, when she,
+similarly clad, came to bid her little guest good morning. With silent
+understanding, which is born of true companionship, she drew the girl
+into her arms.
+
+"I'm not going to let you do a single thing but rest this morning," she
+said at length. "You look pale and tired still--like a very white
+rose--and I want you to appear your very sweetest when you go to meet
+Dr. MacDonald's family this afternoon, dear. Come, let's decide what you
+shall wear. The black silk that we bought in New York?"
+
+Smiles hesitated. "I think that ... would it be all right if I wore that
+pretty white woollen one?"
+
+"Why, yes, if you like, but it is very plain and simple."
+
+"And so am I," laughed Rose a bit unsteadily. "I want them to see me
+just as I am, and ... Oh, how I hope that they will like me!"
+
+"Never fear. They will," answered Miss Merriman, giving her a reassuring
+kiss.
+
+Nevertheless, it was a very quiet and timid Smiles who sat beside Donald
+in his coupe at four that afternoon, as he drove to the richly sombre
+home on Beacon Street, where had dwelt many generations of Thayers. He,
+too, although he attempted to be jovial, was strangely uneasy.
+
+"You chump!" he said to himself. "You're more disturbed about whether
+this child will make a good impression, than you would be over
+performing a major operation. Supposing that Ethel _doesn't_ go wild
+about her, what of it?"
+
+A trim maid ushered them into the drawing room, where softly shaded
+lights were already burning, for the afternoon was dull and gray, and
+they gave a mellow homelike appearance to the mahogany furniture, rich
+tapestries, oriental rugs and costly paintings. Ethel, Mr. MacDonald,
+Senior, and little Muriel were in the room when Donald entered with the
+girl's slim hand held tightly in his, for she had slipped it there
+impulsively, just as he stepped through the broad doorway.
+
+"This," he said simply, "is Smiles."
+
+They all arose, and Ethel stepped quickly forward with outstretched
+hands. She had told herself that she meant to be very kind to the little
+savage to whom her brother had taken such an astonishing fancy; but
+now, something in the slender form and the half-frightened expression in
+the pale, sweet face caused her to forget everything else except that
+the stranger was alone and ill at ease. Both her arms went out to Rose
+with a motherly gesture, and, as she drew her within them, she said,
+"Why, my dear child."
+
+"Yes, she _is_ a child," broke in Muriel, eagerly seizing one of Smiles'
+hands. "I thought that she was a grown-up woman; but see, she wears her
+hair down on her neck just like a school girl."
+
+Let it be said that Miss Merriman had caught the note struck by Rose
+that morning, and had arrayed her to appear as young and simple as
+possible.
+
+"A child? Of course she is," echoed Mr. MacDonald in a hearty voice. "My
+dear, Donald has told us so much about you that I feel almost as though
+I had known you all your life. But," he added with little wrinkles
+forming at the corners of his kindly gray eyes, "I would like to have
+seen you, as my son did first, in that one-piece calico dress. He
+described the picture that you made very graphically."
+
+"Oh, look, mother. She's going to _smile_. Remember how pretty Uncle Don
+told us she looked when ..."
+
+Rose's shyly budding smile changed to silvery laughter in which all the
+rest joined, and with it was sealed the bond of an enduring friendship.
+Then baby Don was brought down from the nursery for inspection and,
+before he had been contentedly curled in the newcomer's arms many
+minutes, he was actually trying to lisp "Mileth," which Ethel proudly
+pronounced to be the first articulate word in his vocabulary, if those
+universal sounds, which doting parents have ever taken to mean Mother
+and Father, be excepted. He liked it so well that he insisted upon
+repeating it over and over, with eyes screwed up tight and mouth opened
+very wide, which gave him so comical an expression that every one
+laughed, including himself.
+
+Manlike, Donald had planned to get all the meetings over with at once,
+and had asked his sister to invite Marion in for afternoon tea and to
+meet his "protege and prodigy"--as Ethel had phrased it in her
+invitation. He had, however, purposely refrained from mentioning the
+fact to Rose, and when Miss Treville entered, stately as a goddess, very
+beautiful and a trifle condescending in manner, as she extended her
+white-gloved hand and said, "So this is little Rose," the girl felt a
+sudden chill succeed the warmth of hospitality which had served to
+banish all her timid reserve, had brought a glow of happy color to her
+cheeks and a sparkle to her luminous eyes, and had made her as wholly
+natural as she would have been at home among her simple neighbors of the
+mountains.
+
+Donald felt the psychological change, and sensed the reason for it; but
+although, in a clumsy manner, he did his best to restore the atmosphere
+of comradeship, he knew that he was failing. Marion also tried, and
+tried sincerely, to bring Rose into the conversation; but the girl had
+become embarrassed and silent, and to her own surprise the society woman
+vaguely realized that she, too, was embarrassed and not at her best. She
+tried to shake off the feeling with the thought that it was absurd that
+one who had been at ease in the presence of royalty should feel so in
+that of a simple mountain girl; but she could not wholly banish the
+feeling or the impression that the girl's deep, unusual eyes were
+looking down beneath the surface, which she knew was perfectly
+appointed--had she not, for no reason at all she told herself, taken
+special pains in dressing?--and that, although there was something of
+awed admiration in her frank gaze, it also held a suggestion of
+something which was not entirely approval. Donald felt it, too, and it
+irritated him; so much so that he was frankly glad when his fiancee
+announced that she must depart to attend a social engagement. Perhaps it
+was because he was ashamed of such a feeling that he kissed her with
+unusual warmth, as he handed her into the waiting motor car, and he
+found himself flushing deeply, without reason, when he returned to the
+drawing room and saw Rose standing by one of the windows, looking out at
+the departing limousine with its two liveried attendants.
+
+"She is very beautiful," the girl whispered to him, as he joined her.
+
+There was another guest that afternoon, who came in, unexpectedly--a
+young man, in appearance Donald's antithesis, for, although he was of
+more than medium height, he was slender and almost as graceful as a
+woman. Wavy light hair crowned a merry, boyish face which, with its
+remarkably blue eyes, was almost too good looking for a man, although
+saved from a hint of weakness by a firm, well-rounded chin.
+
+"Called at your office and learned that you were loafing on the job
+again, and that I might find you up here, visiting a baby--for a
+change," he ran on, as he entered after the manner of one who feels
+himself perfectly at home. Then he caught sight of Rose, blushed like a
+girl himself and stammered, "Oh, I beg pardon. I didn't know that I was
+..."
+
+"You're not," laughed Donald, seizing the newcomer's hand with a
+vicelike grasp. "Come in. I've told you about my little mountain rose,
+and now is your chance to meet her, for here she is. Smiles, this is my
+closest friend and associate, Dr. Philip Bentley--the man who steps into
+my shoes when I am summarily ordered to board the next train for the
+Cumberland Mountains, or elsewhere."
+
+"Who steps into his practice, perhaps, but not into his shoes, Miss
+Rose," added the other. "I could not fill _them_, figuratively or
+physically."
+
+"Go ahead, make all the fun of me that you like," answered Donald. "I'm
+not ashamed of having a broad understanding."
+
+"You would not think Dr. Donald's boots large if you could have seen my
+Granddaddy's," interposed Smiles, pretending to think that reflection
+was being cast upon her idol. "I could get _both_ my feet inside one of
+them--really I could."
+
+"I don't wonder," answered Philip with a return to seriousness. And the
+girl hastily tucked her diminutive shoes underneath her chair, as she
+saw the man's gaze fastened upon them.
+
+For nearly an hour she lived in unaccustomed delight, as she listened to
+the merry badinage of this group of educated city dwellers and, although
+it was something new to her, her quick mind soon realized that Philip
+was a most entertaining conversationalist, with a wit like a rapier
+which flashed and touched, but never hurt, and that Donald, in his
+slower way, possessed a dry humor which she had not suspected. At the
+end of that time a telephone call came for Donald which sent him forth,
+pretending to grumble over the lack of consideration of modern children,
+who insisted upon getting sick at the most inconvenient times, and of
+their parents, who permitted it.
+
+"Your loss, my gain," chuckled Philip. "I'll be only too pleased to take
+Miss Rose home."
+
+"Indeed, I'll not allow such a thing," promptly responded Ethel. "Rose
+stays here for dinner, and _you're_ not invited. This is to be strictly
+a family party."
+
+"'Family?' Is Don going to be a Mormon, then?" challenged Philip.
+
+It was Rose, who--blushing prettily--answered, "I hope not, for he is
+my brother, too, by blood adoption." And she told the story.
+
+"Then why can't _I_ be? I'm ready, nay, anxious, to shed quarts and
+quarts of blood to attain a like relationship," persisted Philip. And
+thus the conversation ran on through dinner, for Ethel relented and
+allowed Dr. Bentley to remain, and, as Donald was again summoned away,
+it was he who, after all, took Rose to the Merriman apartment.
+
+"Oh," she cried, in telling Gertrude all about it, "I think that it was
+the happiest evening I ever spent, or it _would_ have been if Big Jerry
+might only have been there, too."
+
+A slight suggestion of a smile passed over the face of the older woman
+as she pictured the mountaineer in a Beacon Street drawing room. Rose
+saw, and interpreted it.
+
+"Grandpap would not have been out of place there, or in a king's palace.
+He _was_ a king, Miss Merriman."
+
+"Yes, dear, he truly was," the other responded seriously.
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"Isn't Dr. Bentley nice," said Smiles, softly. "He must be splendid, for
+Dr. Donald likes him a lot."
+
+"He likes _you_ a lot, too! My, aren't we vain?" smiled Gertrude.
+
+"Oh, I didn't think how that was going to sound!"
+
+Rose's distress was real and the other hastened to say, "Yes, Dr.
+Bentley is splendid. We used to call them 'David and Jonathan,' for
+they were always together, and, before Dr. McDonald become engaged, we
+said that neither would ever marry, since they couldn't marry each
+other. Now I suppose that Dr. Bentley will be looking around for
+consolation. Perhaps...."
+
+"Don't be silly," laughed Smiles. But she became suddenly silent again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE FIRST MILESTONE
+
+
+Three months sped by and were gone like a dream.
+
+Day after day, until should come that longed-for, yet dreaded test, Rose
+studied with a diligence that delighted the private tutor whom Donald,
+through Miss Merriman, had secured for her--a young woman who found
+herself astonished by her pupil's avidity in seeking knowledge.
+
+The passing days were not, however, wholly dedicated to the books which
+held for Smiles the key to the citadel she sought to possess.
+
+Other doors and other hearts were open to her, and, because of her
+simple charm, Donald's family welcomed her as a visitor whose every
+advent in the city home seemed to bring a fresh breath from the hills
+and open spaces. Little Muriel, who had loved her unseen, worshipped her
+on sight, and Ethel, happy in Donald's betrothal to Marion Treville,
+would have been glad to have had her with them far more often than she
+would consent to come.
+
+Long walks she took, too, regardless of weather, swinging freely along
+on voyages of discovery; losing herself often in Boston's impossible
+streets, only to find her way back home with the instinct for direction
+of one bred amid forests, trackless, save for infrequent blind and
+tortuous paths. And soon the historic, homey city cast its strange spell
+over her heart, and claimed her for its own.
+
+Spring came at last, not the verdant, glorious, festal virgin of the
+Southland, but the hesitant, bashfully reserved maiden so typical of New
+England, and Miss Merriman finally reported to Donald that their joint
+protege seemed to be fairly prepared for the test which she had come so
+far to take.
+
+There are no rules, born of reason, which cannot yield to reasonable
+exceptions, and, although the entrance requirements of the training
+school were as exacting as its course, and as strict as its standard, a
+standard which had long since made it the peer of any in all America,
+some of the purely technical ones were waived upon the request of the
+idolized chief junior surgeon on the staff, for Donald went personally
+to the Superintendent and explained the case to her, and she agreed to
+allow Rose to take a special examination; but she shook her head when he
+mentioned the girl's age.
+
+"Of course you know what the requirements are in that respect, doctor,"
+she said. "We make exceptions, yes; but, if she enters now, she will be
+by far the youngest girl in the school. I think that, before I give you
+my decision, I shall have to see and talk with her."
+
+Accordingly, that afternoon he took the rather frightened Smiles to the
+Superintendent of nurses, and left them closeted together.
+
+"Dr. MacDonald has told me about you, and your ambition, Miss Webb,"
+said the Superintendent kindly. "You have been very courageous; but you
+are very young, even younger than I thought. Now I want you to tell me
+frankly just what your life has been, so that I may judge as to your
+other qualifications, before deciding whether it is wise for you to take
+the examinations."
+
+Rose began hesitatingly; but, as the other drew her out with
+judicious questions, she told her story with simple directness, and,
+before long, the Superintendent had come to a realization that the
+little mountain girl--whose life had, for so long, been one of unusual
+responsibilities--had already acquired an uncommon maturity of
+judgment. Although she was still some eighteen months below the
+prescribed age for entering, she received the other's hesitating
+permission to make the essay.
+
+It would be difficult to decide who felt the greater nervousness during
+the period of Smiles' written examination, and the time which had to
+elapse before word came as to the result--Rose, Miss Merriman or Donald.
+It was the last who heard first. The Superintendent invited him into her
+office, as he was passing through the hospital corridor one day, and
+said, "I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that Miss Webb has
+passed her tests with flying colors, doctor."
+
+A warmth of pleasurable relief passed through Donald; but he managed to
+reply formally, "I _am_ pleased; but I hope that you didn't ease up any
+because of anything ... er ... on my account."
+
+"No, we didn't," was the response. "I'll admit that both your account of
+what Miss Webb had done, and the girl herself, appealed to me so that I
+was prepared to mark a bit leniently, if necessary; but it wasn't. I
+really don't see how she managed to garner so much education in so short
+a time."
+
+"'Where there's a will,'" quoted Donald, with inward satisfaction over
+the fact that his ward had fulfilled his prophecy, and he stole a few
+minutes out of the busy morning to motor to the Merrimans' apartment to
+bear the joy-bringing tidings personally to little Rose, whose eyes
+shone happily and whose lips smiled their thanks, but who--perversely,
+it seemed to him--gave Miss Merriman the reward which he felt should
+have been his.
+
+Dreams do come true sometimes, if they _are_ true, and so at last
+arrived a bright May morning when Smiles folded away her little play
+uniform forever, and--by right of conquest--donned the striped pink and
+white gingham dress and bibless apron of a probationer, within the doors
+of the newly built home of that old and worthy institution which had had
+its inception, more than sixty years before, in the loving heart of
+Nursing Sister Margaret.
+
+There Rose entered into a new life, as different from that of the old
+physical freedom of the hills, and personal freedom from restraint, as
+could well be imagined, for, as Donald had told her, she was now
+mustered, as an untrained recruit, into a great modern army; and
+discipline is the keynote in war, whether the battle be against evil
+nations or evil forces.
+
+From half after six in the morning until ten at night, when with
+military precision came "lights out," her life was drawn to pattern. It
+was not a hardship for her, as with some others, to arise at the early
+hour; and the brief prayer and singing of the morning hymn, in company
+with her fifty-odd sister-probationers and pupil nurses, impressed her
+strongly the first time in which she had part in it, and never failed to
+strengthen and uplift her for the day's toil. Times were to come
+aplenty, to be sure, when the old call of untrammelled freedom stirred
+her senses to mute rebellion; but, as often, her all-absorbed interest
+in the work silenced it speedily.
+
+Right at the outset Rose experienced the same shock which hundreds of
+other would-be nurses have had. She, mistress of a home for years, was
+obliged to learn to clean, to scrub, to make a bed! For two whole months
+of probationary training she had to labor at the bedside or in the
+classroom, doing the commonplace, practical tasks which, to many, seemed
+merely unnecessary drudgery; but, if she occasionally felt that Donald's
+prophecy was coming true with a vengeance, more often her level little
+head held a prescient understanding of how important this unlovely
+foundation was to the structure which should some day be built upon it.
+
+And, although the Superintendent said nothing to Smiles, she noted with
+secret appreciation that her new pupil possessed, in addition to her
+sustaining enthusiasm, a no less valuable thing--the innate ability to
+use her hands by instinct and without clumsy conscious effort. Had not
+this girl, who was scarcely more than a child in years, for a long time
+been both a homemaker and an ever-ready nurse to all those who became
+ill within the confines of the scattered mountain settlement?
+
+The second milestone was reached at last. Rose was one day summoned
+alone into the Superintendent's sanctum, and the door was closed to all
+others. A little later she came out with tears adding new lustre to her
+shining eyes, for the talk had been very earnest and heart-searching;
+but they were tears of happiness, for upon her gleaming curls now sat
+the square pique cap which was the visible sign that she had safely
+traversed the first stretch of the long, hard road. To be sure, she knew
+well that even this, the so dearly desired cap and pale blue dress which
+went with it, did not make her fully a pupil nurse, yet that afternoon
+it seemed that life could never hold for her an honor more precious.
+
+The afternoon on which this momentous event occurred was one of liberty
+for Rose, and she hastened with the news to her dear Miss Merriman, the
+precious cap smuggled out under her coat; but, after they had rejoiced
+together, and she had admired its reflection in the glass, she suddenly
+became doleful, and wailed in mock despair, "Oh, doesn't it seem as
+though I'd never, _never_ be a real nurse. Why, now I've got to _leave
+the hospital_"--the tragedy in her tone almost caused her friend to
+break into laughter--"and study all sorts of awful Latin things. She
+opened a catalogue and read aloud, 'Physiology, bacteriology,
+chemistry, dietetics,' and goodness knows what else over at Simmons
+College, for _four whole months_. I shall simply die, I just know that I
+shall!"
+
+Miss Merriman gently explained the necessity for each of them; but
+wisely refrained from further frightening her by adding that a full
+year's course was to be crowded into those sixteen weeks.
+
+In due time these, too, were over, the awe-inspiring examination passed,
+and Smiles was accepted as worthy of a place among the pupil nurses.
+Like an athlete she had finished her preliminary training, and was ready
+for the long, gruelling race toward the goal, two and a half years
+distant.
+
+Hard work though it was, Rose found all her days sunny ones, and only
+one cloud partly obscured their brightness. Donald she saw on rare
+occasions only, as the demands upon his time doubled and redoubled, and
+of course their brief meetings at the hospital demanded strict formality
+of intercourse. Deeply as he felt for her, he was a physician first,
+last and all the time, and as uncompromising in his own ethics as he was
+in his requirements of the nurses.
+
+Yet, if she saw him seldom, there was another whom she saw increasingly
+often. Dr. Bentley's attitude towards Rose was also strictly
+professional; but he never failed to bow and speak pleasantly when he
+met her in the corridors or wards, and she instinctively felt that in
+him she had found another real friend.
+
+Rose was too much a child of nature to be given to thinking much about
+men; but there were minutes, just before sleep came at night, when her
+mind would visualize Donald's strong, kindly face, which seemed to look
+down at her with an expression almost fatherly, and she would whisper a
+little prayer that she might help him as she had resolved to, that night
+on the mountain top. And at such times another face, light, where his
+was dark, came, not to supplant, but to supplement it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE CALL OF THE RED CROSS
+
+
+Despite the enthralling interest of her new work and surroundings, it
+seemed to Rose, during the year after she gained entrance to the temple
+of her desire, that her life was standing still, while all things else
+were speeding by her at a breakneck pace.
+
+It had never been so before. Even in the isolation and simplicity of her
+former home she had felt that she was a part of it all. It had seemed to
+her, somehow, as though her existence had been patterned after her own
+turbulent mountain stream, which danced along through sunshine and
+shade, with here and there a ravine and cataract, here and there a rapid
+or impeding boulder in its course; but always moving, moving. Then,
+suddenly, it was as though that swift little river had fallen into a
+broad, quiet basin, walled in, where it moved forward almost
+imperceptibly. True, it was daily gaining greater depth and fulness as
+it gathered to itself the tributary waters of knowledge and experience,
+and Smiles was not insensible to this fact. But it was difficult to
+remember it always, for the outer world of events was moving forward so
+fast.
+
+The very day upon which her probationary period came to an end and, with
+a smile on her lips, a song in her heart, she placed the cherished cap
+upon her gold-brown curls, there came, from the heart of the swiftly
+piled up, lowering clouds, the blinding flash which shattered the peace
+of the world and started the overwhelming conflagration into the
+seething, bloody-tongued vortex into which nation after nation was
+sucked irresistibly. The world had become the plaything of the Gods of
+Wrath.
+
+Black days passed, shuddering things of horror to Rose, when she had
+time to allow her mind to dwell upon them, and her keen imagination to
+picture the atrocities which the fiend was committing upon the helpless
+babies of Belgium and France.
+
+Then, in answer to the cries and lamentations from overseas, the banner
+of the Red Cross was shaken forth anew, like a holy standard, and, like
+crusaders of old, doctors and nurses flocked beneath it for the battle.
+From her own hospital home went physicians and graduate nurses to
+dedicate themselves afresh to service. The call reached and wrung the
+heart of Rose. She could not go as a nurse, she knew; yet the need was
+so great that it seemed to her that somehow she must answer; but she
+resolutely closed her ears to it and fixed her eyes the more steadfastly
+upon the rocky, shut-in path which she had set forth to climb.
+
+It was a raw, bleak evening in late November when she made her final
+resolve. At noon Donald had met her in one of the corridors and stopped
+to speak with her. His face, she thought afterwards, had appeared
+unusually serious and determined, even for him, as he said, "This is
+your afternoon and evening off duty, isn't it, Rose? I want to talk with
+you, if you haven't made any other plans."
+
+As it chanced, she had been eagerly anticipating a visit to the theatre
+with Miss Merriman, who was home for a few days between cases; but
+something about his manner caused her to tell a white lie without
+hesitation.
+
+"Good," he said. "I'll call for you in my car and take you to Ethel's
+for dinner. Be ready at six o'clock."
+
+All the rest of the day Donald's presence had been strangely close to
+her, and she found herself wondering what it portended; but not until
+the pleasant family meal was over, and he was taking her home, did she
+learn.
+
+When they came out of the house they found a baby blizzard sending the
+first snow of the season, as light and dry as tiny particles of down,
+whirling and eddying through the broad street. As Rose stood in surprise
+at the top of the brownstone steps, a dry vagrant, left from one of the
+trees which was tossing its gaunt arms protestingly, came tumbling down
+to become stem-entangled in her hair. With a laugh, she dashed for the
+motor car and, when she had sprung inside it, she was panting a little,
+for the thieving wind had taken advantage of her lips being open in
+laughter to steal away her breath, so that Donald was sensible of her
+quickened heart beats as she leaned against him while his big but deft
+fingers removed the leaf almost tenderly from its imprisoning mesh.
+
+"Doctor Bentley would make a pretty speech about getting caught in my
+hair," challenged Rose with a teasing pout.
+
+The next instant she drew quickly back, for Donald's arms were almost
+about her. He as quickly recovered himself, with the words, "But you
+can't expect pretty speeches from a brother."
+
+"You have been a dear big brother; I don't know why you have been so
+good to me, Donald. Do you know what this snow reminds me of? That awful
+night on the mountain when I went down to Fayville to telegraph for
+you--and you came." For a moment they both sat in silent memories, then
+Rose added, "Dear little Lou, I wonder how she is getting along now ...
+and Juddy, too. Isn't it a strange thing, Donald, that one can forget
+the old things so quickly--no, not forget, either; but have them forced
+into the background of the mind by new surroundings and new friends.
+Sometimes, all those years on the mountain seem to me like a dream. I
+used to see the people there, Grandpap, Mr. Talmadge, Judd and all the
+rest, every day, they were a part of my life, and now they have been
+completely withdrawn and who knows if I shall ever see any of them
+again? They hardly seem real to me."
+
+"Yes, strange, perhaps, but it happens many times in the course of a
+life." He paused, then added hurriedly, "I suppose that in a few months
+you will be saying the same thing about me--'I used to see him every
+day, he was a part of my life, but now he is only in the background of
+my memory, and doesn't seem real.'"
+
+There was a note almost of bitterness in Donald's voice; but Rose was
+too stunned by his words to notice or attempt to analyze the manner of
+their utterance.
+
+"Donald, what ... what do you mean? You're not ..." She gasped, and laid
+her hand with an impulsive clutch on his arm.
+
+"Look out! Don't interfere with the motorman," he laughed more
+naturally, as the car swerved almost into the curbing. "Yes, I am. I'm
+going away ... almost immediately."
+
+"Away? Where?"
+
+"To France."
+
+"Oh, Don, you mustn't; you can't. You're needed here so much."
+
+"They need me over there more, little Smiles. I've realized it, and felt
+the pull, for days; but it didn't become insistent until yesterday, when
+I received a letter from a chap whom I have known for years. He's always
+had a good deal more money than was good for him, and been a sort of
+social butterfly. I liked him, although I didn't believe that he had a
+serious thought in his head, didn't think that he was capable of one,
+but ... here, read what he has written me," he concluded abruptly, as a
+temporary block forced their car to a stop beneath an electric light on
+Massachusetts Avenue. "The first page doesn't matter; it merely contains
+a description of how he happened to be caught in Paris by the outbreak
+of the war, and got mixed up in volunteer rescue work through a spirit
+of adventure."
+
+Rose turned to the second sheet and, holding the pages close to the
+glass in the door, through which came enough snow-filtered light to
+illumine them, read.
+
+     "I am beginning to understand, now, something of what you meant
+     when you used to talk so enthusiastically about your confining,
+     and, as it seemed to me, often thankless work. I never knew what
+     real satisfaction was until I began to get mixed up with this
+     volunteer Red Cross work. Coming from the source that it does, you
+     will probably be surprised and amused at the statement that, when I
+     look back on the old, superficial, utterly useless life that I
+     formerly led, I actually thank God for the foolish whim that
+     brought me to Paris in the fall, and the equally whimsical decision
+     that led me to volunteer my services as an auto driver. The work
+     has stirred something inside of me that I didn't know existed, and,
+     if I come through this scrape (we're working in villages pretty
+     close to the front a good deal of the time), I'll come home
+     'poorer, but wiser.' Yes, they've touched my pocketbook as well as
+     my heart.
+
+     I suppose the papers give you some idea of conditions here; but no
+     verbal description can begin to do it justice; the need is simply
+     overwhelming and hourly growing greater. Think of it, old man,
+     there are thousands upon thousands of babies and little kiddies of
+     Belgium and northern France homeless, many of them orphaned, most
+     of them sick and all helpless and with their lives--which have
+     every right to be carefree and happy--filled with sorrow and
+     suffering.
+
+     France has been glorious in the way she has met the staggering,
+     almost insuperable difficulties which everywhere confront her, but
+     how could she be expected to meet this incidental problem when she
+     was so overburdened with the crushing pressure of the battle for
+     her very existence. It has been a mighty lucky thing for her that
+     the Red Cross was ready to take it off her shoulders, and she has
+     turned to _us_ (How does that sound? Can you imagine me doing
+     anything useful?) with tears of appeal and gratitude. That isn't a
+     figure of speech. I have actually seen the Prefect of this
+     Province, who would rank with the governor of one of our states,
+     and who is a brave, capable man, cry like a woman over the seeming
+     hopelessness of the ghastly problem. I have heard him say that
+     he--that France--was helpless, and beg us in the name of common
+     humanity to do what we could.
+
+     Believe me, we're doing it, and I'm proud of my countrymen and
+     women who have gone into this thing with the typical Yankee pep;
+     proud of the American Red Cross and just a bit proud of myself. You
+     used to make fun of my vaunted ability to stay up half the night,
+     and be fresh as a daisy the next morning. It's serving me in good
+     stead now. I can't begin to tell you about the work we have done
+     already and are doing; it is a task to overwhelm the courage, but
+     we are 'carrying on,' as the Tommies say.
+
+     New children, by the scores and hundreds, are brought into the
+     hospital bases daily, and many of them have been living for weeks,
+     and even months, filthy in cellars of Hun-shattered villages which
+     are almost continually under fire. They are generally sick,
+     naturally, indescribably dirty and, in fact, mere wraiths of
+     childhood. God, Don, it gets me when I imagine my own nephews and
+     nieces in their places!
+
+     We clean 'em up, give them help and something to live for. We have
+     already established hospitals, schools and nurseries in ---- and ----
+     and our ambulances and 'traveling baths' go out daily to give aid
+     to the less needy in the neighborhood. Can you picture _me_ acting
+     as chauffeur for a magnified bath tub for Belgian babies? That's
+     what I'm doing, now!
+
+     Get into the game, old man. We need you over here, and the kids of
+     the disgustingly rich at home will be the better for not having a
+     doctor to give them a pill every time their little noses run a bit.
+     Pack up your saws, axes and other trouble-makers in your old kit
+     bag and climb aboard a ship bound for France."
+
+Donald saw that there were tears in Smiles' deep eyes as she silently
+folded the pages, and replaced them in their envelope.
+
+"Of course you ought to go," she said simply. "I spoke selfishly. But
+oh, Don, I don't know what I shall do without you; you're the only
+'family' I've got. I don't see you very often; but I know that you are
+here in Boston, and I guess that I have got the habit of leaning on you
+in my thoughts. You know I called you a tree, years and years ago."
+
+"Yes, I remember, an 'oak,' wasn't it? I thought that you meant that I
+was tough," he laughed. "The idea of _you_ leaning on any one is funny,
+Rose." Then he added, with some hesitancy, "I've been thinking ...
+Would you like to go over there, too, Rose? I could take you ... that
+is, I am quite sure that I could arrange for you to do so, not as a Red
+Cross nurse, of course, for they have to be graduates; but as a
+volunteer helper in one of those base hospitals. It would be a wonderful
+experience, and you would be performing the kind of service that you
+like best. It would not be time wasted, by any means."
+
+She started, and her lips parted eagerly; then the light slowly faded
+from her eyes and she shook her head slowly.
+
+"I would love it. It would be glorious, Don, and I should be working
+with you, perhaps, but ... No, I must keep on doing as I have planned. I
+can't falter or fail now, Don. There is going to be greater need every
+day, not for helpers, but for trained workers. When this awful war is
+ended and the weary, weary world turns back to peaceful pursuits, its
+hope and salvation will lie in its babies. Won't it, Don? I would like
+to help those babies over in France; sometimes I dream of being a Red
+Cross nurse and helping the poor, wounded soldiers; but I am sure that
+it is better for me to keep on making myself ready to serve the coming
+generations to the best of my fully trained ability. Don't you think so,
+too, Don?"
+
+Her words had rung firm and true until the last question, when there
+crept in a note which seemed to his ears to carry an appeal for him to
+disagree, and argue with her; but the man answered, "Yes, dear. You are
+dead right, and I felt certain that you would say what you have said.
+You have got to stay until you are trained; I have got to go, because I
+am. You see that, don't you?"
+
+"Yes. Oh, I shall miss you awfully, Don; I can't tell you how much. But
+I want you to go. And I mean to pray for you, and the poor little babies
+over there, too. I'll write you as often as I can; as often as you want
+me to."
+
+"That's fine," he answered heartily. "But, as I told you once before,
+don't feel hurt if I answer only occasionally. I have a suspicion that
+there will be plenty of work for me to do over there."
+
+"Yes, I'll understand. Besides, you will have to write to ... to Miss
+Treville more than to me. Are you ... are you going to get married
+before you go?"
+
+"Married? Good Lord, no ... that is, I hadn't even thought of it," he
+said with a forced laugh. "Why, I haven't even told her yet that I am
+going."
+
+"You haven't? You told me, first?"
+
+"Well ... er ... you see I had to tell you, because ... because I ... I
+hold a position of trust in respect to you, and have got to make
+arrangements for your future. Big Jerry told me to use my own judgment
+about your money, and I believe that you are fully competent to take
+care both of yourself and of it.
+
+"Here," he drew a small package from his side pocket, "is a bank
+deposit and check book, for I have already had the account transferred
+from my name, as trustee, to you individually. Now it is up to you to
+prove that you are a careful little business woman. With more than a
+thousand dollars in the bank you may feel quite like an heiress, but I
+warn you that a big city is a glutton and its avaricious maw is always
+open for money. Be warned by one who knows. If you need any advice of
+any nature that a man can give better than Miss Merriman, I want you to
+promise to call on Phil ... Dr. Bentley, that is, for I mean to put you
+in his charge. You can trust him just as you do me."
+
+"I know that," answered Rose frankly.
+
+"Well, here we are, little sister. Don't tell any one what I have just
+told you, for I want to make all my preliminary arrangements before I
+astound the world with the announcement of what I am going to do."
+
+"You needn't laugh," answered Rose. "I guess that it will dismay plenty
+of Back Bay families who have babies."
+
+There was a catch in her voice as she bade him good-night, and she was
+not sorry for an excuse for running into the hospital, offered by the
+mellow notes of a distant church clock tolling the hour of ten. It was
+the signal for "lights out" in the bedrooms, and this was appreciated,
+too, for it made it possible for her to undress in the dark, and the
+pale moonlight which came in through the window, as the moon played
+hide and seek behind the broken masses of storm clouds--for the blizzard
+had ended as quickly as it had come on--was reflected on two glistening
+tear drops on her flushed cheeks. In the darkness her roommate could not
+see them and be led to ask questions.
+
+The two girls, one the self-educated, unknown child of the southern
+mountain side, the other the college-bred daughter of one of New
+England's oldest families, had become fast friends and generally
+exchanged whispered confidences until the sleep which comes of physical
+exhaustion speedily claimed them; but to-night Rose was in no mood for
+conversation.
+
+The last thread which bound the old life to the new was soon to be
+broken, and she felt lonelier, more nearly homesick, than she had since
+leaving Webb's Gap.
+
+"Perhaps I shall never see him again," she half whispered. "But I shall
+never, _never_ forget him, he has been so good and meant so much to me.
+And I shall always love him." She saw that her roommate was asleep,
+softly raised the window-shade to let in the moonlight that she loved,
+and, clad in her simple nightdress, short sleeved and cut low at the
+neck, seated herself before the mirror to brush her wavy mass of hair,
+and, as she leaned forward, and it fell about her face, tear bedewed and
+made almost childlike again by its frame of tumbling curls, she smiled
+faintly in recollection. "I look the way I used to in my homemade,
+one-piece dresses," she breathed. "Just as I did that afternoon when he
+first saw me. 'Yo' looked so funny a-fallin' over thet thar dawg, an'
+a-rollin' on the floor.' What a way to greet a famous physician--only I
+didn't know it then."
+
+For a moment she sat like this, her thoughts far away from the northern
+city; then a faint blush mantled her face, and she hastily jumped up and
+shut out the soft light by pulling down the shade.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE GOAL
+
+
+    You cannot, by a bridge of sighs, attain the future's golden years,
+    But try a bridge of rainbow hopes erected on substantial piers
+    Of honest work, and you will find it leads you surely to the goal.
+    'Tis God that gives the dreamer's dreams, as radiant as the morning,
+    But, if the will to work is weak, they often die a-borning.
+
+If this were a romance, instead of the simple account of the pilgrimage
+and development of a girl from childhood to womanhood, it would be
+permissible to say, "three years pass by in swift flight," or "drag by
+on weary feet," as the case may have been, and then resume the action.
+
+But in everyday life, character is built out of everyday incidents, big
+and little, all of which have place in the moulding of it, and, since
+the years of Smiles' training within the Children's Hospital were vital
+ones for her, it is essential to touch briefly upon some of the
+occurrences which filled them.
+
+On the other hand, it is by no means necessary to describe that period
+at length. It is doubtful if, in later life, she will herself look back
+upon the many days so filled to repletion with exacting, though
+interesting, tasks, as other than a dead level, for constant repetition
+of a thing, no matter how gripping it may be, produces a monotony. But
+there were special incidents--sometimes trivial in comparison with the
+importance of her sustained labor--which formed the high lights in the
+picture, and the memory of which will endure through all the after
+years. By recounting a few of these, and letting our imaginations fill
+in the interims, we can accompany Rose on her journey to the goal of her
+desires.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The day after Donald had taken her into his confidence regarding his
+plans, Rose made up her mind to keep a diary.
+
+"Even though he may be thousands of miles away, I mean to keep myself as
+close to him as possible by writing him as I would talk to him, about
+_all_ the things which happen in my life, and, unless I set them down as
+they happen, I shall forget," she told Miss Merriman, after the seal of
+secrecy had been removed from her lips.
+
+"Perhaps _you_ can succeed in keeping one. _I_ never could," laughed her
+friend. "Each January First I start a new one, and register a solemn vow
+to keep it up longer, at least, than I did the one the previous year. If
+I follow that system until I am three hundred and fifty years old, I
+will complete just one before I die."
+
+Smiles accepted the implied challenge, and, day by day, with few
+omissions, the dated pages bore new testimony to her application in
+performing a self-appointed task. The plan bore fruit, too, for Donald,
+in his rare replies to her confidential letters, which went to him each
+fortnight, was able to praise her as the best of correspondents, writing
+once, "You have an exceptional gift for making incidents seem real and
+people alive, in your letters, and of realizing that, with us who are so
+far away from home, it _is_ the little things which count. Ethel, alas,
+is hopeless in this respect. She writes me faithfully; but invariably
+says that nothing has happened except the usual occurrences of everyday
+life, and thereby utterly misses the great fact that it is just those
+very things that the lonely exile most longs to hear about. I would
+actually rather have her write that they had baked beans on Saturday
+night than that so-and-so had given a charity whist at the Vendome."
+
+Yet many a sentence went into the diary that was never copied or
+embellished for Donald's eyes. Some of them had to do with him, or her
+thoughts of him; some were too intimate for another to see.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                    December 6th, 1915.
+
+"My dear Donald has gone. I think that I have not felt so utterly
+lonesome since granddaddy died. And I could not get away to say
+good-by to him--I could have cried, only I didn't have time even to
+do _that_. It doesn't seem right, when he has been so dear to me,
+that I should have had to part from him in the hospital corridor
+with others around, so that all I could do was press his hand an
+instant and wish him a commonplace, 'Good luck and God-speed.'
+Still, it probably wouldn't have been any different if we had been
+alone. I couldn't have done what my heart was longing to do,
+everything is different now. I don't believe that I enjoy being
+'grown-up.' What an unpleasant thing 'convention' is. Why, I
+wonder, must we always hide our true feelings under a mask? I
+suppose it is lest the world give a wrong meaning to them; but if I
+_had_ kissed him, the way I used to, I'm sure that Donald would
+have understood. He knows that I love him as dearly as though I
+were truly his sister, instead of a make-believe one."
+
+Here the page bears a number of meaningless hieroglyphics, and then the
+words, stricken out, "I wonder."
+
+"He looked so manly in his uniform, and so distinguished, although
+I suppose that he isn't really _handsome_--at least, not like Dr.
+Bentley. _He_ isn't so wonderful as Don; but I think that he is
+more understanding. He seemed to realize just how I felt this
+morning, and he was as sweet and considerate as a woman when I
+bungled things awfully in the operating room. The head nurse gave
+me a deserved call down, however, and it was perhaps just as well
+that she did, for my mind needed to be 'brought back.' Only my body
+was in the hospital, and the _real me_, as Mr. Talmadge said, was
+back in the cabin, helping Donald operate on Lou, all over again. I
+cried like a little fool--the first time I have done it here--but
+my tears weren't for the poor baby on the operating table. They
+were memory tears....
+
+"Poor little thing, he had to die, and he was the first one whom I
+have seen pass on to the eternal garden of God's flowers since I
+have been in the hospital. Oh, it hasn't been a happy day at
+all....
+
+"I wonder if Donald could have saved him? My brain answers, 'No.'
+Dr. Bentley did all that lies within the power of science, I am
+sure. But somehow ..."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       Christmas night.
+
+"If Donald might only have been here in person to-day, it would have been
+perfect. I think that he must have been, in spirit, for I 'felt' his
+presence quite near me several times; I confided as much to Dr. Bentley
+and he made an atrocious pun on the word 'presents.' I wish he wouldn't;
+it is the only thing about him that I don't like, but he will make them.
+Wasn't Donald thoughtful and dear to have bought a Christmas gift for me
+during those overcrowded days before he went away?--a whole set of
+books, beautifully bound, but better still, beautiful within. Books are
+the same as people, I think. We like to see both attractively clothed,
+but in each it is the soul that counts....
+
+"What a lot of presents I received--from Miss Merriman and her mother,
+Mrs. Thayer and little Muriel, and, oh, so many of the girls here. I
+don't know why they are all so good to me--because I am looked upon as a
+lonely little savage, I suppose. And then there was that one from Dr.
+Bentley. The idea of a simple mountain girl from Webb's Gap having five
+whole pounds of candy at once!
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+"The funniest thing happened to-day, and I must not forget to write
+Donald all about it. He is sure to remember little red-headed Jimmy, who
+has to spend so much of his time in the hospital. Has he imagination
+enough, I wonder, to picture him sitting up in bed in the snow-white
+ward, with his flaming auburn hair and bright red jacket calling names
+at each other? I love the old custom to which the hospital still clings
+of putting all the little patients into those red flannel jackets on
+cold days, for it makes the wards look so cheerful--like Christmas
+fields dotted with bright berries. Jimmy is a dear, and so imaginative
+that I believe he _lives_ every story that I tell him of the
+Cumberlands--certainly he likes them better than fairy stories. This
+afternoon, I had finished telling him about how grandpappy shot the
+turkey for Dr. MacDonald, and I found him looking up at me with his big
+blue eyes, which can be as serious as a saint's or as mischievous as an
+imp's. 'Your face is most always laughing, Miss Webb,' said he. 'I think
+I shall have to call you Nurse Smiles.' My roommate, Miss Roberts,
+happened to be in the room and heard him, and now it's all over the
+hospital. Everybody is calling me it, unless the superintendent or some
+of the older doctors are around. How odd it is that he should have
+struck on it, and given me my old nickname again....
+
+"Dr. Bentley called me Smiles when he left after his evening visit."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       May 17th, 1916.
+
+"This has been a day of days for me. First I received a long and
+wonderful letter from Donald. It seemed like old times, for it was as
+kindly and simple, too, as those which he used to write to me at Webb's
+Gap. I wonder if he regards me as still a child? I suppose that I really
+am one, but somehow I feel very grown up, and much older than many of
+the girls who are years older than I. They constantly surprise me by
+acting so young when they are off duty ... but I love it in them.
+
+"To-day I entered into the second year of my training. I wish that I had
+the power to set down on paper my feelings when I received that first
+narrow black band for my cap. I suppose that I had some of the same
+'prideful' sensations that dear granddaddy did when he was very young,
+and cut the first notch in the stock of his rifle-gun. But how much
+better _my_ notch is! It means that I am fast getting able to save
+lives, not to take them. I must always remember that--it will give a
+deeper meaning to the symbol. And now my room is going to be moved down
+a story--I'm so glad that Dorothy Roberts is to be with me still--and I
+can move in one table nearer the front wall in the dining room. That
+wall sometimes seems to me like a goal that I have got to reach before I
+will be safe, just as in a children's game of tag, and, when I get tired
+and discouraged--for I do, at times, little diary--it seems as though
+there were many, many things stretching out invisible hands to catch me
+before I get to it. Donald was right about the path being no road of
+roses.... Come, this will never do; I'm supposed to be happy to-night,
+and besides, now I've got to live up to my nickname again.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+I wonder how much I really have changed in the year? a good deal, I'm
+sure. I remember that at first I used to laugh to myself over the 'class
+distinctions,' such as I have just been writing about; that was when I
+was fresh from the mountain, where every one called every one else by
+his or her first name--and also when I was in the lowest class myself.
+Once I was even bold enough to tell Dr. Bentley that I thought they were
+foolish, but he reminded me--as Donald had--that we are an army here,
+and that in an army a private can't eat and sleep with a captain, or a
+captain with a general. Now I don't mind the rules and regulations at
+all, for I have learned the lesson of discipline, and I know that, even
+if we do have to be strict in our conduct toward the older nurses and
+the doctors, we are all--from the senior surgeon down to the lowliest
+probationer--really one in a great spiritual fellowship, as the
+prayerbook says, and all working together in the same great cause."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       August 19th, 1916.
+
+"Little diary, I have been neglecting you lately, but now you and I must
+collect our thoughts, for we have got to write a long, long letter to
+Donald and tell him all about the vacation--the first that I ever had.
+
+It was the first time that I was ever really at the seashore, too,
+except that one afternoon in June when Dr. Bentley took me down to
+Nahant in his car. Weren't the Thayers dear to have me as their guest at
+beautiful Manchester-by-the-Sea? Ethel (I wonder if Donald will be
+pleased to know that his _real_ sister has asked me to call her by her
+first name?) insisted that they did it for my own sake, but I know that
+it was really on his account. They were two weeks of wonder for me; but
+I wish that he might have been there. How they all miss him--even Dr.
+Bentley. I think that there is nothing finer than such a friendship
+between two men. Why, he even calls on Donald's family still. He came to
+Manchester twice in the fortnight that I was there. Dr. Bentley wants me
+to call him 'Philip,' when we are not in the hospital, and I do ...
+sometimes. It seems perfectly natural, even though he is much older than
+I--he is over thirty; but I suppose that is because at home we called
+almost every one by his first name. (We are rambling, little diary. I
+don't believe that Donald would be particularly interested in the fact
+that I call Dr. Bentley, 'Philip.')
+
+He _will_ be interested to know how the sea impressed me, though, and
+again I find myself wholly at a loss for words to express my feelings.
+It was so overwhelming in its grandeur and far-stretching expanse; so
+beautiful in its never-ending procession of colors; so terrible in its
+might, when aroused. I have seen it asleep as peacefully as one of my
+babies (all the hospital babies are children of my heart), and I have
+seen it in anger, like a brutal giant. I wish that I had not seen its
+latter mood, for, when it caught up the little boat that had been torn
+from the moorings, and hurled her again and again against the rocks
+until there was not a plank of her left unbroken--while the wind
+shrieked its horrid glee--my growing love for it was turned to fear. No,
+I can never care for the ocean as I do for my mountains. I cannot forget
+that it was the waters which stole my dearest treasures from me.
+
+Still, the memory of that storm is nearly lost in the abounding
+happiness of those two weeks, and the third one which I spent with my
+Gertrude Merriman, who stole it from her many cases to be with me. When
+I set down each little incident of them in black and white, as I mean to
+in my letter to Don, they will appear commonplace enough, I'm afraid;
+but I shall tell him that their story is written on my heart in letters
+of gold and many colors.
+
+He pretends to be interested in every foolish little thing that I have
+done, but I don't suppose that he would care to read about all the new
+dresses I have bought. I never realized before that a girl could get so
+much pleasure out of buying pretty things, and I am afraid that he would
+scold me if he knew how many leaves I have used out of my checkbook. Not
+that they have been all for clothes, little diary. I did not realize how
+much I had given to war charities, and I was a little frightened this
+morning when I made up my balance.
+
+But I cannot help giving for the poor French and Belgian babies. It
+somehow seems as though I were giving the money to Don to spend for me."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+There follow many entries, in the course of which the name of Donald
+appears, and many more in which that of Philip, from which one might
+reasonably draw the conclusion that the latter was conscientiously
+performing his part as _ad interim_ guardian for Rose. There are also
+several mentions of impish, lovable Jimmy--he of the red hair,
+presumably--and of visits, on her afternoons off, to the cheap and
+somewhat squalid apartment where he lived with his thin, tired, but
+pitifully optimistic mother, and a stout, florid-faced father, who wore
+shabby, but very loud-checked, suits and was apparently a highly
+successful business man of big affairs, but frequently "temporarily out
+of funds." Indeed, it would seem as though there were times when the
+family--which included six other children from one to ten years
+old--would actually not have had enough to eat if Rose had not "loaned"
+the wherewithal to purchase it to the father of the household.
+
+Under date of May 15th, 1916, appears the following.
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+"_Two_ black bands on the little white cap! One round table nearer the
+wall! Materia medica, orthopedia, medical analysis, general surgery,
+bacteriology, therapeutics and anaesthesia no longer mere words, whose
+very sound made me weak with dismay; but terms descriptive of new ways
+in which I can help weak and suffering babyhood. It has been hard, but
+soul-satisfying, work. I love it all, and have never regretted the
+decision made, centuries ago it seems, on the mountain. I have just been
+re-reading Donald's first letter to me--the one in which he frankly
+warned me of the hardships which would be mine to face, if I should
+attempt to carry out my plan. It was, I think, the only time that he was
+ever wrong ... no, I had forgotten that afternoon at Judd's still. Work
+may be hard, and yet entail no hardship, especially when it brings the
+satisfaction of winning against odds. I know that he did not really mean
+what he said in that letter. It was written merely as a test of my
+resolve; to deter me, if it wasn't strong enough to carry me through.
+There have been times when I have myself wondered if it would, but,
+thanks to dear old Mr. Talmadge, and his 'sermon on the mount' I have
+always been able to find the help that he told us about. I wonder if
+Donald has, too? Surely he must have, he has been doing such wonderful
+work 'over there.' It is like him to say so little about it in his
+letters, but Dr. Roland gave us a talk about what they have been doing
+in Toul and Leslie, when he returned from France, and he sang Donald's
+praises _fortissimo_. I was so happy, and so proud.
+
+"They all tell me that the coming year is the hardest of all with its
+practical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and in the
+Manhattan Maternity in New York. I have a feeling that I am not going to
+enjoy the former. Nursing 'grown-ups' does not appeal to me as the
+caring for the little flowers does. But I shall love the other.
+Motherhood is sacred and beautiful....
+
+"I shall have to be very economical this year, little diary, and
+especially careful when I get to New York. When I paid the final
+installment on my tuition fee, I was frightened to find how little
+remained of what granddaddy left me, and what I had saved, myself.
+Nearly thirteen hundred dollars looked like a huge fortune to me in
+those days, but it is nothing at all in a city, where there is so much
+poverty, and there are so many appeals to one's heart. I know that
+Donald--or Philip--would lend me a little money until the time when I
+get to earning it for myself, if I should ask them. But of course I
+cannot do that. Perhaps I can earn a little during my afternoons and
+evenings off duty. The girls say that I can shampoo and manicure as well
+as a professional. Yes, I will try to do that this year."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       January 15th, 1917.
+
+"Thank goodness my worries about finances are almost over!
+
+"The last few months have been simply terrible, and the hardest part of
+all, I think, has been my not being able to give anything to the number
+of splendid causes which so touch the sympathies these dark days.
+Perhaps I gave too much before; but I am not a bit sorry, especially now
+that some of the seed which I cast upon the waters is soon to bear
+golden fruit for me. I never believe the pessimistic people who say that
+those who receive charity are never really grateful, and now I _know_
+that they are wrong. Jimmy's father has been so appreciative of my
+pitifully small presents to them, that sometimes he has cried over them,
+and I knew that he was in earnest when he promised to repay me as soon
+as he possibly could. Now the chance has come. I was there yesterday and
+he said that he had been thinking about me just before I appeared.
+
+"It seems that he sells stock, and has just obtained a wonderful
+position as agent, or whatever they call it, for a new copper mine which
+he says is better than the 'Calumet and Hecla.'
+
+"He explained to me all about that one and showed me in the paper how
+high it was selling now--for $550 a share. He is the sole representative
+for all of New England, and he says that the company is at present
+selling its stock only to special friends in order to 'let them in on
+the ground floor.' The shares are only ten dollars apiece and are sure
+to be worth a hundred, or more, very soon, because of the war. It seems
+almost impossible! I told him that I had only about a hundred dollars in
+the world, but that, if he really felt that he wanted to do me a favor,
+I _might_ 'invest' it (that word sounds quite impressive, doesn't it?)
+but that I should have to think it over, first. I remembered what Donald
+had told me about asking a man's advice--especially Philip's--in money
+matters. Perhaps it would have been wiser if I had done so before.
+
+"I asked him this afternoon if he knew anything about the King Kopper
+Kompany, and he said that it was a 'get rich proposition' and that he
+had sunk a good deal of his own money into some just like it. I wanted
+to ask him more, but we were interrupted. However, I know that he is
+very well-to-do, so he must have made money in them and certainly I need
+to get rich quick. I'm going to make the investment to-morrow."
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+                                                       March 11th.
+
+"Stung! I hate slang, but sometimes nothing else is quite so expressive.
+I thought that I was getting to be very wise, but, oh, what a little
+ignoramus I have been. And to think that I thought I was following
+Philip's advice, and did not realize what he really meant until I read
+a story about a man who was called 'Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford.' Now I'd
+rather die than tell him that I have lost practically all of my worldly
+goods!"
+
+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
+
+Finally, late in May, is an entry, longer than any of its predecessors,
+and the last for many a day. Rose made it seated in the soft moonlight
+which came through the window of her hospital room, after her roommate
+had fallen asleep.
+
+"I am in a strange mood to-night, little diary, and not quite sure
+whether I want to laugh or cry--indeed, I think that my heart has
+done both to-day. I don't feel like going to sleep, but perhaps I
+will be able to if I get the many thoughts out of my mind and down
+on paper--now they are like so many little imps beating against my
+brain with hammers.
+
+"Surely I _should_ be happy at the thought that to-morrow is to
+carry me to my goal at the top of the mountain path which Donald
+described. In twelve hours I shall (D. V.) be a graduate nurse;
+but, now that the journey is almost an accomplished fact, I
+positively shiver when I think of the nerve of that child who was I
+five years ago and who, blessed with ignorance, made up her mind to
+become one, or 'bust'--that is the way I put it, then. Friends have
+sometimes told me that they didn't see how I had the courage to
+attempt it; but I tell them, truthfully, that it isn't courage when
+one tackles a thing which she--or he--doesn't know is difficult to
+do, and that few things are insurmountably difficult which she
+tackles with confidence (which is as often the result of ignorance
+as of faith in one's own power). So how can I take any credit for
+succeeding?
+
+"It _has_ been hard work, of course, and I know that I must have
+failed if every one had not been so good to me, and, above all, if
+God had not meant me to succeed. I have never forgotten that night
+when the 'reverend' opened my eyes to the knowledge that I am His
+partner in working out my life. Dear Mr. Talmadge! I am ashamed
+that I stopped writing to him, so long ago, yet I know that he is
+still my friend, although we do not see each other. That is the
+beauty of true friendship--it is a calm and constant star, always
+in its place against the time when we want to lift our eyes to seek
+its light. I know that it is the same with Donald.
+
+"When I think of him to-night, and realize that he cannot
+be near me in my little hour of triumph to-morrow, it is hard for me
+to keep back the tears. Dear God, bless him and bring him
+happiness--with Miss Treville.
+
+"I cannot help feeling worried about Donald, for, although his
+letter makes light of his illness, I have a troublesome
+presentiment that he is worse than he will acknowledge. He is the
+kind to spend every ounce of his wonderful vitality without thought
+of self, and the two and a half years during which he has been
+laboring so hard, and so effectively, must have drained even his
+great strength. Slight, wiry people are like the willows that bend
+easily, but return to normal quickly, after the stress of storm has
+ended; but, when big ones--like Donald--break, it is like the fall
+of a mighty oak.
+
+"Still, this cloud, like all clouds, has its bright lining. _He is
+coming home_, just as soon as he is able to make the trip, so,
+although I shall miss him dreadfully to-morrow, it will not be many
+weeks before I shall see him again.
+
+"But this is not all that is troubling me, diary, and if I were not
+quite sure that no one but I would ever look inside your covers, I
+would not confide it even to you.
+
+"I have a present, a wonderful present,--and I do not think that I
+ought to keep it. Help me make up my mind. When P. gave it to me
+this afternoon, he said that it was just a little remembrance for
+my graduation and that he hoped I would accept it as the gift of a
+semiofficial guardian, just as I would if Donald himself were
+giving it to me. I did take it in that spirit; but, when I found a
+moment to steal away and open the wrapper, and beheld a beautiful
+morocco case containing a _gold watch_ with my initials engraved on
+the case, my heart almost stopped beating. This was his 'little
+remembrance.' Of course it is something that I shall need in my
+work, for it has a second hand, but he must have guessed that I
+would be troubled by such an expensive gift, for he tried to make
+light of it by enclosing a foolish little rhyme, which I must copy
+so that I shall not forget it.
+
+    'When it is _time_ to take _hour_ pulse
+    You'll find a use for what is in it,[A]
+    (On _second_ thoughts, I'd like to add
+    I wish you'd take mine every _minute_.)'
+
+"Conventions are _so_ puzzling, little diary, that I don't know
+what I ought to do. Somehow, I feel quite sure that the
+Superintendent wouldn't approve, for a doctor should not be making
+presents to a pupil nurse; yet P. has been so kind that I hate to
+think of hurting his feelings by giving it back. Besides, I love it
+... and it is engraved R. W. Then, too, if I should return it, he
+might think that I didn't credit him with having done it while
+acting in Donald's place as my guardian, and if it was not that
+thought which prompted him, why ... Oh, I don't know what to do!
+
+"Worse still, Dorothy Roberts came up unexpectedly and saw the
+watch. Of course she wanted to know from whom it came and I
+answered, on the impulse, 'From my guardian.' I'm sure that she
+believes that it was a present from Donald and therefore perfectly
+proper, for I have told her all about his relationship to me, and
+it hurts me to think that I have been guilty of a lie. Of course it
+wasn't one in actual words, perhaps; but I had the spirit to
+deceive, and now I can't confess without involving P. and she might
+think that he is in ... Oh, I can't write it, for of course he
+isn't. How could he be? No, it was just a natural act of his
+generous heart, because he knew that I was without relatives to
+give me a graduation gift.
+
+"I hope that I sleep my uncertainties away, for to-morrow must hold
+nothing but sunshine and smiles."
+
+[Footnote A: Poetical license--meaning 'what is in the box.']
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+"BUT A ROSE HAS THORNS"
+
+
+The May day, the day of fulfilment for Smiles' dreams and the fruition
+of her work, had come. Her healthy, mountain-bred body had enabled her
+to keep well and strong; she had gone through the full three years with
+scarcely a day's illness, and she was ready to graduate with the class,
+some of whom would have to stay longer to make up time lost by illness.
+
+Rose awoke early to a sense of something unusual in prospect. On the
+window of her room the rain was pattering merrily. All nature was one to
+her, and she loved the showers as much as the sunshine, but, when she
+began to realize what day it was, they brought a feeling of vague
+disappointment. Surely _this_ day, which meant so much in her life,
+might have dawned fair! The glimpse of a leaden sky colored her thoughts
+for a moment, as she lay still in the drowsy relaxation of
+half-awakening, when dreams beckon from _dolce far niente_ land, and the
+whispering voice of slumber mingles with the more stirring call of the
+brain to be up and doing. The recollection that Donald was far away, and
+could not be with her to witness her triumph, brought a sense of bitter
+disappointment to her over again. "I must write him everything that
+happens to-day. He will be happy in my happiness, I know," she murmured,
+half aloud, and her roommate awoke and answered with a sleepy, "What,
+dear?"
+
+"Nothing. I guess that I must have been talking in my sleep," laughed
+Rose, as she now sat up energetically, fully awake. By their own request
+Dorothy Roberts and she still occupied one of the few double rooms
+reserved for third-year student nurses, who preferred to share their
+quarters.
+
+The other followed, more drowsily.
+
+"Look," called Rose, from the window. "It's going to clear. Oh, see that
+wonderful rainbow. I don't believe I ever saw one in the morning
+before."
+
+"'Rainbow at morning, sailors take warning,'" quoted Dorothy.
+
+"I don't believe in that, or any other _unpleasant_ 'stupidstition'--as
+my reverend used to call them," Rose retorted, as she hastily began to
+dress, for the last time, in the blue striped costume which had been
+hers for nearly three years, but was, in a few hours, to change to one
+pure white, like a sombre chrysalis to a radiant butterfly. "No matter
+when a rainbow appears it is always an omen of fair promise. It's Mother
+Nature smiling through her tears."
+
+She caught, in the mirror, a reflection of her friend's affectionate
+glance; her own cheek began to dimple and her lips to curve as she said,
+"I can tell by your expression just what you're going to say, and...."
+
+"Egoist," mocked the other. "I hadn't the slightest idea of comparing
+your own smile to a rainbow, so now."
+
+"I can't help it, really." Rose spoke with unfeigned distress in her
+voice, and began angrily to massage the corners of her mouth downward.
+"There's something wrong with the muscles of my face, I think, and
+sometimes I get worried for fear people will think that it's
+affectation. I get frightfully tired of seeing a perpetually forced grin
+on other faces--it reminds me of Mr. William Shakespeare's remark that
+'a man may smile and be a villain still.'"
+
+"Not with your kind, dear. 'There's a painted smile on the lip that
+lies, when the villain plays his part; and the smile in the depths of
+the honest eyes--and this is the smile of the heart.'"
+
+"Or of the cheerful idiot," supplemented Rose. "Do you really think that
+I'm ... shallow? Sometimes it seems to me that the truly wise,
+thoughtful people, who search the deeps of life and are themselves
+strongly stirred, are always serious looking."
+
+"Pooh. It's generally pose, and a much easier one to get away with. I
+always discount it about ninety-nine per cent."
+
+"But, at least, others must think that I am always happy, and I'm
+not--sometimes I wish that I might be; but not often, for one would have
+to be utterly selfish and unsympathetic in order to be so, when there is
+so much suffering everywhere."
+
+"I know, and feel the same way, Rose. But it seems to me that a
+smile--at least one like yours--isn't so much the visible expression of
+joy, as it is a symbol of cheer for others ... like a rainbow. There, I
+vowed that I wouldn't, and now I've 'gone and went and done it.'"
+
+Miss Roberts spoke lightly, to cover a suspicious huskiness in her
+voice, for she worshipped the girl who had been so close to her for
+three years, and whose way and hers would necessarily diverge after that
+morning.
+
+"Don't you _dare_ to forget how to smile. We all love it," she added,
+with an assumption of a bullying tone; and then the two held each other
+very close and laughed and cried, both together, for a moment. They
+finished dressing in unusual silence, for the thoughts of each were busy
+with the things which the day and the future might bring forth for them.
+
+Contrary to custom, Dorothy finished first, and preceded Rose
+downstairs.
+
+When the latter reached the little assembly room, she found a small
+group of pupil nurses standing in the doorway. One was reading something
+from a page of a sensational afternoon newspaper, dated the day
+previous, and, as Smiles joined them, she hastily slipped it out of
+sight behind her. All of them appeared so self-conscious, that the new
+arrival stopped with a queer tightening about her heart.
+
+"Show it to her," said Dorothy, quietly. "She's bound to hear of it
+sooner or later."
+
+The sinking sensation within Rose's breast increased, and she stepped
+forward, saying faintly, "What is it, Dolly? Not ... not Dr. MacDonald?
+Nothing has happened ...?"
+
+"No, dear. That is ... well, it concerns him; but I think that, if
+anything, he is to be congratulated. It is something to find out....
+Here, read it yourself."
+
+She took the paper from the owner, and handed it to Rose.
+
+It was the page devoted to happenings in society, and from the top
+centre looked forth a two-column cut of Marion Treville's strikingly
+beautiful face. Beneath was a stick of text, which read:
+
+     "Back Bay society is buzzing with the rumor, which comes from an
+     apparently unimpeachable source, that the beautiful Miss Treville
+     of Beacon Street, who, since her debut seven years ago, has been
+     one of the leaders of Boston's smartest set, is about to announce
+     her engagement to Stanley Everts Vandermeer, the well-known New
+     York millionaire sportsman. Miss Treville was formerly betrothed to
+     Dr. Donald MacDonald, the famous children's specialist of this
+     city, who has been in France for more than two years. No previous
+     intimation had been given that this engagement had been broken."
+
+Rose read the brief article twice, mechanically, and almost without
+understanding. Then a wave of hot anger, akin to that which had
+possessed her on the mountain on the afternoon when her eyes had first
+been opened to the duplicity of human nature, swept over her. It was
+only by a strong effort that she refrained from crushing the sheet, and
+speaking aloud her denunciation of the woman whose behavior so outraged
+her sense of justice.
+
+[Illustration: "READ THE BRIEF ARTICLE TWICE, MECHANICALLY, AND ALMOST
+WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING"]
+
+The call came for the morning prayer, and she handed the paper back
+without a word; but for once the simple exercises, which, on this
+morning, should have meant so much more than usual, wholly failed to
+bring their customary peace. Her lips formed the words of the prayer,
+and joined in the singing of the hymn, but her mind was far away in
+France, and her heart rebellious within her.
+
+Her thoughts did not harbor a doubt of Donald's love for the woman, who,
+it was said on "apparently unimpeachable" authority, had now discarded
+him for another and wealthier suitor. To be sure, he had not married
+her, as he might have, before he went away; but this was not strange,
+under the conditions; indeed, she thought it to his credit, since he had
+left to be away so long in the performance of a hard and hazardous duty.
+And surely Donald had remained true! Anything else was unthinkable, and,
+besides, Ethel often spoke of her sister-in-law-to-be, and of the
+marriage which would quickly follow her brother's return. That Miss
+Treville had apparently remained so faithful, also, had helped to banish
+some of Smiles' uncertain feelings concerning her, and she had begun to
+hope that some day she might succeed in finding the key to the city
+woman's heart and enter the fold of her friendship, for she could not
+bear the idea that Donald's marriage might result in Donald's being
+estranged from her, or cause a break in their wonderful friendship. Now
+her thoughts railed against the woman who had been so unstable, at a
+time when keeping faith with those who went, perhaps to die, had become
+a nation's watchword. This thought completely superseded the one that
+had sometimes been hers--that the woman was not worthy the love of the
+man whom she, herself, worshipped. It was like a mother, suffering for
+her hurt child, and her lips quivered with suppressed hate. It passed,
+and left her almost frightened.
+
+"I guess that I'm still a mountaineer at heart," she whispered, as she
+mechanically bowed her head with the others. "I almost feel as though I
+could kill her. Poor Donald! He has always been so blindly trusting
+where his heart was concerned.... Perhaps Dorothy is right, perhaps he
+is better off, if it is true; but if this embitters him, if it spoils
+his faith in womankind, I shall hate her as long as I live." Then came
+the reflection that the report might not be true. "I shall go and ask
+her, myself, this afternoon!"
+
+Smiles arose from her knees, aged in soul.
+
+She had looked forward to this morning with all the eager anticipation
+of a child; but now, as she donned the white uniform of a graduate
+nurse--the costume which represented the full attainment of the hard-won
+goal,--no smile greeted her as she looked at her own reflection in the
+glass.
+
+"Donald was right," she murmured. "I am just beginning to realize that
+even this fulfilment of my dream is not going to bring me happiness. It
+is born of the heart, or not at all." And her mind travelled back to the
+letter which she had tearfully penned him after Big Jerry's death.
+"Things never happen just as we plan. When we look forward to something
+pleasant which we want very much to happen, we never stop to think that
+there may be unhappiness mixed with it." A solitary tear ran down her
+cheek, and made a moist spot on the front of her new uniform.
+
+The smile, usually spontaneous, had to be forced to her lips when she
+went to take her place, with the score of other happy graduating nurses,
+in the amphitheatre of the Harvard Medical School, next door, where the
+exercises were to be held.
+
+"What is the matter with my Rose?" wondered Miss Merriman, who had
+managed to be present. And, "What is the matter with _my_ Rose?" thought
+Dr. Bentley. He had seen her for just a moment that morning, and,
+through the warm, lingering pressure of her hand, received the thanks
+which she could not speak.
+
+It was, in truth, a very sober Smiles who only half-heard the words of
+the impressively simple exercises, during which the newly made laborers
+in the Lord's vineyard received the diplomas which bore the seal of the
+hospital--a Madonna-like nurse, holding a child. Its original, cast in
+bronze--the work of a famous modern sculptor--hung in the
+administration building of the hospital, and she had often stood before
+it with tender dreams. And it was a very sober Smiles upon whose dress
+was pinned the blue and gold cross, the emblem alike of achievement and
+service.
+
+Miss Merriman spoke her thought aloud, as she took the girl into her
+arms, afterwards. "You looked too sweet for words, dear. But, tell me,
+why that woe-begone expression on this, of all days? One would think
+that all the worries of the world lay on your young heart."
+
+"Perhaps they do," was the non-committal answer. And Rose pleaded a
+previous engagement when the older nurse begged her company for the
+afternoon, and Dr. Bentley for the evening.
+
+The happy laughter, the parting words, both grave and gay, which were
+spoken by those who had been her companions during the long journey,
+fell on ears which heard, but transmitted them to her mind vaguely, and
+her answers were inconsequential, so much so, that more than one friend
+regarded her with troubled surprise and whispered to another that Rose
+was either not well, or was dazed with happiness. And when Dorothy
+ventured to hint at the latter alternative, the girl acknowledged it
+with a strained imitation of her usual smile, and straightway found her
+thoughts scourging her because of this new deception.
+
+It seemed to her that the day, for which she had builded so long, was
+tumbling about its foundations, and yet, when she now and again brought
+her runaway thoughts up with a round turn, she could not assign any
+logical reason for her feeling as she did.
+
+"After all, what is it to me?" she would ask herself, logically, one
+moment. And at the next her heart would reply, "Everything. He is all
+that you have in the world in the way of 'family,' for he _is_ more than
+friend to you." "Yes," Rose would admit, "I am afraid for him, I could
+not be more so if he were really my brother. She isn't worthy of
+him--I've known that, somehow, since the first day that he tried to tell
+me about her. But that isn't the point. Love is blind, and, if her
+faithlessness hurts him, I will hate her always. I hate her _now_. She
+has spoiled my day, and I know that I have hurt Gertrude and Philip, for
+they can't understand what the trouble is."
+
+The idea passed over and over through the endless labyrinth of her brain
+and found no escape, while she ate the noonday meal, and later changed
+from her white uniform to a plain blue serge walking dress, and black
+sailor hat. Ever with it went the accompanying thought, "I _must_ see
+her." To what end she did not know or seriously attempt to analyze. Rose
+was not the first to take up cudgels in a lost cause, spurred thereto by
+a purpose which was incapable of receiving any logical explanation. It
+was the "mother spirit," fighting for its own.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A maid opened the door on Beacon street in response to her ring, and, on
+entering the hall, Rose found herself face to face with Marion
+Treville. She was clad for the street and was at that moment in the act
+of buttoning a long white glove. As she recognized the visitor, a deep
+flush mounted quickly on the patrician face of the older woman and, for
+an instant, her teeth caught her lower lip.
+
+Smiles' face was very pale, so pale that her large eyes by contrast
+appeared almost startling in their depth and color. There was a gossamer
+film of dust on her shoes and the bottom of her skirt, for she had
+walked all the way from the hospital, and she realized this fact with a
+sense of chagrin, when she saw Miss Treville's eyes travel to her feet,
+and mentally contrasted her own appearance with that of the perfectly
+appointed daughter of wealth before her.
+
+Neither spoke for an instant. It was as though each were trying to read
+the thoughts of the other. Then Miss Treville said in a cool, even tone,
+"You may go, Louise."
+
+The maid vanished silently, with one curious backward glance as she
+passed through the door at the end of the hallway.
+
+"Miss ... Webb, isn't it? You wished to see ...?"
+
+"Tell me that it isn't true," broke in Rose, her voice trembling a
+little in spite of her effort at self-control.
+
+"Tell you it isn't ... true?" echoed the other, with lifted eyebrows.
+"I'm afraid that I don't quite underst ..."
+
+"But you _do_ understand, Miss Treville, why do you say that you don't?
+It is in the paper."
+
+"Perhaps I meant to say that I do not understand why you should come
+here to ask such a question, Miss Webb," was the icy response.
+
+Rose was silent. What answer could she make to this pertinent question?
+She felt the hot tears starting to her eyes; but, even as she was on the
+point of turning toward the door, with a little choked sob of bitter
+chagrin, the other continued. Curiosity had unloosed her tongue.
+
+"Well? May I be so bold as to inquire what interest you may have in my
+personal affairs, Miss Webb? Frankly, I am at a loss to understand the
+meaning of this unexpected, and--I might say--somewhat unusual visit."
+
+"I ... I don't know as I _can_ explain," began Rose, hesitantly. "I ...
+I felt that I had to see you, because ... I had a letter yesterday from
+... from Dr. MacDonald...."
+
+"Ah."
+
+"Of course he writes to me, you _know_ that he is my guardian," she
+answered the interruption with a flash of spirit. "He said in it that he
+was coming home just as soon as he was able to ... to get well and ...
+be married, and then that paper.... Oh, Miss Treville, surely it isn't
+so. You wouldn't throw him over, when he is so far away, and ... and
+sick?"
+
+The other's voice was not quite as steady as before, when she answered,
+"I don't see why I am called upon to explain my ... to explain anything
+to you, Miss Webb."
+
+"Then it _is_ true." The sentence rang out sharply. "And he doesn't
+know. He thinks that you are waiting, and ..."
+
+"We need not discuss the matter, in fact I doubt if the doctor would
+appreciate your ... shall we say 'championage'? The matter is between
+him and me, wholly."
+
+"No, it is not, Miss Treville," flared Rose, with the angry color at
+last flooding her cheeks. "I have heard people say that, if that story
+is true, he is lucky to have escaped marrying you; but, just the same,
+those of us who _really_ love him--you needn't look like that, of course
+I love him--don't want to have him hurt, as any man would be who was
+cast off like an old glove while he was far away and had no chance to
+speak for himself. That is why I hoped it wasn't true, and that you
+hadn't, perhaps, killed his faith in my kind. And that is the only
+reason."
+
+Once started, her words had poured out as hot as lava which had broken
+from a pent-up volcano.
+
+"So, that is the reason, the only reason, for your coming to me with
+your impertinent question?" Miss Treville laughed oddly. "Really! Do you
+know, I have always suspected that the little savage whom he brought
+from somewhere in the backwoods regarded him as rather more than a
+guardian, or a brother ... that _was_ the pretty fiction, wasn't it?"
+she added, with honey coating the vinegar in her speech.
+
+Under the lash of the words Rose grew white again. Her hands clenched;
+but, before she could answer, Miss Treville continued:
+
+"It really seems to me that you ought to thank me for stepping aside so
+obligingly."
+
+The occupation of a high level in the civilized world, or in society, is
+no proof of the Christian virtue of self-control,--that has been
+demonstrated, in the case of a nation, all too clearly these last years;
+and individuals are like nations, or vice versa. The feline that lies
+dormant, as often in the finished product of city convention as in the
+breast of the primeval woman, was now thrusting out its claws from the
+soft paws of breeding. And Miss Marion Treville, leader of Back Bay
+society, was rather enjoying the sensation. She had passed not a few
+uncomfortable hours in company with her conscience, even while she was
+yielding to the glamorous flame which surrounded her new suitor. It was
+a real relief for her to be able to "take it out" on some one else, and
+a victim had offered herself for the sacrifice, most opportunely.
+
+Rose shrank back as though she had been struck; then steadied herself
+and said with an effort--for her throat and lips were dry, "I think that
+perhaps you were right when you called me a 'little savage.' I know that
+I feel like one in my heart now, and I think, too, that it would be a
+real pleasure for me to ... to ..."
+
+The other stepped hastily back, and Rose laughed, bitterly.
+
+"Oh, please don't be frightened, I'm not going to scratch you. We wood
+people don't fight with your kind of animal, they're too unpleasant at
+close range." She paused, and then went on more steadily. "I came here
+... I didn't know just why I was coming,--perhaps to plead with you for
+Donald's sake. That doesn't look much as though I loved him ... in the
+way you insinuate, does it? No, if I had, I should have won him away
+from you, long ago. It would not have been difficult, I think."
+
+She spoke so coolly, and with such perfect confidence, that the other
+winced.
+
+"There isn't anything more to be said, is there?"
+
+Was this the simple mountain girl, whose voice was now so suave and who
+was smiling so icily?
+
+There was a pause, during which Miss Treville's trembling hand sought
+behind her and found the servants' bell cord.
+
+"I am really glad that I called, Miss Treville, for you have succeeded
+in convincing me that I have no occasion to be disturbed--on Donald's
+account."
+
+"Miss Webb is going," said Miss Treville, formally, as the maid
+appeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+AN INTERLUDE
+
+
+    All things by immortal power,
+    Near or far,
+    Hiddenly.
+    To each other linked are
+    That thou canst not stir a flower
+    Without troubling a star.
+
+                     A. QUILLER-COUCH.
+
+Life is so largely a thing of intermingling currents, of interwoven
+threads, of reacting forces, that it is well-nigh impossible
+understandingly to portray the life story of one person without
+occasionally pausing to review, at least briefly, incidents in the lives
+of others with which it is closely bound up.
+
+So it is with the story of the pilgrimage of Smiles.
+
+While, following her graduation, she was taking a course in district
+nursing, giving freely of her new powers to the poor and suffering of a
+great city, and taking, and passing, the State examination which gave
+her the right to place the epigrammatic letters "R.N." after her name,
+something was happening more than three thousand miles away, of which
+she had no inkling, and yet which was closely linked with her
+existence.
+
+Donald had, indeed, written in a manner to minimize his illness, which
+had been a prolonged and serious one; so much so that he had, greatly
+against his will, finally come to realize the necessity of his taking a
+rest from his unremitting toil, and he had agreed to return home for a
+vacation as soon as he should be well enough to make the long trip.
+
+Depressed by his wholly unaccustomed weakness the doctor sat, a
+convalescent in his own hospital in Toul, one stifling July day. To his
+physical debility was added the dragging distress of mind which comes at
+times to those who are far away and receive no word from home. No
+letters had reached him for weeks. Removed from the sphere of the
+abnormal activity which had been his, and with nothing to do but sit and
+think, Donald had, for some time, been examining his own heart with an
+introspective gaze more searching than ever before. He felt that he had
+been, above the average, blessed with happy relationships, deep
+friendships and a highly trained ability to serve others--and he knew
+that he could honestly say that he had turned this to full account.
+
+Besides, he was betrothed to a beautiful woman whom many coveted. When
+his mind reached Marion Treville in its consideration, it stopped to
+build a dream castle around her, a castle not in Spain, but in America.
+He had earned the right to rest beside the road awhile, and enjoy the
+good things of life. Marion was waiting for him at home, and whatever
+doubts had, at one or another time, entered his mind as to their
+perfect suitability, one for the other, they had long since been
+banished. Distance had lent its enchantment, and he had supplied her
+with the special virtues that he desired. His was a type of mind which
+held to one thought at a time, and he had always possessed a fixedness
+of purpose of a kind well calculated to carry through any plan which
+that mind conceived. Combined, these characteristics made a form of
+egotism, not one which caused him to overrate himself, but to plough
+ahead regardless of the strength of the possible opposition. When he
+returned to America he would marry Marion Treville immediately. No other
+idea had seriously entered his mind since they had plighted their troth;
+they had not been quite ready before, that was all, he told himself.
+
+It was in such a frame of mind, and with a growing eagerness for the day
+when he might start for home to claim his reward, that he received her
+long-delayed letter. What it said does not matter; but one paragraph
+summed up her whole confession. "You cannot but agree with me that ours
+was never the love of a man and woman whose hearts were attuned to one
+another, and sang in perfect unison. We really drifted into an
+engagement more because of propinquity than anything else. I am a
+drone--the product of society at its worst--and you are one of the
+workers, Donald. I feel quite sure that you will always gain your truest
+happiness in your work. Although I know how you love children (and I
+don't), I cannot think of you in the role of a married man, so I do
+not, deep in my heart, believe that this is going to hurt you very
+much--certainly I hope not. Indeed, I have a somewhat unpleasant
+suspicion that some day you are going to bless me for having given you
+back your freedom."
+
+Donald read the letter through, without allowing his expression to
+change. Then he started to reread it, stopped, and suddenly crumpled it
+up in his big fist. A low curse escaped his lips. It was heard by a
+passing nurse, who hurried to him with the question, "Did you call,
+doctor? Are you in pain?"
+
+"No. Let me alone," was his harsh answer, and the patient girl moved
+away, with a little shake of her head. The great physician had not been
+his cheerful, kindly self for some time. Perhaps she surmised, too, that
+the mail which she had laid in his lap had not been all that he had
+anticipated.
+
+With scarcely a move, he sat, staring in front of him, until the evening
+shadows had turned the landscape to a dull monotone. Then he slowly
+arose, and, with his mind so completely bent upon one subject that his
+body was a thing apart and its weakness forgotten, stepped out into the
+darkening city.
+
+Time had ceased to exist for him, as he walked the almost deserted
+streets of Toul like a flesh-and-blood automaton. But the physical
+exercise brought a quota of mental relief at last, and the cool night
+air soothed his first burning pain and anger with its unconscious balm.
+At length he was able to face the truth frankly, and then he suddenly
+knew that all the time it was not his heart, so much as his pride, which
+had been hurt.
+
+An hour earlier he would not have admitted a single doubt of his real
+love for Marion Treville. Now he could not but admit that the initial
+stab of bitterness was being healed by a real, though inexplicable,
+sense of relief. He could even say that she had been right. His
+affection for her had, indeed, been merely the outgrowth of life-long
+intimacy. It was never the mating call of heart to heart; he had never
+felt for her the overwhelming passion of a lover for the woman in whom,
+for him, all earthly things are bound up.
+
+His walk became slower; he stopped. The deep blue-black sky had, of a
+sudden, become the background for a softly glowing mind picture, and
+there seemed to appear before him the glorious misty eyes, and
+bewitchingly curved lips of ... Smiles.
+
+Her memory swept over him like a vision, and, even while he felt like a
+traitor to self, came the wonderful realization that in his home city,
+toward which his thoughts had so lately been bent, still lived the girl
+whom he had loved--and had held apart within a locked and closely
+guarded chamber of his heart--for years. It was as though scales, placed
+before them by his own will, had dropped from his eyes. He almost cried
+aloud his self-admission that he had loved her all the years from the
+first moment when he saw her, a barefoot mountain girl, in Big Jerry's
+rude cabin.
+
+And he was _free_! Free to be honest with his own soul, free to tell his
+Rose of his love, and throw aside the masquerading cloak of adopted
+brotherhood. How strange it was! The woman whom he had thought to marry
+was gone from his life like a leaf torn from the binding, and the one
+whom he had pretended to regard as a sister would become his mate. That
+such would be the case he did not doubt now, even for an instant. That
+she had always loved him, he was certain, and, with the warmth of his
+wooing, he would fan that steady glow of childish affection into the
+flame of womanly love which should weld their hearts together forever.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The days which followed before he was strong enough to journey to
+Bordeaux, there to embark for America, seemed to drag by like eternity;
+but Donald was Westbound at last. He was going home, home to a new life,
+made perfect by a great love. The deadly submarines of the world's
+outlaw, lurking under the sea like loathsome phantasies of an evil mind,
+held no terrors for him, nor could the discomforts caused by the tightly
+closed hatches and enshrouding burlap, which made the ship a pent-up
+steambox, until the danger zone was passed, depress his spirits.
+
+The steamer crept as had the days on shore; but there came an afternoon
+when she made port at last, and, spurred by a consuming eagerness, he
+hastened to his apartment.
+
+He had cabled the news of his departure, and in the mail box were many
+letters awaiting him. Feverishly, he looked them over for one in _her_
+dear handwriting. To his unreasonable disappointment there was none, but
+there were several which required immediate reading--among them one from
+his sister Ethel, and one from his old friend, Philip Bentley.
+
+The first contained disquieting news. His little niece, Muriel, had been
+very ill with typhoid fever and, although Dr. Bentley had pulled her
+through the sickness successfully, she was still far from well, and
+apparently not gaining at all.
+
+He opened the other, expecting it to concern the case. But the note did
+not mention it. It was only a few lines and read:
+
+     "Dear old Don:
+
+     I hear that you are 'homeward bound.' Bully! As soon as you reach
+     Boston, and can spare me a moment, I want to talk to you about an
+     important matter.
+
+     Call me by telephone, like a good fellow, and I'll run over to your
+     apartment at once and tell you what is on my mind.
+
+                                                      Yours,
+                                                           P. B."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+DONALD'S HOMECOMING
+
+
+"By the Lord Harry, but I'm glad to see you back again, safe and sound,
+you good-for-nothing old reprobate."
+
+True to his written statement, Philip had come to Donald's apartment as
+fast as a taxicab could bring him, after he had heard his old friend's
+voice over the wire. Now the two men gripped hands, hard, and then--for
+just a moment--flung their arms around each other's shoulders in a rare
+outward display of their deep mutual affection.
+
+Then Philip held his senior away at arms' length and said, with
+masculine candor but with a look of sympathy in his eyes, "Don, you poor
+devil, you've been killing yourself over there. Don't tell _me_. I've a
+mind to appoint myself your physician and order you to bed for a month."
+
+"Good Lord, do I look as bad as that?" laughed the other. "If I do,
+looks are deceitful, for I feel fit as a fiddle. I need only one thing
+to make a complete new man of me."
+
+"And that is ...?"
+
+"A secret, at present."
+
+The two seated themselves opposite each other, and Philip continued,
+"I've managed to keep myself pretty well posted on the work that you've
+been doing, without knowing any of the details of your life--you're a
+rotten correspondent. Come, did you have any 'hairbreadth' 'scapes or
+moving accidents by field and flood?"
+
+"Nary one. My life has been one dead, monotonous waste."
+
+"Like ... the deuce it has. Come, I've got just ten minutes to stay;
+tell me the whole detailed history of your two years and a half. Knowing
+your natural verbosity, I should say that it would take you just about
+half that time, which will leave me the balance for my own few remarks."
+
+"Five minutes? I could tell you the whole history of my life in that
+time. But, before I start, I want to ask you about my little niece,
+Muriel? I've just been reading a letter from Ethel, which seems to
+indicate that they are rather worried about her; but, when I called her
+by long distance, she either couldn't, or wouldn't tell me anything
+definite."
+
+"I don't think that there is any real occasion for being disturbed,"
+answered Philip, quietly. "Although I'll confess frankly that things
+haven't been going just right, and I'm not sorry to have you back and in
+charge of the case. Muriel made the acquaintance of a typhus bug--the
+Lord knows how--and, although I succeeded in getting the best of the
+fever fairly quickly, thanks to the able assistance of that nurse whom
+you swear by ..."
+
+"Miss Merriman?"
+
+"Yes, she's a wonder, isn't she? Well, as I said, we took care of the
+fever, all right; but the cerebral affection has been more persistent,
+and she hasn't convalesced as you would expect in a twelve-year-old
+child. She seems to be laboring under a sort of nervous depression, not
+so much physical as mental ... in fact, a psychos. It's common enough in
+older people, of course; but hanged if I ever saw anything just like it
+in a perfectly normal, and naturally happy child."
+
+"H-m-m-m. What are the symptoms?"
+
+"Psychological, all of them. She mopes; seems to take no healthy
+interest in anything, and, as a result, has no appetite; bursts out
+crying over the most trivial things--such as the chance of you're being
+blown up by a submarine on the way home--and frequently for no cause at
+all. Of course I packed the family off to the shore, as soon as she was
+able to be moved, in the belief that the change of scene and the sea air
+would effect a cure, but it hasn't. I can't find a thing wrong with her,
+physically, nor could Morse. I took him down on my own hook, in
+consultation, one day. It's a rather unusual case of purely
+psychological depression, and in my opinion all she needs is ..."
+
+"A generous dose of Smiles," interrupted Donald.
+
+"By thunder, you've struck it," cried Philip, as he gave the arm of his
+chair a resounding thump. "What an ass I've been not to have thought of
+that before, particularly as she has been so constantly in my thoughts.
+It's another case of a thing being too close to one for him to see it."
+
+Donald stiffened suddenly. He held the match, with which he was about to
+light a cigar, poised in mid-air until the flame reached his fingers,
+and then blew it out, unused.
+
+"In fact, it was about her, Don, that I was so anxious to see you," the
+other went on. His own nervousness made him unconscious of the effect
+which his words had produced on Donald. "Of course, she's practically of
+legal age now; but I know that she still regards you as her guardian and
+that in a sense you stand _in loco parentis_ toward her. Certainly she
+regards your word as law. So I thought that, as she is practically alone
+in the world, it would be the only right and honorable thing to ... to
+speak to you, first."
+
+"To speak to me ... _first_?" echoed Donald, a trifle unsteadily, as he
+struck another match and watched its flame, with unseeing eyes, until
+it, too, burned his fingers.
+
+"Yes. Great Scott, can't you guess what I'm driving at? The plain fact
+is ... is that I love her, Don. I ... I want to marry her."
+
+The words smote the older man's senses like a bolt from a clear sky, and
+they reeled, although he managed, somehow, to keep outwardly calm.
+
+"You ... you haven't told her ... yet ... that you love her?" he managed
+to say, after a moment.
+
+"No. At least, not directly; but I guess that she knows it. I wanted,
+first, to be sure that you would approve ... perhaps even sponsor my
+suit, for, although I mean, of course, to stand or fall on the strength
+of my own case, I know that she worships you, as a brother, and might be
+influenced by your attitude. You understand, don't you, old man?"
+
+Donald nodded, then asked slowly, "Does ... does Smiles love you, Phil?"
+
+"Yes, I think that I can honestly say that I believe she does. Of course
+no word of love has ever passed between us, but ... well, you know how
+it is."
+
+With a mighty effort of his will, Donald conquered the trembling that
+had seized upon his body, and--on his third attempt--calmly lit the
+cigar. But his thoughts were running like a tumultuous millrace. "Blind,
+egotistical, self-confident fool," they shouted. "That something like
+this should have happened is the most natural thing in the world, and it
+has been farthest from your mind."
+
+He remained silent so long that Philip was forced to laugh, a bit
+uneasily.
+
+"I know well enough that I'm not half worthy of her--no man could
+be--but I hope that I'm not altogether ineligible, and I'm sure that I
+love her more than any one else could." At his words Donald winced.
+"I'll do my best to make her life a happy one, if she'll have me--you
+know that, old fellow. Well," he laughed again, "say something, can't
+you? I should almost get the idea that you were jealous, if I didn't
+also know that that is absurd. Your engagement to Marion Treville ... I
+suppose that you don't want to talk about that, but you know how deeply
+I feel for you."
+
+Donald shook himself together, mentally, and made an effort to respond
+with convincing heartiness, although he found that his words sounded
+unnaturally, even to his own ears.
+
+"Of course, you have my consent, if it's worth anything. If our little
+Rose does love you, I am sure that you can make her happy--you're a
+splendid chap, Phil, and I--and I appreciate what you have done for her
+while I was away. She wrote me all about it."
+
+He stretched out his hand, and the other started from his chair, and
+wrung it heartily.
+
+"Thanks, old man. You give me an added quota of courage, and I wish that
+I might go to her this minute; but I've been called out of town on an
+important case. I really shouldn't have taken the time even to stop
+here, but I simply had to see you to-night. Love is an awful thing,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, dully. "Love is always impatient ... I know that
+myself. Perhaps I ... that is, if I can get her ... Rose, I think that I
+will take her down to Ethel's with me, to-night, and you can ... can see
+her there. Where is she staying now?"
+
+"With Miss Merriman's family, if she hasn't been called out on a case
+since morning. She's been doing district nursing, principally; but
+she's already had two private cases, you know."
+
+Donald did not, and the realization of how far he had drifted away from
+his old, intimate association with Smiles' affairs, brought his heart an
+added stab of pain.
+
+"The number is Back Bay, 4315." He glanced at his watch and then
+exclaimed, "Heavens, I've got to catch a train at the Trinity Place
+station in five minutes. Be ready to furnish bail for my chauffeur as
+soon as he is arrested for over-speeding. 'Night. I'll see you at
+Manchester in a few days ... that is if ..."
+
+His words trailed off down the corridor, the front door closed and
+Donald was alone. No, not alone. Philip had gone, but the room was
+peopled with a multitude of ghosts and haunting spectres which he had
+left behind. The doctor had only to close his eyes in order to see them,
+gibbering and dancing on his hopes, which had been laid low by his
+friend's eager disclosure. Another loved her, another wanted to marry
+her, and that other could truthfully say that he believed she cared for
+him. No spoken words of love may have passed between them, but Donald
+knew well how unessential these were when heart called to heart.
+
+This was his homecoming!
+
+It were as though the eyes of his soul had been permitted, for a brief
+time, to behold a dazzling celestial light, which had suddenly failed,
+leaving the darkness blacker than before. The words which he had
+planned to utter had turned to bitter ashes in his mouth. He had to face
+the truth squarely. Rose was not, had never been, for him. It had been
+mere madness for him even to dream of such a thing. Had she not accepted
+him as a brother, and given him the frank affection of such
+relationship, which precludes love of the other sort?
+
+His heart hurt and he felt old and weary again. Somewhere, hidden in a
+cabinet, was a bottle of whiskey, he remembered, and he sought it out
+and poured himself a generous glassful. But, when he raised it to his
+lips, the vision face of Smiles, as she had looked that first night on
+the mountain, when she told Big Jerry and Judd that "nary a drap o' thet
+devil's brew would ever be in house of hers," appeared before him, and,
+with a groan, he set it down, untasted.
+
+Returning to his living-room, he sat a long time in mental readjustment,
+which was brought about with many a wrench at his heart; and when, at
+last, his old iron will--which had been weakened a little by illness and
+further softened by love--had once again been tempered in the crucible
+of anguish, the lines on his prematurely seamed face were deeper, and in
+his dark gray eyes was a new expression of pain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In compliance with his telephoned request, Rose had packed her suit
+case, and was all ready to accompany him when he arrived at the
+Merrimans' apartment in a taxicab, to take her with him to the North
+Station to catch the nine o'clock train. She was irrepressibly the
+child, for the time being, and in her cheeks bloomed roses so colorful
+that Gertrude Merriman accused her of painting, while knowing well
+enough that joy needs no artistry.
+
+"I'm almost _too_ happy," she cried after hearing his voice over the
+wire, and proceeded to dance around the room, to the impromptu chant,
+"Donald, dear, is here, is here. Donald, dear, is here."
+
+"Are you going to kiss him?" laughed her friend. But Rose was not to be
+teased, and answered, "Kiss him? I'll smother him with kisses. Isn't he
+my brother, and isn't he home again after being away two and a half
+years?"
+
+When the apartment bell rang, it was Rose who ran to answer it, and
+whose sweet young voice, saying, "Oh, come up _quick_," Donald heard
+thrilling over the wire. His heart leaped, but his will steadied its
+increased pulsations. It leaped again when he reached the third floor,
+and the girl of his dreams threw herself upon him with laughter which
+was suspiciously like weeping, and with the smother of kisses, which she
+could not restrain nor he prevent, although each burned and seared his
+very soul.
+
+She backed into the room and pulled him after her by the lapels of his
+coat; but, as the brighter light struck upon his face, she stopped with
+widening eyes, through which he could read the troubled question in her
+mind.
+
+"Oh, my poor big brother. I didn't realize ... I mean, how you must have
+suffered. Poor dear, you don't have to tell me how ill you have been, so
+far away from all of us who love you."
+
+Her pitying words drove the last nail in his crucified hopes. Not only
+were they, all too obviously, merely those of a child who loved him with
+a sister's love, but they told him how changed, wan and aged he was; one
+who was, in fact, no longer fitted to mate with radiant youth.
+
+"'Old, ain't I, and ugly?'" He imitated Dick Deadeye with a laughing
+voice, but the laugh was not true.
+
+"Old and ugly?" she repeated, in horror. "Donald, how _can_ you? You're
+tired out, that is all; and as for this--" she lightly touched the sheen
+of silvery gray at his temples, where the alchemy of Time and stress had
+made its mark--"it makes you look so ... so distinguished that I am
+ashamed of my frivolously familiar manner of greeting you. But I just
+couldn't help it, and I promise not to embarrass you again. Yes, you
+_were_ embarrassed. I could read it in your face."
+
+There was but a moment for conversation with the others, and they were
+whirled off to catch the train for the North Shore resort.
+
+When they were seated, face to face, in the Pullman chair car, there
+came a moment of silence, during which each studied the other covertly.
+Donald decided that, physically, the girl had not greatly changed from
+the picture of her which he had borne away in his heart. The passing
+years had merely deepened the charm of the soft, waving hair, whose rich
+and glinting chestnut strands swept low on her broad forehead and
+nestled against the nape of her neck; the slender patrician nose and
+wonderfully shadowed eyes; the smooth contour of cheek and rounded chin;
+and the tender glory which still trembled, as in the old days, on her
+sensitive lips. But, in her poise and speech, after the first rush of
+impetuous childlike eagerness had spent itself, he discovered a new
+maturity, and he realized that, where he had left a child, he found a
+woman, whose heart was no longer worn upon her sleeve. True, her
+gratitude and affection for him were unaltered. They showed in every
+word and look, and once the thought came to him that he might yet win
+the castle of Desire, if he should only determine to enter the lists
+against Philip. The primal man in him cried out against, and might have
+overcome, his better nature, which whispered that this would be
+treachery to a friend who had played fair, and was worthy, if there had
+not always been before his mind the consideration that the fight would
+be hopeless. Rose was not for him; she loved another.
+
+And the girl? She cheered him with her smile, and loved him for the
+dangers he had passed as he, in the hope of in that subject finding a
+vent for his emotions, told her of the work he had been doing. But in
+her heart she was deeply disturbed. The tired, drawn look on his strong
+face would pass away, she felt; but the sight of the expression of pain
+in his eyes gave her thoughts pause. Had Marion Treville's faithlessness
+struck so deep? At the memory of her interview with the woman, Smiles'
+own eyes changed, and lost their quiet tenderness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Morning had come, and the sunlight danced like a myriad host of tiny
+sprites, clad in cloth of gold over the broad blue bosom of the Atlantic
+and into the windows of little Muriel's cheerful bedroom. The door
+opened softly, and Rose, in trim uniform and cap, with its three black
+bands, slipped into the room, silently motioning the man in the hall
+outside to keep back out of sight. The child, thin and pale on her snowy
+bed, turned her head listlessly and looked at the intruder.
+
+Suddenly the suggestion of a smile touched her colorless lips, and
+lighted her unnaturally heavy eyes. She sat up with a glad cry of
+surprise and welcome, "Why, it's my own Smiles! Wherever did you come
+from; are you going to make us a visit? Oh, I'm so glad."
+
+"Yes, darling. I got so tired and grumpy up in the hot city that I just
+had to come down here to be cheered up. Will you help do it?"
+
+"'Course I will. Why, just _seeing_ you makes me want to cheer." She
+quickly swung her slender legs over the bedside. "Oh, now if dear Uncle
+Don were only safe home again it would be perfect. I've worried and
+worried about his getting hit by a bomb or being blown up by a
+submarine. I wish ..."
+
+"And, presto! your wish is granted," laughed Donald, as he ran into the
+room and caught his small niece up in an old-time bear hug.
+
+"Oh, oh, oh. It's better than a fairy tale. I'm so happy I could die,
+but instead I'm going to get well right off. I'm well _now_; where are
+my clothes?"
+
+The little bare feet sought for bedroom slippers, and the light curls
+bobbed energetically as she enunciated, "Now that I've got you two I
+mean to keep you forever and ever. If you, Uncle Don, would only mar
+..."
+
+The man made haste to clap his hand over the offending mouth; but he was
+too late. Rose had heard, and, with glowing cheeks, replied quickly,
+"But you forget that Uncle Don adopted me as a little sister, long ago."
+
+She slipped her hand through his arm and pressed it close to her for a
+moment, before laughing gayly, "Run along, man. Milady is about to dress
+and this is no place for you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE VALLEY OF INDECISION
+
+
+Early evening it was, several days later, evening of a sultry, stifling
+day, which had escaped the bounds of longitude and invaded even the
+North Shore. The open ocean, itself, seemed to have forgotten its
+habitual unrest and yielded to the general languor. From the Thayers'
+summer home--a glorified bungalow, broad of veranda and shingled
+silvery-olive, atop a long, terraced bank--it had the appearance of a
+limitless mirror, reflecting the unblemished blue infinity of the sky.
+Only the never-ceasing series of vague white lines which ever crept up
+the shelving beach, to vanish like half-formed dreams, showed that,
+although the mighty deep slept, its bosom rose and fell as it breathed.
+
+The sky was a hazy horizon blue, unblemished save for a few vaporous
+clouds far in the west; the sun, well toward the end of its journey, was
+hazy, too, a thing of mystery; in the far eastern distance the broad
+Atlantic softened to a hazy violet-gray which, in turn, blended, almost
+without a line of demarcation, into the still more distant heavens.
+
+Far out, above the waters, a solitary gull circled with slow, sweeping
+curves, and now and again planed to the surface of the sea and struck
+from it a faint white spark.
+
+On the screened-in veranda, the members of the family, which now
+included Rose, sat or reclined, in attitudes of indolence, the men in
+negligee shirts and white flannels, the women in light dresses.
+Rose--who had, the day before, officially declared herself "off" the
+case; but had stayed on, a guest, at the general solicitation--wore a
+white dimity faintly sprinkled with her favorite rosebuds.
+
+Her ex-patient sat on a little stool close by her side, a book of fairy
+stories resting on her elevated bare knees. The companionship of her
+beloved Smiles had already brought the warm color of health back to her
+cheeks and banished the listless look from her eyes. Her mother and Mr.
+MacDonald, Senior, were reading. Rose, chin resting on her cupped palm,
+was gazing seaward with a dreamy, far-away expression in her eyes, as
+blue as the sea itself. Donald sat back of her, and scarcely turned his
+gaze from the even contour of her cheek and neck and the shimmering
+glory of her hair, as he pulled leisurely at his cigar.
+
+Only little Don showed signs of activity; for, with the boundless energy
+of four-and-a-half years, he was skidding and rolling industriously from
+one end of the porch to the other on a kiddie-car--a relic of the year
+before, and now much too small for him. With more or less dexterity he
+was weaving his way in and out among the various obstacles, animate and
+otherwise.
+
+After looking for many silent minutes at the girl he loved, Donald said,
+tritely, "A penny for your thoughts, Smiles."
+
+"Sir, you value them too high. I was thinking about you," she laughed.
+
+"A likely story! I know well enough that your mind was far away from the
+present spot--the far-off expression on your face is indication enough
+of that. Furthermore, I'll wager that I can guess pretty nearly where
+they were."
+
+It was a random shot, but he was disquieted to observe that it brought a
+faint blush in her cheeks. The added color, soft and lovely in itself,
+was darkly reflected on his heart.
+
+Jumping up, Smiles cried, with a mock pout, "I shan't stay here to be
+made the subject of a demonstration of clairvoyancy. My thoughts are my
+own, and I mean to keep them so, sir."
+
+As she ran into the house Donald's eyes followed her, moodily. And if he
+had, indeed, possessed the power of divination which he had laid
+pretence to, the expression in them, and the shadow on his spirit, would
+have been justified.
+
+Rose ran lightly upstairs, and, as she approached her room, drew from
+within her waist a letter. There was something both mysterious and
+childlike in the manner that she next opened one of the drawers of her
+dressing table and, taking out a box which held almost all of her modest
+treasures, started to place the letter with them.
+
+Instead, however, she paused to lift out a neat little package
+containing a score or more of other epistles, tied together with a white
+ribbon. For a moment she hesitated, as though she were both mentally and
+physically weighing the objects held in either hand. A shadow of strange
+uncertainty came into her eyes, the outward expression of an inward
+uncertainty foreign to her nature. Slowly, she turned from her
+reflection in the mirror and dropped down on the edge of the daintily
+counterpaned bed. With hesitating fingers she untied the ribbon from the
+package and began to glance through the unbound letters, pausing at
+intervals to read stray paragraphs from them. Each one began and ended
+almost the same--"Dear little Smiles" and "Affectionately your friend,
+Donald."
+
+There was the one which contained the allegory of the steep path--which
+now lay behind her; the one in which he told her of little Donald's
+advent into the world and of his own betrothal to Marion Treville, and
+as she read that sentence which held so much of import in the lives of
+both of them, she sighed, "Poor Don. He hasn't mentioned her; but her
+faithlessness must have struck deep, for he is, oh, so changed and more
+reserved." There were other letters filled with the spirit of
+_camaraderie_, and then the later ones, strong, simple, with their
+stories of others' sacrifice in the great cause of humanity.
+
+When the last one was read and laid upon the others, she sat with them
+in her lap for a moment, musing. The suspicion of tears shone in her
+eyes as she finally shook her head, and, evening them carefully, retied
+them.
+
+"No," she whispered, half aloud, "I mustn't be foolish. He's just my
+brother, that is the way he cares for me. It has always been like that.
+And I ... I mustn't be foolish."
+
+Almost angrily she brushed away the single tear which had started its
+uncertain course down her cheek.
+
+With a gesture of resolution, she stood up and placed the package in its
+box. The other letter was about to follow; but, as she started to lay it
+down, she changed her mind, and, with the flush again mounting her
+cheeks, took it from the envelope, which bore a special delivery stamp,
+postmarked in Boston that very morning.
+
+Opening it, she read:
+
+     "My dearest Smiles:
+
+     Will you be the bearer of a message from me to your kind hostess?
+     As you know, she has invited me down to Manchester-by-the-Sea for
+     the week-end, as a surprise for Donald, and I have heretofore been
+     unable to give a definite answer. Now I have banished everything
+     else from my mind and shall arrive about seven-thirty.
+
+     You wonder, perhaps, why I haven't written this direct to her? In
+     answering my own question I have a confession--yes, _two_
+     confessions to make. A poor excuse is better than none, and I have
+     sent the message to Ethel, through you, merely as an excuse for
+     writing you.
+
+     To my own surprise I have discovered that I have suddenly become a
+     moral coward, and am obliged to descend to subterfuges in order to
+     bolster up my courage. This isn't a usual thing with me, I think,
+     but neither is the occasion. I've been wanting and planning to tell
+     you something, face to face, for a long time; but at the crucial
+     moment my courage has failed each time. I could not nerve myself to
+     bear the possibility of the wrong answer.
+
+     Now I cannot put it off any longer and I am forced to tell you that
+     'something' in this manner. It is a simple message, dear, but it
+     has meant more than any other to the world through all ages, and it
+     means more to me than all the world, now. I love you, Rose,--I want
+     to marry you.
+
+     There is not anything more that need be said; you can imagine all
+     the rest that I would say if I were with you in person, as I shall
+     be with you in spirit as you read those words. I suspect that even
+     they were not necessary. You must have guessed my love, which has
+     grown steadily during these past three years, and have understood
+     why I could not speak it before. It was not merely that the ethics
+     of our relation forced me to keep silent; but I have felt, since
+     you are situated as you are, and Donald is still morally, if not
+     legally, your guardian and protector, I should speak to him first.
+     I have done so. My love for you was almost the first thing that he
+     heard about, on reaching home. And Smiles, dearest, he has gladly
+     given his consent to my suit and wished me luck.
+
+     Now that I have written the fateful message, my courage is
+     restored, in part at least, and I want to hear the answer from your
+     own sweet lips. I can scarcely wait to hear it, for presumptuous as
+     it is--I cannot help hoping that it will be the one I so desire. I
+     cannot help believing that you do care for me.
+
+     Please don't run away, dear. I want to see you, alone, as soon as I
+     reach Manchester.
+
+                                        With all my heart and soul I am
+                                             Your lover, Philip."
+
+
+Smiles slowly replaced the note, her first love letter, in its envelope,
+laid it in the box and locked this in the drawer. With her hands resting
+on the dresser she leaned forward and looked searchingly into her own
+eyes, as though trying to read her very heart. Her lips moved and formed
+the words, "He cannot help hoping that the answer will be the one he
+desires. He knows that I _do_ care for him. Yes, he cannot help knowing
+it; I am too simple to hide my feelings, and he has been so sweet that I
+could not help ... but ... oh, I wish that I hadn't got to tell him ...
+to-night."
+
+Meanwhile Donald had been sitting for many minutes in the silence born
+of laboring thoughts. He had guessed Smiles' secret in part, but not in
+its entirety, and the bitter unhappiness, which had had its inception in
+Philip's disclosure, lay over his soul like a pall.
+
+His father was the first to speak, and his words caused Donald to start,
+for they seemed to be the result of telepathic communication.
+
+"You told us, once, that she wasn't a witch, but, by Jove, there's both
+witchery and healing in that smile of hers, Don. Look at Muriel now.
+It's nothing less than a miracle what the very presence of Rose has done
+for her."
+
+"I was wrong," answered Donald, shortly, whereupon Ethel laid aside her
+book and joined in the conversation in a low voice, so that the absorbed
+Muriel might not hear.
+
+"You love her, Don, it's perfectly obvious. What are you waiting for?
+Now that Marion has behaved so shamefully, it is my dearest hope that
+you will marry Rose. I didn't mean to speak of it; but, really, you are
+changing, Donald, and I don't want to think of your becoming a
+self-centred old bachelor."
+
+"Ethel's right," supplemented his father. "I'm only surprised that you
+haven't asked her before. You've been in the same house with her for a
+whole week. Don't let one ... er ... unfortunate experience discourage
+you."
+
+Donald carefully knocked the ashes from his pipe, got up, walked to the
+railing, and stood with his back toward them.
+
+Then he laughed, a trifle bitterly.
+
+"Thanks for the advice. I won't pretend that I don't ... care for her;
+but I can't ask her to marry me, as you suggest--that is, not now."
+
+"Why not, I should like to know?" demanded his sister, impatiently.
+
+"I can't explain, either; but there is a reason. I am bound in honor.
+Please don't say anything more about it."
+
+But Ethel was not to be silenced so easily.
+
+"I don't know what you are talking about; but it's nonsense, anyway,"
+she answered. "Why, she worships you. Any one can see that."
+
+"Worships me!" echoed Donald, with sarcastic inflection. "What's the
+sense in exaggerating like that, Ethel? I suppose that she is fond of me
+in a way; the way you are, but ..."
+
+"I never suspected you of lacking courage before," interrupted the
+other. "If you haven't the nerve to ask that child yourself, _I_ will. I
+guess that I'm a better judge of feminine nature than you, Donald."
+
+"You failed to prove it once before," he retorted, and instantly added,
+with a tone of unusual contrition, "I am sorry I said that. It was
+unnecessary and unworthy. But, really, I can't allow you to play Mrs.
+John Alden to my Miles Standish. There is a reason ..."
+
+"Oh, you men. You're all alike, when you climb on some sort of a high
+horse and become mysterious. I don't know what you are talking
+about--perhaps you are deluding yourself with an absurdly chivalrous
+notion about being her guardian--but I tell you this. A normal girl, who
+is as full of life as Rose, can't be expected to be like the wishy-washy
+heroines of some murky novel, remain faithful unto death to her first
+unrequited love, and turn into a sweetly spiritual old maid, waiting for
+the hero to come and claim her. ''Tain't accordin' ter huming nater,' as
+Captain Jim says. The mating call is too strong, and she is sure to
+respond to the love note of another sooner or later;--don't flatter
+yourself that you are the only man in Smiles' creation. She's as sweet
+and pure as any girl could be, but she's human, like the rest of us ...
+that's what makes me love her so, and, unless 'you speak for yourself,
+John' ..."
+
+"I can't, Ethel, I ... s-s-sh."
+
+The girl's light footsteps on the descending stairs caused him to break
+off with a low note of warning, and hardly had he resumed his seat
+before she was sitting on the arm of the chair and rumpling his wavy
+hair, as naturally as a child, or a sister.
+
+Watching him closely, Ethel saw the veins begin to swell on the back of
+his muscular hand, as his fingers gripped the other arm of the chair.
+She sighed, and then a look of wondering distress came into her face as
+the thought flashed unbidden through her mind, "I wonder if it is
+possible that he made some unfortunate, entangling alliance in France,
+after he heard from Marion? It isn't impossible. Men are often caught on
+the rebound like that."
+
+Donald was the first to make an effort to introduce a new subject into
+the thoughts of all, by saying, "Doesn't the _Water Witch_ look pretty
+in this light?" as he pointed to a trim little eighteen-foot race-about,
+whose highly polished mahogany sides, free from paint, reflected the
+water which reflected them. "I don't know as I have properly thanked you
+for having her put in commission for me, Ethel."
+
+"I thought that it would please you, and I had them overhaul and rig her
+as soon as I learned that you were coming home."
+
+"Please me! Well, I should say 'vraiment.' Come, Smiles, let's run away
+from all the world beside, and I'll show you my skill as a skipper."
+
+Ethel sent a meaning glance in the direction of her father, but he was
+laughing; "'Skill as a skipper,' indeed, on such an evening as this! He
+would be an amateur, for certain, who couldn't steer with one arm free.
+Whew, there isn't a breath."
+
+"There is going to be, and not many minutes from now. Unless I miss my
+guess we'll have a thunderstorm, and a west wind which will make short
+work of this humidity. There, feel that breeze? Ouch, you little devil,
+get off my foot. It may be large but it wasn't built for a kiddie-car
+racetrack."
+
+The obstacle had caused an upset, and baby Don, more angry than hurt, to
+be sure, set up a howl and ran to Smiles' arms for comfort.
+
+"You'll spoil that baby," growled his uncle. "Well, what do you say, are
+you coming?"
+
+He stood up, and stretched his powerful frame in anticipation of the
+exercise that he loved.
+
+"If you don't mind, Donald, I'd ... I'd rather not ... to-night,"
+answered Rose.
+
+"I'm afraid that you don't like the ocean; I rather thought that you
+wouldn't," he responded gently, for he had in mind the fact that both of
+her parents had met their death by drowning. The girl sat silently for a
+little while, with her eyes fixed upon the waters, here and there upon
+the surface of which had begun to appear shadowy streaks of varying
+tones, as though the Master Painter were deftly sweeping a mighty,
+invisible brush across the pictured surface. Interblending shades of
+soft green, gray and violet came and disappeared.
+
+Without turning her head, she answered, pensively, "It is very, very
+beautiful and I love it--in a way. But I am afraid of it, too. Yes, I
+like the lordly mountains better, Don. To me there is always something
+sinister about the sea, even when it is in as peaceful a mood as this;
+storms come upon it so swiftly, and it has taken so many precious
+lives."
+
+Donald laid an understanding hand upon her shoulder for a brief moment.
+
+"I won't urge you," he said. "Let's go for a little walk, then."
+
+"I ... I can't do that, either, Donald. It was meant to be a surprise,
+but ... Dr. Bentley is coming down from Boston to-night, and I promised
+... that is, he has asked me to ... to go somewhere with him." Rose was
+blushing again.
+
+"Oh, I see. I didn't know that Phil was coming, although, of course, he
+has a standing invitation, and knows that I'm always delighted to see
+him," answered Donald, in a tone which he made natural with an effort.
+
+"I invited him especially," broke in Ethel. "And he accepted in a letter
+to Rose."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE STORM AND THE SACRIFICE
+
+
+Baby Don put an end to the moment of strained silence which succeeded.
+He laid hold of two of Smiles' fingers and began to pull at her, while
+saying insistently, "Come down to the beach with me, Aunty Smiles, and
+hear the waves ro-er." This was a favorite pastime with him.
+
+His grandfather smiled. "The waves are 'ro-ering' as gently as any
+sucking dove, to-night."
+
+But the baby was not to be turned from his design, and tugged
+persistently until Rose was obliged to rise, laughing. Muriel also
+started up.
+
+"I'll go down with you and try out the _Water Witch_ alone--unless, that
+is, either of you want to come along," said Donald.
+
+His father and Ethel refused, with a show of indignation over the
+begrudging form which the invitation had taken, and he was not sorry.
+Neither man nor girl could find anything to say as they walked side by
+side to the beach, and the former launched the dory tender. As he put
+off she waved him a cheery good-by, and sent her low voice across the
+broadening water:
+
+"Come back to us soon. And be careful. It is beginning to get rough
+already."
+
+With a note in his voice which she did not understand, he called back,
+"Perhaps I'll sail straight over to France. You wouldn't care."
+
+"Foolish man. You know that I would," she cried, and then turned to join
+the children in their game of skipping pebbles.
+
+Donald sent the skiff through the choppy waves with vigorous strokes and
+shot her around at the last moment for a perfect landing. The mainsail
+and jib went up with rapid jerks while the rings rattled their protest.
+The strenuous physical exercise brought him temporary relief; but, when
+he had cast off, taken the tiller and after a few moments of idle
+jockeying back and forth in the light puffs, squared away for the run
+seaward before the rising wind, his gloomy thoughts returned, to settle
+like a flock of phantom harpies and feast on his brain.
+
+Out of nothing grew a vision of Judd's chalky, troubled face, and he
+felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the crude mountaineer, who had
+likewise loved and lost. "Smiles wasn't to blame then. She isn't to
+blame _now_. She never led either of us on," he said aloud; but his
+clenched teeth cut through the end of his cigar, nevertheless. With only
+his moody thought to bear him company, Donald steered seaward.
+
+Starting slowly, the racing craft was momentarily given new impetus by
+swelling wind and following wave; but the man paid no heed to the things
+which should have served him as a warning--the higher heaving of the
+waters, now as gray and as cloudy green as a dripping cliff, and touched
+with flecks of milky spume; and the uneven tugging of the sail. When he
+did become aware of the swift change which had taken place, hardly five
+minutes had passed from the time he had started out, yet a quick glance
+behind him disclosed a new heaven and a new earth and sea; the old had
+passed away.
+
+Where else is nature's stupendous power so evident as in the sinister
+speed with which the armies of the tempest make their swift advance,
+company on company, regiment on regiment, division on division?
+
+In the moments which had passed unmarked by him in his absorption, the
+whole western sky had become overcast and blackened by the vaporous army
+of invasion, whose forecoursing streams of cavalry skirmishers were
+already high over his head. The earth had lost its laughing colors, and
+seemed to lie cowering, with its head covered with a dull mantle, and
+the sea had accepted the challenge of the storm clouds and was beginning
+to leap forward in swirling, gloomy waves.
+
+With a strong steady pull on the tiller, Donald brought the little craft
+around in a sweeping curve and headed into the wind, which had suddenly
+become chill and moist. The boat tilted sharply, and a dash of spray
+leaped the bow and, changing back to water, ran down the leeward side of
+the cockpit. A drop of rain splashed on his bared forearm, and then
+another and another. Through the dark, serried clouds came a dagger
+thrust of fire, to be followed by a distant detonation which bore his
+heart back to the shuddering fields of France.
+
+The new picture was impressed on his mind as on the sensitized film of a
+camera, and simultaneously the action of distant figures were registered
+upon it. Toiling up the steep bank to the cottage was a marionette made
+recognizable as Muriel by a tiny dash of red at the waist and on the
+head. For an instant he wondered if Smiles and his little namesake had
+already reached the house. Then he caught sight of them, still on the
+beach. There was fully a quarter of a mile of water between him and the
+shore, but the distance was being cut down bravely by the race-about,
+whose specialty was going to windward in a blow. Steadied by her racing
+keel, she cut through the waves like a knife.
+
+The child, a mere gray dot, was apparently fleeing as fast as his sturdy
+little legs could carry him from the pursuing girl.
+
+In spite of his bitterness of soul, Donald's lips curved into a smile as
+they formed the words, "Ah, the battle is on, once more. Rose has
+insisted that they hurry up to the house and Don has said, 'I won't.'
+Jerusalem, look at him kite it!"
+
+At that instant a tremulous curtain of light was let down from heaven,
+momentarily, and the two tiny figures were disclosed as clear as by day.
+He saw the baby dodging adroitly under Smiles' outstretched arms, and
+heading out onto the narrow pier, to which was attached a float for
+rowboats.
+
+"He's got his 'mad' up," thought the man, as he veered off a point so as
+to get a better view. "He isn't afraid of thunder, lightning or of
+rain--or anything else, and it would be just like him to run right off
+the ... Great God in heaven, he's done it!" he shouted aloud and sprang
+to his feet, and almost lost his grip on the straining tiller. Even as
+he had been thinking, the light had grown again, and he saw the child,
+halfway down the pier, with a rebellious jerk tear himself loose from
+the clutching grasp on his blouse, lose his balance, stumble and roll
+from the incline into the now surging water.
+
+The _Water Witch_ luffed sharply, and her sail snapped with a report
+like a pistol shot. Without taking his horrified gaze from the unreal
+picture which the ghastly lightning illumined, Donald instinctively
+steadied the boat, and, with his powerful body strained forward as
+though he were urging the craft to greater effort. "God, God, God." The
+words came through his clenched teeth, half prayer, half curse at the
+Fate which held him helpless to act--and the wind snatched them from his
+lips and bore them away, shrieking in malicious madness.
+
+The darkness fell, blotting out the scene. Then the lightning flared
+again, and, in the brief white second that it lasted, he saw Rose climb
+onto a bench against the railing of the pier, and leap into the water.
+
+"God, she can't swim a stroke," groaned the man, as he pounded his left
+hand against the gunwale until the blood came through the abraded skin.
+Plunged in darkness again, the man, whom Rose had called unimaginative,
+suffered all the untold agony of soul which had been hers during the
+moment in which she had been forced to make up her mind and carry out
+the act, only his anguish was the more intense, for hers was the quick
+action and his the forced inaction of a man bound to a stake, within
+full sight of a tragedy being enacted upon a loved one. The distance
+between the boat and shore was not so great but that he could see
+everything that was occurring; but, with the wind dead ahead and blowing
+viciously, he might as well have been in another world for aught that he
+could do.
+
+The spell of darkness, doubly black after the flash, seemed like an
+eternity to Donald. In reality it was as brief as the others, yet, when
+the light came, it disclosed other forms in action. A youth, whom he had
+vaguely noticed working around a rowboat on the beach as he put out, was
+plunging into the water, and down the steeply terraced bank, with
+leaping strides, was running a tall, slender figure clad in light gray.
+Minute as it was, seen from that distance, Donald recognized it. It was
+Philip, and his bursting heart gave voice to a cry of welcome and hope.
+Philip would save Smiles!
+
+[Illustration: "HOLDING THE GIRL IN CLINGING WHITE CLOSE TO HIM"]
+
+True, he would save her for himself. He could not keep the thought out
+of his surge of hope; but the erstwhile bitterness was swept away.
+Nothing else mattered, if Rose could be saved. Measured by the ticking
+of a clock, the action was taking place with dramatic speed; but, to his
+quivering mind, it dragged woefully, and the periods when the light
+failed caused him to cry aloud.
+
+Suddenly the searchlight of the sky was turned on, dazzlingly, and he
+saw the unknown youth wading ashore, bearing in his arms a tiny form
+whose animated arms and legs told the story of baby Don's timely rescue;
+he saw Ethel running wildly toward them, to gather her offspring into
+her outstretched arms; he saw Philip on the float, in the act of casting
+himself prone. Then the picture faded once more and he railed at the
+ensuing blackness as though it had been a wilful, animate thing. This
+time it lasted longer, and the man's deep breath came in rasping sobs
+before the scene was again revealed. Now there were two forms standing
+unsteadily on the float; two forms that were almost one, for the man in
+gray was holding the girl in clinging white close to him. Still, she
+could stand; Smiles was alive, she was saved! And the watcher's lips
+gave vent to a shout of relief and joy, a shout which ended in a groan.
+All the power of his masterful will was not enough to make him do that
+which he longed to--turn his tortured eyes from the picture which spelt
+life to Rose, and death to all his golden dreams.
+
+Now he saw them moving slowly up the pier, the girl still leaning
+heavily against the man, and supported by his encircling arm. They
+paused, and Rose half turned, and slowly waved her hand toward the sea
+in a reassuring gesture, and Donald whispered, "God bless her. She knows
+that I have been a witness to the whole thing, and she remembers, thinks
+of me, even at ... at this time. I cannot see her face, but I know that
+she is smiling."
+
+The lingering effulgence from a final wave of light vanished; the two
+forms toiling up the shore blended into the returning shadows; the
+curtain of darkness fell, and the drama was ended.
+
+"Why could it not have been I?" groaned Donald. The wind, already spent
+from its brief fury, chortled softly among the shrouds as though it was
+laughing at him, another mortal made the victim of capricious Fate.
+Surely it knew that he would have served as well as its agent and would
+only too gladly have given his very life for Smiles, but it had wilfully
+sent him away and sent Opportunity to Philip.
+
+Heroes and martyrs; what are they, after all, but the creatures of that
+whimsical goddess? Most men and most women have within them the courage
+to dare all things if the occasion comes, but to a few only, chosen, it
+often seems, by chance, is that occasion granted. Yet, how often has the
+history of life, both racial and individual, been changed by such an
+event!
+
+Donald knew his star had sunk below the far horizon and that Philip's
+had been carried to its zenith. The lover was likewise the rescuer. It
+were as though the play had been written and the stage set for no other
+purpose than to bring the romance to its culmination, and, now that this
+had been accomplished, the useless properties were being removed. The
+storm was over, ending as quickly as it had begun; the cloud-legions
+were hurrying eastward overhead to form the setting of another tragedy
+or farce somewhere else, or to return to the nothing which had given
+them birth. A few faint flashes and a distant rumble or two marked their
+passing.
+
+Along the western edge of the world appeared a narrow streak of ruddy
+light, like burnished copper beneath the blackness above. Blazing forth
+with the glory of a conqueror, the sun appeared within it, and seemed to
+poise immovable for an instant 'twixt heaven and earth, while its
+dazzling rays turned the living waters to molten gold. Then it slowly
+sank from sight, and, like wraiths of the dying day, the night-shadows
+began to creep out from the shore, deeper and deeper, nearer and nearer,
+until they engulfed the little craft and its owner.
+
+With a sudden decision, Donald played out the sheet and put the tiller
+over. The boat swung around into the path of the wind and fled seaward
+again. He could not go home, now. He must fight out the battle with
+self, as it is always fought, alone, and what place could be more
+fitting than out there in the darkness, on the face of the troubled
+waters?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+WHAT THE CRICKET HEARD
+
+
+Two hours later Donald stumbled, like a strong man physically played
+out, up the path to the cottage.
+
+Ethel saw him coming, and ran part way down the steps to meet him. With
+her arms around his neck, she half-sobbed out the words in a choked
+voice, "Oh, Don. Do you know what has happened? Could you see from your
+boat? Little Donny? Smiles? Could you see, Don?"
+
+He nodded, dumbly; but his sister kept on, "She couldn't swim, but yet
+she jumped, instantly, to save him. You see, she thought that she was
+alone, she didn't know about that boy. Oh, Donald, we must do something
+for him, something splendid. He saved my baby's life."
+
+Ethel was crying now, and the man forgot his own misery in comforting
+her.
+
+"But why didn't you come, Donald? You didn't know...."
+
+"Yes, I knew that everything ... was all right. Rose waved to me and
+called. I ... I _couldn't_ come, Ethel. I can't make you understand."
+
+With the light of understanding breaking in upon her mind, and bringing
+a flood of sympathy with it, his sister once more drew close and
+encircled his neck with her arms.
+
+"Where ... where is she?" he asked, as though the words were wrung from
+him against his will.
+
+"Smiles has gone for a little walk with ... Dr. Bentley, dear," answered
+Ethel in a manner which she strove to make commonplace. She felt his
+frame quiver, and, with a motion that was almost rough, he shook off her
+comforting arms, and mounted the steps, holding to the rail as he did
+so. He went directly indoors, and to his room, with the instinct of a
+wounded creature to seek its cave or burrow. Save for a cold, cheerless
+patch of moonlight on the floor it was dark, and he felt no desire to
+turn on the lights. For a while he sat, silent and motionless, on the
+edge of the bed. But he could not stand the closed-in solitude. The
+place seemed filled with the fragrant presence of the girl who was not
+there; would never be there. He wanted to smoke, and went to the bureau
+to fumble blindly for a pipe which he remembered he had left on it. His
+hand touched something small and glazed, and he drew it sharply away.
+The something was the little rose jar. Smiles' first gift to him, which
+had travelled far since that morning on the mountain side, five years
+before.
+
+The thoughts which would not be stilled repossessed his mind, and drove
+him out-of-doors again,--through a side door, so that he would not have
+to speak to his father and Ethel, whose voices he heard in low
+conversation on the front porch. They ceased for a moment, as though
+the speakers had heard the sound of his footsteps, and paused to listen.
+The night was still, so still that the chirp of a cricket under the
+piazza sounded loudly. It was a cheerful little note, and Donald hated
+it for its cheer, and started hastily away toward the beach.
+
+High above, to the south, the moon was sailing through a sea of clouds,
+in silent majesty. Moonlit nights he had seen aplenty since that one in
+the Cumberlands, four summers previous, when he had climbed the
+mountain, impatient to see once more the strange, smiling child who had
+so stirred his imagination. In the old days he had loved the soft and
+majestic radiance. Now he hated it. Had he not lived long in war-ridden
+France, where every clear night illumined by that orb, which once had
+been the glory of those who loved, had meant merely the advent of the
+Hunnish fiends, whose winging visits brought death and devastation to
+the sleeping towns below?
+
+He had fled from the darkness of his room, but now he craved the
+darkness again, for, perchance, it might blot out the memory of other
+nights, beautiful as golden dreams, or hideous as nightmares, when the
+moon had shone as it did now.
+
+As he made a quick turn about a rocky obstruction in his rapid path, he
+came almost full upon two others, a man and a woman. On the yielding
+sand his footfalls had made no sound, and they were unaware of his
+sudden approach. Donald stopped, and stepped hastily back out of sight;
+but not before he had seen the man's arms gather the slender form of the
+girl in close embrace, and seen her lift her sweet young
+face--tear-bejeweled, but smiling with the tenderness of love--for his
+kiss.
+
+With the rocks put between him and the two, Donald stood for a moment
+with clenched fists pressed brutally against his eyes as though to grind
+out the picture recorded there. Then, with blind but nervous strides, he
+fled from the spot which, at the one time, held such happiness and such
+despair.
+
+It was close to midnight when his steps bore him instinctively back to
+the unlighted house; but this time the exercise and the cool night air
+had failed to bring relief to his heart. He could not face the idea of
+tossing for hours on a sleepless bed, and so passed the front door and
+seated himself within the dark shadows of a corner of the piazza.
+
+"Chirr-r-p, chirr-r-p, chirr-r-p," began a pleasantly shrill little
+voice beneath him. Over and over it repeated the sound, until the man's
+feverish imagination had made it into "cheer-up," and he cursed the
+cricket for its silly advice. So busy was his mind with introspection
+that he did not hear the door open gently, and the first intimation that
+he was not alone was brought to him by the sound of a light footstep
+directly behind him. He turned his head, and saw a dim, ethereally white
+figure,--Rose.
+
+"I thought that you would never come, Donald," she whispered, as she
+sank down close by his side on Muriel's little stool, and laid her cool
+hand on his fevered one. "I have been watching from my window for an
+hour. I couldn't go to sleep until I had told you something."
+
+With an effort he answered evenly, "I ... I think that I know what it
+is, Rose."
+
+"You know? But how ...?"
+
+"I saw you ... and Philip, on the beach," he replied, dully.
+
+"You saw ... Oh! And you heard what ...?"
+
+"No. I went away at once, of course. But I did not need to hear. I ... I
+am glad if you are happy, Smiles."
+
+She was silent for a long moment; then whispered with a note of joy in
+her low voice that wrung his heart, "Yes, I am very happy, Donald."
+
+"Philip is a splendid fellow."
+
+"You wanted me to ... to marry him, Don?"
+
+"I _wanted_ you to?" He barely succeeded in checking, unspoken, the
+burning words on his tongue; but this time his voice betrayed him, and,
+if he had not been resolutely keeping his face turned away from her, he
+might have seen, even in that dim light, an odd change come into the
+expression of her lovely face, and seen a wonderfully tender and
+somewhat mischievous smile touch her lips. All that he did know,
+however, was that she gave a low, happy laugh, which was like a
+knife-thrust to his soul.
+
+"Don," she said at length, "I have told no one else of my great secret
+yet, for I wanted to tell you, first of all. I couldn't go to sleep
+without telling you, for you have been such a dear confidant and father
+confessor to me that it seems as though I must tell you everything. I
+... I've just got to tell you what has happened. May I?"
+
+The man barely smothered a groan. Must he hear this girl, in her
+simplicity, talk on and on about the man she loved, and had promised to
+marry? It struck him, too, as strange that she should be willing to lay
+bare anything so sacred in a woman's life, but then she was her natural
+self, and quite different from most girls, in her attitude toward him.
+
+But Rose was speaking quietly, and as though to herself, "Philip has
+been so sweet and good to me while you were away. You remember that you,
+yourself, told me that you meant him to take your place as my unofficial
+protector, and that I should go to him with my perplexities. It would
+have been better for me if I had followed your advice closer, but now I
+can laugh at spilt milk."
+
+Rose had already confessed to Donald about her "investment" and been by
+him cross-examined into an admission of her little charities, which, in
+their aggregate, had so nearly wiped out her bank account. She could
+laugh about them now, for she had won to her goal, and already begun to
+earn a livelihood, but she had carefully hidden in her heart the story
+of the bitter struggle in which she had engaged to make both ends meet
+during the last few months of her course, when her mysterious refusals
+to accept any invitations from Ethel, Miss Merriman or Philip for her
+free afternoons and evenings, had left them wondering what on earth she
+was doing. No one guessed that they were spent in earning the few sadly
+needed dollars which her pride forbade her to borrow from any of them.
+
+"Now I can laugh at spilt milk," Smiles' words echoed in Donald's brain,
+and hurt. He knew that Philip was fairly well-to-do, and, of course,
+Rose would want for nothing when she married him. This was the thought
+which brought the poignant stab.
+
+"It was not strange that I began ... that he became very dear to me, was
+it, Donald?"
+
+The man shook his head dumbly. He could not answer her in words.
+
+"Perhaps I should not say it; but some time ago I began to guess that
+... that he loved me. Not that he said a word, Donald, that is, not
+until to-day,--and then he didn't say it," she laughed a little. "He
+_wrote_ it and he ... he asked me to marry him. He said, besides, that
+he had spoken to you, first, and that you had given your brotherly
+consent. It was a very sweet letter, Don; the first real love letter
+that I ever received, think of that!"
+
+Only by clinching his teeth and gripping the arms of the chair could the
+man repress a groan.
+
+"It was after he had ... had saved my life that ..." She stopped, and
+broke into her thought with the words, "Oh, Donald, I can never, never
+forget to-night, and the awful feeling that I had when little Don went
+into the water. You see, you were far away, and I didn't know about that
+brave boy on the beach, so I thought that I had got to save him if I
+could, and I didn't know _how_ I could. And then those black, cold waves
+going over my head! I was quite sure that I was going to die, and I
+almost hoped so for ... for I couldn't find Donny."
+
+She leaned her head against his knee and cried a little; but, when he
+tried to speak, and tell her what had been in his heart, she interrupted
+hastily with, "Oh, please, let's not speak of it, ever again. I know how
+you felt, too.
+
+"It was after that that Philip asked me for my answer. I knew what it
+was going to be, but ..."
+
+Donald could not stand it any longer. "I know. You love him, you are
+going to marry him, Smiles. It's all right, he is a splendid fellow,
+dear," he repeated mechanically.
+
+"Yes, he is, and I do love him," she replied quietly; but she could not
+contain her secret any longer and added, "But a girl can't marry her
+_brother_, Donald."
+
+"Her brother? Please, Rose, don't joke."
+
+"It's true!"
+
+"You! Philip's sister? It's impossible, unbelievable!" Yet a surge of
+mad, uncontrollable joy swept over him, and his heart burst into song.
+
+"Unbelievable, yes. But it's _so_, Donald, although I can hardly credit
+it yet, myself."
+
+"But how? Tell me how you found out. What happened?"
+
+"Don't, you're hurting my hand, Donald. I'll tell you all about it as
+soon as I can, but please don't ask so many questions all at once, and
+please tell me first that you are glad, that my great secret makes you
+happy, as it does me."
+
+"Happy? Oh, great heavens! But you? Are you really pleased? You said
+that you loved him!"
+
+"And so I did, and do ... dearly. But, you see, Donald, although I have
+cared for him for a long, long while, there was something about my
+affection that I could not explain, even to myself. It was ... was
+different, somehow, from what ... from what I felt it must be for the
+man whom I might marry. Now I know that it was the subconscious call of
+the blood, the love of a sister for a brother, and never anything else."
+
+Lifted and swayed by a great happiness and reborn hope, Donald laughed
+aloud.
+
+"Oh, you're a strange little girl, Smiles. I had not realized that you
+were fully grown up until to-night; but now I know that you are a
+woman,--a child no longer. My little Rose would never have tried to be
+so dramatic, nor would she have tried to analyze her love, and label it
+the call of kin, rather than that of a mate. I used to think that you
+were a clear crystal in which I might see reflected your very heart and
+soul, but now you have become a woman and therefore a mystery. Oh,
+woman, what do you know about love? Not the kind that Philip inspired in
+you; but the name which burns unquenchable--which purifies and
+strengthens, or consumes the one who ..." he stopped, surprised at his
+own rush of words,--and abashed.
+
+The hand, which she had slipped unconsciously into his, trembled and
+thrilled him.
+
+"Perhaps ... I do ... know it, Donald," came the words, barely audible.
+
+"Smiles! It isn't possible that you ... that I ... Oh, my dear one,
+don't say anything to make me hope anew, after what I have endured
+to-night unless ..."
+
+"Do you really care, Don? In that _other_ way, I mean."
+
+He stood unsteadily up; things had become unreal and he could not speak.
+Smiles, still holding his hand, rose also. The top of her head came just
+below the level of his eyes; the moonlight across it set her wavy hair
+to shimmering. She could not lift her eyes to his, but with a brave, low
+voice, she went on, when she saw that he would not answer.
+
+"All this past week I have been the most brazen of girls, and
+deliberately given you a hundred chances to tell me, if it were so. I
+was quite sure that it couldn't be, and besides, you told Philip...."
+
+"I know; but I thought ... you see he told me that he loved you, and
+that he was sure that you cared for him."
+
+"I did, just as I do now. Oh, man, you have been so blind, or so noble.
+Have I got to _ask_ you to marry me?"
+
+For the barest instant she looked up at him, and he saw that the smile
+he loved was whimsical as well as madly appealing.
+
+"No," almost shouted Donald. "I won't hear of such a thing as your being
+one of these 'new women.' You're a siren out of the olden days of mystic
+legend, and I have kept my ears stopped up against your witching song,
+which I was afraid to hear. But now I want to hear it, day and night,
+through eternity. Wait, not yet. First ... Smiles, will you marry me?"
+
+"Oh, what an anticlimax! Why did you have to become so practical and
+unromantic, after such a splendid start," she laughed happily. "No lover
+is supposed to ask that question with such brutal bluntness. Come, I
+will teach you the romance of love."
+
+It was dark on the veranda. The moon had suddenly slipped out of sight
+behind one of the laggards in the retreating cloud army; but Donald
+needed no earthly light in order to realize that Rose was holding out
+her arms to him, as simply and frankly as she had five years before.
+
+"Chir-r-r-p, chir-r-r-p, chir-r-r-p," thrilled the cricket underneath
+the porch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+A LOST BROTHER
+
+
+How long it may have been before the man, eager as he was to hear the
+full explanation of the seeming miracle through which his happiness had
+been made possible, was ready to urge Rose to tell the story which she
+had promised, and what whispered words the cricket heard in the interim,
+concern only the three of them.
+
+When, at last, he was able to bring his winging thoughts down from the
+clouds to earth, it was to discover still another unsuspected trait in
+the woman who had become his all; for Smiles, eager and excited, was
+still dwelling in a world of romance, and she insisted upon recounting
+what had happened, almost verbatim, and in a dramatic manner quite
+unlike the simplicity which naturally characterized her speech.
+
+Nor could Donald's commonplace interruptions, during the course of which
+he affirmed that fact _was_ stranger than fiction and that the world
+_was_ a small place after all, check her narrative.
+
+"I don't know whether I can make you understand why I acted as I did,
+when Philip asked me for my answer, dear. Indeed, I hardly know,
+myself," she began. "It wasn't that I didn't know what I had got to
+tell him, for I had made up my mind long ago--at least, it seems long
+ago, although it was only this morning, when I got his letter. Much as I
+cared for him, my heart knew that there was only one man in the world
+for me--even though he appeared not to want me!"
+
+The digression caused a further and wholly natural delay.
+
+"Perhaps it was because I hated to hurt him, and wanted desperately to
+postpone the evil moment; but, at any rate, I begged him to wait, and
+said that he didn't know all the facts about me. I told him that I
+wasn't sure that I ought to marry any one. And that was true, Donald.
+I've often worried about it, for I didn't know anything about my
+parents, and heredity counts for so much, doesn't it?
+
+"Of course he replied, just as I might have expected, that he didn't
+know what I meant, but that nothing else could possibly matter to him,
+if only I ... I cared.
+
+"But I said that I had to explain,--I guess that I was a little
+panic-stricken, he seemed so deadly in earnest,--and then I told him
+that I wasn't Big Jerry's grandchild really, but only a little waif whom
+he had taken in. 'So, you see, I am a nameless girl, Philip,' I said. 'I
+don't mean it in a bad sense, for I know that I had a dear father and
+mother, whom I just barely remember, but....'
+
+"I don't know exactly what I was going to add, but he broke in with,
+'What earthly difference do you think that could make to me, dear?' And
+then he told me that he _knew_ I was ... was good and pure, that _any
+one_ who was acquainted with me could see that I must have come from
+sterling stock, even if my parents were simple mountaineers.
+
+"'But they weren't, Phil,' I answered. 'I was a poor little city waif,
+who had lost her parents and didn't know where she came from, or even
+her name.' And then I told him the story which Big Jerry told you that
+first night on the mountain.
+
+"And then, Donald, then it was my turn to be surprised, for Philip
+grasped my arm until he hurt me, and cried, 'I can't believe it, Rose. I
+_won't_ believe it!'
+
+"I didn't know what to say, and somehow I felt both hurt and a little
+angry that it should make any difference in his love--yes, I did, in
+spite of the fact that I couldn't marry him anyway. Yet, at the same
+time, I had an impression that it wasn't that, but something quite
+different, which was troubling his heart. So I said, 'What is it,
+Philip? I do not understand why you are acting so strangely.'
+
+"His only reply was to ask me, in an odd voice, when it happened; how
+long ago.
+
+"I told him 'eighteen years, when I was a baby about three years old.'
+Don, I can't tell you how I felt then, for he looked so peculiar--almost
+as though he were stunned. And he could not seem to say anything. I was
+frightened. I begged him to speak to me, and told him that he looked as
+though he had seen a ghost. 'I have ... at least I have if my suspicion
+is true. But it can't be; oh, it is unbelievable, impossible,' he broke
+out.
+
+"I didn't know what to say or do, he looked almost as though he were ...
+were not in his right mind; and, when I put my hand on his arm and
+begged him to tell me what the trouble was, he shook it off, and began
+to speak ... oh, I cannot tell you how. It sounded as though some one
+else were speaking, and uttering the words hesitatingly.
+
+"'Try and remember, Smiles. Call on your memory of the long ago, if
+there is a single spark of it still lingering in your mind. Oh, it means
+so much, dear, so much that I am almost afraid to ask the question, but
+I have got to, I have got to!'
+
+"He waited until I thought I should go mad, Don, and then said, in
+little more than a whisper, 'Did you ever, back in your babyhood, hear
+the name, Anna Rose Young? Think, Smiles, think hard.'
+
+"Perhaps you will not believe it; but it seemed as though something long
+forgotten were actually stirring in my heart, and as though it were
+groping blindly in the mists of memory. I could not be sure, yet
+something forced me to answer, uncertainly, 'Yes, I think, I believe
+that I do remember that name; but I don't know where I could have heard
+it. What do you mean, Philip?'
+
+"His answer surprised me as much as the first question, for he said,
+'Was it in ... Louisville?'
+
+"'Louisville? I have never been there, Philip. And yet....' There was
+the strange stir in my memory again. Oh, it was all so puzzling.
+
+"'Anna Rose Young,' he repeated insistently. 'They called her Rose,
+because ... because her mother's name was the same.'
+
+"'They called _her_ ... Philip, I do remember, now. It's my own name!
+Oh, Philip, you know who I am! But how, Phil?' I was clinging to him as
+though I must draw the truth from him physically; but he went on, almost
+mechanically, and his breath came hard, I could feel him tremble, Don."
+
+Now her own low voice was trembling excitedly.
+
+"'A tall, slender man, who stooped a little, Smiles,' he said. 'His face
+was thoughtful and kindly. He had a close-clipped, pointed beard, and
+wore gold-rimmed spectacles, and his eyes were very blue, as blue as
+your own, Rose. Tell me, does the picture mean anything to you?'
+
+"I tried to visualize it, Don, and I could, as though it were some one
+far, far off whom I could see through the mist.
+
+"'My daddy, Philip,' I whispered; I could hardly speak at all, for my
+throat was aching and I was crying."
+
+She was crying, now, but did not realize it.
+
+"'A sweet-faced woman, with wavy brown hair in which were golden glints
+like yours,' he went on, monotonously; but this time I could not answer
+at all."
+
+Smiles stopped, and, for an instant, sobbed without restraint, with her
+head against Donald's arm, and he ran his hand tenderly and unsteadily
+over her hair.
+
+Then she lifted her face, bathed in tears, and whispered, "You
+understand, don't you, Don? After all the years, to remember, ever so
+vaguely; but, still, to remember my former life, and to know my own
+name! Oh, I can't help it ... I couldn't when he told me."
+
+"Yes, yes. I understand, dearest."
+
+"Philip went on, desperately, it seemed to me. 'Another picture, Smiles.
+Can you see a spindle-legged, mischievous boy of ten, who loved his
+little sister dearly; but teased her from morning until night. His name
+was ...'
+
+"'Tilly! Oh, I remember. At least, that was what baby Rose called him.'
+
+"'Yes, she called him Tilly. She called him that because ... because she
+couldn't say ... "Philip." Oh, little Rose, don't you understand? I came
+to find a wife, and I have found ... a sister!'"
+
+"But, his name ..." interrupted Donald.
+
+"I know. I will tell you. But first, Donald, my poor father and mother.
+I thought that perhaps I was to find them, too; but God willed
+otherwise. Big Jerry was right. They ... they were both drowned."
+
+Eager as he was to hear the rest of the story, the man could not but
+keep silent, in understanding sympathy, until she was ready to proceed
+of her own accord. It was once more as Smiles herself had written in her
+letter to him, after Big Jerry's death. Happiness was tinged with grief,
+for the night's strange disclosures had re-opened an old wound, long
+since closed.
+
+Finally she went on.
+
+"I won't try to tell you the explanation in Philip's words; but it seems
+that we used to live in Louisville. Philip's own father was a well-to-do
+physician, named, of course, Dr. Bentley. He died when Phil was a baby,
+and, when he was seven years old, mother married Mr. Robert Young, a
+mining engineer. I was born a year later--I am really his half-sister,
+you see."
+
+"But," interrupted Donald, "I should think that the name Philip Bentley
+might have stirred a responsive chord in your memory before this--no, I
+don't suppose that it would have, after all, for you were so small that
+you didn't remember your own last name."
+
+"Yes, and not only that, but Philip was always called 'Young'--when he
+was a boy, anyway. Well, it seems that, when he was ten, and I was
+three, he was sent all alone to visit an uncle, a brother of his own
+father, who lived in Richmond. It was while he was away for the summer
+that my dear father was sent into the Cumberland Mountains between
+Kentucky and Virginia, prospecting for coal on behalf of the company in
+the employ of which he was. He took mother and me with him for a
+camping vacation, and ... and you know as much as I about the tragedy
+which separated us, and made such changes in our lives."
+
+Rose paused again, a prey to memory.
+
+"And then?" prompted Donald, gently.
+
+"Then, Philip said, when no word came from his parents for several
+weeks, his uncle left no stone unturned to find them, and at length the
+Federal Revenue authorities located the bodies of my dear mother and
+father, and part of their wrecked canoe, in the swift river, almost at
+the foot of the mountains. Of course every one assumed that I had ...
+had been drowned, too."
+
+"Oh, thank God that you were not, my dear," breathed Donald, so softly
+that she could not hear him.
+
+"Then Philip went to live permanently with his uncle, who raised and
+educated him as one of his own sons. Of course he took his real name
+again. Oh, Donald, isn't it too wonderful?"
+
+"Yes, dear heart, wonderful, indeed." There was a long silence. Then
+Donald asked, softly, "And Philip? How does he feel?"
+
+"He ... he is happy, too," came her reply, somewhat haltingly. "Of
+course, just at first ... oh, please don't ask me, Don. But now he is
+content, for he knows that I ... I couldn't ever have been anything else
+to him, because I loved ano.... I loved _you_."
+
+"He knows that? Rose, you didn't tell him?"
+
+"Yes, I did," she answered, bravely. "And let me tell _you_, sir, that
+it is lucky for you that ... that you asked me; for, if you hadn't, you
+would have had my big brother to deal with!"
+
+And what the cricket heard _then_, has nothing to do with this story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE HALLOWED MOON
+
+
+They were to be married early in September--just a month from the day
+when Smiles so nearly gave her life to save another's.
+
+During the days which must pass before she became Donald's in
+the full trinity of body, mind and soul, his family kept her at
+Manchester-by-the-Sea and each hour bound her more closely to the heart
+of each.
+
+For her, Ethel planned and purchased, sewed and supervised, putting as
+much loving thought into the making of her simple outfit as though it
+was she herself who was to be wedded. The days were busy ones, the
+evening hours rich in love and contentment, for Donald came down from
+the city each night, and the two learned the way to many a secret
+chamber in each other's heart.
+
+Early in the week which was to bring to a close the separate stories of
+the man and maid, and write the first chapter in the single history of
+man and wife, Donald left them to make a brief, but important, trip
+which, he said, could not be postponed; and oh, how empty life seemed to
+Smiles during those few days.
+
+But they were ended at last, and the marriage evening came,--still and
+mellow, with the voices of both shore and sea tuned to soft night
+melodies.
+
+Below in the hall, hidden within a bower of palms, an orchestra of
+Boston Symphony players drew whispering harmonies from the strings of
+violins, harp and cello, and, at the signal, swept into the dreamy,
+enchanted notes of Mendelssohn's marriage song.
+
+Little Don, very proud and important--and somewhat frightened--picked up
+the train which he was to bear as page, and down the winding stairway,
+by the side of her new-found brother, moved Rose, gowned in traditional
+white, made with befitting simplicity, her shimmering hair no longer
+crowned with the square of a nurse cap, but by a floating, misty veil
+and the orange-blossom wreath of a bride. Never had her warm coloring
+been so delicate and changeful, her expressive eyes so deep, or the
+fleeting sweetness of her translucent smile so wonderful.
+
+At the foot of the stairs stood Muriel, and three other girl companions,
+each with a woven sweetgrass basket--made years ago by little Smiles
+herself--filled with rose petals to be strewn in her path, and the
+bride's lowered eyes rested tenderly for a moment upon the child that
+she so loved. Then she started, and paused. One of them, as tall as
+Muriel and more slender, had hair of spun gold, and she was looking up
+with an eagerness which she could hardly restrain.
+
+With a low, surprised cry, Smiles hurried downward, drawing her hand
+from Philip's arm and extending both her own.
+
+"Little Lou. Can it really be you? Oh, my dear."
+
+And, heedless of the cluster of waiting friends beyond, she caught the
+flushing, bashful, happy child into her arms.
+
+"Oh, Smiles, haint hit all too wonderful. Hit's like dreamy-land, an'
+I'm plumb erfeered thet I'll wake up an' find hit haint real. But
+_yo're_ real, my Smiles, an' oh, how I loves ye."
+
+There was a suspicious moisture in more eyes than those of Rose, as she
+released the child and moved forward again, following the flower girls
+into the room where waited the man who was all in all to her.
+
+Donald stood just to one side of a canopied altar made of white roses
+and interwoven ferns, and before it was a tall, slender man in the
+vestments of the Episcopal Church, whose thin, saintlike face was topped
+by hair of the purest silver-white.
+
+Smiles felt her heart swelling almost painfully with a great new
+happiness; her lips parted, and she wanted to draw her hand across her
+eyes and brush away the sudden tears which she knew were there. For the
+rector was her own dear Mr. Talmadge.
+
+Now Donald was at her side, and his strong fingers were returning the
+grateful, loving pressure of her own. _He_ understood how full of
+gratitude was her heart, and was repaid.
+
+The low, clear voice, tuned to the winds of the forest, began the words
+of the beautiful service. It was, indeed, all a dream, and she felt the
+unreality of it until the benediction had been spoken, and the hidden
+orchestra struck the first joyous chords of the triumphant march from
+Lohengrin. Then, from her husband's arms she turned to the embrace of
+the mountain minister, and of Philip, and little Lou, and Gertrude
+Merriman, and Dorothy Roberts, and of all those other friends, old and
+new, who were so dear to her.
+
+No explanations were possible for many minutes to come; but at length
+she heard the story of the secret trip "which could not be postponed,"
+of how "the reverend"--now well and strong at last--had gladly consented
+to leave his beloved mountain home, for the first time in many, many
+years, and come north on this sacredest of missions; of how Judd had
+yielded to the request that Lou accompany them, too; and finally of how
+her mountain lover of the old days was now himself married--to none
+other than the youngest daughter of the kindly agent at Fayville.
+
+And when this news was told, Donald cried, "Why, Smiles, for shame! I
+actually believe that you are jealous," and she replied, "Of course I am
+... horribly." Whereupon every one laughed at her, and her husband
+punished her with a kiss.
+
+It was ended at last, the lights, merry voices and laughter; and, as the
+two ran the ancient gantlet, the orchestra, prompted thereto by Mr.
+MacDonald, struck up a lively popular air, and the guests caught up the
+words.
+
+They paused a moment on the path below the veranda, to quiet their
+hurried breathing, and look into each other's happy eyes.
+
+"Where do we go from here?" _They_ knew. There had been but one spot in
+all the world whose name both their hearts had spoken, when Donald first
+mentioned the honeymoon to be.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Evening again--twilight on the Cumberland mountains. The moon had not
+yet risen; but, through the black lacework of the forest trees which
+stretched above Big Jerry's cabin to the mountain's summit, shone the
+beaming radiance of the evening star.
+
+Within the soft shadow of the doorway stood two figures, close
+together--one tall, broad of shoulder and heavily built, the other of
+medium height, slender and very graceful--and their arms were about each
+other's waists. A man and a woman,--as it was in the beginning.
+
+For a long time they stood thus, without speaking,--there was no need of
+speech, for their thoughts were one.
+
+"So old and well remembered; yet so new and strangely beautiful,"
+whispered the woman, as she let her gaze travel over the broken,
+far-stretching skyline of the forest-clad mountain side, now fading
+into the sky, where a memory of the sunset's afterglow still lingered,
+as though loath to depart and leave the world to darkness.
+
+"Like love: as old as the hills, yet ever new," answered the other.
+
+"Yes. I cannot yet understand, Don, how this new life can be so
+strangely natural to me. We have been married only three all-too-short
+days, yet I can scarcely think of the other life as real. Some people
+speak of their honeymoon as a golden dream. To me it is the sweet
+reality, and all that went before the dream. Isn't it odd?"
+
+"All of nature's laws are inexplicable, dear heart. But we should not
+forget that the Almighty's plan for the world did not deal with man and
+woman as separate entities, but man and woman as counterparts of a
+single unit, in which His laws should find full expression, if the two
+were truly mated--not merely married. You remember what Mr. Talmadge
+said that night."
+
+"I know. We have found, not each other, but the other part of
+ourselves--ourself. Dear, when did you first realize that it was so?"
+
+"My mind, not until it was free to face the truth; my subconscious soul
+the first moment that I saw you, I think."
+
+"I know I loved you from that moment too," she answered simply, lifting
+her lips for his kiss.
+
+There followed another spell of enchanted silence, broken only by the
+low lullaby of the night wind in the trees, and then the man spoke
+again.
+
+"Smiles, are you still greatly afraid of the sea?"
+
+"No, dear, I should not be, if you were with me. It is strange; but I
+lost most of the old, unreasoning fear the moment that I made up my mind
+to jump into it that afternoon. But, why do you ask that now, Donald?"
+He did not reply at once, and she continued, "I think that I know, and
+the same thought was in my own mind. Is it that you want to go to France
+again, to renew the saving work there,--and want me with you?"
+
+He nodded slowly.
+
+"If you hadn't suggested it, I should have, Don; for now I am doubly
+prepared for the work I began to long to do, so many years ago. I am not
+only trained for it, but I have you beside me, to comfort and strengthen
+me, always.
+
+"Yes, dear," she went on softly. "Some day, God grant, we shall have
+little ones of our own to care for; but, until that beautiful time
+comes, there are no less precious babies throughout all the world--and
+there, especially--crying for us to help them. We must give of our best
+to them, for, weak, tender and helpless as they are, the hope of the
+world is in its babies."
+
+Through the dark tree-tops the new-born moon appeared on the breast of
+night, around it a misty halo like that about the head of the Infant
+who came nineteen centuries ago, typifying the hope of all mankind.
+
+"Look," said Donald. "Our honeymoon wears a halo."
+
+"Because it is a hallowed moon," answered Rose.
+
+The soft white radiance floated in, flooding the little porch and
+illuminating the wife's sweet face as she lifted it again, now touched
+with a smile, more meaningful and more ethereal than ever before.
+
+For, to the smile of courage, hope and love, had been added the quality
+of rich, deep contentment.
+
+THE END
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE
+
+A Romance
+
+By Eliot Harlow Robinson
+
+Author of "Smiles: A Rose of the Cumberlands," "Smiling Pass," "The
+Maid of Mirabelle," etc.
+
+Cloth, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+"What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh."
+
+Mr. Robinson's distinguished success came with the acclaim accredited to
+his novel, SMILES, "The Best-Loved Book of the Year," and its sequel,
+SMILING PASS. With delicate humor and a sincere faith in the beautiful
+side of human nature, Mr. Robinson has created for himself a host of
+enthusiastic admirers. In his new book he chooses a theme, suggested
+perhaps by the old proverb quoted above ("Pilpay's Fables"). His setting
+is a Quaker village, his theme the conflict between grave Quaker ideals
+and the strength and hot blood of impulsive Mark Gray.
+
+Here is a book that is worthy of the reception accorded SMILES by all
+readers who appreciate a story of deep significance, simply yet
+powerfully built upon fundamental passions, wrought with a philosophy
+that always sees the best in troubled times.
+
+The enthusiastic editor who passed on MARK GRAY'S HERITAGE calls
+it--hardly too emphatically--"A mighty good story with plenty of
+entertainment for those who like action (there is more of that in it
+than in any other of Mr. Robinson's novels). The reading public will
+unquestionably call it another courage book'--which they called the
+SMILES books, you know. The language is both strong and smooth. The
+story has a punch!"
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+POLLY THE PAGAN
+
+Her Lost Love Letters
+
+By Isabel Anderson
+
+With an appreciative Foreword by Basil King
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+Isabel Anderson, who heretofore has confined her literary talents to
+writing of presidents and diplomats and fascinating foreign lands,
+contributes to our list her first novel, POLLY THE PAGAN, a story of
+European life and "high society." The story is unfolded in the lively
+letters of a gay and vivacious American girl traveling in Europe, and
+tells of the men whom she meets in Paris, in London or Rome, her
+flirtations (and they are many and varied!) and exciting experiences.
+Among the letters written to her are slangy ones from an American
+college boy and some in broken English from a fascinated Russian Prince
+(or was he disillusioned, when after dining at a smart Parisian cafe
+with the adorable Polly he was trapped by secret police?); but the chief
+interest, so far as Polly's _affaires d'amour_ are concerned, centers
+around the letters from a young American, in the diplomatic service in
+Rome, who is in a position to give intimate descriptions of smart life
+and Italian society.
+
+The character drawing is clever, and the suspense as to whom the
+fascinating Polly will marry, if indeed the mysterious young lady will
+marry anybody, is admirably sustained.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+UNCLE MARY
+
+A Novel for Young or Old
+
+By Isla May Mullins
+
+Author of "The Blossom Shop" books, "Tweedie," etc.
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75
+
+Since the great success of POLLYANNA there have been many efforts to
+achieve the "GLAD BOOK" style [Trade Mark] of fiction, but none so
+successful as Mrs. Mullins' UNCLE MARY.
+
+Here is a story, charming in its New England village setting, endearing
+in its characters, engrossing in its plot, and diverting in its style.
+The PAGE imprint has been given to many books about beautiful characters
+in fiction,--Pollyanna, Anne Shirley, Rose Webb of "SMILES," and Lloyd
+Sherman of the "LITTLE COLONEL" books. To this galaxy we now add "Uncle"
+Mary's protege, Libbie Lee.
+
+Mrs. Mullins is an author gifted with the ability to appeal to the young
+in heart of whatever age. Her characters are visually portrayed. Her
+situations have the interest of naturalness and suspense. The reader of
+UNCLE MARY will become in spirit an inhabitant of Sunfield; will
+understand the enjoyment of the sudden acquisition of wealth, a
+limousine, and--an adopted child (!), by the sisters, "Uncle" Mary and
+"Aunt" Alice; will watch with interest the thawing and rejuvenation of
+"Uncle" Mary, the cure of Alice, and the solving of the mystery of the
+wealth of sweet little Libbie Lee.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE RED CAVALIER
+
+Or, The Twin Turrets Mystery
+
+By Gladys Edson Locke
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+Here is a mystery story that is different! The subtlety and strangeness
+of India--poison and daggers, the impassive faces and fierce hearts of
+Prince Bardai and his priestly adviser; a typical English week-end house
+party in the mystery-haunted castle, Twin Turrets, in Yorkshire; a vivid
+and contrasting background.
+
+And the plot! Who is the mysterious Red Cavalier? Is he the ghost of the
+ancestral portrait, that hangs in Sir Robert Grainger's strange library?
+Is he flesh and blood, and responsible for the marauding thefts in the
+neighborhood? Is he responsible for Prince Kassim's murder? Or is it
+only coincidence that one of the guests at the masked ball happened to
+wear the costume of the Red Cavalier?
+
+Miss Locke has been able to weave a weird and absorbing tale of modern
+detective romance, the strangeness of India in modern England.
+
+There is Lady Berenice Coningsby, a bit _declasse_; Ethelyn Roydon, more
+so; Princess Lona Bardai, "Little Lotus-Blossom," sweet and pathetic;
+Mrs. Dalrymple, the woman of mystery; Miss Vandelia Egerton, the
+spinster owner of Twin Turrets. There is dashing Max Egerton and the
+impeccable Lord Borrowdean; Captain Grenville Coningsby; Prince Kassim
+Bardai, with the impenetrable eyes, and Chand Talsdad, his venerable
+adviser. Which of them is the Red Cavalier?
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Selections from The Page Company's List of Fiction
+
+WORKS OF
+ELEANOR H. PORTER
+
+POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book (510,000)
+Trade Mark     Trade Mark
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+Mr. Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist, in an editorial for the
+_Philadelphia North American_, says: "And when, after Pollyanna has gone
+away, you get her letter saying she is going to take 'eight steps'
+to-morrow--well, I don't know just what you may do, but I know of one
+person who buried his face in his hands and shook with the gladdest sort
+of sadness and got down on his knees and thanked the Giver of all
+gladness for Pollyanna."
+
+POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book. Mary Pickford edition
+Trade Mark     Trade Mark
+
+Illustrated with thirty-two half-tone reproductions of scenes from the
+motion picture production, and a jacket with a portrait of Mary Pickford
+in color.
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25
+
+While preparing "Pollyanna" for the screen, Miss Pickford said
+enthusiastically that it was the best picture she had ever made in her
+life, and the success of the picture on the screen has amply justified
+her statement. Mary Pickford's interpretation of the beloved little
+heroine as shown in the illustrations, adds immeasurably to the
+intrinsic charm of this popular story.
+
+POLLYANNA GROWS UP: The Second GLAD Book
+Trade Mark (253,000)           Trade Mark
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+When the story of POLLYANNA told in The _Glad_ Book was ended, a great
+cry of regret for the vanishing "Glad Girl" went up all over the
+country--and other countries, too. Now POLLYANNA appears again, just as
+sweet and joyous-hearted, more grown up and more lovable.
+
+"Take away frowns! Put down the worries! Stop fidgeting and
+disagreeing and grumbling! Cheer up, everybody! POLLYANNA has come
+back!"--_Christian Herald_.
+
+MISS BILLY (93rd thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+G. Tyng, $1.90
+
+"There is something altogether fascinating about 'Miss Billy,' some
+inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to demand the individual
+attention of the reader from the moment we open the book until we
+reluctantly turn the last page."--_Boston Transcript_.
+
+MISS BILLY'S DECISION (78th thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+Henry W. Moore, $1.90
+
+"The story is written in bright, clever style and has plenty of action
+and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are her friends."--_New
+Haven Leader_.
+
+MISS BILLY--MARRIED (86th thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by
+W. Haskell Coffin, $1.90
+
+"Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss Billy is
+just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just as much gladness.
+She disseminates joy so naturally that we wonder why all girls are not
+like her."--_Boston Transcript_.
+
+SIX STAR RANCH (95th thousand)
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell, $1.90
+
+"'Six Star Ranch' bears all the charm of the author's genius and is
+about a little girl down in Texas who practices the 'Pollyanna
+Philosophy' with irresistible success. The book is one of the kindliest
+things, if not the best, that the author of the Pollyanna books has
+done. It is a welcome addition to the fast-growing family of _Glad_
+Books."--_Howard Russell Bangs in the Boston Post_.
+
+CROSS CURRENTS
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50
+
+"To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its sorrows as
+well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal."--_Book News
+Monthly_.
+
+THE TURN OF THE TIDE
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated, $1.50
+
+"A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to the
+development of the life of a dear little girl into a true and good
+woman."--_Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio._
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVELS BY
+
+ELIOT HARLOW ROBINSON
+
+Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.90
+
+A book which has established its author in the front rank of American
+novelists.
+
+SMILES, A ROSE OF THE CUMBERLANDS (29th thousand)
+
+E. J. Anderson, former managing Editor of the Boston _Advertiser_ and
+_Record_, is enthusiastic over the story and says:
+
+"I have read 'Smiles' in one reading. After starting it I could not put
+it down. Never in my life have I read a book like this that thrilled me
+half as much, and never have I seen a more masterful piece of writing."
+
+SMILING PASS: A Sequel to "SMILES," A Rose of the Cumberlands
+
+The thousands who have read and loved Mr. Robinson's earlier story of
+the little Cumberland mountain girl, whose bright courage won for her
+the affectionate appellation of "Smiles," will eagerly welcome her
+return.
+
+"Applied sociology, mixed with romance and adventure that rise to real
+dramatic intensity. But the mixture is surprisingly successful. The
+picture impresses one as being faithfully drawn from the living models
+with sympathetic understanding. The book is effective."--_New York
+Evening Post_.
+
+THE MAID OF MIRABELLE: A Romance of Lorraine
+
+Illustrated with reproductions of sketches made by the author, and with
+a portrait of "The Maid of Mirabelle," from a painting by Neale Ordayne,
+on the cover.
+
+"The spirit of all the book is the bubbling, the irrepressibly
+indomitable, cheerful faith of the people, at their very best, against
+the grave Quakerism from the United States standing out grimly but
+faithfully. The tale is simply, but strongly told."--_Montreal Family
+Herald and Weekly Star_.
+
+MAN PROPOSES; Or, The Romance of John Alden Shaw
+
+"This is first of all a charming romance, distinguished by a fine
+sentiment of loyalty to an ideal, by physical courage, indomitable
+resolution to carry to success an altruistic undertaking, a splendid
+woman's devotion, and by a vein of spontaneous, sparkling humor that
+offsets its more serious phases."--_Springfield Republican_.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE ROMANCES OF
+
+L. M. MONTGOMERY
+
+Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (364th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus.
+
+"In 'Anne of Green Gables' you will find the dearest and most moving and
+delightful child since the immortal Alice."--_Mark Twain in a letter to
+Francis Wilson_.
+
+"I take it as a great test of the worth of the book that while the young
+people are rummaging all over the house looking for Anne, the head of
+the family has carried her off to read on his way to town."--_Bliss
+Carman_.
+
+ANNE OF AVONLEA (259th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs.
+
+"Here we have a book as human as 'David Harum,' a heroine who outcharms
+a dozen princesses of fiction, and reminds you of some sweet girl you
+know, or knew back in the days when the world was young."--_San
+Francisco Bulletin_.
+
+CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (45th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs.
+
+"The author shows a wonderful knowledge of humanity, great insight and
+warmheartedness in the manner in which some of the scenes are treated,
+and the sympathetic way the gentle peculiarities of the characters are
+brought out."--_Baltimore Sun_.
+
+ANNE OF THE ISLAND (68th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by H. Weston Taylor.
+
+"It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of Anne, and the
+privilege of being on intimate terms with her throughout the process has
+been properly valued. The once little girl of Green Gables should have a
+permanent fictional place of high yet tender esteem."--_New York
+Herald_.
+
+FURTHER CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (20th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by John Goss.
+
+Nathan Haskell Dole compares Avonlea to Longfellow's Grand Pre--and
+says, "There is something in these continued chronicles of Avonlea like
+the delicate art which has made Cranford a classic."
+
+"The reader has dipped into but one or two stories when he realizes that
+the author is the most natural story teller of the day."--_Salt Lake
+City Citizen_.
+
+ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: The Mary Miles Minter Edition
+
+Illustrated with twenty-four half-tone reproductions of scenes from the
+motion picture production, and a jacket in colors with Miss Minter's
+portrait.
+
+Cloth decorative, 12mo, $2.25
+
+"You pass from tears to laughter as the story unfolds, and there is
+never a moment's hesitation in admitting that Anne has completely won
+your heart."--Joe Mitchell Chapple, Editor, _The National Magazine_.
+
+"Mary Miles Minter's 'Anne' on the screen is worthy of Mark Twain's
+definition of her as the 'dearest and most moving and delightful child
+since the immortal "Alice."'"--_Cambridge Tribune_.
+
+KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (52d thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+"A purely idyllic love story full of tender sentiment, redolent with the
+perfume of rose leaves and breathing of apple blossoms and the sweet
+clover of twilight meadow-lands."--_San Francisco Bulletin_.
+
+"A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the sweet and
+simple life of the primitive environment."--_Boston Herald_.
+
+THE STORY GIRL (46th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+"It will be read and, we venture to predict, reread many times, for
+there is a freshness and sweetness about it which will help to lift the
+load of care, to cheer the weary and to make brighter still the life of
+the carefree and the happy."--_Toronto, Can., Globe_.
+
+"'The Story Girl' is of decidedly unusual conception and interest, and
+will rival the author's earlier books in popularity."--_Chicago Western
+Trade Journal_.
+
+THE GOLDEN ROAD (28th thousand)
+
+Illustrated by George Gibbs. Cloth decorative, 12mo, $1.90
+
+In which it is proven that "Life was a rose-lipped comrade with purple
+flowers dripping from her fingers."
+
+"It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now and then, by
+delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos. Any true-hearted human
+being might read this book with enjoyment, no matter what his or her
+age, social status, or economic place."--_Chicago Record-Herald_.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVELS BY
+
+ISLA MAY MULLINS
+
+Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75
+
+THE BLOSSOM SHOP: A Story of the South
+
+"Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and lovable--as is a fairy
+tale properly told."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_.
+
+ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP: Or, the Growing Up of Anne Carter
+
+"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing as
+a breeze that blows through a pine forest."--_Albany Times-Union_.
+
+ANNE'S WEDDING
+
+"Presents a picture of home life that is most appealing in love and
+affection."--_Every Evening, Wilmington, Del_.
+
+THE MT. BLOSSOM GIRLS
+
+"In the writing of the book the author is at her best as a story teller.
+It is a fitting climax to the series."--_Reader_.
+
+TWEEDIE: The Story of a True Heart
+
+"The story itself is full of charm and one enters right into the very
+life of Tweedie and feels as if he had indeed been lifted into an
+atmosphere of unselfishness, enthusiasm and buoyant optimism."--_Boston
+Ideas_.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+NOVELS BY
+
+DAISY RHODES CAMPBELL
+
+THE FIDDLING GIRL
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65
+
+"A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful vein of
+sympathetic comprehension."--_Boston Herald_.
+
+THE PROVING OF VIRGINIA
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65
+
+"A book which contributes so much of freshness, enthusiasm, and healthy
+life to offset the usual offerings of modern fiction, deserves all the
+praise which can be showered upon it."--_Kindergarten Review_.
+
+THE VIOLIN LADY
+
+Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65
+
+"The author's style remains simple and direct, as in her preceding
+books."--_Boston Transcript_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Smiles', by Eliot H. Robinson
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'SMILES' ***
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