The Doctor

Barney's mother, who, with a group of girls and Mr. McLeod, had been waiting for them. As they drove in

outin' like a stuck pig. What happened afther, it's mesilf can't tell ye at all, for I was restin' quietly by mesilf on the floor on the broad av me back, an' naither av thim takin' annythin' to do wid me except to drown me wid watther betune times. Indeed, it's himsilf is the born

he dancing had ceased, and suddenly up through the silence there rose a voice in song to the accompaniment of some stringed instrument. It was an ar

hat?" cried Barney,

know not, but it's likely yon strange girl

Sheriff Hossie. Her father was a colonel in the Southern army, California or Virginia or some place, I don't just remember. Oh! I know all about her, Alec told me," continued Teen

again the voice was rising up clear and full into the night silence. Even

ey," continued Teenie wickedly. "You'll j

ch lassie as yon in my house," s

id Margaret softly, "an

l be going, too, and you with four little ones to do for, not to speak of the

ng fast the horse to the waggon, he set off for

ows what's in that lad. But he'll stir the world yit, an' s

re and romantic beauty framed in soft, fluffy, dark hair, brushed high off the forehead and gathered in a Greek knot at the back of her head. But besides the beauty of face and eyes, there was an air of gentle, appealing innocence that awakened the chivalrous instincts latent in every masculine heart, an

uickly and, seeing Barney, sprang for him, shouting, "Hello! you old wh

!" said Barney, struggling in his

d, half-shamed, half-indignant laugh. The crowd gathered near in delighted expectatio

cried Dick pitifully, to the

ad, Dick,"

t off. It's a shame!" replied Dick, i

Wouldn't stand it a minute

ried Dick, preparin

it your nonsense or I'll throw you on the floor there

s Lane's account I'll forbear, provided, that

sume command in every comp

it to be?

crowd. "'Dixie.' We'll

accompaniment of weird chords. The girl turned herself toward him, her beautiful face lighting up as if she had caught a glimpse of a kindred spirit, and with a new richness and tenderness she poured forth the full flood of her song. The crowd were

only Barney, my brother. Here, Barney, drop your fiddle and be introduced to Miss Iola Lane

floor, and awkwardly offered his hand. With easy, lazy

ft Southern drawl; "it's in you, I can see. No

to get back again to his shadow, "but if you don

'll sing again. What will you

course," said

ntucky home,' e

ith a saucy, defiant look.

k t

d Alec Murray, "esp

n, then turning to Barney, who was playing softly the air

hen I like," he repli

shoulders, "I suppose I

bright on de old

ey's violin, held them breathless. No voice joined in the chorus. As she sang, the subtle telepathic waves came back from her audience to the girl, and with ever-deepening passion and abandon she poured forth into the moonlit silence the full throbbin

he said, smiling up at him with a

k solemnly, "w

and hoarse, and Dick, looking curiously at him, said apol

to Barney. She strummed a few chords on her guitar. "It's

, close youah l

a, don' you g

', an' want you

, let dose mean

OR

by, mammy can

y, de angels

ant you, gu

you, hol' you

, close youah l

, tight about

se, but baby don

' you, hol' you ti

, why you lie s

do Massa want

, don' you know

you, oh, she want

its tender appeal to the mother-chords that somehow vibrate in all human hearts, reached the deep places in the honest hearts of her listeners and for some moments they stood silent about her. I

his partner. But Barney, handing the violin to his father, slipped back into the shadow w

o his mother in a stra

iful?" cried Mar

tice. But great good

doubt," said Mrs. Boyle grimly,

nation, where he must henceforth live and where his work must lie. For the events of the afternoon had summoned a new self into being, a self unfamiliar, but real and terribly insistent, demanding recognition. He could not analyse the change that had come to him, nor could he account for it. He did not try to. He lived again those great moments when, having been thrust by chance into the command of these fifty mighty men, he had swung them to victory. He remembered the ease, the perfect harmony with which his faculties had wrought through those few minutes of fierce struggle. Again he passed through the

orious voice. That was the final magic touch that rolled back the screen and set before him the new world which must henceforth be his. He could not explain that touch. The songs were the old simple airs worn threadbare by long use in the countryside. It was certainly not the songs. Nor was it the singer. Curiously enough, the girl, her personality, her character, worthy or unworthy, had only a subordinate place in his thought. He was conscious of her presence there as a subtle yet powerful influence, but

centre of the stage, that stage had immeasurably extended and was now peopled with other figures, shadowy, it is true, but there, and influential. His brother, who with his mo

, old chap? Is the

one stabbed

Nothing

r a moment steadily regarding his brother, for whom he could easily give his life, with a tr

am the same." A look of startled dismay fell swiftly

y?" said the younger boy, hi

speech came now hurriedly and with difficulty: "And whatever comes to me or to you, Dick, remember I shall never change to you-remember that, Dick, to you I shall never change." His breath was coming in quick gas

old fool, anyway. What in the diggins is the matter with me, I don't know. I guess I want supper, nothing to eat since noon. But all the same, Di

rney and his mother sat together talking over th

in, I am thinking

he reaper and a few meals out of your kitc

the doctor." The indifferent tone

here were things to be done, blood to be stopped, skin to be sew

t Tom Magee might be doing something better th

d never a slip or a stop." He paused abruptly and stood upright looking far away for some moments. "Yes, fine! Splendid!" he continu

and faced him.

tone recal

me. Wh

Ric

nsciously failed in the trust imposed on him. And as Dick developed exceptional brilliance in his school work, together they planned for him, the mother and the older brother, the mother painfully making and saving, the brother accepting as his part the life of plodding obscurity in order that the younger boy might have his full chance of what school and college could do for him. True to the best traditions of her race, the mother had fondly dreamed of a day when she should hear

tting Dick? Of course nothing must stop Dic

nes, and replied almost grudgingly, "Ay, I doubt you will." Then she added h

her son humbly, "and never

d passed. Then, with a great sigh, she said aloud: "Ay, it is the grand doctor he will make. He has the ne