The Doctor

of character, abiding, firm, indomitable. Having seen the goal at which he would arrive, there remained only to find the path and press it. He would be a doctor. The question was, how? His first ste

ion, and asked guidance. The doctor flung difficulties at his head for half an hour

plenty. Money! Dirt, fit to walk on, to make a path with, that's all! Had my boy lived, God knows I'd have made him a surgeon. But-

Barney almost sullenly

g here, then?" he

how to start. Must a

and work up by himself, a terrible handicap, going up for the

," said Barney,

and the chin like a cliff. "You can, eh? Hanged if I don't believe you! And I'll help you

an tell me what books to get and sometimes explain, perhaps, if you have

d him as an equal. He explained in detail the course of study, making much of th

he bent over the boy-"at the post-mortem the knife discovered an abscess on the vermiform appendix. The discovery was made too late." These were the days before appendicitis became fashionable. "Now, listen to me," continued the doctor, even more impressively, "I believe in my soul that the knife at the proper moment might have saved that boy's life! A slight incision an inch or two long, the removal of the diseased part, a few stitches, and in a couple of weeks the boy is well! Ah, boy! God knows I'd give my life to be a great surgeon! But He didn't give me the fingers. Look at these," and he held up a coarse, heavy hand; "I haven't the touch. And besides, He brought me my wife, the best thing I've got in the world, and my baby, which settled the surgeon business forever. Now listen, boy! You've got the nerve-plenty of men have that-but you'v

ed the doctor, readin

to take your bo

if expecting a blow. For a moment they stood steadfastly regarding each other, then the

were meant for a team, and a team we'll make. I'll hel

e cried

eyes began to twinkle. "I want fall

ht broke in his eyes and flooded

book and turning to a page, "Read that. I'll make Ben your first patient. There's no money in it, anyway, and you can't kill him. He only needs three things, cleanliness, good cheer, and

d Barney, aghast, "

"three fiddlesticks! You can do thi

do it," said

ing glance at the line o

ortgage and there'

e? Why Dick's

A tender light fell over it, fi

clever." Pride mingled with the tenderness in look and tone. "Mother

hands on the boy's shoulders. "I understand, boy," he said, his great voice vibrating in deep and tender tones

to his mother in

s, and he says all he wants is cleanliness, good cheer, and good food. I can keep him clean. But ho

ck for company. How many has she now, m

een of them alre

ing place. Let us hope she won't a

" said his mother, speaking with th

orse to defy the fate that lurks in that unlucky number, or to accept the

she is having with th

s an unusual number even fo

s mother, in a shocked to

said four

t twice," inte

Dick, "let us hope she

red Barney seriously

n't tell," sa

'good cheer.' I'll impress the young ladies into this worthy service. Lig

the mother quietly;

re," said Dick; "already I see Ben Fallows

ucceeded in making Mrs. Fallows thoroughly scour the woodwork and whitewash the walls in Ben's little room, urging the doct

em?" inquired Mrs. F

mall in

s in this 'ouse. If ther's one thing I'm pertickler 'bout, it's bugs. John sez to me, sez 'e, 'What's the hodds of a bug or two,

s were to be found in the very highest circles, that Mrs. Fallows was finally appeased. With equal skill he inaugurated his "good food" department, soothing Mrs. Fallo

rgaret had other duties, and, besides, she had associated herself more particularly with Mrs. Boyle in the work of supplementing Mrs. Fallows' somewhat unappetising though entirely substantial meals with delicacies more suited to the sickroom. Dick, however, insisted that with all that Iola and himself in the "good cheer" department and Barney in what he called the "scavenging" depa

, and in a few weeks Ben was far on the way to convalescence. He was never weary in his praises of the "young doctor." It was the "young doctor" who, by changing the bandages, had eased him of the

want," was Ben's final conclusion,