The Doctor

n, with all his apparent frankness, kept the veil over his heart drawn close. To Barney, absorbed in his new work, with its wealth of new ideas and his new ambitions, the "

ugh cheerfully laid aside at the sudden call of duty, could not be quite abandoned without a sense of pain and loss. The break offered by the work of the department in the monotony of her life, the companionship of its members, and, as much

la were making one of their customary calls at the Fallows cottage. It would be for Io

e," she announced as she sh

lady, throwing up her hands aghast

The section couldn't do without her, and the trustees have decided tha

s goin' to leave. My little Joe was that broken-'earted, an

s hadn't engaged her, as 'Maine Jabe' said, 'ther

. Fallows. I'm going in t

t 'ouse! I sez to John, sez I, 'I cawn't do no 'ousekeepin' with all 'em children 'bout my feet. An', bless their 'earts! it's all I kin do to put the bread in their mouths an keep the rags on their backs.' But John sez to me, sez 'e, 'Don't yeh worry, lass, 'bout the rags. Keep 'em full,' sez 'e, 'a full belly never 'eeds a bare back,' sez 'e. That's 'is way. 'E's halways a-comin' over somethin' cleverlike, is John. Lard save

ed Margaret; "are

'ave 'em buried if it's goin' to 'elp any.' 'Oh, come, Benny, that's all nonsense, yeh know,' sez the doctor, puttin' 'im off. But father is terr'ble persistent, an' 'e keeps on an' sez, 'Don't 'is mind know 'e hain't got no toes, doctor? 'Ow can 'is mind feel 'is toes 'urt w'en 'is mind knows 'e hain't got no toes to 'urt?' 'It hain't 'is toes, I tell yeh,' sez the doctor quite short, 'jest the feelin' of 'is toes in 'is mind.' 'The feelin' of 'is toes in 'is mind?' sez father. 'But 'e hain't got no toes to give 'im the feelin' of 'is toes in 'is mind or henywheres else.' 'Dummed old fool!' sez the doctor, quite losin' 'is temper, fer father is terr'ble provokin'. 'It's the feelin' 'is toes used to give 'im, an' that same feelin' of toes keeps up after 'is toes is gone.' 'Well,' sez father, an' me tryin' to ketch 'is eye to make 'im stop, 'I don't git no feelin' of toes till me toes is 'urt. If I don't 'urt 'em, I don't git no feelin' of toes. 'Ow are yeh goin' to start that ther' toe feelin' 'thout no toes to start it?' 'Yeh don't need no toes to start it,' sez the doctor, 'it's the old feelin' of toes a-keepin' up.' 'Ther' hain't no-' 'Look 'ere,' sez 'e, 'I tell yeh it hain't toes, it's the nerves of the toes reachin' up to the brain. Don't yeh see? W'en the toes are 'urt the nerves sends word up to the brain jest like the telegraph.' Then father 'e ponders aw'ile. 'W'ere's them nerves, doctor?' sez 'e. 'In the toes.' 'In the toes? Then w'en them toes is gone them nerves is gone, hain't they?' 'Yes.' 'But the nerve feelin' is ther' still.' This puzzles father some. 'Then,' sez 'e, 'the feelin's in the nerves, an' if ther's no nerves, no feelin's.' 'That's so,' sez the doctor. 'W'en them toes is gone, doctor, the nerves is gone. 'Ow could ther' be any feelin's?' 'Look 'ere,' sez the doctor, an' I was feared 'e was gettin' real mad, 'jest quit it right now.' 'Well, well. All right, doctor,' sez father quite polite, 'I've got a terr'ble inquirin' mind, an' I jest wanted to know.' Then the doctor 'e did seem a little ashamed of 'isself, an' 'e set right down an' sez 'e, 'Look a-'ere, Mr. Fallows, I'll hexplain it to yeh. It's like the telegraph wire. 'Ere's a station we'll call Bradford, an' 'ere's a station we'll call London. Hevery station 'as 'is own call. Bradford station, we

young doctor fetched 'er, an' the minit she begin to sing, poor Benny 'e fergits 'is toes an' 'e soon falls off to sleep, the first 'e 'ad fer two day

rouping of names by Mrs. Fallows, but before she

eh git back. Good-bye, Miss," she said to Margaret. "It does

n her own room preparing for bed that Mar

an I am and why shouldn't everyone like her better?" She shook her fist at her refle

me from Iola's room the

sound, "it's no wonder that she could catch poor Ben and his mo

in, her hair hanging like a dusky curtain about her face.

you." With a sudden rush of penitent feeling for her "mean

, "I am not half so lovely as you. When I see you at home here with all the things to worry you a

ious of a grateful

ce me. Wherever you go the people just fall down and worship you." As she spoke she let down her hair preparatory to

ve people would come to you in difficulty. Yes. That's it," she continued, with her eyes on Margaret's face, "I can please them in a way. I can sing. Yes,

is your beauty and something I cannot describe, something in your manner t

, thoughtful voice. "If I wanted very much I believe I could mak

rgaret impatiently. "You ought to have

her remark, "the women all like

aret impatiently. "When you're a

ola, as if pondering t

scornfully. "Be

garet's face. Margaret caught the glance, and, though enraged at herself, she cou

nown them ever since I was a baby. Why, I used to go swimming with them

boys, I think, that is, if the

ret hotly. "Why, Dick's go

he'll make a funny clergyman. But Bar

be a man, and that's good enoug

ne will ever hear of him. I mean he'll never make any stir." To Iola there was no

"What are you talking about? There are p

ean-of course your father. Well, your

. Go to bed! I must get to sleep. Seven

want everyone to love me. I can't bear to have people not love me. But more than anyone else I want you."

here," kissing her, "good-night. Go

lips trembling pathetically. "You are the only girl friend I eve

cried Margaret gravely. "An

linging fast to her, "don't turn from me.

as if she were a child, "of course I will always l

ou know this is my last nig

orrow night, you remember, and you come back here with me.

t to him. Perhaps his happiest hours were spent in what was known as Barney's workroom, where were various labour-saving machines for churning, washing, and apple-

a crutch, eager to make himself useful, and soon he was not only "pa

, and among these was a visit to the Mill and the Mill people. It was in vain that Dick set before her, with the completeness amounting to demonstration, the reasons why she should make that visit. "Ben needs you," he argued. "And Iola will not come unless with you. Barney and I, weary with

hurried to join the little group under the big willows. They were all there. Ben was set there in the big armchair, Mrs. Boyle with her knitting, for there were no idle hours for her, Margaret with a book which she pretended to read, old Charley smoking in silent content, Iola lazily strumming her guitar and occasionally singing in her low, rich voice some of her old Mammy's songs or plantation hymns. Of these latter, however, Mrs. Boyle wa

Psalms of David, if, indeed, they were not more sacred, and it was with a shock at first that he heard the Southern girl with her "foreign instrument" try over these songs that none but his mother had eve

of their finer shadings and cadences, "and they are quite different with the guitar, too. They are n

t how?" s

uth, just the difference between eating your mother's scones with

y are sweet and beautiful, wonderful, but they are a different kind altog

him. Come, mother," cried

ter yon!" nodding toward Iola. "You wou

eed!" cried Marga

"I have never heard you sing. Inde

grated upon Barney's ea

mother, for the honor of the heather! Give us '

Mac'Intosh,' mother." And he began t

e Mrs. Boyle yield. Something in that tone touched the pride in the old lady's Highland blood. Whe

rating pathos indescribable, the voice rose and fell in all the quaint turns and quavers and cadences that a tune takes on with age. As she sang her song in the soft Gaelic tongue, with hands lying idly in her lap, with

s not the word. Sad, sad." She hid her face in her hands one impulsive moment, then said softly, "I could

f the sea," said

er pain inside," said Ben Fallows

l the lazy indifference gone fro

laying the tune, "your mother used

unting the hi

ocean thy s

ght, Love? wilt

me, love, to

ata, na h

ata, na h

ata, na h

ll, love, wh

uiet with the spell of the

mother," en

ng. There's work to-morrow for

she said, lifting up her great, dark eyes to the old wo

smitten with a sudden pity for the motherless girl. "

ola as well as Margaret coul

t be said to have outlived its usefulness, in that it appears to have created for itself a sphere of operations from which it cannot be withdrawn without injury to all its members.

rney with prom

d Iola, holding

what do

s much need for good

ho stood with Mrs. Boyle's arm th

"-with a somewhat uncertain sm

nstitution in the community here represented, and we earnestly hope that its members will continue in their

oy and of pain lay wrapped up for them al