ying him out, for she wasn't one to blind herself, nor yet to
set herself against the will of Providence." Doctor Brown stormed and
fumed, but Anne Peace begged him to be quiet, and "presumed likely"
she could raise enough to cover the expenses for Delia and the two
older children. 'Twas right and proper, of course, that his wife
should go with him, and David wouldn't have any pleasure in the trip
if he hadn't little Janey and Willy along. He did set so by those
children, it was a privilege to see them together; he was always one
to make of children, David was.

She did raise the extra money, this sweet saint, but she ate no meat
for a month, finding it better for her health. Joey and Georgie Means,
however, never wanted for their bit of steak at noon, and grew fat and
rosy under Miss Peace's kindly roof.

It was a pathetic sight when the sick man took leave of the little
group of friends and neighbours that gathered on the platform at the
station to bid him farewell. He had lost courage, poor David; perhaps
he had not very much to start with, and things had gone hard with him
for a long time. He knew he should never see these faces again, this
homely, friendly place. He gazed about with wistful eyes, noting every
spot in the bare little station. He had known it all by heart, ever
since he was a child, for his father had been station-master. He could
have built the whole thing over, with his eyes shut, he thought, and
now he should never see it again. Yet he was glad to go, in a way,
glad to think, at least, that he should die warm, as his wife
expressed it, and that his tired eyes were going to look on green and
blossoming things, instead of the cold, white beauty which meant
winter to him.

He had scarcely ever left Cyrus for more than a day or two; he had a
vague idea that it was not creditable to go to the other world, and be
able to give so little account of this one. Now, at least, he should
be able to look his seafaring grandfather and his roving uncle in the
face, if so be he should happen to meet them "over yender."

He stood on the platform with his youngest child clasped close in his
arms. This was the hardest part of all, to leave the children. His
wife and the two older children had already taken their places in the
car, and the good-natured conductor stood with his watch in his hand,
willing to give David every second he conscientiously could. He came
from East Cyrus himself, and was a family man.

A