is suit-case once more. He was
going to enlist. This was the end, he could stand no more, he declared.

"Oh, Wallace, Wallace, you will surely break your widowed mother's
heart," declared Mrs. Sutherland in despair. She wept and pleaded.
She made extravagant promises. She would write to Uncle William, she
would even go to see him if he thought best, she would not urge him to
go back to college if he did not want to. She would write Uncle
William about the farm and she would try to make Uncle Peter be more
reasonable if only Wallace would promise that he would not break her
heart by enlisting. Wallace was a warm-hearted boy who could not bear
to look upon distress. So he promised and his mother put aside all her
high hopes and wrote humbly and pleadingly to her brother. Wallace was
really not strong enough to study, the confinement seemed to impair his
health. Peter agreed with her there. He would like to go farming,
there was an excellent chance to buy or rent a place right near the
village. Peter was interested in it and declared that he would like to
retire and go on this farm some day. They felt that Wallace's health
would improve if he had outdoor life, etc.

Whatever the letter contained it proved the key to unlock Uncle
William's closed money box. He was not at all a hard man and his
sister's distress moved him. He wrote that he was glad that the young
cub had sense enough to farm, for it was no use trying to educate him.
But he thought that a military training would be good for a young
fellow's health. However, if he would rather feed the pigs and clean
out the stable than go to college, all right, let him, that was
probably his proper place. The words stung but they were covered by a
most wonderful cheque, with instructions to Uncle Peter to see that the
youngster did not throw it away.

Mrs. Sutherland was relieved even in the midst of her bitter
disappointment. She had had such high ambitions for Wallace and now
there seemed nothing ahead of him but the life of a common farmer. He
would marry Christina Lindsay and probably never go further from home
than Algonquin and William would give all his money to Tom's girls who
had more now than they needed. But there was no alternative, and when
she thought of his enlisting she was thankful that there was something
to keep him at home. The recruiting officers would not trouble a young
man on a farm.

From that time Christina noticed a marked ch