ce and
dignity. But in the days of Nan's student life it was just the
reverse. Though she had been directed toward such a purpose entirely
by her singular talent, instead of by the motives of expediency which
rule the decisions of a large proportion of the young men who study
medicine, she found little encouragement either from the quality of
the school or the interest of society in general. There were times
when she actually resented the prospect of the many weeks which she
must spend in listening to inferior instruction before gaining a
diploma, which was only a formal seal of disapproval in most persons'
eyes. And yet, when she remembered her perfect certainty that she was
doing the right thing, and remembered what renown some women
physicians had won, and the avenues of usefulness which lay open to
her on every side, there was no real drawing back, but rather a proud
certainty of her most womanly and respectable calling, and a reverent
desire to make the best use possible of the gifts God had certainly
not made a mistake in giving her. "If He meant I should be a doctor,"
the girl told herself, "the best thing I can do is to try to be a good
one."

So Nan packed her boxes and said good-by to Mrs. Graham, who looked
wistful and doubtful, but blessed her most heartily, saying she should
miss her sadly in the winter. And Marilla, who had unexpectedly
reserved her opinion of late, made believe that she was very busy in
the pantry, just as she had done when Nan was being launched for
boarding-school. She shook her own floury hands vigorously, and
offered one at last, muffled in her apron, and wished our friend good
luck, with considerable friendliness, mentioning that she should be
glad if Nan would say when she wrote home what shapes they seemed to
be wearing for bonnets in the city, though she supposed they would be
flaunting for Oldfields anyway. The doctor was going too, and they
started for the station much too early for the train, since Dr. Leslie
always suffered from a nervous dread of having an unavoidable summons
to a distant patient at the last moment.

And when the examinations were over, and Nan had been matriculated,
and the doctor had somewhat contemptuously overlooked the building and
its capabilities, and had compared those students whom he saw with his
remembrance of his own class, and triumphantly picked out a face and
figure that looked hopeful here and there; he told himself that like
all new growth