l it as long as I live!" she declared
solemnly.

He laughed. "This will not be so great a tax on your patience as
all that. I hope the secret will be out in a month. The
thistledown, what should you say if I should tell you that Miss
Lucy and I are going to be married?"

Polly sat up straight, her eyes round with astonishment.

"Truly?" she cried.

"Truly!" he nodded.

"Why-ee! I never thought as you like Miss Lucy very much! You
acted just as if you like High Price better!"

The Doctor's shoulders shook with soft laughter.

"And won't Miss Lucy be nurse up in the ward any more?" Poly
queried.

"Not after we are married. We are going to housekeeping. You
know the little brown cottage just beyond Colonel Gresham's?"

"The one with vines all over the piazzas?"

"Yes. That is to be our home."

Polly had dropped back on the Doctor's shoulder, and he, absorbed
in his happy dreams, did not look down to note the shadow that
suddenly swept all joy from the little face. When she spoke
again, it was the tone rather than the words that brought him to
himself with a pang of compunction.

"That--won't be so very far away," she faltered.

"Oh, Polly!" with a quick tightening clasp, "you did n't suppose
we would leave you behind?"

She glanced up in sudden wonder and hope.

"Our home would n't be home without you. You are going with us,
to be our own little daughter! We have it all planned; it has
only awaited your sanction."

Polly lay very still, big teardrops trickling down her cheeks.

"You want to go, Thistledown?" the Doctor asked softly.

"Oh," she breathed, "I don't--dare--speak, for fear--it
is n't real! It is so beautiful!" She stroked his big hand with
her slender little fingers.

"It is very real," he smiled. "You need n't be afraid. We
cannot give you the splendid things that you would have with Mrs.
Jocelyn; but I can promise you all the love that any little girl
could wish for. We want to make your life so happy that you will
lose sight of troublesome times that have gone before."

"I could n't help being happy with you and Miss Lucy." And Polly
suddenly sprang up, flinging her arms around the Doctor's neck,
and resting her cheek against his with almost a sob. "Oh, I wish
mamma knew!" she whispered. "Do you s'pose she does?"

"We will surely hope so," he answered. "It seems to me that
Haven is nearer than some people believe."

"It would make her so happy," Polly went on. "I d