ansformed and radiantly crowned
with the motherhood she had so impotently striven to achieve in her
narrowed, blighted life. The suffering of maternity, its denials and
relinquishings she had experienced, but never its joy of realization,
unless, as her spirit passed from the Place Beyond the Winds to its
Home, it paused beside the little, narrow, white bed upon which Priscilla
lay, and caught that name "Mother!" spoken with a sudden inspiration of
understanding.

And that night, with only her grim husband and Long Jean beside her,
Theodora escaped the bondage of life.

After the strange dream, Priscilla, awed and trembling, walked to the
wide open window of her room. For some moments she stood there breathing
fast and hard while the cruel clutch of superstition hurt and held her.

"Something has happened," she faltered, leaning upon the casement and
looking down into the silent street, for the restless city had at last
fallen to sleep. "Something in Kenmore!"

A red, pulsing planet, shining high over a nearby church tower, caught
her eye and brought a throb of comfort to her--a tender thought of home.

"To-morrow, perhaps, a letter will come from Master Farwell; if not, I
will write to him. I must know."

CHAPTER XVII

For two or three days things fell into such commonplace routine that the
excitement of the big operation and the disturbing dream of the night
lost their sharp, clear lines; became blurred and part of the web and
woof of the hospital regime. There was little time for introspection or
romancing and even the chance meeting with Jerry-Jo was relegated to the
non-essentials. Of course he was in the city, but so were the Hornby boys
and others from the In-Place. The whirlpool was a big and rushing thing,
and if they who had once been neighbours caught a glimpse of each other
from dizzy eddies, what did it matter? The possibility of second meetings
was rare.

John Boswell had been sympathetic, to a certain degree, with Priscilla
concerning the operation and her very evident pride in the part she had
been permitted to take in it. With the instinctive horror that many have
concerning sickness and suffering, he always made an effort to appear
sympathetic when Priscilla grew graphic. Often this caused her to laugh,
but she never doubted Boswell's sincere interest in her, personally. That
she had overcome and achieved was a thing of real gratification to the
lonely man; that she came to him natural