position, Dr. Allen."

They had reached her gate, and Gilbert was assisting her to alight. He
understood. She was paying him a delicate compliment, and with it was
the hint that he must line up to the Elmbrook ideal.

"I feel overcome with humiliation at the thought," he said, standing
before her, hat in hand, "when I consider my shortcomings."

She shook her head. "You ought to be glad. One can scarcely help
attaining to an ideal that is set before one so persistently every day."

Gilbert drove away humbled. This girl, with her splendid talent, had
quietly laid aside her chance of a great career because the road to
fame deviated from the path of duty. And she had done it without a
word or hint of martyrdom. And he--what had he done? How much thought
had he spent in the past ten years on the man who had given him his
chance in life? Suppose he had been to him all that he should have
been? Then he would have lost Rosalie and the two years abroad that
had brought him nearer her social level. Gilbert saw that there had
never been a moment when he had met the issue squarely. He had merely
put it aside, saying "Next year, next year." Well, what did it matter,
anyway? Martin was not in want. If he had needed the money it would
have been quite different; and when the time came he was going to do
something splendid for him. And he was doing so well now that the time
was not far off. But Gilbert was honest with himself. He knew well
that when the two years' work which he had laid out for himself in this
little backward place were ended it was not the neglected duty he would
consider, but a city practice, and a fine home worthy of Rosalie. For
the first time in his life the prospect brought him no pleasure.

CHAPTER VII

THE TRAINING OF THE ORPHANS

Off on de fiel' you foller de plough,
Den w'en you're tire' you scare de cow,
Sickin' de dog till dey jomp de wall,
So de milk ain't good for not'ing at all--
An you're only five an' a half dis fall,
Little Bateese!
--WILLIAM HENRY DRUMMOND.

In Elmbrook, parental discipline was simple and direct, and consisted
of but one method of procedure: when the rising generation departed
from the ways of its mothers it was promptly spanked back into the path
of rectitude, and no more about it.

But when the Sawyers found themselves possessed of a large and lively
family, all methods of discipline, whether sanctioned by long custo