glad to call you my
friend."

That was all. The two men shook hands and the doctor passed out, leaving
Craigin more at peace with himself and with the world than he had been
for some days.

XIX

THE LADY OF KUSKINOOK

Soon after Dick's departure for the West, Ben Fallows took up his abode
at the Old Stone Mill and very soon found himself firmly established as
a member of the family there; and so it came that he was present on the
occasion of Margaret's visit, when the offer of the Kuskinook Hospital
was under consideration. The offer came through the Superintendent,
but it was due chiefly to the influence on the Toronto Board of Mrs.
Macdougall. It was to her that Dick had appealed for a matron for the
new hospital, which had come into existence largely through his efforts
and advocacy. "We want as matron," Dick had written, "a strong, sane
woman who knows her work, and is not afraid to tackle anything. She
must be cheery in manner and brave in heart, not too old, and the more
beautiful she is the better."

"Cheery in manner and brave in heart?" Mrs. Macdougall had said to
herself, looking at the letter. "The very one! She is that and she is
all the rest, and she is not too old, and beautiful enough even for Mr.
Dick." Here Mrs. Macdougall smiled a gentle smile of deprecation at the
suggestion that flitted across her mind at that point. "No, she'll
never be old to Dick. We'll send her, and who knows, but--" Not even to
herself, however, much less to another, did the little lady breathe a
word of any 'arriere pensee' in urging the appointment.

With the Superintendent's letter in her hand, Margaret had gone to
consult Barney's mother; for to Margaret Mrs. Boyle was ever "Barney's
mother."

"It would be a very fine work," said Mrs. Boyle, "but oh, lassie! it is
a long, long way. And you would be far from all that knew you!"

"Why, Dick is not very far away."

"Aye, but I doubt you would see little of him, with all the travelling
he's doing to those terrible camps. And what if anything should happen
to you, and no one to care for you?"

The old lady's hands trembled over the tea cups. She had aged much
during the last six years. The sword had pierced her heart with Barney's
going from home. And while, in the case of her younger and favourite
son, she had without grudging made the ancient sacrifice, lines of her
surrender showed deep upon her face.

"What's the matter with me goin' along, Miss Margar