r
literature; she was not certain which. So it must be to _him_ she was
indebted, and, oddly, she was more indignant than grateful. The natural
intervention of a friendly hand in the matter took all the satisfaction
out of her surprise.

Not that she loved Dr. Angus! But she did not choose to be under an
obligation to him. What girl would in the circumstances?

II.

All this time the letter from home lay overlooked on the pillow. If it
could have spoken it would have reproached the daughter for her
absorption in its companion, but it bided its time. Presently Margaret
turned with a start, saw it, felt a remorseful stab, and tore it open,
without the aid of a hair-pin.

This is what the home letter had to say. It was from Margaret's father,
and as he seldom wrote to her, leaving, as many men do, the bulk of
correspondence with absent members of the family to be the care of his
wife and children, she felt a premonitory thrill.

The Lees were a very affectionate and devoted household, clannish to a
degree, and undemonstrative, as mountaineers often are. The deep well of
their love did not foam and ripple like a brook, but the water was
always there, to draw upon at will. "The shallows murmur, but the deeps
are dumb." It was so in the house of Duncan Lee.

"MY DEAR DAUGHTER MARGARET" (the letter began),--"I hope
these lines will find you well, and your examination crowned with
success. We have thought and talked of you much lately, and wished
we could be with you to see you when you are graduated. Mother
would have been so glad to go, but it is my sad duty to inform you
that she is not well. Do not be anxious, Margaret. There is no
immediate danger, but your dear mother has been more or less ailing
ever since last March, and she does not get better. We fear there
will have to be a surgical operation--perhaps more than one. She
may have to live, as people sometimes do, for years with a knife
always over her head. We want you to come home, Margaret, as soon
as you can. I enclose a check for all expenses, and I will see that
you are met at the railway terminus, so you need not take the long
stage-ride all by yourself. But I am afraid I have not broken it to
you gently, my dear, as mother said I must. Forgive me; I am just
breaking my heart in these days, and I need you as much almost as
your mother does.