been sent for.
She could not help smiling when, a little later, the hospitable usher
of the chapel came briskly in. She eventually learned that the doctor
provoked smiles wherever he went, as a breeze raises ripples on the
surface of a stream. He smiled himself when he met people, and every
one took the contagion. He examined the baby, said the case would
require a little watching until certain teeth came through, and
then that there would be no further trouble. He spoke with the same
confidence with which he would announce that July was near.

"You watch the case, then," said Mr. Muir, decisively. "I must be in
town. If you can look after the child and save my wife from worry, my
mind will be easy as regards this end of the line at least."

"All right, sir. We'll manage it. Healthy boy. No trouble."

"Have you lived long among the mountains, doctor?" Madge ventured to
ask.

"I should think so. As long as I have lived. Was born and brought up
among 'em."

"It must be dreary here in the winter," Mrs. Muir remarked.

"Not a bit of it. It's never dreary."

"How far among the hills does your practice extend?" Madge pursued.

"As far as I'll go, and I'm usually going."

"Perhaps you can give us, then, some advice as to drives and walks."

"Oh, lots, free gratis. I can tell Mr. Muir of a trout-stream or two,
also."

"Doctor," said Madge, laughing, "I am very ill. I shall need much
advice, and prescriptions of all the romantic walks and drives in the
vicinity."

"And like most of the advice from doctors, it won't be taken. A stroll
on the piaza is about all that most ladies are equal to. You look,
however, as if you should not fear a steep path or a rough road."

"You shall see," cried Madge.

"Yes, I will see," said the doctor, laughing, and bowing himself out.
"I've seen a great many ladies who could dance miles, but were as
afraid of a mountain as of a bear."

At the dinner-table Mrs. Muir said, laughingly, "In Dr. Sommers, Madge
has found a kindred spirit--another oiler of machinery. If between him
and Madge things don't go smoothly, the fates are indeed against us."

"When life does go smoothly, it is because of just such good, cheery
common-sense," Mr. Muir remarked, sententiously. "I'm in the financial
centre of this part of the world, and schemes involving millions and
the welfare of States--indeed of whole sections of the country--are
daily brought to my consideration, and I tell you again men are