the Irish poor, of whose wants she had heard so much. She had even
thought of becoming a deaconess, but her friends would not hear of it,
and she had been obliged to submit herself to their conventional
suburban life. "But here at last," she said, "I find my hands full and
my heart also. These people welcome me so warmly and need so much, the
whole day is filled with work for them; and now that you have come, Dr.
Quin," she added, smiling at him, "I can do so much more, for you will
tell me how to work under you and to nurse your patients back to health
again."

It was almost dark when they came to the gate of Inagh, the house
usually tenanted by the Resident Magistrate of the day, and here Louise
Eden took leave of her new acquaintance, again giving him her hand in
its little wet glove. The Doctor watched her as she ran lightly towards
the house. She wore a grey hat and cloak, and the rough madder-dyed
skirt of the peasant women of the district. None of the "young ladies"
he had hitherto met would have deigned to appear in one of these fleecy
crimson garments, so becoming to its present wearer. She turned and
waved her hand at the corner of the drive, and the Doctor having gazed a
moment longer into the grey mist that shrouded her, went on his journey
home.

His little house on the outskirts of Cloon had not many outward charms,
being built in the inverted box style so usual in Ireland. A few bushes
of aucuba and fuchsia scarcely claimed for the oblong space enclosed in
front the name of a garden. But within he found a cheerful turf fire,
and his old housekeeper soon put a substantial meal on the table.

"Any callers to-day, Mamie?" he asked as he sat down.