Eloise went to the window and studied the horse attentively, though he
was not of the restless sort that needs to be tied.

While she was watching, Ambrose North came around the base of the hill,
crossed the road, and opened the gate. He had been to his old solitude
at the top of the hill, where, as nowhere else, he found peace. While he
was talking with the visitors, Miriam went out, taking the neatly-packed
suit-cases, one at a time, and put them into the buggy.

"Mr. North," said Doctor Conrad, "while these girls are chattering,
will you go for a little drive with me?"

The blind man's fine old face illumined with pleasure. "I should like it
very much," he said. "It is a long time since I had have a drive."

"It's more like a walk," laughed Allan, as they went out, "with this
horse."

"We sold our horses many years ago," the old man explained, as he
climbed in. "Miriam is afraid of horses and Barbara said she did not
care to go. I thought the open air and the slight exercise would be good
for her, but she insisted upon my selling them."

[Sidenote: About Barbara]

"It is about Barbara that I wished to speak," said Allan. "With your
consent, I should like to make a thorough examination and see whether an
operation would not do away with her crutches entirely."

"It is no use," sighed North, wearily. "We went everywhere and did