an Elder in the church, and his general disposition; together with his
taste and skill in collecting mortgages and acquiring real estate. The
old Judge had but the one child. The Judge of this story, though just
passing middle age, has no children at all. Seemingly there is no room in
his heart for more than his church and his properties--his mind being
thus wholly occupied with titles to heaven and to earth. With Sapphira,
his wife, he lives in a big house on Strong Avenue, beyond the Strong
Memorial Church, with never so much as a pet dog or cat to roughen the
well-kept lawn or romp, perchance, in the garden. The patient whom Miss
Farwell had come to nurse, was Sapphira's sister, a widow with neither
child nor home. The Judge had been forced by his fear of public sentiment
to give her shelter, and he had been compelled by Dr. Oldham and Dr.
Harry to employ a nurse. The case would not be a pleasant one; Miss
Farwell would need all that abundant stock of tact and patience which Dr.
Miles had declared she possessed.

All this Dr. Harry explained to her, and when he had finished she asked
in the most matter-of-fact tone: "And what are your instructions,
Doctor?"

That caught Harry. It caught the old Doctor, too. Not even a comment on
the disagreeable position she knew she would have in the Strong
household, for Harry had not slighted the hard facts! She understood
clearly what she was going into.

A light came into the young physician's eyes that his old friend liked
to see. "I guess Miles knew what he was talking about in his letter,"
said the old Doctor. And the young woman's face flushed warmly at his
words and look.