delighted to do
anything in my power for you. I would have rushed down to share your cup
of tea on your arrival, but a bad case was just being brought into the
ward, and I could not leave. Now, I must go to bed myself, or I shan't
be fit for work to-morrow. Good-night, Effie. I have arranged that you
are to spend every second Sunday at home."

"Oh, how good you are--how thankful I am!" exclaimed Effie.

Dorothy was leaving the room, when she turned back.

"I forgot to tell you that you are very lucky to be under Sister Kate,"
she said. "There is not a nurse in the whole hospital who trains as she
does, and her probationers always get the best certificates at the end
of the two years of training."

"She looks so severe and hard," said Effie.

"She is a little severe, and some people may call her hard, but she has
a tender heart under all that strict, somewhat cold manner, and then
she is so just. My dear, when you know more of hospital life you will be
thankful that you are with a just and patient Sister. Sister Kate is
both. She will soon recognize you, Effie, for what you are. Now
good-night, my love."

Dorothy went away, and soon afterward Effie fell asleep.

The next morning she was awakened by a bell, at what seemed to her
something like the middle of the night. She had to dress herself
quickly, and then go into the ward and begin her duties.

She found, somewhat to her surprise, that she had to begin her nurse's
life as a sort of maid-of-all-work; she had to scrub floors, to clean
grates, to polish handles--it seemed to her that she never had a moment
to herself from morning till night. Her feet felt very sore, her back
ached. Once or twice she felt so dreadfully fagged that she wondered if
she could keep up. But through it all, growing greater and greater as
the days went on, there came a sense of full satisfaction, of something
accomplished, something done, of the feeling that she was being trained
thoroughly and efficiently, so that at the end of her time of probation
she might be able to say, "There's one thing which I can do _well_."

When the first Sunday came she was glad to hurry home. She went back
brimful of news, and looked forward to the quiet time in her mother's
little parlor with great delight.

Mrs. Staunton was glad to see her. The children were all dressed in
their black frocks, and looked neat and comfortable. George was in the
room. It seemed to Effie as if she did not recognize his