ide, the green
eyes on guard against the enemy.

Sandy had striven manfully all week to raise Christina's spirits and he
burst into cheerful conversation.

"What do you suppose, Christine? Bruce says he's got everything fixed
up and he's going to Toronto this fall and Dr. McGarry's tickled to
fits. He thinks the world of Bruce."

"Bruce--Bruce McKenzie!" Christina groaned. "Well, I never! It seems
as if everybody in Orchard Glen was going to the University but you,"
she added returning to the one subject that absorbed her attention.

"Well don't go chewin' on that all the time," said Sandy cheerfully.
"It's better to have one fellow left. Bruce's been saving up his money
for the last five years."

"Ellen won't have to get married so soon then," remarked Christina with
some feeling of comfort, for Ellen's presence at home made her leaving
easier. "But oh, Sandy, if only----"

"Come along," cried Sandy jumping up. "It's time we were going.
There's Tremendous K. passing now."

Christina went back to the house to see if her mother needed anything
before she left, and if Grandpa was comfortable in bed, and returned to
the veranda where Sandy stood waiting for her. Bruce and Ellen were
there ready to start, and Mary and young Mr. MacGillivray were already
strolling down the lane.

"Well, Christina," cried Ellen, her cheeks pink with excitement, "how
would you like to have Bruce for a doctor if you were sick?"

More than a year before Bruce McKenzie had been prepared for college,
but lack of money had stood in his way and every one had thought that
he and Ellen had given up the idea and had decided to settle on the
farm.

"Why, Bruce!" cried Christina, forgetting her own trouble for the
moment. "Isn't that too grand for anything?"

"Ellen here says I've got to keep up with the family, you see," said
Bruce, standing in the midst of the admiring circle, half proud, half
embarrassed. "Everybody in Orchard Glen seems to be getting the
college fever, and Dr. McGarry's been at me all summer, so I guess I'll
try it anyway."

If Sandy had been going Christina would have been rapturously happy
over this. Ellen's approaching marriage had always hung like a cloud
on the horizon, but if Ellen were going to be left at home until Bruce
became a doctor, what a joy that would be. But nothing could be a joy
now that Sandy's hopes had been blighted.

"It's just bully," Sandy was saying generously, "I'm sorry that"--