g him lane, but he'll gang wi' onybody--and haud up wi'
him.'

'What do you think him fit for, then?'

Now Robert had been building castles for Shargar out of the hopes which
the doctor's friendliness had given him. Therefore he was ready with his
answer.

'Gin ye cud ensure him no bein' made a general o', he wad mak a gran'
sojer. Set's face foret, and say "quick mairch," an' he'll ca his
bagonet throu auld Hornie. But lay nae consequences upo' him, for he
cudna stan' unner them.'

Dr. Anderson laughed, but thought none the less, and went home to see
how his patient was getting on.

CHAPTER XIV. MYSIE'S FACE.

Meantime Ericson grew better. A space of hard, clear weather, in which
everything sparkled with frost and sunshine, did him good. But not yet
could he use his brain. He turned with dislike even from his friend
Plato. He would sit in bed or on his chair by the fireside for hours,
with his hands folded before him, and his eyelids drooping, and let his
thoughts flow, for he could not think. And that these thoughts flowed
not always with other than sweet sounds over the stones of question, the
curves of his lip would testify to the friendly, furtive glance of the
watchful Robert. None but the troubled mind knows its own consolations;
and I believe the saddest life has its own presence--however it may
be unrecognized as such--of the upholding Deity. Doth God care for
the hairs that perish from our heads? To a mind like Ericson's the
remembered scent, the recurring vision of a flower loved in childhood,
is enough to sustain anxiety with beauty, for the lovely is itself
healing and hope-giving, because it is the form and presence of the
true. To have such a presence is to be; and while a mind exists in
any high consciousness, the intellectual trouble that springs from
the desire to know its own life, to be assured of its rounded law and
security, ceases, for the desire itself falls into abeyance.

But although Ericson was so weak, he was always able and ready to help
Robert in any difficulty not unfrequently springing from his imperfect
preparation in Greek; for while Mr. Innes was an excellent Latin
scholar, his knowledge of Greek was too limited either to compel
learning or inspire enthusiasm, And with the keen instinct he possessed
in everything immediate between man and man, Robert would sometimes
search for a difficulty in order to request its solution; for then
Ericson would rouse himself to explain