'a man may smile and be a villain still.'"

"Not with your kind, dear. 'There's a painted smile on the lip that
lies, when the villain plays his part; and the smile in the depths of
the honest eyes--and this is the smile of the heart.'"

"Or of the cheerful idiot," supplemented Rose. "Do you really think that
I'm ... shallow? Sometimes it seems to me that the truly wise,
thoughtful people, who search the deeps of life and are themselves
strongly stirred, are always serious looking."

"Pooh. It's generally pose, and a much easier one to get away with. I
always discount it about ninety-nine per cent."

"But, at least, others must think that I am always happy, and I'm
not--sometimes I wish that I might be; but not often, for one would have
to be utterly selfish and unsympathetic in order to be so, when there is
so much suffering everywhere."

"I know, and feel the same way, Rose. But it seems to me that a
smile--at least one like yours--isn't so much the visible expression of
joy, as it is a symbol of cheer for others ... like a rainbow. There, I
vowed that I wouldn't, and now I've 'gone and went and done it.'"

Miss Roberts spoke lightly, to cover a suspicious huskiness in her
voice, for she worshipped the girl who had been so close to her for
three years, and whose way and hers would necessarily diverge after that
morning.

"Don't you _dare_ to forget how to smile. We all love it," she added,
with an assumption of a bullying tone; and then the two held each other
very close and laughed and cried, both together, for a moment. They
finished dressing in unusual silence, for the thoughts of each were busy
with the things which the day and the future might bring forth for them.

Contrary to custom, Dorothy finished first, and preceded Rose
downstairs.

When the latter reached the little assembly room, she found a small
group of pupil nurses standing in the doorway. One was reading something
from a page of a sensational afternoon newspaper, dated the day
previous, and, as Smiles joined them, she hastily slipped it out of
sight behind her. All of them appeared so self-conscious, that the new
arrival stopped with a queer tightening about her heart.

"Show it to her," said Dorothy, quietly. "She's bound to hear of it
sooner or later."

The sinking sensation within Rose's breast increased, and she stepped
forward, saying faintly, "What is it, Dolly? Not ... not Dr. MacDonald?
Nothing has happened ...?"

"No, dear. T