particularly, but they are something
pleasant to rest her eyes on when she is through with the milk. I always
thought that the restless waves made her think of my brother who was lost
at sea, but now I fancy that the flowers rest her, though perhaps it is
only fancy, after all."

Dexie's thoughts flew back to her own mother lying listlessly on her sofa
so much of the time. How much had she ever done to change the current of
her mother's thought? She made a mental memorandum to try the effect of a
few bright blooms in her mother's window as soon as she returned home.

As they talked, Maggie had taken up her father's pipe that had lain on a
shelf near, and emptying its contents she took from a pouch hanging on the
wall a piece of tobacco and a jack-knife, and, with a practised hand, she
refilled the pipe afresh, then laid it gently on a little shelf within easy
reach of the cosy seat that her father occupied during the warm summer
evenings. It was done so quietly that it was almost unnoticed, but Dexie
saw it and understood the kindly act. She wondered if she loved her own
father enough to perform such an act for him. She felt glad that her father
did not use tobacco, for she would not care to be outdone by these Prince
Edward Island girls; yet in her case she felt that even lovingkindness had
its limit, and that she would have to draw the line _this_ side of the
tobacco pipe.

Maggie felt, rather than saw, that Dexie was watching her, and as she laid
the pipe in readiness for her father's evening smoke she looked up and said
with a smile:

"You never saw a girl do that before, confess now? Well, I don't care for
it, but father likes to find his pipe all ready for him, so I try to
overcome my dislike, and his tobacco-smoke helps to keep my flowers free
from vermin, you know."

As twilight deepened into evening the members of the family all assembled
in the grandmother's room, and a home-like feeling came over Elsie as she
saw Mr. McDonald open the big Bible that rested on a small table near the
grandmother's chair, and read, in his rich Scotch accents, the evening
psalms. Then they quietly knelt, all except the grandmother, who, rising
slowly to her feet and leaning on her staff, offered up the evening prayer.
It made Dexie think of the patriarchs of old, who blessed their families
"leaning on their staffs for very age." Then the family said good-night to
the grandmother, and the polished candlesticks that decorated