is feet again and righting him in the eyes of the world, which
is so quick to approve the successful man.

A word which the young doctor dropped in the ear of Mr. Reginald Baxter
sent that gentleman and Mr. Wallis posthaste to Latimer, where they held
private conferences with the now convalescent prospector, and the result
of it all was that a company was promptly formed for the developing of a
gold claim staked out round the grave which the prospector in mercy had
begun to dig for the unknown dead. So rich did this prove to be that
when the prospector kept his word, and paid over the proportion of his
earnings which he had promised to the doctor, there was no more worry
about ways and means for Nealie, who was now her father's right hand, as
she had been his devoted nurse when he was recovering from his burns.

[Illustration: "GAVE THEM BOTH HIS BLESSING"]

For a little while they all went to live at Latimer, in a brand-new
wooden house which was made of pine trees and was fragrant of the forest
in every room. But the first break in the family came when Rupert and
Rumple went to Sydney to be educated.

Thanks to the skill of his father and the other Dr. Plumstead, Rupert
had quite recovered from his lameness, and although he might never be
quite so nimble as his younger brothers, he was no longer lame, and that
was such a comfort to him that he seemed to expand into quite a
different creature.

But, as Sylvia remarked to Rupert on the day before he and Rumple were
to start for Sydney, they were going to have trouble with that other Dr.
Plumstead, who, not content with having the same name as the rest of
them, had shown a great desire to be still closer linked to them by
becoming a relation.

"It is so stupid of him to want to marry Nealie," she said plaintively.
"Because I know very well that if she says yes, then I shall have to
keep house for Father, and mother the rest of you, which will certainly
spell ruin to my chance of an artistic career, and I am beginning to
paint in quite an intelligent fashion."

"There is room for improvement," scoffed Rumple, who chanced to overhear
what she said. "Don't you remember your picture of Kaffir kraals that
Mr. Melrose took for mushrooms in a meadow? It will not do for you to
indulge in swelled head as yet."

"I think that on the whole the mistake was rather in the nature of a
compliment," said Sylvia, with a ripple of laughter. "For doubtless in
the first place the Ka