the town. Kate looked after them approvingly:
"Pretty good youngsters," she said. "I told them to go and get some
ice cream; but you see they are saving the money and heading straight
home." She turned to Robert. "Can anything happen to them?" she
asked, in evident anxiety.

"Rest in peace, Kate," laughed the doctor. "You surely know that those
youngsters are going to be eighteen in a few weeks. You've reared them
carefully. Nothing can, or will, happen to them, that would not happen
right under your nose if you were at home. They will go from now on
according to their inclinations."

Kate looked at him sharply: "What do you mean by that?" she demanded.

He laughed: "Nothing serious," he said. "Polly is half Bates, so she
will marry in a year or two, while Adam is all Bates, so he will remain
steady as the Rock of Ages, and strictly on the job. Go have your good
time, and if I possibly can, I'll come after you."

"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Nancy Ellen, with finality. "You
wouldn't leave your patients, and you couldn't leave dear Mrs. Southey."

"If you feel that way about it, why do you leave me?" he asked.

"To show the little fool I'm not afraid of her, for one thing," said
Nancy Ellen with her head high. She was very beautiful in her smart
travelling dress, while her eyes flashed as she spoke. The doctor
looked at her approvingly.

"Good!" he cried. "I like a plucky woman! Go to have a good time,
Nancy Ellen; but don't go for that. I do wish you would believe that
there isn't a thing the matter with the little woman, she's--"

"I can go even farther than that," said Nancy Ellen, dryly. "I KNOW
'there isn't a thing the matter with the little woman,' except that she
wants you to look as if you were running after her. I'd be safe in
wagering a thousand dollars that when she hears I'm gone, she will send
for you before to-morrow evening."

"You may also wager this," he said. "If she does, I shall be very
sorry, but I'm on my way to the country on an emergency call. Nancy
Ellen, I wish you wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't go North, or wouldn't see what every other living soul in
Hartley sees?" she asked curtly. Then she stepped inside to put on her
hat and gloves.

Kate looked at the doctor in dismay. "Oh, Robert!" she said.

"I give you my word of honour, Kate," he said. "If Nancy Ellen only
would be reasonable, the woman would see shortly that my wife is all
the world to me. I never