have been, and never shall be, untrue to her.
Does that satisfy you?"

"Of course," said Kate. "I'll do all in my power to talk Nancy Ellen
out of that, on this trip. Oh, if she only had children to occupy her
time!"

"That's the whole trouble in a nutshell," said the doctor; "but you
know there isn't a scarcity of children in the world. Never a day
passes but I see half a dozen who need me, sorely. But with Nancy
Ellen, NO CHILD will do unless she mothers it, and unfortunately, none
comes to her."

"Too bad!" said Kate. "I'm so sorry!"

"Cheer her up, if you can," said the doctor.

An hour later they were speeding north, Nancy Ellen moody and
distraught, Kate as frankly delighted as any child. The spring work
was over; the crops were fine; Adam would surely have the premium wheat
to take to the County Fair in September; he would work unceasingly for
his chance with corn; he and Polly would be all right; she could see
Polly waiting in the stable yard while Adam unharnessed and turned out
the horse.

Kate kept watching Nancy Ellen's discontented face. At last she said:
"Cheer up, child! There isn't a word of truth in it!"

"I know it," said Nancy Ellen.

"Then why take the way of all the world to start, and KEEP people
talking?" asked Kate.

"I'm not doing a thing on earth but attending strictly to my own
business," said Nancy Ellen.

"That's exactly the trouble," said Kate. "You're not. You let the
little heifer have things all her own way. If it were my man, and I
loved him as you do Robert Gray, you can stake your life I should be
doing something, several things, in fact."

"This is interesting," said Nancy Ellen. "For example--?"

Kate had not given such a matter a thought. She looked from the window
a minute, her lips firmly compressed. Then she spoke slowly: "Well,
for one thing, I should become that woman's bosom companion. About
seven times a week I should uncover her most aggravating weakness all
unintentionally before the man in the case, at the same time keeping
myself, strictly myself. I should keep steadily on doing and being
what he first fell in love with. Lastly, since eighteen years have
brought you no fulfillment of the desire of your heart, I should give
it up, and content myself and delight him by taking into my heart and
home a couple of the most attractive tiny babies I could find. Two are
scarcely more trouble than one; you can have all the help you will
accept; t