or so. Good-morning, Miss Bray," and the busy doctor hurried
away to his multitude of duties, having disposed of Mr. Bray's case on
the instant.

CHAPTER IV

THE PILGRIMAGE

Lydia Bray was shocked indeed when they allowed her in the ward to see
her father. A nurse had drawn a screen about the bed, and nodded to her
encouragingly.

The pallor of Mr. Bray's countenance, as he lay there with his eyes
closed, unaware of her presence, frightened the girl. She had never
seen him utterly helpless before. He had managed to get around every day,
even if sometimes he could not go to work.

But now the forces of his system seemed to have suddenly given out. He
had overtaxed Nature, and she was paying him for it.

"Lyddy!" he whispered, when finally his heavy-lidded eyes opened and he
saw her standing beside the cot.

The girl made a brave effort to look and speak cheerfully; and Mr.
Bray's comprehension was so dulled that she carried the matter off very
successfully while she remained.

She spoke cheerfully; she chatted about their last night's experiences;
she even laughed over some of Aunt Jane's sayings--Aunt Jane was always
a source of much amusement to Mr. Bray.

But the nurse had warned her to be brief, and soon she was beckoned away.
She knew he was in good hands at the hospital, and that they would do all
that they could for him. But what the house physician had told her was
uppermost in her mind as she left the institution.

How were they to get to Hillcrest--and live after arriving there?

"If that man paid me twenty dollars for our furniture, I might have fifty
dollars in hand," she thought. "It will cost us something like two dollars
each for our fares. And then there would be the freight and baggage, and
transportation for ourselves up to Hillcrest from the station.

"And how would it do to bring father to an old, unheated house--and so
early in the spring? I guess the doctor didn't think about that.

"And how will we live until it is time for us to go--until father is well
enough to be moved? All our little capital will be eaten up!"

Lyddy's practical sense then came to her aid. Saturday night 'Phemie would
get through at the millinery shop. They must not remain dependent upon
Aunt Jane longer than over Sunday.

"The thing to do," she decided, "is for 'Phemie and me to start for
Hillcrest immediately--on Monday morning at the latest. If one of us has
to come back for father when he can be