nto a back window to escape punishment. It would have made her more
understandable. As it was, Mrs. Thomas tapped!

"Come in, please," said Priscilla, and the large, handsome superintendent
entered and sat down.

"I thought I would come and tell you," she said, trying to keep her
professional expression while her maternal heart warmed to the girl,
"that you have been highly honoured. There is to be a very important
operation to-morrow at three o'clock. Doctor Ledyard is to perform it,
assisted by his young partner. He has asked for several nurses, and he
named _you_--singled you out. He has observed you; wishes to--use you.
It's a great compliment, Miss Glynn." So often had Priscilla corrected,
to no avail, the wrong pronouncing of her name, that she now accepted it
without further demur. Flushing and trembling, she went close to Mrs.
Thomas and held her hands out impulsively.

"All my glory is coming at once!" she faltered.

"Glory? Well, you are a queer girl. To stand for hours under that man's
eye! You call it glory? Why, it is an honour because it is _that man,
that eye_; but as to glory! My dear Miss Glynn, I must insist that you go
off this afternoon and play--somewhere. Then come back and get a good
night's rest. The life of the richest man in New York will hang in the
balance to-morrow, and not even the glorified nurse can afford to have a
trembling hand when she passes up an instrument or wipes the perspiration
from the surgeon's brow."

"Thank you, oh! thank you, Mrs. Thomas! Of course, if I were not so
stupid I could make you understand how I feel. I seem to have found the
right way, and everything is conspiring to tell me so. You see, I might
not have qualified; some girls do not. No one might have noticed me; you
might not have been so kind. Often I am rather lonely and ungrateful;
but you must try to believe that I am--very happy now."

"I suppose"--Mrs. Thomas was holding the radiant young face with her
clear, calm eyes--"I suppose you are one of those natures that craves
success; cannot brook defeat. Life will deal harshly with you."

"I am willing to suffer. It is the learning I must have. It is the chance
to learn that makes me so glad," Priscilla burst in, "and it's this sure
feeling that I am on the right trail."

"There is a difference. But somehow the career of a nurse is
so--well--difficult, and--hard," Mrs. Thomas went on. "I wonder how you
can approach it with your enthusiasm undaunted a