tin fervently, "I don't know! To my mind any
man that has a chance to go to Canada on a good job ought to call in his
friends and neighbours to rejoice with him."

"But I say, that reminds me," said Dunn. "Mr. Rae is coming to have a
talk with my governor and me about this very thing to-morrow night. I'd
like awfully if you could drop in, Martin; and you, too, Linklater."

Linklater declined. "My folks have something on, I fear."

Martin hesitated, protesting that there was "altogether too much of this
coddling business" in the matter of Cameron's future. "Besides, my work
is rather crowding me."

"Oh, my pious ancestors! Work!" exclaimed Linklater in disgust. "At this
season of the year! Come, Martin, this pose is unworthy of you."

"If you could, old man," said Dunn earnestly, "we won't keep you long.
It would be a great help to us all."

"All right, I'll come," said Martin.

"There'll be no one there but Mr. Rae. We'll just have a smoke and a
chat."

But in this expectation Dunn was reckoning without his young brother,
Rob, who, ever since a certain momentous evening, had entered into
a covenant of comradeship with the young lady who had figured so
prominently in the deliverance of his beloved Cameron from pending evil,
and who during the summer had allowed no week to pass without spending
at least a part of a day with her. On this particular evening, having
obtained leave from his mother, the young gentle man had succeeded in
persuading his friend to accept an invitation to dinner, assuring her
that no one would be there except Jack, who was to arrive home the day
before.

The conclave of Cameron's friends found themselves, therefore,
unexpectedly reinforced by the presence of Miss Brodie, to the unmingled
joy of all of them, although in Martin's case his joy was tinged with a
certain fear, for he stood in awe of the young lady, both because of her
reputation for cleverness, and because of the grand air which, when it
pleased her, she could assume. Martin, too, stood in wholesome awe
of Doctor Dunn, whose quiet dignity and old-time courtesy exercised a
chastening influence upon the young man's somewhat picturesque style of
language and exuberance of metaphor. But with Mrs. Dunn he felt quite
at ease, for with that gentle, kindly soul, her boys' friends were her
friends and without question she took them to her motherly heart.

Immediately upon Mr. Rae's arrival Cameron's future became the subject
of conv