Oh, quit it, Martin!" said Cameron impatiently. "Don't rag. She's an
awful decent sort. Her looks are not the best of her."

"Ah! I am relieved to hear that," said the doctor earnestly.

"She is very kind, indeed," said the nurse. "For these six weeks she has
fed us up with eggs and cream so that both my patient and myself have
fared sumptuously every day. Indeed, if it should continue much longer
I shall have to ask an additional allowance for a new uniform. I have
promised that Mr. Cameron shall visit the farm within two weeks if he
behaves well."

"Exactly!" replied the doctor. "In two weeks if he is good. The only
question that troubles me is--is it quite safe? You see in his present
weak condition his susceptibility is decidedly emphasised, his resisting
power is low, and who knows what might happen, especially if she should
insist? I shall not soon forget the look in her eye when she dared me to
lay a finger upon his person."

"Oh, cut it out, Martin!" said Cameron. "You make me weary." He lay back
on his pillow and closed his eyes.

The nurse threw a signal to the doctor.

"All right, old man, we must stop this chaff. Buck up and in two weeks
we will let you go where you like. I have something in mind for you, but
we won't speak of it to-day."

The harvest was safely stored. The yellow stubble showed the fields
at rest, but the vivid green of the new fall wheat proclaimed the
astounding and familiar fact that once more Nature had begun her ancient
perennial miracle. For in those fields of vivid green the harvest of
the coming year was already on the way. On these green fields the snowy
mantle would lie soft and protecting all the long winter through and
when the spring suns would shine again the fall wheat would be a month
or more on the way towards maturity.

Somehow the country looked more rested, fresher, cleaner to Cameron than
when he had last looked upon it in late August. The rain had washed the
dust from the earth's face and from the green sward that bordered the
grey ribbon of the high road that led out from the city. The pastures
and the hay meadows and the turnip fields were all in their freshest
green, and beyond the fields the forest stood glorious in all its autumn
splendour, the ash trees bright yellow, the oaks rich brown, and the
maples all the colours of the rainbow. In the orchard--ah, the wonder
and the joy of it! even the bare and bony limbs of the apple trees only
helped to reveal t