ace
of asking, would give full measure and running over? For Annie was not
like poor dear little Kate--Annie would be a godsend, even though she
had to go the length of learning to fire a revolver as a defence
against lions and hostile natives. It would be nothing else than
savage pride in Dr. Millar, Harry continued to argue, to decline to
let Tom Robinson defray May's small expenses at St. Ambrose's, whether
she won a scholarship or not. He was a man with an ample fortune, as
well as the nicest fellow in the world, who was going to be not only
May's coach, but her brother-in-law. In like manner it would be
downright churlish and positively unkind to Dora if her parents
refused to occupy the pleasant small house with the large garden
belonging to Tom Robinson, and close to what would be their daughter's
house. It was conveniently vacant, and looked as if it had been made
for a couple of elderly gentle-folks, who were not rich, but were
comfortably provided for. In fact, it had been fitted up by the late
Mr. Charles Robinson for just such a pair, who had in the course of
nature left the house empty.

With regard to Rose, she would have to submit to be more or less Harry
Ironside's charge till she painted and sold such 'stunning' pictures
that she could afford to look down on his paltry aid. What, not allow
him to assist his own sister-in-law, when he was so thankful to think
that she might be like a sister in the meantime for his poor little Kate
to fall back upon? Why, the girls could go on making a home together at
his good friend Mrs. Jennings's, till it was right for Kate, after she
was old enough to choose, to cast in her lot with him and Annie,
supposing the colony prospered. His heart was already in that strange,
far-away region, which, with all its mysteries and wonders--ay, and its
terrors--has such an attraction for the young and high-spirited, the
typical pilgrims to a later New England.

And what did Annie think of this march stolen upon her, this attempt to
extort a yard where she had only granted an inch of favour? Perhaps she
was dazzled by what would have repelled many another woman, in the
primitive, precarious, exciting details of the life of a young colony.
Perhaps her heart and imagination were alike taken by storm when she
thought of the untenanted hospital wards and the patients calling for
her to go over and help them. Perhaps she was simply beginning so to
identify herself with Harry Ironside t