"Marcia, my dear, I don't see how I can leave you here alone." "I 'm used to being alone." I answered shortly to hide my emotion. "Yes, better cut it short," Jamie said with a twitch of his upper lip. "We 'll accept your invitation, Doctor Rugvie--you 're always doing something for us; we 've come to expect it; I hope we shan't end by taking it for granted." "Nothing would please me better than that, Boy. You are a bit over-tired, to-night; better go to bed now, and do all there is to be done in the morning. I must go then." "What, can't you wait to go with us?" Jamie demanded. "No; I must be in New York to-morrow evening. I will meet you at the station the next day." "I believe I am a bit fagged--and I know mother is. That portage business is a strain on the best legs. But you were game, Marcia, no mistake." "Help me to be 'game' now--and go to bed. I 'll follow just as soon as I set the bread to rise." "It's too bad that I must leave you to this, Marcia," said Mrs. Macleod regretfully, as she kissed me good night--for the second time at Lamoral. "Oh, I can do all there is to be done." I returned her kiss. I was beginning to love this gentle, reticent Scotchwoman. "I don't want any good night from you, Marcia," said Jamie gruffly. "Oh, I hate the whole business!" He flung out of the room, and I rose to follow him and Mrs. Macleod. "Stay with me a little while, Marcia; you are not so tired as they are. Who knows whether I shall see you for a whole month or more?" The Doctor spoke earnestly. "You expect to be gone so long?" "Perhaps longer--it depends on what I find awaiting me. You permit another?" He reached for a cigar. "Let me light it for you." I performed the little service for him, which he loved to accept from me, and then sat down in Jamie's corner of the sofa. The Doctor puffed vigorously for a while. Then he spoke, suddenly looking at me: "After all, it is Ewart that makes Lamoral, is n't it, Marcia?" "Yes," I replied promptly. I was so glad to speak his name here in his own home. I was hoping his friend would feel inclined to talk of him. "I have never had an opportunity to realize this before; it is the first time I have been here without him." "I remember Jamie said, the night before you came last November, that I should n't know the house after Mr. Ewart took possession." The Doctor turned to me, smiling almost wistfully, or so it seemed to me. "His presence makes the difference between the house and the home. Is n't that what Jamie meant?" "Yes, I am sure it is. Mr. Ewart himself calls the old manor 'home' now." I smiled at my thoughts. Had he not said, "My home is henceforth where you are"? "And I, for my part, am thankful to hear him use that word. Marcia, Ewart has been, in a way, a homeless man." "I thought so from the little he has said." "He was orphaned early in life. Has he ever spoken to you of his wife?" The question was put casually, but I knew intentionally.