"The night I graduated, I don't mind telling this to you, I went down on my knees when all the excitement was over and the lights were out, and I said, 'I am here. I've got money; the good God need not have me on his mind along that line; he can send me where he chooses, to do his work; I'm ready.' "It was like consecrating myself, you know. Well, when the sickness came, I thought perhaps he didn't want me or my money either; but I came out of the Valley and here I am now, and I tell you--it seems good." Filmer folded his arms across his chest, and looked steadily ahead of him. "Do you know," he said at length--"and I hope you'll excuse me--I think you're the most comical cuss that ever happened." Drew met this frank opinion with the boyish laugh that was having the effect of clearing up all the dull places in Filmer's character. He had never heard that laugh equalled but once, and he rarely went back to that memory--the path was too hard and lonely. The reserves were down between the two. Without reason or cause, perhaps, they had fallen into a confident liking. "Have you done much marrying and burying yet?" The question startled Drew, then he recalled the conversation on the Station platform. "Well, no," he said, "practical demonstration comes after graduation generally. I've substituted for ministers--preached a Sunday, now and then, you know; but of course, I _can_ perform the marriage ceremony, or read the burial service." "You look pretty young," Jock spoke slowly; he was noting the strange dignity of his guest. Any reference to his profession brought with it this calm assurance that held levity in check; "but it's this way. There's a wedding fixed for to-morrer. I've set my heart on it coming off, and there ain't a durned parson to be had, that the girl favours. Now under these circumstances, you can't afford to look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak, and no offence intended. I can give you a tip or two before you trot in, and as for you, why you know, there ain't nothing equal to being thrown neck and crop into a job. "The first time I went logging I got one leg broke and my head smashed, but I haven't ever regretted it. That accident, and the incidental scare, did more for me than any two successful seasons could have done. Now, your plunging right into a marrying may prove providential. Sermons and infant christenings will seem like child's play after. What do you say?" Drew was laughing and the tears stood in his eyes. "I'll--I'll do my level best," he managed to say through his spasms of mirth. "This seems like a horrible approach to anything so serious, but it is the way you put it, you know, and--and the air, and the supper. The laugh comes easy, you see."