"Ay, I'm sair owerwraucht. Ane o' the lassies is ill--that's the first guid cup o' tea I hae tasted i' this hoose! Ane o' the lassies is ill--she's no' a lassie aither, she'll be forty come Martinmas; but she's been wi' me sin' she was saxteen, an' the silly thing'll no' see a doctor, an' I nae ken what's tae be dune." "What's the matter with her?" asked Mona. "Hoot, lassie! it's nae hearin' for the like o' you." "It is just the hearing that is for me. I am not a child, and, now that I am going away, Rachel has no objection to my telling you in confidence that I am studying to be a doctor." Amusement--incredulity--dismay--appeared, one after the other, on the weather-beaten, expressive old face, and then it grew very grave. "Na, na, lassie," said the old woman severely. "Ye dinna mean that. A canny, wiselike thing like you wad niver pit hersel' forrit like some o' thae hussies we hear aboot in Ameriky. Think o' yer faither! Ye'll no' dae onything that wad bring discredit on him?" "Tell me about your servant," Mona said, waiving the question with a gentleness that was more convincing than any protestations. "What does she complain of?" Auntie Bell hesitated, but the subject weighed heavily on her mind, and the prospect of sympathy was sweet. "It's no' that she complains," she said, "but----" her voice sank into an expressive whisper. Mona listened attentively, and then asked a few questions. "I wish I could come out with you and see her to-night," she said; "but a young woman has an appointment with me about the situation. I will walk out to-morrow and see your maid. It is very unlikely that I shall be able to do anything,--I know so little yet,--but her symptoms may be due to many things. If I cannot, you must either persuade her to see the doctor here; or, if she was able to be moved, I could take her with me when I go to Edinburgh, to the Women's Cottage Hospital." "And what w'y suld ye pit yersel' aboot?" Mona laughed. "It's my _business_," she said. "We all live for something." "Na, na; if she doesna mend, she maun e'en see Dr Robertson. Maybe I've no' been sae firm wi' her as I suld ha' been; but I've nae opeenion o' doctors ava'. I'm ready tae dee when my time comes, but it'll no' be their pheesic that kills me." Rachel came in at this moment, and the subject was dropped till Auntie Bell rose to go. "To-morrow afternoon then," Mona said, as they stood at the garden-gate. "Eh, lassie, I couldna hae been fonder o' ma ain bairn! Who'd iver ha' thocht it?--a wiselike, canny young crittur like you! Pit a' that nonsense oot o' yer heid!" Mona laid her hands on the old woman's shoulders, and stooped to kiss the wrinkled brow. "I would not vex you for the world, dear Auntie Bell," she said. "If you like, we will discuss it to-morrow afternoon."