“Bert wouldn’t hev been killed if he’d stayed at the farm,” was the answer; “fer I ain’t so good ter my boys—I only half kill ’em.” Marion sprang aboard of the train almost before it stopped, and as she took her seat she was shaking with laughter. “Wouldn’t he be mad if he knew the truth,” she was thinking. “Why, if Matt Jenkins knew that Bert was alive and in a good position, I believe he’d be so mad that he would chew nails for a fortnight.” A ripple of laughter flowed from Marion’s lips. She was so amused at her thoughts that she entirely forgot her surroundings. “By Jove! But that’s a pretty girl!” said a low voice just behind her. Marion sobered instantly, but did not turn around. She knew that the gentleman who had spoken did not intend that she should hear him. CHAPTER IV. A SERIOUS MATCHMAKER. When Marion alighted from her train at the Grand Central Depot it was almost midnight, but she was not frightened a particle. “It doesn’t seem much like the first time I came,” she said to the gentleman and lady who sat just behind her and who had been talking to her pleasantly during the last part of the journey. “How so?” asked the gentleman, with an interested look. “Why, I was as green as grass,” said Marion, laughing. “I had on a homespun frock and a simple little straw hat, and it was my very first glimpse of a real city. You can’t imagine how lonesome I felt. And then, do you know, I did not have a friend to meet me, while to-night my sister will be here as well as a dear friend who lives with us.” “Do tell us your name,” said the lady, as they walked slowly down the platform in the long line of passengers. “Marion Marlowe,” said the young girl, promptly, “and here is my address,” she said, handing her a slip of paper; “but after Monday I shall be on Blackwell’s Island. I am going there as a nurse—‘on probation,’ of course—at Charity Hospital.” “Then I may see you again, because I go there often,” said the lady, quickly. “My name is Mrs. Brookes, and I am a member of a mission that visits the Island regularly.” “And as I am to be a physician, I may see you, too,” said the gentleman, smiling. “I am Reginald Brookes, a student at the ‘P. and S.’ This lady is my mother, and at present I am a bachelor.” Both ladies laughed, and they all shook hands. The next moment Marion spied Dollie and her friend, Miss Allyn, and the three girls were soon together. “Oh, we’ve found the cunningest little flat you ever saw, Marion,” said Dollie, as the girls were disrobing in their room a little later, “and Miss Allyn and I are to keep house together, and there’s to be a bed for you whenever you can get away from the Island.” “It’s a hard place to get away from,” said Miss Allyn, smiling; “but as you are only to go up for three months, Marion, I suppose there’s some use in keeping a bed for you.”