"Yes, she's a beautiful child! She seemed to me like a disguised princess in a fairy-tale, that day I saw her first. And is the mother getting on well?"
"Yes, she's getting better fast," said Nora, somewhat doubtfully. "But, poor thing, what will she do when she is well?"
"Oh, something must be done for her," Roland replied. "And surely she must have friends somewhere!"
"Miss Spencer, the nurse who attends her, is going to try to find out, if she can only get her to tell her," replied Miss Blanchard.
"Will you permit me to come some day to see the child?" asked Roland. "I should like to see her again."
"Oh, come whenever you like," Nora responded cordially, as she bade him good-night, "come and see her—and me!"
CHAPTER XVIII.
AFTERNOON VISITORS.
The days seem to go on faster after the winter solstice is turned, and so, too, often do the life and work of men. Roland Graeme, at all events, found the days fly past with an increasing rapidity. He had, indeed, no idle time on his hands. His law-studies and office-work absorbed the best part of his day. His reporting and journalizing filled in all the intervals, and several evenings. The meetings of the "Knights of Labor" always occupied one evening in the week, and sometimes more; for besides his regular attendance at the Assembly to which he belonged, his intelligence and ability were frequently called into requisition, either in getting new assemblies into working order, or in helping to settle difficult matters that came up for consideration. Roland's influence had already made itself felt among the men, with whom a combination of honest enthusiasm, energy and ability like his, speedily becomes a power. Dunning, the head of the Minton organization, himself a shrewd, intelligent man, had soon recognized Graeme's value, and frequently sought his counsel. And with the men generally, his ready sympathy, genial address, and persuasive eloquence had gained an influence that often surprised him, almost as much as did the fair and moderate views and temperate and sensible speeches that he often heard from them. He would laughingly remark to Mr. Alden, that, if the masters, generally, were only as fair and reasonable in their attitude as were most of the men, there need never be a "strike" or a "lock-out." To which Mr. Alden would reply, that, as it had been from the beginning, so it was still, most difficult for "a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."