Before many days were past, the light came to her. She was very happy in the empty Lodge, spent most of her days with Rowena, and sat chatting in the kitchen with old Granny after her simple dinner was over. But in three weeks' time she went back to town.
"I shall lodge with a friend till our house is disinfected," she told Rowena. "Joyce is nearly well, they tell me. I must be getting on with my work, and now I have got what I came for, there is nothing to keep me. I wish we had a few more of your sort in town, Mrs. Macdonald. You are so very definite. I find people so very vague when you start talking religion. If I get into a fog, I shall write to you. I have made you my father—no—mother-confessor!"
And when she said good-bye to General Macdonald, she said to him with a little laugh:
"I consider Mrs. Macdonald is wasting her life down here. You ought to come to town oftener. Of course, if the mountain won't come to Mahomet, Mahomet must come to the mountain, and that's what I've done, but there are lots of others who couldn't afford the time or money to do it. Think of your fellow-creatures sometimes, General, and bring your wife to town. We want her there badly."
When she had gone Rowena told her husband about her. As a rule she did not betray the confidence of any who confided in her. She had learnt the wisdom of that in her life with Mrs. Burke. And her husband did not understand even yet, the gift that she had for drawing out the best in people, and winning their confidence and love.
"Well," he said, "I'm glad you were able to help her, dear. I must confess these loud-voiced, self-sufficient girls, do not appeal to me. The Miss Rashleighs were ardent suffragettes a few years back. I suppose they may do good in their own set; it is an age for strenuous exertion and work, but I can no more understand Dora Rashleigh than I can Miss Di Dunstan. I suppose Miss Dunstan is the more selfish of the two, as she never seems to think of anything but amusing and taking care of herself."
"I'm afraid you don't care for girls," said Rowena, looking at him rather ruefully. "And yet you have a little daughter of your own!"
"She is more than enough for me," said General Macdonald with a smile. "You say her will ought not to be broken, but I will not have her grow up into one of these modern young women."
"I cannot think why you ever took the smallest interest in me," said Rowena with her laugh. "I was an ordinary young woman—not an old-fashioned one by any means."
"You? Oh, you stand by yourself. You were perfectly adorable from the first moment I set eyes on you! I don't wonder you are so popular with these girls. I wish I could be more sociable and sympathetic. I am just an old bear who likes to remain in his den, and have his family with him."