The Keynote of Life is Love—
Lacking it, naught is worth while—
The Symbol of Service, the Cross
And the Sign of Courage, A Smile.

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I wish to acknowledge, most gratefully, the valuable assistance rendered to me, in the preparation of the chapters dealing with the medical and hospital incidents, by Robert W. Guiler, M.D.; by Alonzo J. Shadman, M.D., to whom I am indebted for my description of the unusual operation in Chapter XXI; and by Miss Elizabeth E. Sullivan, Superintendent of Nurses at the Boston Children's Hospital. And, above all, I desire to make acknowledgment of the debt of gratitude that I owe to Mr. Henry Wightman Packer for his helpful criticism throughout the writing of this story.

Eliot Harlow Robinson.

Contents

CHAPTERPAGE
I.Donald MacDonald, M.D.[1]
II.Enter Big Jerry[12]
III.An Innocent Serpent in Eden[25]
IV."Smiles"[34]
V.Giving and Receiving[46]
VI.An Unaccepted Challenge[57]
VII."Smiles'" Gift: and the "Writing"[66]
VIII.Some of Several Epistles[77]
IX.The High Hills, and "God's Man"[91]
X."Smiles'" Consecration[101]
XI.Adoption by Blood[113]
XII.The Three of Hearts[121]
XIII.Gathering Clouds[129]
XIV.Sowing the Wind[142]
XV.Reaping the Whirlwind[153]
XVI.The Aftermath[164]
XVII.The Parting Pledge and Passing Days[171]
XVIII.The Added Burden[179]
XIX."Smiles'" Appeal[190]
XX.The Answer[200]
XXI.A Modern Miracle[216]
XXII.Vicarious Atonement[225]
XXIII.Two Letters[235]
XXIV.New Scenes, New Friends[241]
XXV.The First Milestone[256]
XXVI.The Call of the Red Cross[264]
XXVII.The Goal[277]
XXVIII."But a Rose Has Thorns"[294]
XXIX.An Interlude[309]
XXX.Donald's Homecoming[316]
XXXI.The Valley of Indecision[329]
XXXII.The Storm and the Sacrifice[341]
XXXIII.What the Cricket Heard[350]
XXXIV.A Lost Brother[361]
XXXV.The Hallowed Moon[370]