"I was going to suggest," said his grannie, "that there's a kind of work that goes yet nearer to the people it helps than any of those. But, of course, if you've made up your mind"—
"Oh no, grannie! I don't mean it so much as that—if there's a better way, you know. Tell me what it is."
"I want you to think and find out."
Willie thought, looked puzzled, and said he couldn't tell what it was.
"Then you must think a little longer," said his grandmother. "And now go and wash your hands."
CHAPTER XVIX.
A TALK WITH Mr SHEPHERD.
In a few minutes Willie came rushing back from his room, with his hands and face half wet and half dry.
"Grannie! grannie!" he panted—"what a stupid I am! How can a body be so stupid! Of course you mean a doctor's work! My father comes nearer to people to help them than anybody else can—and yet I never thought what you meant. How is it you can know a thing and not know it at the same moment?"
"Well, now you've found what I meant, what do you think of it?" said his grandmother.