"Are you not happy here, Nance?" and his voice was somewhat hoarse as he asked the question. "Would you like to go away? If so, we shall start at once. There will yet be time to cross the mountains, and catch the steamer on her return from the north. Then, when once outside, if you so desire, you can train to be a nurse."
"No, no, daddy, I don't want to go away," Nance hastened to reply. "And, besides, there is no need of it, as I can be just as happy here. Some one will be needed to care for the miners, and why cannot I help?"
"You are talking somewhat wildly, are you not?" Martin replied a little sharply. "Though you have cared for Pete, and have done it well, yet you know hardly anything about nursing. A very thorough training is necessary to make one proficient."
"But I may learn here, daddy. Dick," and at the mention of the name the flush upon her face became more apparent—"told me that he expects a trained nurse in soon on one of the steamers."
"Did he! Well that's news to me. Where is she to stay, pray?"
"At the hospital, which is to be built."
"H'm. Is that so?"
"Yes. And Dick told me something about the woman he expects will be sent in to take charge of the hospital. She is known only as Nurse Marion. She has been working along the Yukon River for years, and she has done so much for the miners. They love her just like the soldiers loved Florence Nightingale. Dick thinks that she will come, for it is always she who goes into new places, and starts the hospital work. I do hope that Nurse Marion will come, for I long to see her. I never saw a white woman, except my mother, and I was too young when she died to know anything about her."
"She was very beautiful, Nance," Martin replied, "and you look just like her."
"Do I, daddy? I didn't know that I am beautiful. But if I look like my mother used to then I must be. You have often told me about Beryl, how beautiful she is, and I have often wished to look just like her. Dick says that Nurse Marion is beautiful, that she has a sweet face, wonderful eyes, and can sing better than any one he ever heard. He said that it is fine to hear her sing by the side of sick people. Her voice is so comforting, and she always seems to know exactly how the patient feels and so sings accordingly. Dick said that she had some great trouble in her life which turned her mind to nursing that she might help others who suffer. Oh, I think her life must be so grand. I know that I shall like her, and I hope that she will let me help her in the hospital. So you see, daddy, I will be of some use in the world, and be right near you at the same time."