"Of him, yes; I saw him once in the hospital."
"So you 've been in the hospital too?"
It was Jamie who put that question, and something of the eager light in his face faded as he asked it.
"Yes, last spring; I was there ten weeks."
"Then you know," he said quite simply, and looked at me with inquiring eyes.
Why or how I was enabled to read the significance of that simple statement, I cannot say; I know only in part. But I do know that my eyes must have answered his, for I saw in them a reflection of my own thought: We both, then, have known what it is, to draw near to the threshold of that door that opens only outward.
"You don't indeed look strong; I noticed that the first thing," said Mrs. Macleod.
"Oh, but I am," I assured her; "you will see when you have work for me. I can cook, and sew—and chop wood, and even saw a little, if necessary."
Mrs. Macleod looked at me in absolute amazement, and Jamie burst into a hearty laugh. It was good to hear, and, without in the slightest knowing why, I laughed too—at what I did not know, nor much care. It was good to laugh like that!
"And to think, mother, that you told me to come down heavy on the 'strong and country raised'! Oh, this is rich! I wrote that advertisement, Miss Far—"