"Yes."
"Did you know the one they call Doctor Rugvie there? He 's the great surgeon."
"No, I don't know him; but I 've heard so much of him. He was pointed out to me once when I was getting better."
"Well, by good rights you ought to be applying for this place to him."
"To him?" I asked in surprise. I could n't make this fact rhyme in connection with this woman and Canada.
"Yes, to him; I'm only a go-between he trusts. He 's in Europe now and is n't coming home till late this year, so he left this with me," she indicated the advertisement, "and told me not to put it in till a week ago. I ain't had many applications. Folks in this city don't take to going off to a farm in Canada, and those I 've had would n't have suited. But, anyway, Doctor Rugvie is reference for this place that's advertised, and I guess he 's good enough for anybody. I thought I 'd tell you this to relieve your mind. 'T ain't every girl would come down here to this hole looking for a place.— Where was you born?"
"Here in New York, but I have lived most of my life in the country, northern New England, just this side of the Canada line. I 've been here seven years, five in the Public Library; that's my reference."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-six next December—the third."
"I would n't have thought it. Mother living?"