Page 13 - Fairbrass

he could carry out. His great practical

success in this line came a few months later,

when he promised an apparently dying
widow that he would be a second father to

her five little boys. Under that careful and
consolatory treatment the young" widow not

only recovered, but, mindful of the Doctor’s
promise, led him captive to the altar, and

in due time made him the father of three

more little boys* After that the Doctor
gave up saying 'the more the merrier,’ and

long before that he forgot all about our little
boy. But at the moment the parents believed

in the good intentions of the Doctor,
and so it came about that the child was

christened and called Fairbrass.
Little Fairbrass lay by the side of his

mother and wondered. For wondering his
mind was in exactly the right condition, for

being only a fewr hours old he had no past

to occupy his thoughts, and the future did
not cause him any apprehension. For a

moment he was rather sorry that the Doctor
had gone, because he felt himself under