I had hardly reached the room when a light footfall was heard behind me. It was my daughter.
"Margaret! Is this you? I thought you had gone home. Where is your mother?" Lovely was her face and beautiful the light of joy upon it.
She did not seem to hear, but came straight on, and in a moment her arms were about my neck, and the brave heart told all its story in tears of utter gladness.
"Daughter mine," I whispered, "you will forgive"--but the gentle hand stopped the words.
"Gone to the manse--they went together," and the sun shone through the rain--"I waited for you."
"Wait a moment," I said, "stay here a moment,"--for I knew the ways of love.
I hurried without, and in the church I found the two men lingering for me.
"Mr. Blake, we will walk down to the manse together--Margaret is waiting for you in my room, Angus."
No maiden's fluttering form betrays the soul of love as doth a strong man's face. Ah me! as I looked on Angus's in that moment, I knew to whom my child belonged the most. But the broken emblems of Another's lay before me, and I made the lesser sacrifice with joy.
I watched his eager step, nor did he seek to control its pace. Swiftly he walked, and I could not forbear to follow with my eyes till he stood before the door.
A moment he paused, I know not why--then he slowly entered and the door was shut.
"Mr. Duncan is deserving of much praise for this, his first novel.... In his descriptive passages Mr. Duncan is sincere to the smallest detail. His characters are painted in with bold, wide strokes.... Unlike most first novels, 'Doctor Luke' waxes stronger as it progresses."--_N. Y. Evening Post._
_James MacArthur, of Harper's Weekly, says_: "I am delighted with 'Doctor Luke.' So fine and noble a work deserves great success."
"A masterpiece of sentiment and humorous characterization. Nothing more individual, and in its own way more powerful, has been done in American fiction.... The story is a work of art."--_The Congregationalist._
_Joseph B. Gilder, of The Critic, says_: "I look to see it take its place promptly among the best selling books of the season."
"It fulfills its promise of being one of the best stories of the season. Mr. Duncan evidently is destined to make a name for himself among the foremost novelists of his day.... Doctor Luke is a magnetic character, and the love story in which he plays his part is a sweet and pleasant idyl.... The triumph of the book is its character delineation."--_Chicago Record-Herald._