On the way back in the boat Margaret was very silent for a time as she
watched Priscilla row; finally she said:

"Did it surprise you--my show of feeling for the--the child?"

"It was very beautiful. I did not know you cared so much for children,
and this one was so--dirty."

"But so real! You see I have never had real children in my life. The
kinds passed out to nice girls like me were sad travesties. Since I saw
the darling of to-day I've been wondering--do not laugh, Priscilla--but
I've been wondering what poor, cheated little morsel of humanity, in the
unreal world, would find herself in that eleventh miracle of the wretched
hovel? And what an art yours is, dear Priscilla! How you soothed away the
suffering by your touch. I loved you better as I realized how that
training of yours knows neither high nor low when it seeks to heal."

Priscilla thought of the operation on Margaret Moffatt's father, and her
quick colour rose.

"And I loved you better when I saw how your humanity knows neither high
nor low--just love!"

"Only toward little children. I cannot explain it, but when I touch the
babies, their littleness and helplessness make me weak and trembling
before--well, before the strength comes in a mighty wave. There is a
physical sensation, a thrill, that comes with the first contact, and when
they trust me, as that darling did this morning, I feel as if--God had
singled me out! Only lately have I begun to understand what this means