`` Doctors who have to be up all night waiting on sick folk do n't feel very adventurous , I suppose , '' Anne said indulgently . `` If you had had a good sleep last night , Gilbert , you 'd be as ready as I am for a flight of imagination . '' `` I did good work last night , Anne , '' said Gilbert quietly . `` Under God , I saved a life . This is the first time I could ever really claim that . In other cases I may have helped ; but , Anne , if I had not stayed at Allonby 's last night and fought death hand to hand , that woman would have died before morning . I tried an experiment that was certainly never tried in Four Winds before . I doubt if it was ever tried anywhere before outside of a hospital . It was a new thing in Kingsport hospital last winter . I could never have dared try it here if I had not been absolutely certain that there was no other chance . I risked it -- and it succeeded . As a result , a good wife and mother is saved for long years of happiness and usefulness . As I drove home this morning , while the sun was rising over the harbor , I thanked God that I had chosen the profession I did . I had fought a good fight and won -- think of it , Anne , WON , against the Great Destroyer . It 's what I dreamed of doing long ago when we talked together of what we wanted to do in life . That dream of mine came true this morning . '' `` Was that the only one of your dreams that has come true ? '' asked Anne , who knew perfectly well what the substance of his answer would be , but wanted to hear it again . `` YOU know , Anne-girl , '' said Gilbert , smiling into her eyes . At that moment there were certainly two perfectly happy people sitting on the doorstep of a little white house on the Four Winds Harbor shore .
Presently Gilbert XXXXX , with a change of tone , `` Do I or do I not see a full-rigged ship sailing up our lane ? ''
chosen drove know risked said sitting smiling stayed succeeded thanked