I begged him not to go. I didn"t wish to be the cause of any silly quarrel between them. But without paying the slightest attention to me, they climbed into the car, and whirled away, leaving me placidly standing on the door mat.
I came in and went to bed, and lay awake for hours, expecting to hear--I don"t know what kind of explosion. It is now eleven o"clock, and the doctor hasn"t appeared. I don"t know how on earth I shall meet him when he does. I fancy I shall hide in the clothes closet.
Did you ever know anything as unnecessary and stupid as this whole situation? I suppose now I"ve quarreled with Gordon,--and I positively don"t know over what,--and of course my relations with the doctor are going to be terribly awkward. I said horrid things about him,--you know the silly way I talk,--things I didn"t mean in the least.
I wish it were yesterday at this time. I would make Gordon go at four.
SALLIE.
Sunday afternoon.
Dear Dr. MacRae:
That was a horrid, stupid, silly business last night. But by this time you must know me well enough to realize that I never mean the foolish things I say. My tongue has no slightest connection with my brain; it just runs along by itself. I must seem to you very ungrateful for all the help you have given me in this unaccustomed work and for the patience you have (occasionally) shown.
I do appreciate the fact that I could never have run this asylum by myself without your responsible presence in the background. And though once in a while, as you yourself must acknowledge, you have been pretty impatient and bad tempered and difficult, still I have never held it up against you, and I really didn"t mean any of the ill-mannered things I said last night. Please forgive me for being rude. I should hate very much to lose your friendship. And we are friends, are we not? I like to think so.
S. McB.
Dear Judy:
I am sure I haven"t an idea whether or not the doctor and I have made up our differences. I sent him a polite note of apology, which he received in abysmal silence. He didn"t come near us until this afternoon, and he hasn"t by the blink of an eyelash referred to our unfortunate contretemps. We talked exclusively about an ichthyol salve that will remove eczema from a baby"s scalp; then, Sadie Kate being present, the conversation turned to cats. It seems that the doctor"s Maltese cat has four kittens, and Sadie Kate will not be silenced until she has seen them. Before I knew what was happening I found myself making an engagement to take her to see those miserable kittens at four o"clock tomorrow afternoon.
Whereupon the doctor, with an indifferently polite bow, took himself off. And that apparently is the end.
Your Sunday note arrives, and I am delighted to hear that you have taken the house. It will be beautiful having you for a neighbor for so long.
Our improvements ought to march along, with you and the president at our elbow. But it does seem as though, you ought to get out here before August 7. Are you sure that city air is good for you just now? I have never known so devoted a wife.
My respects to the president.
S. McB.
July 22.
Dear Judy:
Please listen to this!
At four o"clock I took Sadie Kate to the doctor"s house to look at those cats. But Freddy Howland just twenty minutes before had fallen downstairs, so the doctor was at the Howland house occupying himself with Freddy"s collarbone. He had left word for us to sit down and wait, that he would be back shortly.
Mrs. McGurk ushered us into the library; and then, not to leave us alone, came in herself on a pretense of polishing the bra.s.s. I don"t know what she thought we"d do! Run off with the pelican perhaps.
I settled down to an article about the Chinese situation in the Century, and Sadie Kate roamed about at large examining everything she found, like a curious little mongoose.
She commenced with his stuffed flamingo and wanted to know what made it so tall and what made it so red. Did it always eat frogs, and had it hurt its other foot? She ticks off questions with the steady persistency of an eight-day clock.
I buried myself in my article and left Mrs. McGurk to deal with Sadie.
Finally, after she had worked half-way around the room, she came to a portrait of a little girl occupying a leather frame in the center of the doctor"s writing desk--a child with a queer elf-like beauty, resembling very strangely our little Allegra. This photograph might have been a portrait of Allegra grown five years older. I had noticed the picture the night we took supper with the doctor, and had meant to ask which of his little patients she was. Happily I didn"t!
"Who"s that?" said Sadie Kate, pouncing upon it.
"It"s the docthor"s little gurrl."
"Where is she?"
"Shure, she"s far away wit" her gran"ma."
"Where"d he get her?"
"His wife give her to him."
I emerged from my book with electric suddenness.
"His wife!" I cried.
The next instant I was furious with myself for having spoken, but I was so completely taken off my guard. Mrs. McGurk straightened up and became volubly conversational at once.
"And didn"t he never tell you about his wife? She went insane six years ago. It got so it weren"t safe to keep her in the house, and he had to put her away. It near killed him. I never seen a lady more beautiful than her. I guess he didn"t so much as smile for a year. It"s funny he never told you nothing, and you such a friend!"
"Naturally it"s not a subject he cares to talk about," said I dryly, and I asked her what kind of bra.s.s polish she used.
Sadie Kate and I went out to the garage and hunted up the kittens ourselves; and we mercifully got away before the doctor came back.
But will you tell me what this means? Didn"t Jervis know he was married? It"s the queerest thing I ever heard. I do think, as the McGurk suggests, that Sandy might casually have dropped the information that he had a wife in an insane asylum.
But of course it must be a terrible tragedy and I suppose he can"t bring himself to talk about it. I see now why he"s so morbid over the question of heredity--I dare say he fears for the little girl. When I think of all the jokes I"ve made on the subject, I"m aghast at how I must have hurt him, and angry with myself and angry with him.
I feel as though I never wanted to see the man again. Mercy! did you ever know such a muddle as we are getting ourselves into?
Yours, SALLIE.
P.S. Tom McCoomb has pushed Mamie Prout into the box of mortar that the masons use. She"s parboiled. I"ve sent for the doctor.
July 24. My dear Madam:
I have a shocking scandal to report about the superintendent of the John Grier Home. Don"t let it get into the newspapers, please. I can picture the spicy details of the investigation prior to her removal by the "Cruelty."
I was sitting in the sunshine by my open window this morning reading a sweet book on the Froebel theory of child culture--never lose your temper, always speak kindly to the little ones. Though they may appear bad, they are not so in reality. It is either that they are not feeling well or have nothing interesting to do. Never punish; simply deflect their attention. I was entertaining a very loving, uplifted att.i.tude toward all this young life about me when my attention was attracted by a group of little boys beneath the window.
"Aw--John--don"t hurt it!"
"Let it go!"
"Kill it quick!"