"Really. Mrs. Phipps--"
"Miss, not Mrs."
"I beg your pardon. Really, Miss Phipps, I cannot permit you to take so much trouble. I must go on, back to the village--or--or somewhere.
I--Dear me?"
"What is it?"
"Nothing, nothing, my head is rather confused--dizzy. I shall be all right again, shortly. I am ashamed of myself."
"You needn"t be. Anybody that has walked "way down here, a night like this, on an empty stomach--" She paused, laughed, and exclaimed, "Of course, I don"t mean you walked on your stomach, exactly, Mr. Bangs."
Galusha smiled, feebly. "There were times when I began to think I should be forced to," he said.
"I don"t doubt it. There, there! now don"t try to talk any more till you"ve had something to eat. Doctor Powers will be here pretty soon; it isn"t very far--in an automobile. I"m afraid he"s liable to have a queer notion of what"s the matter with you. The idea of that Primmie tellin"
him you hadn"t had anything but rum for she didn"t know how long! My, my! Well, "twas the truth, but it bears out what my father used to say, that a little truth was like a little learnin", an awfully dangerous thing.... There, there! don"t talk. I"ll talk for both of us. I have a faculty that way--father used to say THAT, too," she added, with a broad smile.
When Doctor Powers did arrive, which was about fifteen minutes later, he found the patient he had come to see drinking hot tea and eating b.u.t.tered toast. He was sitting in a big rocker with his steaming shoes propped against the stove. Miss Phipps introduced the pair and explained matters to the extent of her knowledge. Galusha added the lacking details.
The doctor felt the Bangs" pulse and took the Bangs temperature. The owner of the pulse and temperature made feeble protests, declaring himself to be "perfectly all right, really" and that he must be going back to the village. He couldn"t think of putting every one to so much trouble.
"And where will you go when you get back to the village?" asked Doctor Powers.
"Why, to the--ah--hotel. I presume there is a hotel."
"No, there isn"t. The Inn across the road here is the only hotel in East Wellmouth, and that is closed for the season."
"Dear me, doctor! Dear me! Well, perhaps I may be able to hire a--ah--car or wagon or something to take me to Wellmouth. I have friends in Wellmouth; I intended visiting them. Do you know Professor Hall--ah--George Hall, of New York?"
"Yes, I know him well. He and his family are patients of mine. But the Halls are not in Wellmouth now."
"They are not?"
"No, they went back to New York two weeks or more ago. Their cottage is closed."
"Dear me!... Oh, dear!... Why, but--but there IS a hotel at Wellmouth?"
"Yes, a kind of hotel, but you mustn"t think of going there to-night."
Then, with a motion of his hand, he indicated to Miss Phipps that he wished to speak with her alone. She led the way to the kitchen and he followed.
"Martha," he said, when the door closed, "to be absolutely honest with you, that man in there shouldn"t go out again to-night. He has been half sick for some time, I judge from what he has told me, and he is weak and worn out from his tramp and wetting."
Miss Phipps shook her head impatiently.
"The idea of Raish Pulcifer"s cartin" him "way over here and then leavin" him in the middle of the road," she said. "It"s just like Raish, but that doesn"t help it any; nothin" that"s like Raish helps anything--much," she added.
The doctor laughed.
"I"m beginning to believe you"re right, Martha," he agreed.
"I"m pretty sure I am. I think I know Raish Pulcifer by this time; I almost wish I didn"t. Father used to say that if ignorance was bliss the home for feeble-minded folks ought to be a paradise. But I don"t know; sometimes I wish I wasn"t so wise about some things; I might be happier."
Her pleasant, comely face had clouded over. Doctor Powers thought he understood why.
"Haven"t heard anything hopeful about the Wellmouth Development Company, have you?" he asked.
"Not a word. I"ve almost given up expectin" to. How about you?"
"Oh, I"ve heard nothing new. Well, I"ve got only ten shares, so the loss, if it is a loss, won"t break me. But Cap"n Jethro went in rather heavily, so they say."
"I believe he did."
"Yes. Well, it may be all right, after all. Raish says all we need is time."
"Um-hm. And that"s all the Lord needed when He made the world. He made it in six days. Sometimes when I"m out of sorts I wonder if one more week wouldn"t have given us a better job.... But there, that"s irreverent, isn"t it, and off the track besides? Now about this little Bangs man. What ought to be done with him?"
"Well, as I say, he shouldn"t go out to-night. Of course he"ll have to."
"Why will he have to?"
"Because he needs to go to bed and sleep. I thought perhaps I could get him down to the light and Cap"n Jethro and Lulie could give him a room."
"There"s a room here. Two or three of "em, as far as that goes. He isn"t very big; he won"t need more than one."
"But, Martha, I didn"t know how you would feel about taking a strange man into your house, at night, and--"
Miss Phipps interrupted him.
"Heavens and earth, doctor!" she exclaimed, "what DO you think I am? I"m forty-one years old next August and I weigh--Well, I won"t tell you what I weigh, but I blush every time I see the scales. If you think I"m afraid of a little, meek creature like the one in the sittin" room you never made a bigger mistake. And there"s Primmie to help me, in case I need help, which I shan"t. Besides he doesn"t look as if he would run off with the spoons, now does he?"
Doctor Powers laughed heartily. "Why, no, he doesn"t," he admitted. "I think you"ll find him a quiet little chap."
"Yes. And he isn"t able to half look after himself when he"s well, to say nothin" of when he"s sick. Anybody--any woman, anyhow--could tell that just by lookin" at him. And I"ve brought up a father, so I"ve had experience. He"ll stay right here in the spare bedroom to-night--yes, and to-morrow night, too, if you think he"d better. Now don"t talk any more rubbish, but go in and tell him so."
Her hand was on the latch of the sitting room door when the doctor asked one more question.
"Say, Martha," he asked, "this is not my business, but as a friend of yours I--Tell me: Cap"n Jim--your father, I mean--didn"t put more money than he could spare in that Development scheme, did he? I mean you, yourself, aren"t--er--likely to be embarra.s.sed in case--in case--"
Miss Phipps interrupted hastily, almost too hastily, so Doctor Powers thought.
"No, no, of course not," she said.
"Truly, Martha? I"m only asking as a friend, you know."
"Why, of course. There now, doctor, don"t you worry about me. You know what father and I were to each other; is it likely he would leave me in trouble of any kind? Now come in and see if Primmie has talked this little sick man of ours into another faintin" fit."
Primmie had not, but the "little sick man" came, apparently, very near to fainting when told that he was to occupy the Phipps" spare bedroom overnight. Oh, he could not possibly do such a thing, really he couldn"t think of it! "Dear me, Miss Phipps, I--"