"Of course it is hard, but then aren"t all of you giving up things, too?"
"But we don"t mind--at least we don"t mind much. It is harder on Helen and mother because--because they--they are kind of different. And they don"t understand money."
"And do you understand it?" laughed the young doctor.
"Well, Douglas and I understand it better. We know that when you spend a dollar you haven"t got a dollar, but Helen and mother seem to think if you haven"t got it you can charge it. I think they are suffering with a kind of disease--chargitis."
George Wright was looking quite solemn as he made his way to the cabin where Mrs. Carter had taken to her bed. He was not relishing the idea of having to speak to the wife of his patient, but speak he must. He knew very well that Nan would never have come to him if matters had not reached a crisis. How would Helen take his interference? He could not fool himself into the belief that what Helen said and thought made no difference to him. It made all the difference in the world. But duty was duty and since he was ministering to a mind diseased, he must guard that mind from all things that were harmful to it, just as much as a doctor who is treating an open wound must see that it is kept aseptic. If Robert Carter"s wife was contemplating upsetting the good that had been done her husband, why, it was his duty as that husband"s physician to warn her of the result.
Mrs. Carter was looking very lovely and pathetic, acting the invalid.
An extremely dainty and costly negligee accentuated her beauty. Her cabin room, while certainly not elegant, was perfectly comfortable and kept in spotless condition by the devoted Susan. There were no evidences of rough living in her surroundings and the hand which she extended feebly to welcome the physician could not have been smoother or whiter had it belonged to pampered royalty.
"Ah, Dr. Wright, it is kind of you to come in to see me." She smiled a wan smile.
"I am sorry you are ill. What is troubling you?" He felt her pulse, and finding it quite regular, he smiled, but did not let her see his amus.e.m.e.nt.
"I think it is my heart. I can make no exertion without great effort."
"Any appet.i.te?"
"Oh, very little--I never eat much, and I am so tired of chicken! Fried chicken, broiled chicken, stewed chicken!"
"Yes, spring chicken is a great hardship, no doubt," he said rather grimly.
"I like broiled chicken very much in the spring, but I never did care very much for chicken in the summer. People seem to have chicken so much in the summer. I never could see why."
"It might be because it is cheaper when they are plentiful," he suggested, finding it difficult to keep the scorn he felt for this foolish little b.u.t.terfly out of his voice.
"Perhaps it is, I never thought of that."
Helen came in just then, bringing a bouquet of garden flowers that Mr.
McRae had sent to the ladies of the camp.
"I might as well tackle them together," he thought, taking a long breath.
"Ahem--are your plans for the winter made yet?" he asked Mrs. Carter.
"Why, the girls--at least Douglas and Nan, have some ridiculous scheme about taking a cottage in the suburbs and letting those people keep my house. I don"t see why I need call it my house, however, as I seem to have no say-so in the matter," she answered complainingly. "Helen and I both think it would be much more sensible to go into our own house and be comfortable. Douglas is very unreasonable and headstrong. The paltry sum that these tenants pay is the only argument she has against our occupying the house ourselves."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Carter, but as your husband"s physician, I may perhaps be able to point out the relation of the steady, if small, income from the house and his very serious condition."
"I--I thought he was almost well."
"No, madam, much better but not almost well! Do you think that if he were almost well he would sit pa.s.sively down and let his daughters decide for him as he is doing now? Has he not always been a man of action, one to take the initiative? Look at him now, not even asking what the plans are when you leave the camp, which you will have to do in the course of a few weeks. Can"t you see that he is still in a very nervous state and the least little worry might upset his reason?
No troubles must be taken to him. He must not be consulted about arrangements any more than Bobby would be. His tired brain is beginning to recover and a few more months may make him almost himself again, but," and Dr. Wright looked so stern and uncompromising that Helen and her mother felt that the accusing angel had them on the last day, the day of judgment, "if he is worried by all kinds of foolish little things, there will be nothing for him but a sanitarium. I am hoping that he will be spared this, and it rests entirely with his family whether he is spared it or not."
"Oh, Doctor, I shall try!" and poor little Mrs. Carter looked very like Bobby and not much older. "I have been very remiss. I did not know."
"Another thing," and the accusing angel went on in a stern voice. He had heard all of this before from this little b.u.t.terfly woman and he felt that he must impress upon her even more the importance of guarding her husband from all financial worries. "If when he"s well he finds bills to be paid and obligations to be met, he will drop right back into the condition in which I found him last May when I was called to the case.
You remember," and he turned to Helen, "his troubled talk about lamb chops and silk stockings, do you not?"
Helen dropped the gay bouquet and covered her face with her hands. Great sobs shook her frame. Remember! Could she ever forget it? And yet she had been behaving as though she had forgotten it, only that morning insisting she must have a new suit before she could get a job. What was Dr. Wright thinking of her? He had spoken so sternly and looked so scornful.
His scorn was all turned to concern now. He had not meant to distress Helen so much, only to impress upon her the importance of not letting financial worries reach her father. He looked at the poor stricken little woman who seemed to have shrivelled up into a wizened little child who had just been punished. Had he been too severe in his harangue? Well, nothing short of severity would reach the selfish heart of Mrs. Carter. But Helen--Helen was not selfish, only thoughtless and young. He had not meant to grieve her like this.
"I"m sorry," was all he could say.
"It seems awful that we should be so blind that you should have to say such things to us," said Helen, trying to control her voice.
"I know I am a worthless woman," said the poor little mother plaintively. "n.o.body ever expected me to be anything else and I have never been anything else. I don"t understand finance--I don"t understand life. Please call Douglas and Nan here, Helen. I want to speak to them."
"Let me do it," said the young doctor eagerly. He felt that running away from the scene of disaster would be about the most graceful thing he could do just then.
"I believe I should like you to be here if you don"t mind."
Nan and Douglas were quickly summoned, indeed they were near the cabin, eagerly waiting to hear the outcome of the interview that they well knew Dr. Wright was having with their mother.
"My daughters," began the little lady solemnly, "I have just come to the realization of my worthlessness. I want all of you to know that I do realize it, and with Dr. Wright as witness I want to resign in a way as--as--as a guardian to you. Your judgment is better than mine and after this I am going to trust to it rather than to my own. I know nothing about money, nothing about economy. Douglas, you will have to be head of the family until your poor father can take up his burdens again.
Whatever you think best to do, I will do. Treat me about as you treat Bobby and Lucy--no, not Lucy--even Lucy"s judgment is better than mine."
Douglas was on her knees by the bedside, holding her mother in her arms.
"Oh, mumsy! Mumsy! Don"t talk that way about yourself. It "most kills me."
Nan buried her face in her hands. She was sure she felt worse than any of them because she had given voice to exactly the same truth concerning her mother in her conversation with Douglas and Helen.
Dr. Wright would have been glad if he had never been born, but since he had been he would have welcomed with joy an earthquake if it had only come at that moment and swallowed him up. Would Helen ever forgive him?
He had no idea he was having such an effect on Mrs. Carter. She had seemed to him heartless and selfish and stubborn. She was in reality nothing but a child. She was no more responsible than Bobby himself.
Mrs. Carter, childlike, was in a way enjoying herself very much. Had she not been punished and now were not all the grownups sorry for her and petting her? She had announced her policy for ever after and now nothing more was ever to be expected of her. Life was not to be so hard after all. Her Robert was still in a way ill, but he would get well finally, and now Douglas would take hold and think for her. Her girls would look after her and take care of her. She regretted not having a debutante daughter, as she well knew that society was one thing she could do, but since that was to be denied her, she would be the last person in the world to make herself disagreeable over her disappointment. A saccharine policy was to be hers on and after this date. Unselfishness and sweetness were to be synonymous with her name.
All of the daughters kissed her tenderly and Dr. Wright bent over her fair hand with knightly contrition.
How pleasant life was!
A tray, more daintily arranged than usual, was brought in at supper time, and under a covered dish there reposed the coveted sweetbreads.
CHAPTER XXI
LETTERS
Miss Nan Carter from Mr. Thomas Smith