"Well, of course, we try to favor our advertisers," said the spectacled one nervously.
"That"s business! I"ll be coming around again next year, if this thing is handled right, and I think my increased business might warrant a double page, then."
"But the paper will have to carry something about it. Too many folks saw it happen."
"Just say that a crazy man tried to interrupt the lecture of Professor Andrew Leon Certain, the distinguished medical savant, and was locked up by the authorities."
"But the knifing. How is the boy?"
"Somebody"s been giving you the wrong tip. There wasn"t any knife,"
replied the Professor with a wink. "You may send me two hundred and fifty copies of the paper. And, by the way, do what you can to get that poor lunatic off easy, and I"ll square the bills--with commission."
"I"ll see the Justice first thing in the morning," said the editor with enthusiasm. "Much obliged, Professor Certain. And the article will be all right. I"ll show you a proof. It mightn"t be a bad notion for you to drop in at the jail with me, and see Neal, the man that stab--that interrupted the meeting, before he gets talking with any one else."
"So it mightn"t. But what about my leaving, now?" Professor Certain asked of the physician.
"Go ahead. I"ll keep watch."
Shortly after the itinerant had gone out with the exponent of free and untrammeled journalism, the boy awoke and looked about with fevered anxiety for his father. The little nurse was beside him at once.
"You mustn"t wiggle around," she commanded. "Do you want a drink?"
Gratefully he drank the water which she held to his lips.
"Where"s my Dad?" he asked.
"He"s gone out. He"ll come back pretty soon. Lie down."
He sank back, fixing his eyes upon her. "Will you stay with me till he comes?"
She nodded. "Does it hurt you much?" Her cool and tiny fingers touched his forehead, soothingly. "You"re very hot. I think you"ve got a little fever."
"Don"t take your hand away." His eyes closed, but presently opened again. "I think you"re very pretty," he said shyly.
"Do you? I like to have people think I"m pretty. Uncle Guardy scolds me for it. Not really, you know, but just pretending. He says I"m vain."
"Is that your uncle, the gentleman that fixed my arm?"
"Yes. I call him Uncle Guardy because he"s my guardian, too."
"I like him. He looks good. But I like you better. I like you a lot."
"Everybody does," replied the girl with dimpling complacency. "They can"t help it. It"s because I"m me!"
For a moment he brooded. "Am I going to die?" he asked quite suddenly.
"Die? Of course not."
"Would you be sorry if I did?"
"Yes. If you died you couldn"t like me any more. And I want everybody to like me and think me pretty."
"I"m glad I"m not. It would be tough on Dad."
"My Uncle Guardy thinks your father is a bad man," said the fairy, not without a spice of malice.
Up rose the patient from his pillow. "Then I hate him. He"s a liar. My Dad is the best man in the world." A brighter hue than fever burnt in his cheeks, and his hand went to his shoulder. "I won"t have his bandages on me," he cried.
But she had thrown herself upon his arm, and pushed him back. "Oh, don"t! Please don"t," she besought. "Uncle Guardy told me to keep you perfectly quiet. And I"ve made you sit up--"
"What"s all this commotion?" demanded Dr. Elliot brusquely, from the door.
"You said my father was a bad man," cried the outraged patient.
"Lie back, youngster." The physician"s hand was gentle, but very firm.
"I don"t recall saying any such thing. Where did you get it?"
"I said you _thought_ he was a bad man," declared the midget girl. "I know you do. You wouldn"t have spoken back to him down in the square if you hadn"t."
Her uncle turned upon her a slow, cool, silent regard. "Esme, you talk too much," he said finally. "I"m a little ashamed of you, as a nurse.
Take your place there by the bedside. And you, young man, shut your ears and eyes and go to sleep."
Hardly had the door closed behind the autocrat of the sick-room, when his patient turned softly.
"You"re crying," he accused.
"I"m not!" The denial was the merest gasp. The long lashes quivered with tears.
"Yes, you are. He was mean to you."
"He"s _never_ mean to me." The words came in a sobbing rush. "But he--he--stopped loving me just for that minute. And when anybody I love stops loving me I want to die!"
The boy"s brown hands crept timidly to her arm. "I like you awfully," he said. "And I"ll never stop, not even for a minute!"
"Won"t you?" Again she was the child coquette. "But we"re going away to-night. Perhaps you won"t see me any more."
"Oh, yes, I shall. I"ll look for you until I find you."
"I"ll hide," she teased.
"That won"t matter, little girl." He repeated the form softly and drowsily. "Little girl; little girl; I"d do anything in the world for you, little girl, if ever you asked me. Only don"t go away while I"m asleep."
Back of them the door had opened quietly and Professor Certain, who, with Dr. Elliot, had been a silent spectator of the little drama, now closed it again, withdrawing, on the further side, with his companion.
"He"ll sleep now," said the physician. "That"s all he needs. h.e.l.lo!
What"s this?"
In a corner of the sofa was a tiny huddle, outlined vaguely as human, under a faded shawl. Drawing aside the folds, the quack disclosed a wild little face, framed in a ma.s.s of glowing red hair.