"Nell," he exploded, clenching his hand. "If you say that once more in that tone--once more, mind!--I"ll go and take a flat in London to-morrow!"
The doctor crackled with laughter. Nellie smiled. Even Robert, who had completely ignored the doctor"s entrance, glanced round with creased brows.
"Sit down, dearest," Nellie quietly enjoined the invalid.
But he would not sit down, and, to show his independence, he helped his wife to escort Stirling into the lobby.
Robert, now alone with the ignored young clerk tapping at the table, turned toward him, and in his deliberate, judicial, disdainful, childish voice said to him:
"Isn"t Father a funny man?"
THE END