"Ah, forgit youse mudder! Youse a peach, oin"t youse?" contemptuously broke in the child.
Miss Durant and Dr. Armstrong both burst out laughing.
"Youse t"ink youse a smarty, but Ise know"d de hull time it wuz only a big bluff dat youse wuz tryin" to play on me, an" it didn"t go wid me, nah!"
went on the youngster, in an aggrieved tone.
"Isn"t he perfectly incorrigible?" sighed Constance.
"Ise oin"t," denied the boy, indignantly. "Deyse only had me up onct."
With the question the girl had turned to Dr. Armstrong; then, finding his eyes still intently studying her, she once more gave her attention to the waif.
"Really, I did forget them," she a.s.serted. "You shall have a new suit long before you need it."
"Cert"in dat oin"t no fake extry youse shoutin"?"
"Truly. How old are you?"
"Wotcher want to know for?" suspiciously asked the boy.
"So I can buy a suit for that age."
"Dat goes. Ise ate."
"And what"s your name?"
"Swot."
"What?" exclaimed the girl.
"Nah. Swot," he corrected.
"How do you spell it?"
"Dun"no". Dat"s wot de newsies calls me, "cause of wot Ise says to de preacher man."
"And what was that?"
"It wuz one of dem religious mugs wot comes Sunday to de Mulberry Park, see, an" dat day he wuz ga.s.sin" to us kids "bout lettin" a guy as had hit youse onct doin" it ag"in; an" w"en he"d pumped hisself empty, he says to me, says he, "If a bad boy fetched youse a lick on youse cheek, wot would youse do to "im?" An" Ise says, "I"d swot "im in de gob, or punch "im in de slats," says I; an" so de swipes calls me by dat noime. Honest, now, oin"t dat kinder talk jus" sickenin"?"
"But you must have another name," suggested Miss Durant, declining to commit herself on that question.
"Sure."
"And what is that?"
"McGarrigle."
"And have you no father or mother?"
"Nah."
"Or brothers or sisters?"
"Nah. Ise oin"t got nuttin"."
"Where do you live?"
"Ah, rubber!" disgustedly remarked Swot. "Say, dis oin"t no police court, see?"
During all these questions, and to a certain extent their cause, Constance had been quite conscious that the doctor was still watching her, and now she once more turned to him, to say, with an inflection of disapproval,--
"When I spoke to you just now, Dr. Armstrong, I did not mean to interrupt you in your duties, and you must not let me detain you from them."
"I had made my morning rounds long before you came, Miss Durant," equably answered the doctor, "and had merely come back for a moment to take a look at one of the patients."
"I feared you were neglecting--were allowing my arrival to interfere with more important matters," replied Miss Durant, frigidly. "I never knew a denser man," she added to herself, again seeking to ignore his presence by giving her attention to Swot. "I should have brought a book with me to-day, to read aloud to you, but I had no idea what kind of a story would interest you. If you know of one, I"ll get it and come to-morrow."
"Gee, Ise in it dis time wid bote feet, oin"t Ise? Say, will youse git one of de Old Sleuts? Deys de peachiest books dat wuz ever wroten."
"I will, if my bookshop has one, or can get it for me in time."
"There is little chance of your getting it there, Miss Durant," interposed Dr. Armstrong; "but there is a place not far from here where stories of that character are kept; and if it will save you any trouble, I"ll gladly get one of them for you."
"I have already overtaxed your kindness," replied Constance, "and so will not trouble you in this."
"It would be no trouble."
"Thank you, but I shall enjoy the search myself."
"Say," broke in the urchin. "Youse ought to let de doc do it. Don"t youse see dat he wants to, "cause he"s stuck on youse?"
"Then I"ll come to-morrow and read to you, Swot," hastily remarked Miss Durant, pulling her veil over her face. "Good-bye." Without heeding the boy"s "Dat"s fine," or giving Dr. Armstrong a word of farewell, she went hurrying along the ward, and then downstairs, to her carriage. Yet once within its shelter, the girl leaned back and laughed merrily. "It"s perfectly absurd for him to behave so before all the nurses and patients, and he ought to know better. It is to be hoped _that_ was a sufficiently broad hint for his comprehension, and that henceforth he won"t do it."
Yet it must be confessed that the boy"s remark frequently recurred that day to Miss Durant; and if it had no other result, it caused her to devote an amount of thought to Dr. Armstrong quite out of proportion to the length of the acquaintance.
Whatever the inward effect, Miss Durant could discover no outward evidence that Swot"s bombsh.e.l.l had moved Dr. Armstrong a particle more than her less pointed attempts to bring to him a realisation that he was behaving in a manner displeasing to her. When she entered the ward the next morning, the doctor was again there, and this time at the waif"s bedside, making avoidance of him out of the question. So with a "this-is-my-busy-day" manner, she gave him the briefest of greetings, and then turned to the boy.
"I"ve brought you some more goodies, Swot, and I found the story," she announced triumphantly.
"Say, youse a winner, dat"s wot youse is; oin"t she, doc? Wot"s de noime?"
Constance held up to him the red and yellow covered tale. "_The Cracksman"s Spoil, or Young Sleuth"s Double Artifice"_ she read out proudly.
"Ah, g"way! Dat oin"t no good. Say, dey didn"t do a t"ing to youse, did dey?"
"What do you mean?"
"Dey sold youse fresh, dat"s wot dey did. De Young Sleut books oin"t no good. Dey"s nuttin" but a fake extry."