this without looking into it?" she argued, eyeing
him through her gold-rimmed glasses. "Go and
see him, and then you can judge. It's his practice
you want, not his house."

"No; that's just what I don't want. I've got too
much practice now. Somehow I can't keep my people
well. No, mother, dear, don't bother your dear
head over the old doctor and his wants. Write him
that I am most grateful, but that the fact is I need an
assistant myself, and if he will be good enough to send
someone down here, I'll keep him busy every hour of
the day and night. Then, again," he continued, a
more serious tone in his voice, "I couldn't possibly
leave here now, even if I wished to, which I do not."

Mrs. Cavendish eyed him intently. She had expected
just such a refusal Nothing that she ever
planned for his advancement did he agree to.

"Why not?" she asked, with some impatience.

"The new hospital is about finished, and I am
going to take charge of it."

"Do they pay you for it?" she continued, in an
incisive tone.

"No, I don't think they will, nor can. It's not,
that kind of a hospital," answered the doctor gravely.