young as I am!" ("He _is_ failing," Mrs. King told her husband
afterwards. "He gets his words all mixed up. He says 'young' when he
means 'old.' Isn't that a sign of something, William?" "It's a sign of
grace," said the doctor shortly.)

"I want Willy to come over and give my Mary a pill," Dr. Lavendar
explained. "She is as cross as a bear, and cross people are generally
sick people--although I suppose that's Mary's temperament," he added
sighing.

Martha shook her head. "In my judgment _temperament_ is just another
word for temper: I don't believe in making excuses for it. That's a
great trick of William's, I'm sorry to say."

"I should have thought you'd have cured him of it by this time?" Dr.
Lavendar murmured; and then he asked if the doctor was out.

"Oh, yes," said Mrs. King, dryly; "Willy always manages to get out in
the evening on one excuse or another. You'd think he'd be glad of a
restful evening at home with me, sometimes. But no. William's patients
need a surprising amount of attention, though his bills don't show it
When Mrs. Richie's cook was sick--just as an instance--he went six
times to see her. I counted."

"Well; she got well?"' said Dr. Lavendar.

"Got well? She'd have got well if he hadn't gone near her." Martha
began to stroke the gathers on a bit of cambric with a precise needle
that suddenly trembled. "The woman herself was not to blame it's only
just to say that--And there's one thing about me, Dr, Lavendar; I may