"I suppose not."
"I shall come home every Saturday night and stay over Sunday."
"Yes, you must do that, Franklin."
"And every dollar I can spare shall be sent to you."
"Yes, but, Franklin—"
"No buts, aunt. I have made up my mind to it."
And the youth would not hear of it being otherwise.
The evening was spent at home, and, despite the fact that Mr. Bell lay in the front room upstairs, it was far from a dull one for all. Franklin and the others discussed the youth's prospects, and his cousins thought he had secured a real friend in Belden Brice.
"Who knows but what some day you may invent something and sell it to him for a big price?" said Clara.
"I trust I do," replied Franklin in all seriousness. "Then I could buy every one of you a new silk dress, and Aunt Martha two, and Uncle Will a horse and buggy, and—"
"Yourself a house and a pretty wife," finished Daisy, with a merry burst of laughter. Even the fact of sickness being in the house could not down the girl's naturally jolly spirits.
They all smiled at this, even Mr. Bell when he was told of it later on.
