THE SICK-A-BED LADY
The Young Doctor jumped to his feet and squared his shoulders.
"It's this to me," he cried, "that I wanted her for my own! I could have cured her. I tell you I could have cured her. I wanted her for my own!"
"She's only a waif," said the Best Friend tersely.
"Waif?" cried the Young Doctor, "waif? No woman whom I love is a waif!" His face blazed furiously. "The woman I love—that little gentle girl—a waif?—without a home?—I would make a cool home for her out of Hell itself, if it was necessary! Damn, damn, damn the brute that deserted her, but home is all around her now! Do I think the Old Doctor guessed about it? N-o! Nobody could have guessed about it. Nobody could have known about it much before this. You say again she is n't anybody's? I'll prove to you as soon as it's decent that she's mine."
His Best Friend took him by the shoulder and shook him roughly.
"It is no time," he said, "for you to be courting a woman."
"I'll court my Sweetheart when and where I choose!" the Young Doctor answered defiantly, and left the house.
The night seemed a thousand miles long to him,
23
