Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 11, 2025
He loved Reed as he would have loved a son of his own, and it hurt him to put into words even the possibility. "It is in the limits of the possible," he answered. Again the tramp across the floor and back again. Then Brenton burst out fiercely. "And I can sit here and whimper about my fate, that I am the square peg in the round hole, while he Doctor Keltridge, you don't mean it has come to that?"
"You're positively waxing fat, you healthy beggar," he went on, before Brenton could speak; "and Keltridge had the nerve to tell me he had been giving you a tonic. What went wrong? Digestion, the scourge of parsons? Or were you pining for your customary adulation, denied you now those college girls have gone off for the summer?" The lazy voice was full of contentment in its own mockery.
"I've had a telegram from Boston," he said, and his accent was dull, monotonous. "Katharine is very ill, pneumonia." "They have sent for you?" "Yes. And to hurry." Olive spoke impetuously. "I am so sorry. But it may be better than you think." He looked across at her, as if he had not been aware of her presence until she spoke. "Good morning, Miss Keltridge," he said hastily. "Yes, it may be.
Therefore, if you don't mind, suppose we plan how I can go to work to pick up the pieces." And while, below stairs, Reed Opdyke's parents were prostrate in their sorrow, it was in this fashion that Olive Keltridge, sitting by his side, tried to help him to face forward steadily, and to pick up the useful fragments left of his broken life.
On more than one occasion, Olive had been obliged to delay the serving of the dinner and excuse herself from her waiting guests, while she went in search of her father in his laboratory. The guests, though, as a rule, had known Doctor Eustace Keltridge even longer than his daughter had had the chance to do.
Brenton himself, meanwhile, though liking those jovial youngsters who, in reality, were of his age and epoch, was finding his most satisfying intimacy in the friendship of two of the older men: Doctor Eustace Keltridge, and Professor Opdyke. Of the two of them, both mellow men of learning and of kindly humour, Doctor Keltridge was easily first choice.
Katharine, by now, had come to the point where she was beginning to dispense with the services of Doctor Keltridge in any minor crisis; and, instead, to sit and meditate upon the crisis, with a black-bound, fine-print, much-begilded volume open on her knee. As always, Katharine reckoned shrewdly.
I have a wonderful nurse for him, some one Doctor Keltridge recommended." Again Reed caught at the chance for a digression. "Doctor Keltridge is a wonderful man," he remarked, a little bit maliciously. Too late, he realized his blunder, for without delay, Katharine seized the opportunity to snap back to her former position. "Yes, after his fashion.
Then, his spoon poised in mid air, he asked, with a sudden show of curiosity, "On what do you base your theory, Olive?" Olive's reply was feminine, and very convincing to herself. "Because, if she had been, she never would have been asked out to dinner." "Duty," Doctor Keltridge suggested. "Well, not twice at the same place, then." "She doesn't eat with her knife," the doctor responded hopefully.
"Think again, nurse," Doctor Keltridge said slowly. "And remember that your professional reputation is at stake. That bottle has been emptied and refilled with water. Where has that bottle been?" "On the mantel." "Who has been in the room?" "Mr. Brenton, myself, and the baby." "And Mrs. Brenton?" The doctor's eyes were fixed upon the nurse, as he put the question.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking