"
"Wish I had gone in to see her this afternoon," the old man said
thoughtfully. "As you say she may be a suitable person to take this
little boy. I wonder if she's going to stay in Old Chester?"
"Sam Wright says she has spoken to him of buying the house. That looks
as if she meant to settle down. Did you know that Sam's Sam is casting
sheep's eyes at her?"
"Why, she's old enough to be his mother!" said Dr. Lavendar.
"Oh, no. Sam's Sam is twenty-three, and one of my patients says that
Mrs. Richie will never see forty-five again. Which leads me to
conclude that she's about thirty."
"Of course she doesn't encourage him?" Dr. Lavendar said anxiously.
"She lets him come to see her, and she took him out once in that
wicker-work vehicle she has--looks like a clothes-basket on wheels.
And she provides the clothes to put into it. I'm told they're
beautiful; but that no truly pious female would be willing to decorate
poor flesh and blood with such finery. I'm told--"
"William! Is this the way I've brought you up? To pander to my
besetting sin? Hold your tongue!" Dr. Lavendar rose chuckling, and
stood in front of the fireplace, gathering the tails of his flowered
cashmere dressing-gown under his arms. "But Willy I hope Sam isn't
really smitten? You never can tell what that boy will do."
"Yes, he's a hair-trigger," the doctor agreed, "a hair-trigger! And
his father understands him about as well as--as Danny there
understands Hebrew! I think it's a case of Samuel and his father over
again.
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