He really wanted to get out of the house and leave the
loneliness behind him. So after tea he put on his broad-brimmed felt
hat and tied a blue muffler around his throat--Dr. Lavendar felt the
cold a good deal; he said it was because the seasons were changing--
and walked wearily over to Dr. King's house. That talk with Benjamin
Wright had told on him.
"Well," he said, as the doctor's wife opened the door, "how are you,
Martha?"
"Very tired," said Mrs. King. "And dear me, Dr. Lavendar, you look
tired yourself. You're too old to do so much, sir. Come in and sit
down."
"I'll sit down," said Dr. Lavendar, dropping into a chair in the
parlor; "but don't flatter yourself, Martha, that you'll ever be as
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.
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