CHAPTER V.
BOTH SIDES.
“From idle words, that restless throng
And haunt our hearts when we would pray;
From pride’s false chain, and jarring wrong,
Seal Thou my lips, and guard the way.”
Keble.
“Now the doctor’s happy! he has got rid of his gratitude! I knew how it would be!” laughed Mabel, as soon as the girls had walked beyond reach of hearing.
“What do you mean?” asked Ida.
“Did you not see how uncomfortable the poor man was under the weight of even such a little obligation? It was steam high pressure with him, till he opened a safety-valve, and off flew all his debt discharged in the shape of a bunch of hyacinths!”