"And he's utterly shocked at and sick with himself?"
"He's very low-sperited and shamefaced, Doctor. He knows he has done wrong-"
"Then," said Doctor Brink, "I'll give you a letter to the Vicar.... The Vicar, I'm sure, will help. Personally I think that your husband and all his social equals ought to be locked up for ever. But the Vicar, I'm sure, will be charmed to help."
"Thank you, Doctor," murmured Mrs. Budd. "I'm sure he don't deserve your kindness; but he knows he——"
"Here's your letter," stated Doctor Brink. "If you stop here any longer I shall choke you. Go away."
And, looking very puzzled, Mrs. Budd departed.
XXXVIII
LOVE AND HATE
The Hon. Mrs. Strudwicke-Moses came to tea with Doctor Brink the other day, your servant being in attendance. The Hon. Mrs. Strudwicke-Moses derives from beer; but she has a reputation for benevolence, wisdom, and the party virtues which is envied even by cocoa.
Doctor Brink, finding the minutes between "calls" hang heavy on his hands, has devoted them of late to organising a sort of small relief fund, from which he provides the most thriftless and improvident and least meritorious of his patients with milk and coal and flour.