THE YOUNG DOCTOR AND THE OLD
eanwhile the child had started down the hall, and up the stairs, calling:
"Papa! Papa!"
Startled by this intimation of another person's presence in a house I had supposed to hold no one but ourselves, I hastily followed her till she reached the floor above and paused before a shut door. Here something seemed to restrain her.
"Papa's inside," she whispered.
If this was so, he was not alone. Laughter, quick exclamations, and the clink of glasses could plainly be heard through the door; and shocked at the contrast offered by this scene of mirth to the solemn occurrence which had just taken place below, I hesitated to enter, and looked about for some means of communicating with the servants who I now felt must be below. But here the terrified child, who was clinging to my knee, interposed:
"I do not think papa is there. Papa does not like cards. Uncle George does. Come, let's look for papa."
She dragged me toward the front of the house, entered another room, and seemed surprised to find the light turned down and her papa gone.
"Perhaps he is with Uncle Alph," she faltered, and, bounding up another flight of stairs, turned around to see if I was behind her.