Doodles had heard of Nelson Randolph's illness, yet he was unprepared for the additional tidings that came to him when he was on a downtown errand.
"Oh, he suffers something terrible!" exclaimed the boy who brought the news. "Carl Harris told me about it. He's down there in the paper office, and they say if he don't get better pretty soon he's got to die! The Doctor can't stop the pain."
Doodles walked away thinking hard. "Guess I'll go," he told himself. "He liked my singing the other night up here, and perhaps it would make him forget. Anyhow, I can go!"
An hour later Doodles stood at the door of the Randolph home.
"He's sick. He can't see anybody," said the maid who answered his ring.
"Is he able to talk?" queried the lad.
The girl nodded.
"Then will you please ask him if he would like to have Doodles
Stickney sing to him."
"'T won't do no good," she replied indifferently. "The nurse won't let anybody see him."
A man came slowly up the steps, and the boy turned to recognize a well-known physician.