“Indeed! Why so soon? Is this a sudden resolution, my dear?” inquired the surprised rector.
“Well, no. The work here is all well laid out, and the schoolhouse will be finished and furnished even before it is time to open the school. I can very well leave the neighborhood now, and the supervision of affairs here to you and Mr. Stone. I have very much to do in Washington and at the Isle of Storms before the first of August, when you and I must sail on our voyage to Europe.”
“Yes, of course.”
“I have to make arrangements to convert the old manor house on the Isle into a free sanitorium for the sick poor. Certainly there is not much to be done. The house is large, and in good repair. I have only to send down a great many cots, with bedclothes in proportion, and provisions by the wholesale. This will not take long to do, for it is quite as easy to buy a hundred cots or twenty barrels of flour as to buy one.”
“Yes, my dear, when we have the money, as you have.”
“I meant to say,” said Roma, with a slight flush, “that it takes no more time to purchase a large quantity than a small one.”
“I know what you meant, my dear.”
“So there is really not much to be done, though what there is should be done immediately. If the place is to be of any use this season it should be ready for occupancy by the first of June.”
“Certainly. I see that.”
“Therefore, I must go to Washington as soon as possible. As you and Mr. Stone have been my invaluable counselors and co-laborers in the work here, so will Lawyer Merritt and Dr. Washburn be my advisers and assistants in my work there. So that in the course of four or five weeks I hope to get the free sanitorium in good working order, with a resident physician, a competent matron, and a staff of skilful nurses and servants. Later you may safely leave the parish and the school in the able hands of Mr. Stone, and join me in Washington in time for our voyage. How do you feel about that voyage, dear Dr. Shaw?” Roma inquired, with interest.