“If I’d known what I now know I would have come,” answered Barnes.
Aunt Philomela glanced up sharply. But she was not in her usual spirit. Her heart was in her mouth.
“When a man gets old he clings to his own,” declared the doctor. “It is as natural as for youth to reach for the new.”
“At any age,” opined Aunt Philomela, “there is nothing like one’s own flesh and blood.”
“Not so,” objected the doctor, “if my son didn’t stand by his sweetheart against me I’d disown him.”
Barnes felt his heart warming towards this man at once.
“There’s Carl,” pursued the doctor with a wink at Eleanor, “he’s reaching out—reaching out.”
Barnes turned to his soup.
“That is different,” answered Aunt Philomela.
The doctor swallowed his soup red hot.