“Wrong, auntie. Men were deceivers ever.”
“I’m not wrong, Fred. You’ve been a very good boy to me, but you’re a grown man now, and though I love you I couldn’t trust you a bit.”
“Thank you, aunt dear.”
“I can’t, my love, knowing what I do. Human nature is human nature.”
“Aunt dear, for shame!” cried Laura.
“No, my dear, it’s no shame, but the simple truth, and I always told your poor father it was a sin and a crime to expose a young man to such temptation.”
“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the doctor, boisterously. “Here, Bel dear, don’t you trust me.”
The young people’s eyes met, full of confidence, and the old lady shook her head again.
“I know what the world is and what men are,” she continued, “and nothing shall make me believe that some of these fashionable patients have anything the matter with them.”
“Oh, you wicked old woman!” cried the doctor.