“Well—well!” said the doctor impatiently.
“Oh no, father dear,” said Helen quietly, but with more emotion in her voice than even she knew. “We must not send him back.”
Then she told what had passed, and the doctor nodded his head.
“No,” he said; “we must not send him back.”
Just then there was a knock at the door, and Maria entered to clear away.
“Not yet, Maria,” said Helen quietly. “Take that chicken back, and ask Mrs Millett to make it hot again.”
“And the vegetables, ma’am!”
“Yes. I will ring when we want them.”
Maria took the various dishes away with a very ill grace, and dabbed them down on the kitchen table, almost hard enough to produce cracks, as she delivered her message to Mrs Millett, who looked annoyed.
“You can do as you please, Mrs Millett,” said Maria, giving herself a jerk as if a string inside her had been pulled; “but I’m a-going to look out for a new place.”