"And you didn't tell me until now! O, I will pay you up for this. But come, let's talk it all over and decide about the wedding and the bridesmaids."
A servant entered the room and announced "Dr. Maccanfrae." Marion and Florence hurriedly assumed different positions and adjusted their ruffled hair. Then the kind face of the philanthropic physician appeared in the doorway.
"How do I find my patient this morning?" said the Doctor, coming toward the window where they were seated.
"Better, I hope," said Florence, turning round.
"Miss Moreland!" exclaimed the Doctor in astonishment. "I thought you were somewhere in the White Mountains."
"No; I came back yesterday," she continued as he shook her hand. "I thought you needed a nurse for your patient."
"Nurse and remedy combined, for you are the best cure I could prescribe for Mrs. Sanderson."
"You are very flattering, Doctor. Under your advice I shall try to do my best, but, if you will excuse me, I shall run away and do some unpacking." Saying this, Florence left her seat, and, bidding the Doctor good-by, walked toward the door. As she was leaving the room she called to him, asking when he would give her another lecture on pantheism.
"I fear if I do I shall have to suffer for the sin of corrupting the heart of a Puritan," said the Doctor.
"A Puritan is always fortified against Satan's wiles," she answered laughingly, as she stopped in the doorway, "and, besides, my grandfathers, for six generations, were ministers."