“No, I don’t know anything of the kind, Mark, for you prized it most highly, and it took you a long time to make it.”
“Why, mother, it was no use, and I got a good price for it, so paid the doctor and bought some things we needed, and old Peggy will be back to-morrow, so that I can take a cruise and make some money.”
“I hope so, my son, and Peggy never overstays her time; but I hear wheels without.”
“It is the doctor,” joyously said the lad.
It was the doctor, and he found the patient suffering from a general breaking down.
He prescribed what he deemed best, left the medicines, and as the youth followed him to his carriage, said:
“Your mother has some sorrow to bear, my young friend, and she must have perfect rest, the best of care, and good food.”
“My old nurse, sir, Peggy, will return to-morrow, for she has been absent for a few weeks on a yearly visit to her son, and my mother has overworked herself, I fear.”
“Well, I will see her again, and I understand your situation exactly—nay, do not get angry, for I will have my way, and all your mother needs she shall have, and when you make money you can repay me, for I shall keep an account of expenditures.
“But your mother has some heartache, and you must brighten her life all you can.