“I think so,” Virginia agreed.
“Hum,” muttered Aunt Kate. “We’d better give Obadiah a light dose to begin on.”
“I don’t understand you, Aunt Kate,” said the girl.
“No matter,” responded the older woman. “What I want to know is, have you asked your father to pay for the operation on that lame boy?”
“No, he knows nothing about it,” admitted Virginia. “Aunt Kate, I would be afraid to ask him after the way he talked to me.”
“Afraid!” Aunt Kate was filled with astonishment. “Afraid of Obadiah? My stars and garters! You must begin some place! How on earth do you expect him to give to something he never heard of? Don’t you know child, that to get a Dale to do anything which costs money you must ask them not once, but thrice. Seventy times seven is about right for Obadiah.”
“But, Aunt Kate, after what my father said, I couldn’t ask him to help pay Charles Augustus’s bill.”
“Why not?” demanded Aunt Kate.
“I don’t know why. I am sure, though, that I couldn’t.”
“I know why,” declared Aunt Kate. “It is obstinacy–plain Dale obstinacy sticking out of you.”