"It wouldn't be the first, and it couldn't be the second, so it must be the third.—Don't do it, Pendleton! A doctor is the most awful habit a well man can acquire—he never gets over it."
"Go to!" laughed Pendleton; "you're not in the fashion. It is the fad now-a-days to be treated by a specialist."
"A woman's fad, not a man's," said Burgoyne. "It isn't the stock-market, is it?"
"I'm not on the wrong side, if that is what you mean."
"And it couldn't by any chance be a woman?"
"It could but it isn't.—I reckon I'm just naturally cynical."
"Get over it, Pendleton, get over it—it's an awful habit for yourself and those around you! Be cheerful, old man, be cheerful. It's just as easy and a whole heap more enjoyable. Look at me—why, I can——"
"Enjoy the prospect of dining with Mrs. Emerson! that is sufficient."
"Sufficient unto the mother is the daughter thereof. There are always compensations, if we only let ourselves see them."
"What if the daughter isn't there?" Pendleton suggested.