“Indade, sir, I’ll try.”

“Uncle,” said Curtis, “I have to go downtown. I have some business to attend to. I leave you in the care of Mrs. Barnes.”

“Shure, I’ll take care of him, sir.”

“Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Linden?” asked the new nurse, in a tone of sympathy.

“Can you minister to a mind diseased?”

“I’ll take the best care of you, Mr. Linden, but it isn’t as if you had a wife or daughter.”

“Ah, that is a sore thought! I have no wife or daughter; but I have a niece.”

“And where is she, sir?”

“I don’t know. I drove her from me by my unkindness. I repent bitterly, but it’s now too late.”

“And why don’t you send for her to come home?”