“It is a rather trying condition of Mrs. Langdon’s,” said Dr. Helen sympathetically, “and sometimes creates difficult situations for the girls concerned, but I long ago gave up hope that she would ever change her ways. I quite understand how you feel, because, during my last two years at Dexter, I was one of her girls, too.”
“You?” Alice’s tone expressed the deepest surprise, and Dr. Helen continued.
“My father could not afford to send me, and I earned the money for my first two years, and was struggling along, trying to spend several hours a day earning money and at the same time to keep up with my work, when Mrs. Langdon, who was staying at home that winter, heard about me from friends. She helped me finish my college course, and gave me substantial aid in taking my professional course. I repaid the money afterward, but I couldn’t repay the kindness.”
“She is wonderfully kind,” said Alice, “though her queer ways make you forget it sometimes. I had had letters from her before I left home the first year, of course, about the business part, and I went on, feeling that I wasn’t going entirely among strangers, but she paid no attention to me at all. It was only by chance that I met her in the spring through Hannah.”
223“Poor child! You must have been much disappointed and very lonely at first. But she is a friend worth having, in spite of her peculiarities. I am glad she let you share your secret with me. Did she say anything about her own health when she wrote? I almost never hear from her.”
“Not a word. But she asked me to call on her old friend, Madam Kittredge, while I was here.”
“She is our pastor’s mother, a beautiful woman, and nearly blind. You must certainly call. Catherine always makes the rounds of the old ladies among our patients once a summer, and she loves to go to Madam Kittredge’s. She must take you. I wonder–What is that? Come!”
A rustling of skirts and the sound of whispers was heard in the waiting-room. In answer to the doctor’s invitation, the door was slowly opened, and Hannah put her head in at the crack, Frieda’s appearing just below it, and Catherine’s just above.
“Well, here you are!” cried Hannah. “We’ve been searching the house from attic to cellar for Alice, and finally had an inspiration and came here.”
“Anything so exclusive as this,” remarked Catherine, as she entered, “makes the rest of us jealous.”