The fat-faced doctor looked steadily at him for a moment or two. Then he reached out his hand.
“You're a good fellow, Mr. Harrington. I'll take a sovereign or two. Come in here with me.”
III
Harrington followed him into an adjoining room, where, upon a wicker-work couch was reclining the figure of a young girl. Standing beside her was the police-sergeant's wife, who, as soon as the two men came in, quietly drew aside.
“Now, here I am back again, my dear child,” said the doctor good-humouredly, “and here is a very old friend of mine, Mr. Jack Harrington; and we have come to cheer you up and tell you that you have two or three good friends. And we won't let any women or parsons come to you and worry you, and tell you that you have been a wicked girl, and ought to have thrown yourself upon God's mercy and all that sort of thing. So just drink that coffee, and then by and by we will take you to some people I know well, and you shall come and tell us in a day or two how sorry you are for being so foolish.”
The girl's dark hazel eyes looked steadily at them both; then she put out a thin white hand.
“You are very kind to me. I know it was very wicked to try and kill myself, but I was so lonely, and... and I had not eaten anything since Wednesday... and I wanted to die.” Then she covered her face and sobbed softly, whilst the doctor patted her on the shoulder and said—
“Don't worry, little girl; you are in good hands now. Never mind Mrs. Thornton and her un-kindness. You are better away from her—isn't she, Mr. Harrington?”
Mr. Harrington, knowing nothing about Mrs. Thornton, promptly said “Oh, most certainly,” and the girl's eyes met his for a second, and a faint smile flushed upon her pale lips. The tall, bearded, and brown-faced man's face seemed so full of pity.
“Now you must go to sleep for an hour or two,” said the doctor imperatively; “so now then, little girl, 'seepy-by, beddy-bo.' That's what my mother used to say to me.”