"Oh, don't, please, Doctor Fenn," pleaded Marion. "The days seem so long and tiresome when I have nothing to do but to think how uncomfortable I am, and it is such a comfort to know that I am getting on in my studies."
"But if it hurts you, Marie dear," said Aunt Baby, anxiously. "What think you, Duncan?"
"I am inclined to think the lessons are rather beneficial than otherwise," said Doctor Campbell, "always provided they are not carried too far. My own opinion is that sick people often suffer for the want of interests outside of themselves."
"I agree with you there," said Doctor Fenn. "I have two patients in the village this minute with whom I can do nothing, and I believe they might both be cured if they could be brought to take a hearty interest in some object outside of their own cases and their own cellars and pantries."
"Then you think I may go on with my lessons?" asked Marion.
"In moderation," answered the doctor. "But you must promise to work by the clock, and leave off at the moment, whether you are tired or not. I shall talk to Master Betty myself."
The doctor had come across the name of "Master Betty" in his reading, and delighted in teasing Elizabeth Margaretta by applying it to her.
"Now, tell me really and truly, my dear, do you like these lessons, or do you only work at them for the sake of that tall lass of Mrs. Overbeck's?" asked Aunt Baby when she and Marion were alone together. It was hard for her, remembering Marion's past school-days, to think that she took pleasure in lessons for their own sake.
"Indeed, aunty, I do," answered Marion. "I like the lessons themselves, and I like to help Betsy; and besides, I have wasted so much time that I don't want to lose any more. Oh, Aunt Baby, if I had my life to live over again, how different it should be!"
"We may all say that, my lamb."