"Now, you look here, Martha!" the doctor said angrily, "I won't have anybody telling me to my face I mean well. You might as well call me a fool outright."
"You are far from being a fool, Richard. And you do mean well. Everybody knows that."
He turned appealingly to his dear Leetchy, and received his first lesson in Domestic Science.
"Miss Martha is right, Richard," she decided.
"Leetchy," the doctor asked, when the mollified Miss Hopkins had departed, "why did Martha go off grinning?"
"How should I know?" wondered Alicia, innocently. Then she looked at him with Irish eyes: "Have you had your lunch, dear?" she asked.
"Lunch?" He looked bewildered.
"Because I'm going to fix Sophy's lunch now, and you may have yours with her, if you like. I love to wait on you, Richard," she added, and a beautiful color flooded her face.
He caught his breath. When she went back to the house, his eyes followed her adoringly.
"Sophy," he said, huskily, "what does she see in me? Do you think I'm good enough for her, Sophy?"