“Surely I will,” she said, “and I believe our joint petition will be granted, if it be for the best.”
Arthur lay awake for some time that night, pondering on Elsie’s advice in regard to his contemplated suit for Marian’s hand and asking divine guidance and help.
The next morning, soon after breakfast, he, as usual, asked Marian if she would like to go down on the beach and get a breath of the refreshing breeze from the sea.
“Yes, indeed, doctor, if it will not be keeping you from going somewhere with somebody else,” she answered with a smile.
“Not at all,” he returned. “I have no engagement, and shall be glad not only to help you to a breath of sea-air, but to take one myself.”
He brought a light shawl and wrapped it about her, saying the breeze was rather fresh for her, while her Cousin Elsie tied on her hat and veil. Then with a thick shawl over one arm, he offered her the other, saying, “Walter has run on ahead with a couple of camp-stools for us, and this heavier shawl is to wrap around you in case you find the other not warm enough.”
“Thank you,” she returned, smiling up into his face. “I am sure it is not every patient who has so good and kind a doctor as mine.”
“I do certainly want to be kind to all my patients,” he said pleasantly, “yet cannot deny that some are greater favorites with me than others. Besides, I have, you know, but the one here to devote myself to.”
“Fortunately for me,” she returned laughingly. “And I assure you I do enjoy having my doctor all to myself. One likes to be treated as a person of importance, you know.”
“You are such to me,” he said, “especially as you have not yet fully recovered your strength, and I must leave you soon to return to the care of other patients left behind in the South.”