“Hadley, if you weren’t a judge, I’d say you were——”
“An old fool!” concluded the judge grimly.
The doctor nodded and went out, shutting the door rather sharply behind him. On the front steps he encountered Diane and Faunce, just returned from a long walk. It was a cold day, and the wind had brought a brightness into Diane’s face. Her eyes sparkled with something of the latent fire of her father’s, and her cheeks were aglow. Faunce, on the other hand, looked like a ghost of himself.
“How’s father?” Diane questioned as she came up.
“Cross as two sticks,” replied the doctor, and gave her some directions about his patient.
Her face sobered.
“You don’t think he’s really ill?”
The doctor shook his head grimly.
“I’d like to make him sick enough to keep still for six weeks. He’s overworked, Di, and the machinery needs oiling up.”
“I can’t make him mind,” she objected. “I wanted to take him to Florida for three months.”