“Not at all! I have business in New York, anyhow, and I know the surgeon on that particular boat, an old classmate of mine, and I want to put him on to your father’s case. But now we come to the part you girls are to play. It is going to be pretty hard on you, but you are not to see your father before he goes. It would be exciting for him and I want him to avoid all excitement. Arrangements must be made and we must get him off quietly, without bustle. If he sees you, he will begin to question you about what you are going to do while he is away, and as you don’t know yourselves, the old habit that is as much a part of the whole family as fingers and toes will assert itself, and the burden will fall on him, as usual, and I can assure you I will not answer for the consequences if one more ounce of worry is put on that tired brain. I am going to bring a notary public so he can give you, Miss Douglas, power of attorney to transact any business for him. I am loath to bring even this matter to him, but that is necessary. As for what you are to do with yourselves after your parents leave, that is, of course, for you and your friends to decide. My province as a nerve specialist ends when I get my patient away, but begins again on his return, and if he comes back and finds debts waiting for him, I am pretty sure all the good of the voyage will be done away with. I think his mania is to keep out of debt. How he has managed to do it I can’t see, but he tells me the bills are paid up to date. I am awfully sorry for all of you, but I am much sorrier for that fine, unselfish nature upstairs who has borne the heat of the burden absolutely unassisted until he has fallen under it.”
“Oh, Dr. Wright! Don’t! Don’t!” wailed Douglas.
“Brute!” hissed Helen, but whether she meant the young doctor or Helen Carter she wasn’t herself quite certain.
“Your mother——” he continued.
“Don’t you dare to criticise our mother!” interrupted Helen.
“My dear young lady, I was merely going to remark that your mother seems to be absolutely necessary to the peace and happiness of your father, otherwise I would insist upon his going away alone. Often in these cases it is best for the patient to get entirely away from all members of his family, but I think she has a good effect on him. I must go now and get the notary public so you can enter into your office of vice regent. I’ll also make arrangements for the railroad trip and long-distance my friend, the surgeon on the steamer. I’ll be back in a jiffy,” and Dr. Wright smiled very kindly at Douglas, whose young countenance seemed to have aged years in the last few minutes. “I am trusting you to keep the house quiet and get things in readiness without once appealing to your father.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all any one can do,” and George Wright was grateful that there was one person in the house he could look to for sense and calmness. He noted with added confidence that Douglas was very like her father in coloring and that the general shape of their features was similar. “I hope they won’t manage to break her in two as they have him,” he said to himself.
“We are going to help Douglas all we can,” drawled Nan.