“I don’t know why, honey, but if he can help Father, we should be glad he did come.”
“If, indeed! Another barrel of tonics and bushel of powders, I suppose!”
“Not at all! This new man, Dr. Wright, says ‘no medicine at all.’ Now this is where we come in.”
“Mind, Helen, Douglas says ‘come in,’ not ‘butt in,’” said Lucy pertly. “You interrupt so much that Nan and I don’t know yet what’s the matter with Daddy and how we are to help him.”
“Well, who’s interrupting now? I haven’t said a word for half an hour at least,” said Helen brazenly.
“Oh, oh, what’ll I do?” which was Carter talk for saying, “You are fibbing.”
“You’re another!”
“Girls, girls, this is not helping. It’s just being naughty,” from the eldest.
“Go on, Douglas, don’t mind them. Helen and Lucy would squabble over their crowns and harps in Heaven,” said the peace-loving Nan. And the joke of squabbling in Heaven restored order, and Douglas was able to go on with what she had to tell.
“Dr. Wright says it is a case of nervous prostration and that a complete change is what Father needs and absolute rest from business. He thinks a sea trip of two months, and a year in the country are absolutely essential.”