“Oh, well, don’t call him, then. How is Mrs. Freer?”
“Much better this morning. The doctor thinks she’ll soon be around again now. She had some beef tea this noon.”
“That’s fine.” Hansel lowered his voice for fear the patient upstairs might hear. “Mrs. Whitney, some of us fellows at the school are going to pay you, so don’t you take anything from Phin or his mother, if they want you to, will you? You see, they’re rather short of ready money just now, and we want to help Phin out a bit.”
“I understand,” said the nurse, with a smile. “I’ll look to you for my money.”
“Yes, but don’t you leave until the doctor says you may; Phin may want to send you off before it’s time, you know.”
“Very well, I won’t pay any attention to him,” said Mrs. Whitney.
“That’s right. And please tell Phin, when he wakes up, that I called and wanted to see him to tell him that it’s all right about the scholarship.”
“About——?”
“The scholarship; he’ll understand.”