"I don't even have to try very hard. Life has been a generous godfather to me. But I've always wanted more. Like Oliver Twist, wasn't it? Or Jephthah's daughter?"
Dr. Osterhout grinned. "It was the horse leech's daughters that were always crying 'Give! Give!'"
"Why cry for it? Reach out and help yourself," she said gaily. "Them's my principles. And now the fairy godfather is going to cut me off with a shilling. Or a year. Or less."
"Unless you obey orders it'll be considerably less."
"Let it! I'd rather do as I please while it lasts.
"'I've taken my fun where I found it,
I've rogued and I've ranged in my time,'"
sang Ralph Fentriss at the piano below to music of his own composing.
"So have I," murmured his wife. Her eyes grew brilliant, craving, excited as they wandered to the flower-decked mantel upon which stood half a dozen photographs. All were of men. Though they varied in age and indications of character, they presented a typical similarity in being well-groomed and attractive. They might all have belonged to the same club. "Bob, do many women confess to their doctors?"