Sophy eyed her neighbour doubtfully.
"I'll try to," she replied, and so the doctor left them.
For some time this strangely assorted pair eyed each other in silence. At length Sophy's gaze rested on the old man's foot where it lay in its large slipper on the stool before him.
"I see you are broken too," she said in a sympathetic voice. "It isn't really pleasant to be broken, is it, although we try to pretend we don't care, don't we?"
"No, it isn't exactly pleasant," replied Mr. Waldron, and a half-smile flickered over his face. "How did you get broken?"
"Somebody let me fall, father says, and afterwards I was only half-mended. It is horrid to be only a half-mended thing—but some people are so stupid, you know."
Mr. Waldron grunted.
"Does it hurt you to speak that you make that funny noise?" asked Sophy curiously.
"I'm an old man, and I do as I like."
"Oh! When I'm an old woman may I do as I like?"