“Oh no, I can't, if you ask me as their physician,” he interrupted.
“Well, then, as their friend. Mrs. Putney said something to me that makes me very unhappy. I thought Mr. Putney was out of all danger of his—trouble. Hasn't he perfectly reformed? Does he ever—”
She stopped, and Dr. Morrell did not answer at once. Then he said seriously: “It's a continual fight with a man of Putney's temperament, and sometimes he gets beaten. Yes, I guess you'd better know it.”
“Poor Ellen!”
“They don't allow themselves to be discouraged. As soon as he's on his feet they begin the fight again. But of course it prevents his success in his profession, and he'll always be a second-rate country lawyer.”
“Poor Ralph! And so brilliant as he is! He could be anything.”
“We must be glad if he can be something, as it is.”
“Yes, and how happy they seem together, all three of them! That child worships his father; and how tender Ralph is of him! How good he is to his wife; and how proud she is of him! And that awful shadow over them all the time! I don't see how they live!”
The doctor was silent for a moment, and finally said: “They have the peace that seems to come to people from the presence of a common peril, and they have the comfort of people who never blink the facts.”
“I think Ralph is terrible. I wish he'd let other people blink the facts a little.”