But she never caught a glimpse of Polly's flushed, dissatisfied
face or the tightening of her lips that would have suggested to
her, had she seen them, that Miss Polly felt perfectly capable of
selecting the clothing she was to wear herself. Adam took his
mother's trunk to the station in the afternoon. In the evening
she held Polly on her knee, while they drove to Dr. Gray's. Kate
thought the children would want to wait and see them take the
train, but Adam said that would make them very late getting home,
they had better leave that to Uncle Robert and go back soon; so
very soon they were duly kissed and unduly cautioned; then started
back down a side street that would not even take them through the
heart of the town. Kate looked after them approvingly: "Pretty
good youngsters," she said. "I told them to go and get some ice
cream; but you see they are saving the money and heading straight
home." She turned to Robert. "Can anything happen to them?" she
asked, in evident anxiety.
"Rest in peace, Kate," laughed the doctor. "You surely know that
those youngsters are going to be eighteen in a few weeks. You've
reared them carefully. Nothing can, or will, happen to them, that
would not happen right under your nose if you were at home. They
will go from now on according to their inclinations."
Kate looked at him sharply: "What do you mean by that?" she
demanded.
He laughed: "Nothing serious," he said. "Polly is half Bates, so
she will marry in a year or two, while Adam is all Bates, so he
will remain steady as the Rock of Ages, and strictly on the job.
Go have your good time, and if I possibly can, I'll come after
you."
"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Nancy Ellen, with finality.
"You wouldn't leave your patients, and you couldn't leave dear
Mrs. Southey."
"If you feel that way about it, why do you leave me?" he asked.
"To show the little fool I'm not afraid of her, for one thing,"
said Nancy Ellen with her head high. She was very beautiful in
her smart travelling dress, while her eyes flashed as she spoke.
The doctor looked at her approvingly.
"Good!" he cried. "I like a plucky woman! Go to have a good
time, Nancy Ellen; but don't go for that. I do wish you would
believe that there isn't a thing the matter with the little woman,
she's -- "
"I can go even farther than that," said Nancy Ellen, dryly. "I
KNOW 'there isn't a thing the matter with the little woman,'
except that she wants you to look as if you were running after
her. I'd be safe in wagering a thousand dollars that when she
hears I'm gone, she will send for you before to-morrow evening."