Annie Kilburn

"Yes, I think I had, decidedly," she answered; and she hurried to add: "Dr.

Morrell, there is something I want to ask you. You're their physician,

aren't you?"

"The Putneys? Yes."

"Well, then, you can tell me--"

"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."

"Of course," said the doctor, "it's become a habit with him now, or a

mania. He seems to speak of his trouble as if mentioning it were a sort of

conjuration to prevent it. I wouldn't venture to check him in his way of

talking. He may find strength in it."

"It's all terrible!"

"But it isn't by any means hopeless."

"I'm so glad to hear you say so. You see a great deal of them, I believe?"

"Yes," said the doctor, getting back from their seriousness, with apparent

relief. "Pretty nearly every day. Putney and I consider the ways of God to

man a good deal together. You can imagine that in a place like Hatboro' one

would make the most of such a friend. In fact, anywhere."