"I don't take to him much myself," William King confessed; "though I
must say he seems a decent man enough. He doesn't cultivate
acquaintances in Old Chester, but that only shows bad taste."
"She says he is not very well," Dr. Lavendar explained; "she says he
likes to keep quiet when he comes down here."
"I don't see anything wrong with him."
"Hasn't taken any of your pills? Maybe he doesn't believe in doctors.
I don't myself."
"Thank you," said William King.
"There's too much fuss anyway over our precious carcasses! And you
fellows encourage it," Dr. Lavendar grumbled. Then he said he wished
he knew more about Mrs. Richie. "I ask you for information and all you
say is that she's good-looking, and her brother doesn't take your
pills."
William laughed.
"She doesn't come to church very regularly, and she never stops
afterwards to talk," Dr. Lavendar ruminated.
"Well, she lives 'way up there on the hill road--"
"Yes, she does live pretty far out of town," Dr. Lavendar admitted,
"but that's not a reason for not being neighborly after church."
"She's shy," said William King, "that's all. Shyness isn't anything
very wrong. And she's mighty pleasant when she does talk to you. I
tell you Dr. Lavendar, pleasantness goes a good way in this world. I'd
say it was better than goodness--only they are the same thing."
"No, they're not," said Dr. Lavendar.
"I grant she doesn't belong to the sewing society," William said
grinning. "Martha says that some of the ladies say she doesn't show
proper grief for her husband. She actually smiles sometimes! They say
that if the Lord were to remove their beloved husbands, they would
never smile again."
"William," said Dr. Lavendar chuckling, "I begin to like your widow."
"She's not my widow, thank you! But she's a nice woman, and she must
be pretty lonely up there all by herself."
"Wish I had gone in to see her this afternoon," the old man said
thoughtfully. "As you say she may be a suitable person to take this
little boy. I wonder if she's going to stay in Old Chester?"
"Sam Wright says she has spoken to him of buying the house. That looks
as if she meant to settle down. Did you know that Sam's Sam is casting
sheep's eyes at her?"
"Why, she's old enough to be his mother!" said Dr. Lavendar.