"Now, ain't that too bad! Ain't that too bad!" said Peter regretfully. "It ain't nobody's fault but mine. I ought to have gone for you last night, and there I was, a-sleepin' away as comfortable as could be!"
"She should have been under treatment for some time," said the doctor severely. He was a young doctor, and important, and not inclined to spare the feelings of a mere shanty-boatman. Here he could be severe, who had to be suave and politic with better people. He told Peter brutally that the woman had not been properly cared for; that with her constitution, she should have had delicacies and comforts and kindness. "If you want my candid opinion, you as much as killed her," said Dr. Roth.
He was nettled by Peter's apparent heartlessness, for while Peter showed that the death had shocked him, he gave way to no outburst of sorrow such as might be expected from a bereaved husband. But now deep regret in Peter's eyes touched him.
"I shouldn't have said that," he said more kindly. "I might not have been able to do anything. Probably not much after all. But if you don't want the boy to go the same way, treat him better. You have him left."
Peter turned and looked at Buddy who, all unconscious, was rowing his table boat with a piece of driftwood for oar.
"That's so, aint it?" said Peter. "She's left the boy on my hands, ain't she? I guess I got to take care of him. Yep, I guess I have!"
When the doctor left the boat, half an hour later, he shook his head as he closed the door.
"Shiftless and unfeeling!" he muttered to himself. "'Left the boy on my hands!' Poor boy, I'm sorry for you, with a father like that."
For he did not see Peter drop on his knees beside the curly headed child as soon as the door was closed, and he did not see how Peter took the boy in his arms. He could not hear what Peter said.
"Buddy boy," said Peter, "how'd it be if you and Uncle Peter just sort of snuggled up close and--and et a big, red apple?"
"NOW, don't you fret, Buddy-boy," said Peter Lane with forced cheerfulness, "because I'm going to let you do something you never did before, and that I wouldn't let many boys do. You are going to help Uncle Peter steer this boat, just like you was a big man."