"And while," said Mrs. Hodge, "that poor young creature is pinching, and starving, and crying, the man's thinking of nothing but Nihilists and what not. I'd Nihilist him!"
Dinner was served to Dale with sauce of this sort.
"Can I prevent fools suffering for their folly?" he asked.
"The baby looks so ill," said Nellie, "and Mrs. Roberts is worn to a shadow."
"For a minute," said Nellie, "but he was very cold and disagreeable."
"Thought you were tarred with the same brush as Dale, I suppose?"
"Can't you do anything for 'em, Dale?" asked Mrs. Hodge.
"Yes, he might as well be miserable somewhere else, mightn't he?"
Dale glared at his friend, and relapsed into silence. Nevertheless, in spite of Philip's prediction, he sat down after dinner and wrote to Roberts, saying that he had heard that he was in temporary embarrassment, and urging him to allow Dale to be his banker for the moment; this would, Dale added, be the best way of showing that he bore no malice for Dale's letter. He sent a man with the note, ordering him to wait for an answer.
The answer was not long in coming; the man was back in half an hour, bringing the Doctor's reply:
Three months ago I should have thought it an honor to share my last crust with you, and no shame to ask half of all you had. Now I will not touch a farthing of your money until you come back to us. If your friends pay my wife further visits, I shall be obliged if they will look somewhat less keenly at my household arrangements.
"There is the snub you have brought on me!" exclaimed Dale angrily, flinging the letter to Nellie. "I might have known better than to listen to your stories."
"Dale, Dale, it was every word true. How selfish he is not to think of his wife!"
"Oh, I'm infernally worried. I never get any peace."
"Oh, Dale, I've enjoyed my visit so much!"
"You must have seen it; we've stayed so long. I've often told mamma we ought to be going."
"Indeed we have had no mercy on you, Dale; but the country and the rest are so delightful."
"But I must be back at work. Mamma thought next Saturday would do."
"As soon as that?" said Dale, with polite surprise.
"Don't you want us to?" she asked, with an eager little smile. Dale was going to be kind after all.