"And that's why Doctor Salado went away from England. By the way, Very,
I'm not a regular doctor, though I studied medicine after I left England
very hard."
"How can you say so, dear, when you know how all the poor people cried
at your going away? They said no one would ever cure them of the fever
again as you did. Why, they always called you the great doctor."
"Yes, my dear: but people here would call me the great quack. There,
I'm going for my walk round. But--hullo! here's his lordship to see the
burnt hoarding."
For just at that moment Lord Pinemount's loud, harsh voice floated in at
the window.
"Disgraceful!" he cried.
Then there was a murmur of another voice, and again of another, as if
two men were respectfully addressing his lordship.
"An old scoundrel!" came in at the window again.
"He means me!" cried the Doctor excitedly, rising.
"No, no, papa--please, please!" whispered Veronica, clinging to him.
"But I'm sure he does, Very."
"I mean, don't go out, papa dear: you would be so angry."
"Would be? I am!--furiously angry. How dare he call me an old
scoundrel!"
"Pray, pray don't quarrel with him, dear."
"I'm not going to, pet; but I'll knock his head off for him."
"No, no; you shall not go out, dear. I will not have my dear father
disgrace himself like that."
"I declare, Very, you are worse than your poor mother used to be. I
must go and hit him, or I shall explode."
"Then please explode here, papa dear, at me."
"You're a strange girl, Very, 'pon my soul," cried the Doctor.
"Yes, papa dear," she said quietly, but clinging tightly to his arm.
"How dare he come and damage my property!" floated in through the
window.
"Buzz-buzz-buzz," from another voice.
"But I will, sir. How dare he? I'll lay the horsewhip across the
scoundrel's back!"
"Buzz-buzz--buzz-buzz."
"Law or no law, he shall have the horsewhip first and the fine or
imprisonment afterwards. These foreign rowdy ways shall not be
tolerated here."
"Let go, Very. I can't stand it, I tell you," said the Doctor. But
Veronica threw her arms now about his neck, and laid her head close to
his cheek, and clung there.
"Will you let go?"
"No, papa."
"Do you want me to hit you?"
"Yes, papa dear."
"Hang it, Very, it's too bad! You're a coward. You know I can't."
"Yes, papa dear; I know you'd sooner cut off your hand."
"A blackguardly old scoundrel!" floated through the window.
"Yes? my lord."
"Ah! I am, am I?" cried the Doctor. "Let go, Very."
"No, papa dear: never."
"Out, I suppose?" came, as if shouted for the inmates of the cottage to
hear.
"I will be directly, you pompous, titled bully," muttered the Doctor.
"Buzz-buzz--buzz-buzz," in two different keys.
"Yes, I suppose so," cried his lordship; "but if he thinks he is going
to defeat me he is sadly mistaken."
"Yes, my lord."
"Very! will you untie those wretched little arms of yours from about my
neck?"
"No, papa dear; and I'm not afraid of your hitting me."
"Then, if you don't let go, I'll hit myself."
Veronica raised her head a little, and kissed him.
"No: at home, and dare not show his face!" roared Lord Pinemount.
"There!" cried the Doctor. "Every word is a stinging blow in the face,
Very."
"Yes, papa; but I'm kissing the places to make them well," said
Veronica, suiting the action to the word.
"But I'll let him see."
"Buzz-buzz-buzz,--boozz-boozz-boozz," and the sound of horse's hoofs
slowly dying away.
"Gone!" cried the Doctor passionately. "Very, you've made me seem like
a miserable cowards that man will despise me, and insult us more than
ever."
"You are angry, papa dear; but when you grow calm you will tell me I've
done quite right."
"Humph! I'll tell you so now, my darling," said the Doctor, kissing her
affectionately; "but my fingers itched to knock him down."
"And when you had done so, you would have been very sorry, papa dear;
for you would have hurt yourself."
"What, my knuckles?"
"No, papa--your dignity as a gentleman; and you would have hurt me, too,
very much."
"You're a witch, Very," said the Doctor, drawing a long sigh. "What an
overbearing brute it is! and I'll be bound to say that son of his will
develop into just such another animal."
"Papa!"
"Hallo! what have I said?" cried the Doctor, with his eyes winking.
"Hit me after all," said Very to herself, as she ran sobbing out of the
room, but only to be caught upon the stairs and tenderly kissed and
petted till her eyes grew dry, and the hysterical sobs which would rise
to her lips had cleared.