At last Marian came, bringing a lunch-tray well laden with the proper
things. She set it down on a table at the bedside, and drew up two
chairs.
“Now, Andy dear!” she said in her old pleasant way. “Come on! You need
food, you know. It’s after three o’clock!”
He was really very hungry. He began to eat without delay, while Marian
watched him indulgently.
“I telephoned to Dr. Gryce. He’ll take your patients to-day,” she said.
“You need a rest, don’t you? Miss Franklin’s gone home. Mr. Borrowby
took Mavis home, and left a note, apologizing for his mistake. I
explained to him about your theories, you know. I sent for Mr. Hamilton,
and I stayed with his wife until he came. They had a perfectly beautiful
reconciliation. They’re going out to Wyoming with the children, to start
a new life; so there’s nothing to trouble you, is there?”
“Marian,” he said gravely, “I’ll tell you all about it later on. Just
now I can’t think of anything but the relief--”
The parlor-maid knocked at the door.
“There’s a young gentleman from the _Daily Review_, sir,” she said. “He
says the doctor promised him an interview.”
“The doctor is resting--” Marian began.
Andrew sat up.
“No!” he said. “I’ll see him. Bring him up, Sarah!”
“I’ll go,” said Marian.
“I’d rather you stayed,” said Andrew. “I’d like you to hear what I’m
going to say.”
He was sitting up in bed, more rumpled and excited than ever, when the
young man entered. The interviewer was surprised and a little
embarrassed by the presence of a wife, because the opinions which the
doctor was reputed to hold on marriage were not the sort of views that
most wives like. However--
“We thought it would be of great interest to our readers if you would
give us a few words on ‘Marriage from a Man’s Point of View,’” he began;
“along the lines of the address you gave before the Moral Courage Club
one afternoon last week, you know.”
“I said that marriage hampered and degraded a man, didn’t I? I said that
marriage was slavery for my sex--don’t take that down, that’s only what
I said last week. _Now_, please get this properly. I offer, as my
earnest conviction, based upon experiment, that marriage is man’s only
safeguard. Without its protection man could not survive. This is a
woman’s world, dominated and developed by women. Every man imperatively
requires the protection of a wife. Without it, he--he would be hounded
to death.”
“Andrew!” murmured Marian, rather shocked.
The young man wrote it all down as faithfully as he could.
“That’s all. You can enlarge on that. I suppose you would, anyway. You
might head it ‘Marriage Man’s Only Hope.’”
The young man thanked the doctor, took up his hat, and left.
Andrew looked at Marian, and she smiled affectionately at him.
“I shall never know,” said he, “whether you had any hand in all this, or
whether it just happened; but I’m beaten, absolutely, and you are
supremely vindicated. That’s what women always do. They’re able to prove
a man wrong and make him see it himself, in spite of the fact that he’s
right!”