THE DOCTOR'S SUGGESTION
Madge fitted marvelously into Dr. Alden's troubled household. She read
to Mrs. Alden when the nurse was away, cheered her with funny stories
and really helped her to grow well and strong.
As for the twins, Dot and Daisy, they were never absent from the little
captain's side, except when Phil positively commanded it. Madge used to
take long walks with one of them clinging to either side of her skirt.
Where she found her patience when they tumbled down, lagged behind and
begged for more fairy tales every minute was a marvel. But Madge had
been shocked at her beloved Phil's careworn appearance and came
gallantly to her rescue. She might have little consideration for
strangers, she could do wonders for the people she loved and one long
look into her friend's tired face made her resolve to do her best for
Phil.
The next morning after Madge's unceremonious arrival Dr. Alden wrote a
letter to Mr. and Mrs. Butler, asking them to allow Madge to make
Phyllis a visit. Madge also wrote a note, but it was not in the nature
of a request. Instead, she dashed off the following letter to her
Virginia relatives:
"DEAREST AUNT AND UNCLE:
"Don't worry about me. I am at Phil's and having the best kind
of a time. I am going to stay with her for a few days, as she
needs me. Do I hear any dissenting voices? I hope not! Tell
Nellie we miss her terribly. With lots of love to all of you.
Don't bother to write. I'll take the will for the deed.
"Lovingly,
"MADGE."
"There," declared Madge as she skipped up the steps after handing her
letter to the postman, "that will stifle all Virginia objections. Now, I
am going to enjoy myself while I am with dear Phil."
In the days that followed Madge's declaration she helped Phil keep house
with a will. Dr. Alden used to call her "The Second Daughter," and Madge
derived untold pleasure from the drives she took with him over the
country roads to see his patients.
One afternoon, however, as they jogged along toward the home of a
patient who lived several miles from town, Madge was unusually silent.
Though the air was sweet with the perfume of honeysuckle, and their road
ran through a particularly beautiful bit of country, she was dreamy and
abstracted.
From time to time Dr. Alden gazed at her humorously. His
fellow-passenger was in a deep reverie and had forgotten his presence.
"Thinking of your houseboat, eh, Madge?" he inquired.
"Yes, Doctor Man," answered Madge quickly, "of the houseboat and Phil."
She sat very straight in the buggy, and, drawing her level brows into a
frown, said slowly: "I was saying over to myself that when five nice,
capable young women wish a very special thing very much they ought to be
able to obtain it. You see, we wish to spend the beginning of the summer
on the houseboat. It would be splendid for Phil. But we haven't the
money, so I am trying to find out how to get it."
The physician's eyes twinkled. "That is not a new occupation, Madge.
Most of us spend our time in trying to get hold of that same mighty
dollar. But we have to work for it as well as to think about it. I
wonder if you girls wish the holiday on your boat badly enough to work
for it? If only I could give you the money!"
Madge looked earnestly at the doctor, then said slowly: "That's just it.
Of course, we are willing to work for the money. But I must find out
what we can do in a hurry. You see, we need the money at once."
After they reached their destination, the doctor stayed a long while at
his call on his country patient, and Madge, left alone in the buggy, had
plenty of time to devise a thousand schemes for acquiring riches and to
dismiss them all as impracticable. The physician had driven his old
horse inside the trim yard of his patient, and the road lay near the big
front porch door. The little garden was as pretty and tidy as the
pictures in Kate Greenaway books. It grew tall hollyhocks, neatly cut
hedges, and a riot of old rose bushes. Madge might well have spent her
time in gazing at it, as it was a typical New England garden on a small
scale. But it seemed too tiny and conventional to the little captain,
whose inner vision conjured up the sight of the great, oak-shaded lawn
at "Forest House." Just then she had more practical problems to occupy
her attention. She let the reins fall loosely on the horse's neck, for
he was in the habit of standing without being hitched. To-day old Prince
grew tired with waiting and began to nibble at the short grass. Madge,
lost in her daydreams, paid no heed to him. The horse moved on. Ahead
there was a particularly delicious bunch of tall, feathery grass, which
had been allowed to grow unaccountably high. It was a rare shrub, but
the old horse was not aware of it. The wheel of the buggy that held the
heedless driver passed over the high porch step. The girl inside felt
herself let gently down on the ground and a high, black canopy covered
her. Then, at last, Madge became alive to the situation.
But it was too late! Old Prince was frightened. The noise of the
overturned buggy had upset his nerves. He began to run--not very fast,
but fast enough so that Madge found herself being dragged along the
ground over the smooth grass lawn. She couldn't crawl out from under the
buggy and she certainly did not wish to remain under it. She raised her
voice in one long cry of terror.
A boy had been working back of the house. He was in his shirt sleeves
and had an old, torn, straw hat pulled down over his eyes. An ugly scowl
was the only attention he had paid to the doctor and Madge as they drove
into the yard. His face was flushed, not so much from the sun as from
the anger that was raging within him. It was hard enough to work like a
slave for a cranky old maid, without being constantly "pecked at." David
believed that he hated every one in the world. Yet at Madge's shrill cry
for help he dropped his rake and ran toward the front lawn. He saw the
overturned buggy, heard the noise that came from underneath it, but he
could see no sign of Madge. Dr. Alden had also dashed from the house
onto the front porch. He was followed by a woman of about sixty years.
Her hair was parted in the middle and she wore little bunches of
corkscrew curls over each ear, in the fashion of half a century ago.
"Oh, my! Oh, my!" she cried, wringing her hands. "How can I bear it? how
can I bear it?" One might have supposed that she were frightened over
Madge.
Dr. Alden started in pursuit of the horse. But at his approach old
Prince quickened his pace. "Stand still!" a peremptory voice called to
him sharply. "Stop crying out!" the same voice ordered Madge.
Dr. Alden gazed in bewilderment at the speaker. Madge at the same
instant realized that she must be frightening the horse with the noise
she was making.
The boy with the torn hat advanced quietly toward the horse, showing no
special interest in him. He called gently to the animal, holding out a
bunch of grass. Prince was only frightened at the strange turn his
affairs had taken. He now stopped for a minute. Immediately a firm hand
seized his head.
Dr. Alden made a move toward his buggy. "Unhitch the horse," commanded
the boy.
Once the horse was free from the buggy Dr. Alden and the young man
lifted it on one side. Out crawled Madge, a most inglorious figure. She
was covered with dust, her face grimy. Her hair had tumbled down and
hung in a loose bunch of curls over her shoulders.
"I am not a bit hurt, Doctor," she announced bravely, as soon as she got
her breath. "It was all my fault. I let old Prince get away from me. I
am so afraid I have broken the buggy."
"What a nice girl!" thought David. "She isn't a bit fussy. I wonder how
she will take the old lady?"
While the physician assured Madge that his vehicle was not injured in
the least, and that he would not have minded its being smashed into bits
so long as she was unhurt, a woman walked across the yard and glared
angrily at Madge.
"Young woman," she said in a thin, high voice, "look--look at what you
and that wretched horse have done."
Madge blinked some of the dirt from her eyes, then tried to twist her
hair back into some kind of order. "I am sorry," she answered in
bewilderment. "But what have we done?"
David swallowed a malicious grin of satisfaction.
The woman fairly gasped at Madge's question. "You've torn up my lawn,
trampled down my prize rose-bush, and--and--please take the young woman
away, doctor. My nerves won't endure anything more after the night I
have spent. I am sure I would never dare trust my life to any one who
goes about turning over buggies and ruining people's gardens."
Trust her life? Of what was the woman talking? Madge thought she could
not have heard aright.
"Never mind your lawn, Miss Betsey," answered Dr. Alden severely. "Be
grateful that the child isn't hurt. Thank you, David." The doctor began
fumbling in his pocket for his money.
Madge saw her rescuer's face turn scarlet. He was a manly looking fellow
of perhaps eighteen.
With a muttered, "I'm not a beggar," he turned and walked away from
them.
After exchanging a little further conversation with Miss Betsey, the
doctor and Madge drove away. Outside the yard Madge began to laugh. She
could still see the old maid wringing her hands and gazing in anguish at
her cherished garden.
"Scat!" grumbled Madge.
The doctor smiled. "Miss Betsey is a bit of an old cat, child. But I
don't wish you to be prejudiced against her, poor old soul."
"Oh, I wasn't thinking of her being like a cat, Doctor Man," apologized
Madge. "I am very fond of cats. I was thinking of Miss Betsey in 'David
Copperfield.' Don't you remember how she used to rush out and cry
'Scat!' all the time at the donkeys that she feared were going to ruin
her lawn? Old Prince and I were the 'donkeys' this afternoon. Who is
that boy named David? He is very good looking, isn't he?"
"David? Oh, he is a poor boy who works around Miss Taylor's place--a
distant cousin of hers, I believe. His mother was a gentlewoman, but she
married a man who turned out badly and her family disowned her. This
youngster has a bad disposition and Miss Betsey says he is not faithful
to his work. He steals off every now and then and hides for hours up in
a loft. No one knows what he is doing up there."
"Well, I don't think I would like to work for Miss Betsey," returned
Madge thoughtfully. "Somehow I feel sorry for this David." She
remembered the boy's quick flush of resentment at the doctor's offer of
money. She wished that she had been able to thank him herself for his
share in her rescue.
"I am sorry you think you would not like to work for Miss Betsey,"
returned the doctor unexpectedly, "because I had a suggestion to make
to you and Phil. But after to-day I am afraid it will be of no use. Miss
Taylor is a rich old maid patient of mine. I have looked after her since
Phyllis was a little girl. She has no relatives and no interest in life
except in her little estate, which has been in her family for several
generations. She makes herself ill by imagining that she has a variety
of diseases. All she needs is fresh air and young companionship. I
wonder if there is any way that she can manage to get it?"
Madge felt a shiver creep up and down her spine. She had a premonition
of what Dr. Alden was going to propose to her and to Phil. Surely they
could not be expected to Jonah their pretty houseboat by taking aboard
such a fellow-passenger as this dreadful old maid! How could they ever
have any fun with her on board? Instead of calling their pretty craft
the "Merry Maid," she would have to be re-christened "Old Maid," Madge
thought resentfully.
Dr. Alden did not return to the subject of Miss Betsey during the long
ride home. He was too wise for that. Nevertheless, he had given Madge
something to think about.