The arrival of the doctor dissipated her sadness in a measure, and
after greeting him with her usual expressions of welcome, she said,
half playfully, half spitefully: "By the way, doctor, who was that old lady, all bent up double in
shawls and things, whom you were taking out for an airing?"
Guy looked up quickly, wondering where Agnes could have seen the
doctor, who, conscious of a sudden pang, answered, naturally: "That old lady, bent double and bundled in shawls, was young Maddy
Clyde, to whom I thought a short ride might do good."
"Oh, yes; that patient about whom Jessie has gone mad. I am glad to
have seen her."
There was unmistakable irony in her voice now, and turning from her to
Guy, the doctor continued: "The old man was telling me to-day of your kindness in saving his
house from being sold. It was like you, Guy; and I wish I, too, had
the means to be generous, for they are so very poor."
"I'll tell you," said Jessie, who had stolen to the doctor's side, and
lain her fat, bare arm upon his shoulder, as if he had been Guy. "You
might give Maddy the doctor's bill. I remember how mamma cried, and
said she never could pay papa's bill when it was sent in."
"Jessie!" said Agnes and Guy, simultaneously, while the doctor
laughingly pulled one of her long, bright curls.
"Yes, I could do that. I'd thought of it, but they might not accept
it, as they are proud as well as poor."
"Mr. Markham has no one to care for but his wife and this Madeline,
has he?" Agnes asked, and the doctor replied: "I did not suppose so until a few days since, when I learned from a
Mr. Green that Mrs. Markham's youngest and now only brother has been
an inmate of a lunatic asylum for years; and that though they cannot
pay his entire expenses, of course they do all they can toward
providing him with comforts."
"What is a lunatic asylum, mother? What does he mean?" Jessie asked,
but it was the doctor, not Agnes, who explained to the child what a
lunatic asylum was.
"Is insanity hereditary in this family?" Guy asked.
Agnes' cheek was very white, though her face was fumed away as the
doctor answered: "I do not know; I did not ask the cause. I only heard
the fact that such a man as Joseph Mortimer exists."