"Would Dr. Lavendar let you have him, if--he knew?"
"But that's over; that's finished," she insisted. "oh, I tell you,
it's over!"
The doctor's silence was like a whip.
"Oh, I know; you think that he was here last week. But there has to be
a beginning of everything--that was the beginning. I told him I would
not give David up to marry him; and we quarrelled. And--it's over."
"I can't go into that," the doctor said. "That's not my business.
David is my business. Mrs. Richie, I want you quietly, without any
explanation, to give the boy back to Dr, Lavendar. If you don't, I
shall have no choice. I shall have to tell him."
"But you said you wouldn't tell him! Oh, you break your word--"
"I won't tell him your affairs," said William King. "I will never do
that. But I'll tell him my own--some of them. I'll say I made a
mistake when I advised him to let you have David, and that I don't
think you ought to be trusted to bring up a little boy. But I won't
say why."
"Dr. King, if I tell him just what you've said; that you think you
made a mistake, and you think I am not to be trusted;--if I tell him
myself, and he consents to let me keep him, will you interfere?"
William reflected heavily. "He won't consent," he said; "he'll know I
wouldn't say a thing like that without reason. But if he does, I shall
be silent."
There was a despairing finality in his words. They were at her own
gate now; she leaned her head down on it, and he heard a pitiful
sound. William King's lips were dry, and when he spoke the effort made
his throat ache. What he said was only the repetition of his duty as
he saw it. "I'd rather lose my right hand than make you suffer. But
I've no choice. I've no choice!" And when she did not answer, he added
his ultimatum. "I'll have to tell Dr. Lavendar on Sunday, unless you
will just let me settle it all for you by saying that you don't want
David any long--"
"Not want David!"
"I mean, that you've decided you won't keep him any longer. I'll find
a good home for him, Mrs. Richie," he ended in a shaking voice.
She gave him one look of terror; then opened the gate and shut it
quickly in his face, drawing the bolt with trembling fingers. As she
flew up the path, he saw her for an instant as she crossed a patch of
moonlight; then the darkness hid her.