Dawn Eleanor Porter (free novels to read txt) 📖

he'll only beblind, as he is now. It must be done right away, however. Even now itmay be too late. And I may as well tell you, if it DOESN'T fail—thereis a strong probability of another long period of treatment and asecond operation, before there's a chance of ultimate success!"

"Could—could that time be spent here?" Daniel Burton's lips had growna little white.

"No. I should want the boy where I could see him frequently—with me,in fact. And that brings me to what I was going to propose. With yourpermission I will take the boy back with me next week to Chicago, andoperate at once. And let me say that from sheer interest in the case Ishall be glad to do this entirely without cost to you."

"Thank you; but of course you must understand that I could not allowthat for a moment." A painful color had flamed into Daniel Burton'sface.

"Nonsense! Don't be foolish, man. I tell you I'm glad to do it. It'llbe worth it to me—the rarity of the case—"

"How much—would it cost?" interposed Daniel Burton peremptorily, withan unsteadiness of voice that the doctor did not fail to read aright.

"Why, man, alive, it would cost—" With his eyes on Daniel Burton'ssternly controlled face, the doctor came to an abrupt pause. Then,turning, he began to tramp up and down the room angrily. "Oh, hang itall, man, why can't you be sensible? I tell you I don't want any—"Once again his tongue stopped. His feet, also, had come to an abruptpause. He was standing before an old colonial mirror. Then suddenly hewheeled about. "By Jove, there IS something I want. If you'll sell metwo or three of these treasures of yours here, you will be more thancancelling your debt, and—"

"Thank you," interrupted the other coldly, but with a still deeper redstaining his face. "As I happen to know of the unsalability of thesepictures, however, I cannot accept your generosity there, either."

"Pictures!" The doctor, turning puzzled eyes back to the mirror, sawnow that a large oil painting hung beside it on the wall. "I wasn'ttalking about your pictures, man," he scoffed then. "I was looking atthat mirror there, and I'd like the highboy downstairs, if I couldpersuade you to part with them, and—WOULD you be willing to part withthem?"

"What do you think!" (So marvelous was the change, and so great wasthe shining glory in Daniel Burton's face, that the doctor caughthimself actually blinking.) "Do you think there's anything, ANYTHINGthat I wouldn't part with, if I thought I could give that boy achance? Make your own selection, doctor. I only hope you'll want—really WANT—enough of them to amount to something."

The doctor threw a keen glance into his face.

"Amount to something! Don't you know the value of these things here?"

Daniel Burton laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, I suppose theyare—valuable. But I shall have to confess I DON'T know very muchabout it. They're very old, I can vouch for that."

"Old! Humph!" The doctor was close to the mirror now, examining itwith the appreciative eyes of the real lover of the antique. "I shouldsay they were. Jove, that's a beauty! And I've got just the placethat's hungering for it."

"Good! Suppose we look about the house, then, a little," suggestedDaniel Burton. "Perhaps we'll find some more things—er—good for ahungry stomach, eh?" And with a light on his face such as had not beenthere for long months past, Daniel Burton led the way from the studio.

CHAPTER XV

AGAIN SUSAN TAKES A HAND

That evening Daniel Burton told Susan. "Keith is to go home with Dr.Stewart next week. The doctor will operate as soon as possible. Keithwill live at the sanatorium connected with the doctor's home and beunder his constant supervision."

Susan tried to speak, but instead of speaking she burst into tears.

"Why, Susan!" exclaimed the man.

"I know, I know," she choked, angrily dashing the drops from her eyes.

"An' me cryin' like this when I'm gettin' jest what I want, too!"

"But there's no certainty, Susan, that it'll be successful; rememberthat," warned the man, his face clouding a little. "We can only—hope."

"An' there's the—the pay." Susan looked up, her voice vibrating withfearful doubts.

"Oh, that's all right." The man lifted his head with the air of onewho at last has reached firm ground after a dangerous crossing on thinice. "The doctor's going to buy the highboy and that mirror in thestudio, and—oh, several other things."

"You mean that old chest of drawers in the settin'-room?" scorned

Susan openly.

"Yes." Daniel Burton's lips twitched a little.

"But will he PAY anything for 'em? Mr. Burton, you can't get nothin',hardly, for second-hand furniture. My mother had a stove an' a realnice bedstead, an' a red-plush parlor set, an' she sold 'em. But shedidn't get anything—not hardly anything, for 'em; an' they was 'mostnew, some of 'em, too."

"That's the trouble, Susan—they were too new, probably," laughed theman. "It's because these are old, very old, that he wants them, Isuspect.

"An' he'll really pay MONEY for 'em?" Plainly Susan still had herdoubts.

"He certainly will. I'd be almost ashamed to tell you HOW much he'llpay, Susan," smiled the man. "It seemed to me sheer robbery on mypart. But he assures me they are very valuable, and that he's morethan delighted to have them even at that price."

"Lan' sakes! An' when I'd been worryin' an' worryin' so about themoney," sighed Susan; "an' now to have it fall plump into your laplike that. It jest shows you not to hunt for bridges till you get yourfeet wet, don't it? An' he's goin' jest next week?"

"Yes. The doctor and his daughter start Tuesday."

"You don't mean that girl Dorothy's goin' too?" Susan had almostbounced out of her chair.

"Why, yes, Dr. Stewart SAID she was. What's the matter?"

"Matter? Matter enough! Why, if she goes—Say, why IS she taggin'along, anyhow?" demanded Susan wrathfully.

"Well, I shouldn't exactly call it 'taggin' along' to go home with herfather for the Christmas vacation," shrugged the man. "As I understandit, Dorothy's mother died several years ago. That's why the girl ishere in the East so much with