"She says she wants me to stay with her all summer; do you think I ought?"
"She would not have asked you if she had not meant it."
Bettina, with her small feet on the fender, considered the situation.
"You'll have to come and see me there, and I'll miss our twilight talks by the fire, with Miss Matthews away, and tea, and no one to interrupt----"
"The days are growing longer. Soon there will be no twilights and no fire----"
His nature was perfectly honest, and he meant that there should be no barriers between himself and this child-woman. So he told her the truth. "I don't know. But you'll be very gay. There'll be the dances at the yacht clubs, and you'll be entertained on the boats, and you'll meet lots of people. Diana knows every one, and her money and position and her beauty make her much in demand."
"Funny"--sharply; "no, it's not funny. It's tragic."
"Because such women as Diana should marry. She has all the qualities for a wife and mother--she is wise and true and good, and there aren't many women like that in the world----"
"Oh," the girl drew her breath quickly, "I'm not like that--I'm little and childish, and I'm not wise."
He saw what he had done and tried to make amends.
"Well," Bettina crossed the hearth-rug, and sat down on a stool at his feet, "she's awfully old, isn't she?"
"Oh, you," she laughed and laid her cheek against his hand. "Your heart is just my age, isn't it?"
He moved restlessly, then stood up, with Diana's note still in his hand.
"You'd better write and tell her you'll come," he said. "I'll take you over to-morrow in my car."
She surveyed him wistfully. "Oh, must you really go?"
"Yes. There's the old man with the pneumonia, and the girl with appendicitis, and the new baby at the hospital--I can't neglect them, Bettina."
"When we are married," she asked, tremulously, "will all these sick people keep you from me----"
"A doctor belongs to his patients, my dear----"
"I suppose he does," pensively, "but I shall be terribly jealous of your old men with the pneumonia, and your girls with appendicitis. I shall want you."
If she had hoped to please him by her frank avowal she failed, for he stood looking at her with an expression which made her say hastily, "Don't you want me to want you?"