Dr. Bates and Miss Sally
Sometimes Ferdie's jokes were successful; sometimes they were not.This was one of the jokes that didn't succeed; but as it led to achain of circumstances that proved eminently satisfactory, Ferdie'swife praised him as highly for his share in it as if he really haddone something rather meritorious.At the time it occurred, however, nobody praised anybody, andfeeling even ran pretty high for a time between Ferdie and Elsie,his wife, and her sister Sally, and Dr. Bates.Dr. Samuel Bates was a rising young surgeon, plain, quiet, andkindly. He was spending a few busy months in California, and writingdutifully home to friends and patients in Boston that he reallycould not free his hands to return just yet. But Sally knew whatthat meant; she had known business to keep people in herneighborhood before. So she was studiously unkind to the doctor,excusing herself to Elsie on the ground that nothing on earth wouldever make her consider a man with fuzzy red hair and low collars.Sally was a "daughter" and a "dame"; the doctor was the son of"Bates's Blue-Ribbon Hair Renewer"--awful facts against which theadditional fact that he was rich and she was not, counted nothing.Sally talked all the time; the doctor was the most silent of men.Sally was twenty-two, the doctor thirty-five. Sally loved to flirt;the doctor never paid any attention to women. Altogether, it was themost impossible thing ever heard of, and Elsie might just as wellstop thinking about it!"It's a wonderful proof of what he feels," said Elsie, "to have himso gentle when you are rude to him, and so eager to be friends whenyou get over it!""It's a wonderful example of hair-tonic spirit!" Sally responded."There's a good deal behind that quiet manner," argued Elsie."But not the three generations that make a gentleman!" finishedSally.Sally was out calling one hot Saturday afternoon when Ferdie, as washis habit, brought Dr. Bates home with him to the Ferdies' littleawninged and shingled summer home in Sausalito. Elsie, with anarmful of delightfully pink and white baby, led them to the coolside porch, and ordered cool things to drink. Sally, she said, asthey sank into the deep chairs, would be home directly and jointhem.Presently, surely enough, some one ran up the front steps and cameinto the wide hall, and Sally's voice called a blithe "Hello!" Therewas a little rattle to show that her parasol was flung down, andthen the voice again, this time unmistakably impeded by hat-pins."Where's this fam-i-ly? Did the gentlemen come?"This gave an opening for the sort of thing Ferdie thought he didvery well. He grinned at his guest, and raised a warning finger."Hello, Sally!" he called back. "Elsie and I are out here! Batescouldn't come--operation last minute!""What--didn't come?" Sally called back after an instant's pause."Well, what has happened to him? But, thank goodness, now I can goto the Bevis dinner to-morrow! Operation? I must say it's mannerlyto send a message the last minute like that!" She hummed a second,and then added spitefully: "What can you expect of hair-tonic,anyway?" The frozen group on the porch heard her start slowlyupstairs. "Well, I might be willing to marry him," added Sally,cheerfully, as she mounted, "but it's a real relief to snatch thisglorious afternoon from the burning! Down in a second--keep me sometea!"Nobody moved on the porch. The doctor's face was crimson, Elsie'skind eyes wide with horror. Sally called a final reflection from thefirst landing:"Too bad not to have him see me looking so beautiful!" she sangfrivolously. "Operation--h'm! An important operation--I don'tbelieve it!"She proceeded calmly to her room, and was buttoning herself into atrim linen gown when Elsie burst in, flushed and furious, cast thebaby dramatically upon the bed, and hysterically recounted theeffects of her recent remarks. Sally, at first making a transparenteffort to seem amused, and following it with an equally vain attemptat being dignified, finally became very angry herself."When Ferdie does things like this," said Sally, heatedly, "Ideclare I wonder--I was going to say I wonder he has a friend leftin the world! As you say, it's done now, but it makes me so furious!And I don't think it shows very much savior faire on your part,Elsie. However, we won't discuss it! Ferdie will try one joke toomany, one of these days, and then--Now, look here, Elsie," Sallyinterrupted her tirade to state with deadly deliberation, "unlessthat man goes home before dinner, as a man of any spirit would do,I'm going over to Mary Bevis's, and you can make whatever apologiesyou like!""Of course he won't go," said Elsie, with spirit. "The only thing todo is to ignore it entirely. And of course you'll come down."Sally had resumed her ruffled calling costume, and was now pinningon an effective hat. Her mouth was set."Please!" pleaded her sister, inserting a gold bracelet tenderlybetween George's little jaws, without moving her eyes from Sally."I will not!" said Sally. "I never want to see him again--superior,big, calm codfish--too lofty to care what any one says about him! Idon't like a man you can walk on, anyway!" She began to pack thingsin a suit-case--beribboned night-wear, slippers, powder, and smalljars. Presently, hasping these things firmly in, she went to thedoor, and opened it a cautious crack."Where are they?" she asked."I don't know," said Mrs. Ferdie, dispiritedly. "I think you're verymean!"The bedrooms of the Ferdies' house opened in charming Southernfashion upon open balconies, over whose slender rails one could lookstraight into the hall below. Sally listened intently."What a horrible plan this house is built upon!" she said heartily."Nothing in the world is more humiliating than to have to sneakabout one's own house like a thief, afraid of being seen! Where'sthe motor--at the side door? Good. I'll run it over to the Bevises'myself, and Billy can come back with it. That is, I will if I canmanage to get to the side door. Those idiots of men are apparentlylooking at Ferd's rods and tackle, right down there in the hall! Ican distinctly hear their voices! I wish Ferd had thought ofsituations like this when he planned this silly balcony business!The minute I open this door they'll look up; and I'll stay up here aweek rather than meet them!""They'll go out soon," said Elsie, soothingly, as she removed ashoe-horn from contact with George's mouth."I knew Ferd would regret this balcony!" pursued Sally, eyes to thecrack."Ferdie's not regretting it!" tittered her sister.Sally cast her a withering glance. Elsie devoted herself suddenly toGeorge."Go down and lure them into the garden," pleaded Sally, presently.Elsie obligingly picked up her son and departed, but Sally, watchingher go, was infuriated to notice that a mild request from George'snurse, who met them in the hall, apparently drove all thoughts ofSally's predicament from the little mother's mind, for Elsie wentbriskly toward the nursery, and an absolute silence ensued.Sally went listlessly to the window, where her eye was immediatelycaught by a long pruning ladder, leaning against the house a dozenfeet away. Alma, the little waitress, quietly mixing a mayonnaise onthe kitchen porch, was pressed into service, and five minutes laterSally's suit-case was cautiously lowered, on the end of a Mexicanlariat, and Sally was steadying the top of the ladder against herwindow-sill. Alma was convulsed with innocent mirth, but her big,hard hands were effective in steadying the lower end of the ladder.Sally, who was desperately afraid of ladders, packed her thin skirtstightly about her, gave a fearful glance below, and began a nervousdescent. At every alternate rung she paused, unwound her skirts,shut her eyes, and breathed hard."Please don't shake it so!" she said."Aye dadden't!" said Alma, merrily.The ladder slipped an inch, settling a little lower. Sally uttered asmothered scream. She dared not move her eyes from the rungimmediately in front of them. Her face was flushed, her hair hadslipped back from her damp temples. It seemed to her as if she mustalready have climbed down several times the length of the ladder. Atevery step she had to kick her skirts free."Permit me!" said a kind voice in the world of reeling brick walksand dwarfed gooseberry bushes below her.Sally, with a thump at her heart, looked down to see Dr. Bates lay afirm hand upon the rocking ladder.Speechless, she finished the descent, reeling a little unsteadilyagainst the doctor's shoulder as she faced about on the walk. Herface was crimson. To climb down a ladder, with him lookingpleasantly up from below, and then to fall into his very arms! Sallyshook out her skirts like a furious hen, and walked, with one chillyinclination of the head for acknowledgment of his courtesy, towardthe waiting motor."Ferdie has promised Bill Bevis that you will spin me over in themotor," said the doctor, a little timidly, when they reached it.Sally eyed him stonily."Ferd--""Why, I had promised Bevis that I would look in to-day," pursued thedoctor, uncomfortably; "and when they telephoned about it, a fewminutes ago, one of the maids said that she believed that you weregoing right over, and would bring me.""I have changed my mind," said Sally. "Perhaps you will driveyourself over?""I don't know anything about motors," apologized the doctor,gravely."Ferd told one of the maids to say I would?" Sally said pleasantly."Very well. Will you get in?"They got in, Sally driving. They swept in silence past the lawns,and into the wide, white highway. A watering-cart had just passed,and the air was fresh and wet. The afternoon was one of exquisitebeauty. The steamer from San Francisco was just in, and the road wasfilled with other motor-cars and smart traps. Sally and the doctornodded and waved to a score of friends."I am as sorry as you are," said the doctor, awkwardly, after thesilence had grown very long."Don't mention it," said Sally, her face flaming again. "That's mybrother's idea of humor. I--I shall stay at the Bevises' overnight.""I--why, I said I would do that!" said Dr. Bates, hastily. "I justcalled in to the maid, when she telephoned Bevis, and said, 'Ask himif he can put me up overnight.' You see, I've got my things.""Well, then, I won't," said Sally. Her tone was cold, but a sideglance at his serious face melted her a little. "This is allFerdie!" she burst out angrily."Too bad to make it so important," said the doctor, regretfully."I don't see why you should stay at the Bevises'," said the girl,fretfully. "It looks very odd--when you had come to us. I--I amgoing to Glen Ellen early to-morrow, anyway. I would hate to havethe Bevises suspect--""Then I will go back with you," agreed the doctor, pleasantly.Sally frowned. She opened her lips, but shut them without speaking.She had turned the car into a wide gateway, and a moment later theystopped at a piazza full of young people. The noisy, joyous Bevisgirls and boys swarmed rapturously about them.After an hour of laughter and shouting, Sally and the doctor rose togo, accompanied to the motor by all the young people."Ah, you just got in, doctor?" said gentle Mrs. Bevis, with a glanceat the suit-cases.Sally flushed, but the doctor serenely let the misunderstanding go.There was no good reason to give for the presence of two cases inthe car."You look quite like an elopement!" said Page Bevis with a joyousshout."Put one of the cases in front, Bates, and rest your feet on it,"suggested the older boy, Kenneth.As he spoke, he caught up Sally's case, and gave it a mighty swingfrom the tonneau to the front seat. In mid-flight, the suit-caseopened. Jars and powders, slippers and beribboned apparel scatteredin every direction. Small silver articles, undeniably feminine innature, lay on the grass; a spangled scarf which they had alladmired on Sally's slender shoulders had to be tenderly extricatedfrom the brake.With shrieks of laughter, the Bevis family righted the case andrepacked it. Sally was frozen with anger."Mother said she knew you two would run off and get married quietlysome day!" said pretty, audacious Mary Bevis."Dearie!" protested her mother. "I only said--I only thought--I saidI thought--Mary, that's very naughty of you! Sally, you know howinnocently one surmises an engagement, or guesses at things!""Oh, mother, you're getting in deeper and deeper!" said her olderson. "Never you mind, Sally! You can elope if you want to!""San Rafael's the place to go, Sally," said Mary. "All the elopersget married there. The court-house, you know. No delays aboutlicenses!""They're very naughty," said their mother, beginning to see howunwelcome this joking was to the visitors. "Are you going straighthome, dear?""Straight home!" said the doctor."Well, speaking of San Rafael," pursued the matron, kindly--"can'tyou two and Elsie and Ferd go with us all to-night, say about anhour from now, up to Pastori's and have dinner?""Oh, thanks!" said Sally, trying to smile naturally. "I'm afraid notto-night. I've got a headache, and I'm going home to turn in."Amid cheerful good-bys, she wheeled the car, and drove it alongrapidly, pursuing thoughts of the Bevis boys hardly short ofmurderous. The doctor was silent; but Sally, glancing at him, sawhis quiet smile change to an apologetic look, and hated both thesmile and the apology.They went more slowly on the steep road from the water front to thehillside. The level light of the sinking sun shone brilliantly ondaisies and nasturtiums at the roadside. Boats, riding at anchor,dipped in the wash of another incoming steamer. Dr. Bates hummed;but Sally frowned, and he was immediately hushed."Boy looking for you?" he said presently, as a small and dusty boyrose from a boulder at one side of the road and shouted somethingunintelligible."Why, I guess he is for me!" said Sally, in the first natural toneshe had used that afternoon.But the boy, upon being interrogated, said that the telegram was for"the doc that was visiting up to Miss Sally's house."Dr. Bates read the little message several times, and absentlydismissed the messenger with a coin, which Sally thoughtoutrageously large, and a muttered worried word or two."Bad news?" she asked."In a way," he said quickly. "When's the next train for San Rafael,Miss Sally? I've got to be there to-night--right away! Do we have tostand here? Thank you. There's a case Field and I have beenwatching; he says that there's got to be an operation at eight--"His voice trailed off into troubled silence, and he drew out hiswatch. "Eight!" he muttered. "It's on seven now!""Oh, and you have to operate--horrible for you!" said Sally, takingthe car skilfully toward the railroad station as she spoke. "But Idon't see how you can! You've missed the six-thirty train, andthere's not another until after nine. But you can wire Dr. Fieldthat you will be there the first thing in the morning."The doctor paid no attention."The livery stable is closed, I suppose?" he asked."Oh, long ago!"He ruminated frowningly. Suddenly his face cleared."Funny how one thinks of the right solution last!" he said inrelief. "How long would it take you to run me up there? Fortyminutes?""I don't see how I could," said Sally, flushing. "I can take the carhome, though, and ask Ferd to do it. But that woman's at the hotel,isn't she? I couldn't go up there and sit outside, with every one Iknew coming out and wondering why I brought you instead of Ferd!Elsie wouldn't like it. You must see--""It would take us fifteen minutes at least to go up and get Ferd,"objected the doctor, seriously; "and he's not much better than I amat running it, anyway!""Well, I'm sorry," said Sally, shortly, "but I simply couldn't doit. Dr. Field should have given you more notice. It would looksimply absurd for me to go tearing over these country roads atnight--Elsie would go mad wondering where I was--"They were in the village now. Troubled and stubborn, Sally stoppedthe car, and looked mutinously at her companion. The doctor's rosyface was flushed under his flaming hair, and in his very blue eyeswas a look that struck her with an almost panicky sensation ofsurprise. Sally had never seen any man regard her with an expressionof distaste before, but the doctor's look was actually inimical."I feared that you would be the sort of woman to fail one utterly,like this," he said quietly. "I've often wondered--I've often saidto myself, 'could she ever, under any circumstances, throw off thatpretty baby way of hers, and forget that this world was made justfor flirting and dressing and being admired?' By George, I see youcan't! I see you can't! Well! Now, whom can I get to take me upthere within the hour?"He appeared to ponder. Sally sat as if stupefied."Don't resent what I say when I'm upset," said the doctor, absently."You can't help your limitations, I can't help mine. I see a youngwoman--she's just lost a little boy, and she's all her husband hasleft--I see her dying because we're too late. You see a few empty-headed women saying that Sally Reade actually went driving alone,without her dinner, for three hours, with a man she hardly knew. Iam not blaming you. You have never pretended to be anything but whatyou are. I blame myself for hoping--thinking--but, by George, you'dbe an utter dead weight on a man if it was ever up to you to face anepidemic, or run a risk, or do one-twentieth of the things thatthose very ancestors of yours, that you're so proud of, used to do!"Sally set her teeth. She leaned from the car to summon a small girlloitering on the road."You're one of the White children, aren't you?" said she to thechild. "I want you to go up to Mrs. Ferdie Potter's house, and tellMrs. Potter that her sister won't be home for several hours, andthat I'll explain later. Now," said Sally, turning superbly to thedoctor, "pull your hat down tight. We're going fast!"They were three miles farther on their way before he saw that herlittle chin was quivering, and great tears were running down hersmall face. Time was precious, but for a few memorable moments theystopped the car again.Miss Sally and Dr. Bates returned to the sleepy and excitedFerdies' at one o'clock that night. The light that never was on landor sea glittered in Sally's wonderful eyes; the doctor was white,shaken, and radiant. Sally flew to her sister's arms."We waited to see--and she came out of it--and she has a fairfighting chance!" said Sally, joyously; and the look she gave herdoctor made Elsie's heart rise with a bound."Runaways," said Elsie, "come in and eat! I never knew a seriousoperation to have such a cheering effect on any one before!""It all went so well," said Sally, contentedly, over chicken andginger ale. "But, Elsie! Such fun!" she burst out, her dimplessuddenly again in view. "I am disgraced forever! After we had doneeverything to make the Bevis crowd think we were eloping, what didwe do but run into the whole crowd at San Anselmo! I wish you couldhave seen their faces! We had said we couldn't possibly go; and wewere going too fast to stop and explain!""We'll explain to-morrow," said the doctor, so significantly thatFerdie rose instantly to grasp his hand, and Elsie fell again uponSally as if she had never kissed her before."Not--not really!" gasped Elsie, turning radiantly from one to theother."Oh, really!" said Sally, with her prettiest color. "He despises me,but he will take the case, anyway! And he has done nothing butmortify and enrage me all day, but I feel that I should miss it ifit stopped! So we are going to sacrifice our lives to each other--isn't it edifying and beautiful of us? We'll tell you all about itto-morrow. Jam--Sam?"
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