"Yes, sir!" said the children, in eager chorus, eying the apples.
"You and I will go into the study for a while," said Dr. Lavendar.
She followed him speechlessly...the time had come.
Dr. Lavendar, hospitable and fussy, drew up a horsehair-covered chair
with ears on each side of the back, and bade her sit down; then he
poked the fire, and put on a big lump of coal, and asked her if she
was sure she was warm enough? "It's pretty chilly; we didn't have
weather as cold as this in October when I was your age."
"Dr. Lavendar," said Helena;--and at the tremor in her voice he looked
at her quickly, and then looked away;--"in regard to David--"
"Yes; I understand that you are not sure that you want to keep him?"
"Oh, no! I am sure. Entirely sure!" She paused, uncertain what to say
next. Dr. Lavendar gave her no assistance. Her breath caught in an
unsteady laugh. "You are not smoking, Dr. Lavendar! Do light your
pipe. I am quite used to tobacco smoke, I assure you."
"No," said Dr. Lavendar, quietly; "I will not smoke now."
"In regard to David," she began; and gripped her hands tight together,
for she saw with dismay that they were shaking. She had an instant of
angry surprise at her own body. It was betraying her to the silent,
watching old man on the other side of the fire. "I want him; but I
mean to leave Old Chester. Would you be willing to let me take him
away?"
"Why," said Dr. Lavendar, "we shall be very sorry to have you leave
us; and, of course, I shall be sorry to lose David. Very sorry! I
shall feel," said Dr. Lavendar, with a rueful chuckle, "as if I had
lost a tooth! That is about as omnipresent sense of loss as a human
critter can have. But I can't see that that is any reason for not
letting you take him."
"You are very kind," she murmured.
"Where are you going, and when do you go?" he asked, easily; but he
glanced at those shaking hands.
"I want to go next week. I--oh, Dr. Lavendar! I want David; I am sure
nobody can do more for him than I can. Nobody can love him as I do!
And I think he would be pretty homesick for me, too, if I did not take
him. But--"