ad above
On heaven's blue tablet, GOD IS LOVE!

XI

The tea is sweetened.

We have been going on very pleasantly of late, each of us pretty well
occupied with his or her special business. The Counsellor has been
pleading in a great case, and several of The Teacups were in the
court-room. I thought, but I will not be certain, that some of his
arguments were addressed to Number Five rather than to the jury,--the
more eloquent passages especially.

Our young Doctor seems to me to be gradually getting known in the
neighborhood and beyond it. A member of one of the more influential
families, whose regular physician has gone to Europe, has sent for him to
come and see her, and as the patient is a nervous lady, who has nothing
in particular the matter with her, he is probably in for a good many
visits and a long bill by and by. He has even had a call at a distance
of some miles from home,--at least he has had to hire a conveyance
frequently of late, for he has not yet set up his own horse and chaise.
We do not like to ask him about who his patient may be, but he or she is
probably a person of some consequence, as he is absent several hours on
these out-of-town visits. He may get a good practice before his bald
spot makes its appearance, for I have looked for it many times without as
yet seeing a sign of it. I am sure he must feel encouraged, for he has
been very bright and cheerful of late; and if he sometimes looks at our
new handmaid as if he wished she were Delilah, I do not think he is
breaking his heart about her absence. Perhaps he finds consolation in
the company of the two Annexes, or one of them,--but which, I cannot make
out. He is in consultations occasionally with Number Five, too, but
whether professionally or not I have no means of knowing. I cannot for
the life of me see what Number Five wants of a doctor for herself, so
perhaps it is another difficult case in which her womanly sagacity is
called upon to help him.

In the mean time she and the Tutor continue their readings. In fact, it
seems as if these readings were growing more frequent, and lasted longer
than they did at first. There is a little arbor in the grounds connected
with our place of meeting, and sometimes they have gone there for their
readings. Some of The Teacups have listened outside once in a while, for
the Tutor reads well, and his clear voice must be heard in the more
emphatic passages, whether one is expressly listen