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ver let go of a dollar till the eagle screamed for marcy. But he done a sight more good than folks knowed about--till after he died. An' d'ye know the most important clause in his will, Miss?" "In grandfather's will?" "Ya-as. It was the instructions to his execketer to give a receipted bill to ev'ry patient of his that applied for the same, free gratis for nothin'! An' lemme tell ye," added the mail-carrier, preparing to drive on again, "there was some folks on both sides o' this ridge that was down on the old doctor's books for sums they could never hope to pay." As he started off 'Phemie called after him, brightly: "I'm obliged to you for telling me what you have about grandfather." "Beginning to get interested in neighborhood gossip already; are you?" said her sister, when 'Phemie joined her, and they walked back up the lane. "I believe I am getting interested in everything folks can tell us about grandfather. In his way, Lyddy, Dr. Apollo Phelps must have been a great man." "I--I always had an idea he was a little _queer_," confessed Lyddy. "His name you know, and all----" "But people really _loved_ him. He helped them. He gave unostentatiously, and he must have been a very, very good doctor. I--I wonder what Aunt Jane meant by saying that grandfather used to say there were curative waters on the farm?" "I haven't the least idea," replied Lyddy. "Sulphur spring, perhaps--nasty stuff to drink. But listen here to what Aunt Jane says about father." "He's better?" cried 'Phemie. The older girl's tone was troubled. "I can't make out that he is," she said, slowly, and then she began to read Aunt Jane's disjointed account of her visit the day before to the hospital: * * * * * "I never _do_ like to go to such places, girls; they smell so of ether, and arniky, and collodion, and a whole lot of other unpleasant things. I wonder what makes drugs so nasty to smell of? "But, anyhow, I seen your father. John Bray is a sick man. Maybe he don't know it himself, but the doctors know it, and you girls ought to know it. I'm plain-spoken, and there isn't any use in making you believe he is on the road to recovery when he's going just the other way. "This head-doctor here, says he has no chance at all in the city. Of course, for me, if I was sick with anything, from housemaid's knee to spinal mengetus, going into the country would be my complete finish! But the
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