" It is well enough," said Catherine,
measuring out the tea from a quaint little
silver caddy that had belonged to her
niece's grandmother, and been locked
away in the nlate chest by Margaret
Weimar.
142 Good Mrs. Hypocrite.
" A man never feels how lonely he is
till he conies into a room that speaks of a
woman's presence and a woman's taste,"
continued the little doctor. " By the way,
Miss Macpherson, what about my patient ?"

" He's asleep just now," said Cath-
erine unblushingly. " Let me give you
a cup of tea, and just sit and warm your-
self, doctor. I'll run up to his room in a
minute or two, and see if he's waking
yet."

" Oh, I'm in no hurry," said Dr. Buchie ;
" and a cup of tea is no such an un-
welcome thing on a cold day. Miss Mac-
pherson."

So he sat on, and drank his tea, and
partook of brown bread and butter, and
cake, and gossiped as agreeably as any
old woman could have done; and the
heart of Catherine Macpherson rejoiced
within her, for she saw great things to be



Good Mrs. Hypocrite. 145

attained in the future did she but get a
few more such opportunities.
It was half an hour before the doctor
went up to see his patient. He found him
much better in health, but gained a good
deal of insight into the Macpherson
temper.
He left the house compassionating the
" worthy, good-hearted soul " who had to
put up with a cantankerous old dotard,
whom nothing seemed to satisfy, and
whose days were assuredly numbered.
This was the way in which the astute
brains from Banffshire diagnosed a case
and read a character.
