Read Online Where Two Ways Met by Grace Livingston Hill - Free Book Online Page B

on the whole looks very well.”
    “Yes,” said the girl wistfully, “but with mortgages and sickness, I don’t suppose there is much money left for paint.”
    “No, of course not. Well, now, what’s the order of the day? I don’t imagine my presence will add to the picture. What shall I do? Just stay here till you come out? And will you let me know if I can be of any assistance?”
    “Yes, I suppose that will be best. The doctor’s car has not come yet. Perhaps you’ll stay here and explain to him just what happened, and tell him to come right in. I’ll take this soup and milk in. It may be needed at once. I have an idea that poor kid hasn’t had a thing to eat all day.”
    “Why, here, I’ll take those things in. Do you want this basket, too?”
    “Yes. I brought some oranges and bread and a Thermos of coffee.”
    “That sounds good. Which door do we use?”
    “This back door. The kitchen table is at the right. Put the things there. And listen, I think I hear the doctor’s car.
    “That’s right. I’ll go right back and meet him.”
    The girl vanished inside the house, and Paige returned just in time to meet the doctor.
    The doctor seemed to understand thoroughly the situation without explanation.
    “I should have been sent for before, of course,” he said, “but the father has that inhibition about bills. Poor soul! He is desperately sick himself. See if you can find him, and I’ll be around to look him over when I get through with the child.”
    The doctor vanished into the house, going with the sure tread of one who thoroughly knows the situation, and Paige began a cautious survey of the premises. It was very still out there in the soft growing darkness, and there were no lights in the house to guide him, no sounds of moving feet or voices except those quiet ones in the room where the girl had gone.
    Cautiously, he approached window after window and glanced into the dark rooms, but only darkness met his searching gaze.
    At last, as he went around the shed behind the kitchen, he thought he heard a groan, but in trying to trace it to its source, he came on the small figure of a young boy, flat on his face in the grass, doing his best to stifle the sobs that were shaking his frail shoulders.
    Paige stepped quietly to his side and softly kneeling, laid a gentle hand on the bowed head.
    “What’s the matter, kid? Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked in the tone of one young fellow to another.
    The sobs stopped instantly. The shoulders were suddenly quiet. It was as if the boy had been frozen into suspended animation for an instant. But Paige remained kneeling there, his hand in kindliness on the stormy young head. Suddenly the boy raised his head, turned, and sat up.
    “Who are you?” he growled, glaring through the half-darkness into the young man’s face. Then without waiting for an answer, he demanded, “Is my sister dead? And are you the undertaker?”
    “Oh, no!” said Paige half amusedly. “I’m just a fellow that brought your sister’s Sunday school teacher up to see her. They said your sister wanted her to come. You see, she didn’t have a car she could use, so I brought her in mine.”
    The boy relaxed limply.
    “Oh!” he said wearily. “But she’s dying, isn’t she? I heard my mother tell my father. And we can’t have the doctor because our bill isn’t paid.”
    “Don’t worry about that, kid. The doctor has just come. It’s going to be all right.”
    The boy looked at him with unbelieving eyes.
    “Where is your father?” asked Paige. “Is he over there in your sister’s room?”
    The boy shook his head.
    “No! He wouldn’t go over there. He said he couldn’t stand it there. He’s sick himself. He says he’s been an awful failure, and he’s likely going to die himself before my sister does, and anyhow he’s gonta lose the house and we won’t have any place to go but the poorhouse after he’s gone!” The boy’s shoulders began to shake again, in