Speak out
now, man, and let us have it."
"It is an awkward affair, surely," began the little doctor, slowly.
"Awkward? I should say so," frowned Mr. King; "it's awkward to the last
degree. Here's a man who bumps into me in a hotel passage,--though, for
that matter, I suppose it's really my fault as much as his,--and I
offer to pick up his spectacles that were dropped in the encounter. And
he tells me that he is glad that we ran up against each other, for it
gives him a chance to tell me what is on his mind. As if I cared what
was on his mind, or on the mind of any one else, for that matter," he
declared, in extreme irritation. "And I told him to his face that he
was an impertinent fellow, and to get out of my way. Yes, I did!"
A light began to break on little Dr. Fisher's face, that presently
shone through his big spectacles, fairly beaming on them all. Then he
burst into a laugh, hearty and long.
"Why, Adoniram!" exclaimed Mother Fisher, in surprise. Polly turned a
distressed face at him; and to say that old Mr. King stared would be
stating the case very mildly indeed.
"Can't you see, oh, can't you see," exploded the little doctor, mopping
up his face with his big handkerchief, "that your big German was trying
to tell you of Polly's playing, and to say something, probably pretty
much the same that he has said to her and to Jasper? O dear me, I
should like to have been there to see you both," ended Dr.
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