The Carter Girls

elieve a w

the doctor ou

e interested in for the time being. A specialist can always find you suffering with his specialty. Didn't old Dr. Davis treat Father for malaria because he himself, forsooth,

y," and Douglas Carter could not help laughing at her sister, although she well

arned talk of an excess of hydrochlorics! Of course he found poor dear Daddy had a sto

ads in the sand and refuse to see th

ch stomachs an

ve to know soon enough." And Douglas, the eldest of the five Carters, tried to smoot

who reminded one of nothing so much as a thorough-bred colt-a colt conscious of its legs but mean

s expression of Douglas's usually calm countenance. "I believe something has happened.

n came a gap of seven years and Bobby, who had crowded the experiences of a lifetime into his six short years, at least the life-long experiences o

," said Douglas gra

e two younger girls and both of them looked re

n the sofa beside her while Helen stopped polishing her pretty pink nails and planted herself on an o

Not a bit l

stomach trouble, as Dr. Drew thought; and the surgeon's X-ray

sniffed Helen. "

t that comes here from Washin

come to Richmond?" interrupted the scornful Helen

t if he can help Father, we

rel of tonics and bushel

right, says 'no medicine at all.

ucy pertly. "You interrupt so much that Nan and I don't know

haven't said a word for half an h

hich was Carter talk for

re an

helping. It's just being

s and harps in Heaven," said the peace-loving Nan. And the joke of squabbling in

hange is what Father needs and absolute rest from business. He thinks a se

I'll take off my yachting cap to this Dr. Wright as having some sense

of Douglas, who was a decided blonde with Titian hair and complexion to match. Helen's hair was what she scornfully termed a plain Amer

with a drawl. She did not say much, but when she did sp

its shock of chestnut hair and tilting her pretty little pointed chin which gave her sisters

up!" declared Lucy, ever ready for battle with the second sister. "I

I have to have a new suit, I just thought I

how to climb like

t full of poetry to read

we are to help is to stay at home and take care of ourselves and Bobby

et along without Mother and Father and how under Heaven could

er must have quiet and no discussions going on around him. He says every one must be

hem?" drawled Nan, a

ce, and up to this time that course had led her only by pleasant places. Like some pretty little meadow stream she had meandered through life, gay and refres

at usually got what he started out to get, and also was by all odds the best looking young man at the White, besides being a very promising architect who had plenty of work waiting for him in Richmond, Annette Sevier naturally succumbed to his wooing, and in three weeks' time their engagemen

though her long legs make me a little doubtful of her being

ted or demanded,-she did neither of those disagreeable or ungraceful things. Comfort and elegance were just nec

re money to furnish him with all the little white linen sailor suits that his doting mother considered necessary for him. She thought nothing of having two dozen made up at one time, and those of the purest and finest linen. Bob, Sr., looking over the bill for those

rk a little harder and get more money. An inborn horror of debt kept him out of it. He had all the orders he could fill and was singu

They agreed on only one thing and that was that he must rest. How could he rest? Weren't there five pairs of legs demanding silk stockings (even Lucy insisted that her lean shanks be clothed in the best)? Suits and hats must be bought with each change of season for the whole family, shirtwaists and shoes, lingerie of the

him quite seriously if he had had any hallucinations, seen things he could not quite account for, and Carter had answe

frank with you, which is a course not usually pursued by nerve specialists but one I feel to be wisest. You have presumed on your strength and endurance for many years. Physically you have st

God, man, yo

letely and living on, a useless hulk? There, I thought that woul

gly long black lashes. His teeth were good but his rather long upper lip did not disclose the fact except on the rare occasions when he laughed. He had more control over his mouth than his eyes, as his eyes laughed continually whether he would or no. His brows were heavy and sh

nothing but what I earn,-and look at my family! The

or their beds of ease," said the phy

a shoemaker's children do go barefoot, an architect does build a

d! Any othe

debt from a country store-keeper-a kind of miser-but I believe I'd r

s intent gaze; there was no admiration or homage in it, only a scarcely veiled disapproval. She felt like a poor little canary with a great Tom-cat peering at her, scorning her as too insignificant even for a mouth-full. And how was it her fault that she was so useless? Was it the canary's fault that he had been born in a cage and some one took care

into the room, a redness about her eye-lids and a fresh sprinkling of powder on her pretty nose, "I want

write a check and don't know how to

o," feebly mutt

glas yo

is our elde

e constantly giving them masculine names. Shall I ask Miss Douglas to come to you?" D

first and tell her what it is yo

talking, no discussions, sleep, if he can get it, and very nourishing food. I will write out

he time has come for