The Doctor was torn between a desire to be hospitable and a yearning to return to Sam Weller. "Yes, Ah got a letter fo' ye." Bud began to hunt in the inner recesses of his apparel. "'N Ah 'low he cain't be well." "He? Who?" The Doctor's hopes of picking up his book again, which had risen when he heard of the admirable physical state of Melissa and the baby, sank once more. "Mr. Baron. He sho' mus' be crazy to go out in such weather's this, 'n what's mo', to expect me to." "He seemed to know the right person to apply to." "That's the trouble with me. Ah'm that lackin' in good sense Ah do anythin' anybody asts me to 'cos Ah'm flattered to be ast!" "Does he say he's sick?" "He don' say so, but he looks powerful res'-less 'n wild-like. He came over 'bout noon 'n ast me would Ah carry you this letter." Here Bud's prolonged search resulted in the discovery of the letter's outline under his sweater, and he extracted it by way of the neck of that elastic garment. "Ah said, no, Ah wa'n' no fool to go out in such weather, 'n then he cut loose 'n talked the most awful language. Ah couldn' understan' a word of hit; Ah reckon hit's his foreign words or somethin', but Ah never heard anythin' like hit befo'. 'N then he ast me again, mahty quiet like, wouldn' Ah take this letter to you-all fo' him, 'n Ah jus' natchelly thought Ah would!" The boy grinned sheepishly. The Doctor nodded and ran his finger under the flap of the envelope. "So you think he's sick." "M'lissy does. When Ah was puttin' the saddle on the mule she come out to the stable with them bits o' crocus sack fo' mah feet, 'n she said Mr. Baron'd jus' gone, 'n she 'lowed he had a fever comin' on, he looked so bad." Dr. Morgan was reading the letter for the second time, frowning heavily over it. "What do you-all think yo'self?" "Well, Ah don' see how he can be right to walk a mile to our house in this weather, not needin' to, 'n to _in_-sist on mah comin' here. Is they e'er an answer?" The older man rose and put a log on the fire, while Bud gathered together his primitive panoply and began to arm himself against the elements. "You tell him, Bud, that Ah'll attend to it when the mud dries after this rain. Ah get enough hauling round to do in the mud, without anything extra," he added. Bud's curiosity was suffering. "Ain' you-all goin' to see him?" "You tell him what Ah say." The Doctor picked up his book with an air of dismissal. "Shut the do' tight," he called, and then read the same page three times over with unthinking mind, until he heard Bob's step coming down the stairs. "Bob." "Sir?" The young man looked out of the window, wondering how soon the rain would stop enough for him to go to see Sydney. "Read this." Bob took the letter. "The Baron," he said, studying the small, foreign hand. "Read it aloud." Bob began obediently: