“What business had Mr. Dodson to call at all and to ferret into our affairs, who was never before in our house? If we needed help--which we don't--he is the last man in this district to give it. Do you know he's the hardest, meanest creature in Liverpool? He'll leave a cab thirty yards from his house when he's coming from the station, to keep within the shilling limit, and he goes down in the penny 'bus with the working-women to save twopence.” “There is a certain young corn-broker,” interpolated Mrs. Laycock, “who walks all the way to save even that penny, and I don't consider him mean.” “That is economy, and indicates the beginning of a fortune, which will be shared with a certain sarcastic mater. But Dodson is a millionaire, and has nobody depending on him but an old housekeeper. Certainly father was not economical by his standard.” “Your father was most careful and thrifty,” said the widow eagerly, “and that is what I want to explain. He had to borrow money to educate himself, and that he paid back, every penny, with interest Then, you know, a doctor cannot keep himself for the first few years of his practice--he only made £32 10s. 6d. the year he began--and when he reached £200 he did a... foolish thing.” “Let me guess, mater. Was it not marrying the dearest, sweetest, prettiest...” “Hush, you stupid boy! And we had to keep up a certain appearance and pay a high rent, and we were very poor--poorer than the public ever knew. “Of course, the doctor had a large practice before he died, and people used to think he made two and three thousand pounds a year; and Mrs. Tattler-Jones, who knows everything, said our income was £4,000. “His last year, your father earned £1,800 and got in £1,200; the other £600 will never be paid; and yet he was so pleased because he had cleared off the last penny of his debt, and thought he would begin to lay something aside for your education.” “But why did he not get the other £600? Could the people not pay?” “They could pay everybody else--wine merchants, jewellers, and car-owners--but their doctor's bill was left last, and often altogether, and your father would never prosecute.” “And didn't father attend many people for nothing?” “No one will ever know how many, for he did not even tell me; he used to say that if he didn't get often to church, he tried to do as people were told to do there; his commandment was the eleventh, 'Love one another.'” “Did father believe the same as clergymen about things, mater?” “No, not quite, and I suppose some people would call him a heretic; but you and I know, Jack, that if to do good and to be quite selfless, and to be high-minded, pure, and true, is to be like Christ, then the doctor was a Christian, the best I ever saw.”