Yet what good would it do to her father, if Pattie should yield to bitter feeling, and should tell Mr. Cragg that she could no longer stay and nurse Dot? She would injure her kind friend by so doing, and she might harm dear little Dot; but her father would gain nothing by it. "No—I'll wait," murmured Pattie. "I'll do what I can for Dot. And some day, surely,—I do believe it,—some day the truth will be known. But I don't see that I should help that forward by leaving my duty now. It isn't a question of pleasing Mrs. Cragg. It is a question of dear little Dot's needs, and of doing what is right." Then she remembered her promise to take home some flowers, and she went to the bank, plucking as many as she could find. After which she turned homewards. Not far from the street in which the Craggs lived, as she was passing along a lane between street and hedge, the doctor drove up in his gig. Seeing Pattie, he pulled the rein, stopped, and bent over to speak to her. "Had a good walk? You don't look much the better for it." "But I have done as you told me." "What has happened? Anything unpleasant?" Pattie hesitated. Should she tell him? He would be certain to hear the tale now spreading through Putworth. "Eh? What is it?" "Only—something that was said to me," she replied with difficulty. "Mr. May, if you are told a story about my father, I want you not to believe it, please, too quickly. Not without more proof than you can have from Putworth people." The doctor nodded. Pattie wondered—had he already heard it? She could have supposed so from his look. "It is not a true tale. I—know who has started it. There was a great trouble. That was why we left our home and came here. But my father did not do the thing he was accused of. He never could have done it; and if you had known him, you would say the same. If the story gets to you, please ask Mr. Cragg about it. Mr. Cragg knows more than anybody else in Putworth." "I'll be sure," said the doctor seriously. "You may trust me. And if I were you, Miss Dale, I wouldn't think too much of the chatter of a lot of silly women. It isn't worth your worrying yourself about. Just go your own way bravely, and don't mind. You've been a kind friend to the Craggs, and Mr. Cragg knows it. Other people don't matter." Pattie smiled; and he gathered up the reins. "As for Dot, we must consider. You ought to get out more; but I—well, I see the difficulty. Yet Mr. Cragg is anxious not to keep the nurse longer than can be helped. It's an expense, of course." "I'm ready to do everything I can for Dot." "I know you are. Wish other folks were as ready, especially those who ought to be doing the most. Well, you won't lose in the end by your kindness. People never do, I believe. I must be off. Good-day, and don't fret."