"C-can’t you picture the rest? Can’t you see Carol and Mrs. Goddard going there d-day after day, until Mrs. Goddard got permission to move Gladys to her house? I b-believe they were to t-take her there this morning." "Is there any improvement in the child?" asked St. Quentin. "A little. She is old enough to understand and help herself, and she knows she is g-going to get well, or as she puts it, ’I know that I am well.’ Her ankles have become flexible and her little feet can b-be put straight with the hand, b-but, as yet, they don’t stay straight. S-she has not gained c-control over them." "Can she stand at all?" "J-just barely. But she s-sinks right down." "Do you believe she will be cured?" "I s-suppose you will think I am f-foolish, but I do." "Not at all, Kate. I am not sure but that I believe it myself." "Why, Noel S-St. Quentin! And you a Roman Catholic!" "Well, why not? Wouldn’t I be an acceptable convert if I should decide to join their ranks?" "I-indeed you would not!" cried Kate, delighted to be able to administer a stinging rebuff. "I have an idea that they would refuse even to instruct you without a w-written permission from your priest. Ah, ha! Can’t you j-just see your confessor g-giving up a l-little white w-woolly lamb like you? Y-ye are of more value than many s-sparrows." St. Quentin accelerated the speed of the machine so suddenly that the motor seemed to leap into the air. "Oh, Lord, Noel! D-don’t do that again! The m-machine can’t feel it! N-now if you had struck your horse--" St. Quentin turned on her savagely, but said nothing. "T-that’s right, Noel. D-don’t speak. There’s a good deal in being a g-gentleman, after all. If you h-hadn’t been, you would have said, ’S-shut up, Kate!’" "If your husband," said St. Quentin, slowly, "ever goes to jail for wife-beating, I shall bail him out." "I-it’s strange how men agree with one another," said Kate, pensively. "M-my cousin has always said that a g-good beating with a bed-slat would about fit my c-case." "Bright boy!" said St. Quentin. "He ought to get on in the world." "Hadn’t we better turn back, Noel? I have an engagement at five." "Do you have to go home to dress, or shall I drop you anywhere?" "I was just going to see Gladys for half an hour. You may drop me at Mrs. Goddard’s if you will." "Will Carolina be there?" asked St. Quentin. "Yes, I think so. Do you want to see her?" asked Kate, innocently. "Well, I’d rather like to see her with the child. Will you let me come in with you?" "By all means. I should be delighted." "Then I can bring you home afterward." "Most thoughtful of you," murmured Kate. "I say, Kate," said St. Quentin, after a pause, "keep your eye open for a toy shop, will you? One oughtn’t to call on a child without some little present, ought one?" "You won’t find one up in this part of the country, such as you want," said Kate. "Let her out a little and we will have time to go down to Twenty-third Street."