"No, grandmother. Dr. Webster said it. Dr. Driggs only repeated what Dr. Webster said." During the pause following Katherine’s statement, Madam Crewe sat quite still, apparently absorbed in contemplation of her two, tiny hands, lying folded and motionless in her lap. When, at length, she looked up, a curious ghost of a smile curled the corners of her mouth. "Really I am uncommonly gratified. You see, I can’t help thinking, how barely I missed the honor of being this young man’s grandmother. I’d have _liked_ to have a grandchild of whom I could be proud." Katherine winced. "I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you," she said bitterly. "Don’t mention it. It’s not the first disappointment I’ve had in my life. It probably won’t be the last. Moreover, now that you _know_, undoubtedly you’ll think better of your decision to give him up. You’ll marry him, after all, in spite of the loss of me and my money. So I’ll have my _eminent_ grandson, whether I want him or not." "_Grandmother!_" "Well, won’t I? It seems to me, you have quite a keen eye for the main chance. At least, that’s how I’ve made it out, judging from your behavior. At first, you were all for marrying him, when you thought you could do it on the sly, without sacrificing your interests with me. Then, on the impulse of the moment, for Norris’s benefit, maybe, you played tragedy-queen and forswore your fortune for the sake of the man you love. All of which would have been very pretty and romantic—if you had stuck to it. But, when you had had time to calculate—presto! it’s your lover you repudiate, to hang on to the money. Now you’re fairly certain he’s got all you’ll need—doctors fleece one abominably, nowadays! Come and feel your pulse, and give you a soothing-syrup, and send in a bill for ten dollars, and _that’s_ no placebo, I tell you! Oh, there’s no doubt you’ll be rich, if you marry a _doctor_—— Where was I?" "You were running down doctors, grandmother, and I don’t see how you can, when you know what those you’ve had have done for you. I——" "There, there! I don’t need _you_ to inform me, young miss. What I was saying is, nobody would doubt, for a minute, you’ll take him now. _I_ don’t." "Grandmother," the girl began, with the same kind of exaggerated punctilio Martha had observed in Mr. Ronald. "Grandmother, I want to be very respectful to you. I don’t want to say one word that will excite you, or make you ill. But I think you take unfair advantage of me. You taunt me, and jeer at me because you know I can’t hit back, without being an unutterable coward." Madam Crewe made a clicking sound with her tongue.