"I'd just like to hear you say that you don't hate me, Mary." "Of course, I don't hate you. How can you ask such a question?" "I've been a dreadful--" "Hush, now. Here's Melissa. Did you get Dr. Fiddler, Melissa?" "Yes, ma'am," said the little maid-of-all-work, appearing in the doorway with a couple of blankets that she had been warming behind the kitchen range. "He's coming at once, ma'am, and--" her eyes were expressive of an immense pity for her mistress--"he says he's prepared to stay all night if necessary, and he's sent for TWO nurses, night and day. Besides all that, his assistant is coming with him." "That's the kind of a doctor to have," said Uncle Joe, with a vast satisfaction. "None of your cheap, dollar-a-visit incompetents for me, Mary. If a man's life is worth anything at all, it's worth more than a couple of one dollar visits from these--What's the matter with you, Melissa? Don't glare at me like that. Haven't I the right to live? Can't I ask for a doctor--a mere doctor--without being--" "Oh, I ain't begrudgin' you a doctor, Uncle Joe," said Melissa shortly. "It's none of my business. You can have all the doctors in New York if you want 'em." "I don't want 'em, confound you," exclaimed Uncle Joe. "I only want a fighting chance, that's all. I--" "Nobody's fighting you, is they?" demanded Melissa, whipping a blanket across the bed with more energy than seemed necessary. She began tucking in the edges. "I guess we've always been pretty nice to you, Uncle Joe--every one of us--and I guess we'll keep on being nice to you, so don't growl." "That's right, Melissa," said the sick man humbly. "You've been a jewel, my girl. I--I shall never forget you." "I'm a soft-hearted fool or I'd ha'--" began Melissa, somewhat ominously, but checked herself after a quick glance at her mistress's face. "Try to go to sleep, Uncle Joe," she substituted. "I'll have some toast and tea for you when you wake up. You--you look as if you hadn't eat anything since you left, you poor old thing." "I hope Tom didn't need his overcoat while I was away, Mary," said Uncle Joe, abruptly changing the topic of conversation. [Illustration with caption: "That's the kind of a doctor to have," said Uncle Joe] "He has another coat," said Mrs. Bingle, evasively. "When you feel better you must tell us what you have been doing for the past--" "I'm not going to feel any better," said Uncle Joe, quite cheerfully. "I may hang on for a long time but I'm not going to be any better. This is the finish for me, Mary. And I'd like you to know that I didn't come back here to die on your hands without first giving my children a chance to take me in. I--I tried them once more." "You--you went to them again?" she cried. Melissa laid the second blanket across the bed more gently than the first.