a low whimper, screwed-up her face as if about to cry, and then thrust out a little red tongue, drew it back instanter, and buried her face in her mother’s breast.
“All right,” said the Doctor to the woman. “It is getting well fast.”
“Well—fast!” cried the woman, catching up his words quickly; and then, with the tears welling over from her great dark eyes, she bent down, caught at the Doctor’s hand, and held it quickly to her lips.
“Oh, oh, that’s all right,” said the Doctor hastily, as he drew back his hand and patted the woman’s shoulder.
“Look, uncle, what Dula has brought us!” cried Minnie; and she took from the veranda table a great bunch of the beautiful white creeper which the native women were fond of wearing in their black hair.
“Aha!” said the Doctor. “Thank you.—My fee, Archie.”
“Not all,” said Mrs. Morley. “She has brought you one of those horrible durians;” and as the Doctor’s wife spoke Minnie caught up a little, bamboo-woven native basket, in which, carefully arranged among freshly gathered fern, was one of the peculiar-looking native fruits, the produce of one of the great trees so carefully planted and cared for in nearly every native village. “Don’t! Don’t touch the horrid thing, my dear,” whispered Mrs. Morley.
“What!” cried the Doctor; and he took the great, hard-shelled fruit from the basket and turned it over in his hands. “Capital!” he cried. “A beauty!”
“Ugh!” ejaculated Mrs. Morley; and Minnie screwed-up her face into a pretty grimace, as she once more exchanged glances with Archie.
“Doc-tor like?” questioned the woman, with an anxious look.
“Yes,” he replied, smiling. “I like them very much.”
“Like—very—much,” said the woman. “Dula glad.” And then, soothing her child tenderly, she whispered a few words to it in her native language.
“Oh, come,” said the Doctor, “I do understand that. Your mother’s quite right: I sha’n’t eat you.”
The woman smiled again as she hugged her child closer and kissed it lovingly, while the Doctor nodded to Minnie.
“Quite comic, isn’t it, my dear? What foolish things mothers are, aren’t they? Just as fond of their bairns as Englishwomen, eh?”
“Why, of course, uncle. Such a pretty little thing, too! Look at its eyes!” and, to the mother’s great delight, the girl crossed to her, took the child in her arms, and kissed it, while the little thing smiled, raised one hand, and softly stroked the girl’s white face.
“There, Archie,” she cried; “it is pretty, isn’t it?”
“A beauty!” said the young man, laughing.
“Come and kiss it, sir,” said the girl imperiously.
“All right;” and without more ado the lad took hold of the child, held it up, and kissed it twice.
“Oh, take care!” cried Minnie. “How clumsy you are!”
“Well, it doesn’t seem to think so,” cried the lad, as he handed the little one back to its mother, who said a few words in her own tongue to the Doctor, and then turned to the two ladies, and after bowing to them with native grace, bent low to Archie, gave him a grateful look, and walked slowly away.
“Oh, you young humbug!” growled the Doctor.
“Why?” said Archie warmly.
“Just to show off before my wife and Minnie. I believe you were growling all the time and calling it a dirty little nigger.”
“That I wasn’t! I don’t mind babies when they are as big as that.”
“No—don’t mind,” said the Doctor sarcastically.
“And I didn’t call it a little nigger. I was wishing there was some sugar near.—Oh, I say, doesn’t your durian smell?”
“Horrid!” exclaimed Minnie.
“All right, my dear,” said the Doctor. “I can bear it. But you will come down some day, my lady.”
“Never, uncle!”
“We shall see,” said the Doctor. “My word, what a beauty!—Here, Archie, drop in this evening and help me to have it for dessert.”
“I’m sure Archie won’t touch the nasty thing, uncle.”
“Oh, won’t I?” cried the lad. “Only too glad of the chance.”
Minnie made a grimace and turned away, but turned back directly on hearing Archie’s next words:
“I say, Doctor, that woman shows how the people here like you.”
“Well, yes,” said the gentleman addressed, “I suppose they do feel a little obliged; but I don’t think they care much.”
“Oh, uncle,” cried Minnie, “I am sure they do. See how pleased that boatman was—that man who came up to you out of the sampan, and who brought us that fish afterwards. Why, I believe that he would have done anything for you.”
“I believed once that he was going to do something for me, my dear.”
“Now, don’t talk nonsense, my dear,” said Mrs. Morley. “I told you not to talk about that.”
“You did, Mary. But it was an awkward position; wasn’t it, Minnie?”
“I agree with aunt, uncle, that a lot of it was invention.”
“Oh, it wasn’t invention, Archie. It was an awful position for a poor surgeon.”
“I haven’t heard anything about this,” said Archie.
“Well, it was like this, my boy. He was about one of the biggest and fiercest fellows that I have seen here. There was only one good thing about him: he could speak bad English. He came up here one day and tried to make me understand that he was in terrible pain. But that was plain enough, for as soon as he was in my room he began stamping about, pointing to his mouth.”
“What! had he got the toothache?” said Archie.
“Yes—one of those awfully bad ones; and twice over he clapped his hand to his waist and uncovered the handle of his kris as if he meant to use it. It quite startled me.”
“Now, Henry, pray do not exaggerate so. I do wish you wouldn’t be so fond of ornamenting your anecdotes.”
“Well, really, my dear, if I didn’t touch up a story a little bit, young Maine here wouldn’t be able to grasp it.”
“Was he in such pain, then, sir,” said Archie, “that he wanted you to think he would kill himself?”
“Yes, my lad; and being such a fierce-looking fellow, he made me feel quite nervous, for twice over he looked as if he was going to use a kris on me, and I began to look round my bottles for something to use in self-defence.”
“Chloroform, I suppose,” said Mrs. Morley sarcastically.
“No, my dear; something much stronger than that.”
“That’s a new improvement, Henry,” said Mrs. Morley.
“There, she won’t let me tell you, Archie. You ask me, and I will tell you the story some day when we are alone.”
“Oh no, Doctor; you have raised my curiosity, and I want to hear it now.”
“Oh, pray go on,” said Mrs. Morley.
“Well, don’t interrupt me, then.”
Minnie and Archie exchanged laughing glances, and the Doctor went on: