“Oh, no!  I’m going after David.  Do you care if he leaves the office for just a little while?”

“Certainly not.  Tell him from me that he can come.”

If the Doctor felt any surprise, neither his voice nor his face showed it.

It cost Polly a deal of talk to convince David that his uncle had actually sent for him, and then, after he had said that he would go, he was afraid that his clothes were not just right for such a visit.

“Never mind you clothes!” cried Polly.  “He’ll never know what you have on.”

“Well, I must brush my hair,” delayed the boy, dreading the ordeal before him.

“Oh, you hair’s well enough!  Don’t flat it down!  It’s so pretty as it is now—­all curly and fluffy!”

So they were finally started, Polly talking so fast that David had small chance for nervousness or fear.

Dr. Dudley was not in sight when the children entered Colonel Gresham’s room, and Polly made a silent wild guess regarding his speedy going away.  To David’s pleasure the Colonel received him as he would have received any other lad whom Polly had brought for a call.  There was no reference to his mother or to their kinship, and the boy began at once to feel at ease.  He inquired about his recent injury and his stay at the hospital, and then, by a chance remark of Polly’s, the subject of David’s church singing was brought up.

Conversation had not begun to flag, when Polly spied the Doctor’s auto at the curb.  Mrs. Collins was stepping out!

David’s sentence broke off square in the middle; but Colonel Gresham did not appear to notice.  Footsteps neared the door, and the children sat breathless; yet the Colonel still talked on as quietly as before.

When the door opened, Polly saw his fingers grip the arms of his chair.  His voice faltered off into silence.

Dr. Dudley stepped aside, and David’s mother appeared on the threshold, a little slight, fair-haired woman, her face now pink with emotion, her eyes big and shining.

The held out both hands; there was a swish of skirts an something like a sob.

Polly heard, “Eva!”—­“Oh, Uncle David!” Then she slipped out to the Doctor, and he softly shut the door.

They went downstairs hand in hand, and so to the street.

“We’ll have a little ride,” he proposed, “to let off steam.  There are n’t any patients that will hurt by waiting.”

The car passed slowly up the pleasant street.

“Thistledown,” he said tenderly, “you have accomplished a blessed work this morning.”

“Why,” exclaimed Polly, in surprise, “I have n’t done a single thing—­only go after David!  It’s the Colonel that’s done it all!  But is n’t it splendid of him?  Are n’t you glad for David?”

“I am glad for them all.  It is what I feared never would come to pass.  Colonel Gresham is sure to like David, and it is going to mean everything for the boy.”