I had a letter from her this morning--bidding me
good-bye. You see, she was discharged on the spot, with only a week's
wages."
"Beastly!" exclaimed Peter. "There ought to be some kind of a
convalescent home in connection with this store--or two, rather, one
for contagious sort of things and the other not. I---"
"She wrote in her letter that she'd heard of a place where
consumptives were taken in and treated free," Win went on when he
paused. "But she wouldn't tell me where it was. And Dr. Marlow says
there is nothing of the sort---"
"Oh, he can't have read the newspapers these last few days. It's been
open a week."
"Then _you_ know about it?"
"Yes. You see--it's a sort of--friend of mine who's started the
scheme. The house is not very big yet. But he'll enlarge it if it
makes a success."
"Quite free?"
"Yes. Anybody can come and be examined by the doctor. No case will be
refused while there's room. I--my friend lost his dearest friend years
ago--a boy of his own age then--from consumption. It almost broke his
heart. And he made up his mind that when he grew up and had a little
money of his own, he'd start one of those open-air places in the
country free.
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