So this was the kind of thing that his delightful bosses were carrying on under the guise of benevolence and righteousness! Now, what was he to do?

“Well, now look here,” he said to the discouraged man, “you mustn’t give up this way. I know where I can get this money for you.”

“Oh, yes, you think you do, but just wait till they find out who wants to borrow it. Wait till they see my old rusty coat and the down-and-out-ness in my face. And wait till you find out the awful rate of interest they’ll want to charge for it. Interest I could never pay, even if I did get well and get a job.”

“No,” said Paige firmly, with a strange feeling that he was somehow being directed from above, and must say these things. “No, there won’t be anything like that, because I’ll get the money for you myself. It’ll be loaned to me, and I won’t charge you a cent of interest. Not till you get on your feet and have plenty to spare. Then, if you want to pay me back, you can do it. But just at present you won’t have anything to pay, and you won’t have to sign any contracts. Your business is to get well, see? Now, let me look over these papers. I am sure I can arrange this for you. You’d better brace up and see if you can get the strength to take your payment in. Do you think you’re up to that? Wait, we’ll ask the doctor whether you can. Of course, it could be mailed in if it would reach them in time.”

“Oh, yes, I can take it,” protested the sick man. “I’d rather. They’ll think I’ve failed again if I don’t come myself. But I can’t let you do this for me.”

“Oh yes, you can. We’re brothers, you know. And if you don’t like to let me do it for yourself, then I’ll do it for your family’s sake. Now if you’ll show me about these different papers, I’ll try and get things in shape for you. I’ll have to give you the money in the morning, as of course I don’t have that much with me, but if you can be ready to go back with me, I can make the trip that much easier for you. I’ll have to get back to the office where I work by nine o’clock. Will that be too early a start for you? And then about your getting back. I could pick you up at the noon hour and bring you home. But we’ll have to see what the doctor says about your going at all, first.”

The doctor had been standing just outside the door of the sickroom, and now he came over to them, smiling.

“Sure! Go and get your troubles off your mind! That’ll be better for you than all the medicine in my chest. And if you’ve got any more of those financial troubles, let’s get them out in the open and get rid of them. Are there any more debts bothering you, brother?”

“There’s your bill,” sighed the man. “I guess that comes next.”

“Well, we’ll just forget that for the present. Let’s get the other things out of the way first.