The Girl at Cobhurst   By: Frank Richard Stockton (1834-1902)

BY FRANK R. STOCKTON

1898

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. DR. TOLBRIDGE II. MISS PANNEY III. BROTHER AND SISTER IV. THE HOME V. PANNEYOPATHY VI. MRS. TOLBRIDGE'S CALLERS VII. DORA BANNISTER TAKES TIME AND A MARE BY THE FORELOCK VIII. MRS. TOLBRIDGE'S REPORT IS NOT ACCEPTED IX. JOHN WESLEY AND LORENZO DOW AT LUNCHEON X. A SILK GOWN AND A BOTTLE XI. TWO GIRLS AND A CALF XII. TO EAT WITH THE FAMILY XIII. DORA'S NEW MIND XIV. GOOD NIGHT XV. MISS PANNEY IS AROUSED TO HELP AND HINDER XVI. "KEEP HER TO HELP YOU" XVII. JUDITH PACEWALK'S TEABERRY GOWN XVIII. BLARNEY FLUFF XIX. MISS PANNEY IS "TOOK SUDDEN" XX. THE TEABERRY GOWN IS TOO LARGE XXI. THE DRANES AND THEIR QUARTERS XXII. A TRESPASS XXIII. THE HAVERLEY FINANCES AND MRS. ROBINSON XXIV. THE DOCTOR'S MISSION XXV. BOMBSHELLS AND BROMIDE XXVI. DORA COMES AND SEES XXVII. "IT COULDN'T BE BETTER THAN THAT" XXVIII. THE GAME IS CALLED XXIX. HYPOTHESIS AND INNUENDO XXX. A CONFIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENT XXXI. THE TEABERRY GOWN IS DONNED XXXII. MISS PANNEY FEELS SHE MUST CHANGE HER PLANS XXXIII. LA FLEUR LOOKS FUTUREWARD XXXIV. A PLAN WHICH SEEMS TO SUIT EVERYBODY XXXV. MISS PANNEY HAS TEETH ENOUGH LEFT TO BITE WITH XXXVI. A CRY FROM THE SEA XXXVII. LA FLEUR ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITIES XXXVIII. CICELY READS BY MOONLIGHT XXXIX. UNDISTURBED LETTUCE XL. ANGRY WAVES XLI. PANNEYOPATHY AND THE ASH HOLE XLII. AN INTERVIEWER XLIII. THE SIREN AND THE IRON XLIV. LA FLEUR'S SOUL REVELS, AND MISS PANEY PREPARES TO MAKE A FIRE

THE GIRL AT COBHURST

CHAPTER I

DR. TOLBRIDGE

It was about the middle of a March afternoon when Dr. Tolbridge, giving his horse and buggy into the charge of his stable boy, entered the warm hall of his house. His wife was delighted to see him; he had not been at home since noon of the preceding day.

"Yes," said he, as he took off his gloves and overcoat, "the Pardell boy is better, but I found him in a desperate condition."

"I knew that," said Mrs. Tolbridge, "when you told me in your note that you would be obliged to stay with him all night."

The doctor now walked into his study, changed his overcoat for a well worn smoking jacket, and seated himself in an easy chair before the fire. His wife sat by him.

"Thank you," he said, in answer to her inquiries, "but I do not want anything to eat. After I had gone my round this morning I went back to the Pardells, and had my dinner there. The boy is doing very well. No, I was not up all night. I had some hours' sleep on the big sofa."

"Which doesn't count for much," said his wife.

"It counts for some hours," he replied, "and Mrs. Pardell did not sleep at all."

Dr. Tolbridge, a man of moderate height, and compactly built, with some touches of gray in his full, short beard, and all the light of youth in his blue eyes, had been for years the leading physician in and about Thorbury. He lived on the outskirts of the little town, but the lines of his practice extended in every direction into the surrounding country.

The doctor's wife was younger than he was; she had a high opinion of him, and had learned to diagnose him, mentally, morally, and physically, with considerable correctness. It may be asserted, in fact, that the doctor seldom made a diagnosis of a patient as exact as those she made of him. But then it must be remembered that she had only one person to exert her skill upon, while he had many.

The Tolbridge house was one of the best in the town, but the family was small. There was but one child, a boy of fourteen, who was now away at school. The doctor had readjusted the logs upon the andirons, and was just putting the tongs in their place when a maidservant came in.