The Girl at Cobhurst

The Girl at Cobhurst

Project Gutenberg's The Girl at Cobhurst, by Frank Richard Stockton
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Title: The Girl at Cobhurst
Author: Frank Richard Stockton
Release Date: February 15, 2004 [EBook #11106]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE GIRL AT COBHURST
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.
"There's a boy here, sir," she said, "from Miss Panney. She's sent for
you in a hurry."
In the same instant the doctor and his wife turned in their chairs