It was impossible, of course, for
Lemuel to go back to Mr. Corey's now with a sick wife, who would
need so much of his care. Besides, he did not think it desirable on
other accounts. He recurred to what Lemuel had said about getting
work that should not take him too far away from the kind of people
his betrothed was used to, and he felt a pity and respect for the
boy whom life had already taught this wisdom, this resignation. He
could see that before his last calamity had come upon him, Barker
was trying to adjust his ambition to his next duty, or rather to
subordinate it; and the conviction that he was right gave Sewell
courage to think that he would yet somehow succeed. It also gave him
courage to resist, on Barker's behalf, the generous importunities of
some who would have befriended him. Mr. Corey and Charles Bellingham
drove up to the hospital one day, to see Lemuel; and when Sewell met
them the same evening, they were full of enthusiasm. Corey said that
the effect of the hospital, with its wards branching from the
classistic building in the centre, was delightfully Italian; it was
like St. Peter's on a small scale, and he had no idea how
interesting the South End was; it was quite a bit of foreign travel
to go up there. Bellingham had explored the hospital throughout; he
said he had found it the thing to do--it was a thing for everybody
to do; he was astonished that he had never done it before.
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