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But she couldn't “hurt his feelings,” she reflected. He liked the lordliness of giving largess.

She tried to reduce the frequency of begging by opening accounts and having the bills sent to him. She had found that staple groceries, sugar, flour, could be most cheaply purchased at Axel Egge's rustic general store. She said sweetly to Axel:

“I think I'd better open a charge account here.”

“I don't do no business except for cash,” grunted Axel.

She flared, “Do you know who I am?”

“Yuh, sure, I know. The doc is good for it. But that's yoost a rule I made. I make low prices. I do business for cash.”

She stared at his red impassive face, and her fingers had the undignified desire to slap him, but her reason agreed with him. “You're quite right. You shouldn't break your rule for me.”

Her rage had not been lost. It had been transferred to her husband. She wanted ten pounds of sugar in a hurry, but she had no money. She ran up the stairs to Kennicott's office. On the door was a sign advertising a headache cure and stating, “The doctor is out, back at —— ” Naturally, the blank space was not filled out. She stamped her foot. She ran down to the drug store — the doctor's club.