do believe you've both been tooken
crazy!"

Behind the organ were two boys who were holding their hands over their
mouths to keep from roaring with laughter, while Frank, under the sofa,
was finding it no easy task to be silent.

The widow was frightened, and both of the professors immediately sought
to reassure her. They pranced up on either side, and Scotch began:

"Don't be alarmed, Mrs. Cobb; we'll not fight----"

"You're not tight? Well, you act as if you were, and that's a fact."

"Oh, go fall on yourself, Scotch!" advised Jenks, dropping into the
slang he had overheard some boy use. "This is an unfortunate affair."

"What's the matter with my hair?" indignantly asked the widow, as she
caressed her corkscrew curls. "You are getting very personal, sir."

"Ho! ho!" laughed Scotch, guardedly. "Now you are getting it, Jenks!"

"You make me tired!"

"Go have your voice filed, so you won't be an old woman."

"Who be you callin' an old woman?" cried Nancy, catching the words with
wonderful quickness. "I must say your language is most surprisin' and
offensive, sir."

"Excuse me," roared Scotch. "I was speaking to Mr. Jenks."

"But he isn't a woman," said Nancy, suspiciously. "I don't know why
you should use such language to him."

"You've put your foot in it now," snickered the little man.

"And I don't know what he's grinnin' and laughin' about. You both act
as if too much studyin' and tooterin' was beginnin' to affect your
brains. Now, why, don't you both git married, and give up this awful
wearin' life you are leadin'?"

"That's just what I called to see about," declared Professor Scotch,
bracing up. "I called to pro----"

"Hold on!" squealed Jenks, excitedly. "I was here first, and I will
have my first say. Mrs. Cobb, my heart has long yearned for domestic
joys and comforts."

"Oh, I don't keer how much you've earned; it's what you've saved that
counts."

"Oh, if I had that voice, I'd go break it!" sneered Scotch. "Try
again, Hyson, and you'll get her so twisted that I'll stand a good show
of winning her."

So Jenks braced up and tried again.

"I say my heart has yearned----"

"Sody-water or magneeshy is good for heartburn," smiled the widow.

"Ye gods!" gasped Jenks. "I didn't know she was so hard of hearing."

"Oh, sail in and win her!" chuckled the little professor. "You're
doing first rate."

"Mrs. Cobb," continued Jenks, "I am not much given to the follies of
life.