'O Nan, Nan, will you never be done getting the better of me?' And the
merry pair laughed at one another just as they did in the old times,
which always came back freshly when they went to Plumfield.

'Well, I knew I shouldn't see you for a week if I didn't scare up some
excuse for a call at the office. You are so desperately busy all the
time I never get a word,' explained Tom.

'You ought to be busy too, and above such nonsense. Really, Tom, if you
don't give your mind to your lectures, you'll never get on,' said Nan
soberly.

'I have quite enough of them as it is,' answered Tom with an air of
disgust. 'A fellow must lark a bit after dissecting corpuses all day.
I can't stand it long at a time, though some people seem to enjoy it
immensely.'

'Then why not leave it, and do what suits you better? I always thought
it a foolish thing, you know,' said Nan, with a trace of anxiety in the
keen eyes that searched for signs of illness in a face as ruddy as a
Baldwin apple.

'You know why I chose it, and why I shall stick to it if it kills me.
I may not look delicate, but I've a deep-seated heart complaint, and it
will carry me off sooner or later; for only one doctor in the world can
cure it, and she won't.'

There was an air of pensive resignation about Tom that was both comic
and pathetic; for he was in earnest, and kept on giving hints of this
sort, without the least encouragement.

Nan frowned; but she was used to it, and knew how to treat him.

'She is curing it in the best and only way; but a more refractory
patient never lived. Did you go to that ball, as I directed?'

'I did.'

'And devote yourself to pretty Miss West?'

'Danced with her the whole evening.'

'No impression made on that susceptible organ of yours?'

'Not the slightest. I gaped in her face once, forgot to feed her, and
gave a sigh of relief when I handed her over to her mamma.'

'Repeat the dose as often as possible, and note the symptoms. I predict
that you'll "cry for it" by and by.'

'Never! I'm sure it doesn't suit my constitution.'

'We shall see. Obey orders!' sternly.

'Yes, Doctor,' meekly.

Silence reigned for a moment; then, as if the bone of contention was
forgotten in the pleasant recollections called up by familiar objects,
Nan said suddenly:

'What fun we used to have in that wood! Do you remember how you tumbled
out of the big nut-tree and nearly broke your collar-bones?'

'Don't I! and how you steeped me in wor