but I do.
When do you think--"

"In just about five minutes, Doctor. Soon's I get the coffee boiling and
the cream skimmed. I didn't know," with an anxiously reproving glance,
"but what you might want to get washed up after you got in."

"I--no, I think I'm quite clean enough, Mrs. Sykes. But it was very
thoughtful of you to wait--"

"Aunt, the coffee's boiling over!" The warning was distinctly audible
and, with a gesture of one who abandons an untenable position, Mrs.
Sykes retreated upon the kitchen.

The visitor watched her flight with mild amaze.

"I suppose I should seem curious if I were to ask why the excellent Mrs.
Sykes imperils her immortal soul in your behalf? But why in the name of
common sense is the peril necessary? It isn't a crime, is it, for a
medical man to get up early and go for a swim?"

"You forget what day it is," said Callandar solemnly. "Or rather, you
never knew. I myself was not properly acquainted with Sunday until I
came to this place. Your presence here is in itself a scandal. People do
not visit upon the Seventh day in Coombe."

"No? You should have informed me of the town's eccentricities. As it is,
if my presence imperils your social standing you can seclude me until
the next train."

"Better than that," cheerfully, "I can take you to church."

The alarmed look upon the professor's face was so enticing that
Callandar continued with glee:

"Why not? I have always thought your objection to church-going a blot
upon an otherwise estimable character. Hitherto I have been too busy to
attend to it, but now--"

"Quit chaffing, Harry! I came up because I had to see you. You pay no
attention to my letters. I never dreamed that you would stay a month in
this backwater. What is wrong? What is the matter with you?"

"Look at me--and ask those questions again."

The keen eyes of the Button-Moulder looked deep into the doctor's steady
ones. There was a slight pause. Then--

"Yes, I see what you mean. I saw it as you came across the orchard." The
sharp voice softened. "My anxiety for your health could hardly survive
the way in which you leaped that fence! But all this makes it only the
more mysterious. Have you found the fountain of youth or--or what?"

Callandar threw an affectionate arm over the other man's shoulders.

"I _am_ young, amn't I! Trouble is, I didn't know it." He ruffled his
hair at the side so that the grey showed plainly. "Terrible thing when
one loses the realisati