"She is away from home."

"Well, when you do meet her you'll see what I mean, or like as not you
won't, being a man. Men never seem to see anything wrong with Mary
Coombe. But Esther must feel dreadful mortified sometimes when her Ma
forgets to get hooked up behind. Esther's as neat as a pin. Always was.
Why, even when she got home last week after that awful time you and she
had up at Pine Lake, and her having to stay overnight without so much as
a clean collar, she walked in here as fresh as a daisy--won't you let me
give you some more coffee, Professor?"

"Thank you, yes. You were saying--"

"Willits, do you think so much coffee is good for you?"

"Land sakes, Doctor, my coffee won't hurt him! It never seems to trouble
you any. As I was saying, one would almost have thought that what with
picnicking in the bush all day and trapesing around in a canoe half the
night and having to stay where she wasn't expected and wouldn't like to
ask the loan of the flat-irons--"

"Please, Mrs. Sykes, don't let Ann eat another biscuit. I don't want her
to be ill just when I want a day off to take Willits to church. Willits,
as your medical adviser, I forbid more coffee. He will really injure
himself, Mrs. Sykes, if I do not take him away. He isn't used to
breakfasts like this and his constitution won't stand it."

Mrs. Sykes beamed graciously under this delicate compliment and
confiscated Ann's latest biscuit with a ruthless hand. "If you gentlemen
would like to sit in the parlour--" she offered graciously. But
Callandar with equal graciousness declined. The office would do quite
well enough. Willits might want to smoke. "And as it-seems that my watch
has stopped," he added, "perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us
when it is time to change for church."

The professor settled himself primly upon the hardest chair which the
office contained and refused a cigar.

"You seem to have acquired a reprehensible habit of fooling, Henry," he
said. "Your language also is strange. When, for instance, you say
'change for church,' to what sort of transformation do you refer?"

Callandar chuckled.

"Only to your clothes, old chap. Don't worry. You wouldn't expect me to
go to church in flannels?"

"I should not expect you to go to church at all."

"Well, the fact is, old man, you are painfully ignorant. I do go to
church, and the proper church costume for a professional man is a frock
coat and silk hat. But as you are a traveller, a