n!" exclaimed Rose. "And was he a very good
doctor?"

"Oh, wonderful!" replied Miss Wealthy. "People came from all parts of
the world to consult him, and he could not even go out in the street
without being clutched by some anxious patient. They used to tell a
funny story about an old woman's catching him in this way one day, when
he was in a great hurry,--but he was always in a hurry,--and pouring out
a long string of symptoms, so fast that the doctor could not get in a
word edgewise. At last he shouted 'Stop!' so loud that all the people in
the street turned round to stare. The old lady stopped in terror, and
Dr. Abernethy bade her shut her eyes and put her tongue out; then, when
she did so, he walked off, and left her standing there in the middle of
the sidewalk with her tongue out. I don't know whether it is true,
though."

"Oh, I hope it is!" cried Hildegarde, laughing. "It is too funny not to
be true."

"We had a very queer doctor at Glenfield some years ago," said Rose. "He
must have been just the opposite of Dr. Abernethy. He was very tall and
very slow, and spoke with the queerest drawl, using always the longest
words he could find. I never shall forget his coming to our house once
when Bubble had the measles. He had come a day or two before, but I had
not seen him. This time, however, I was in the room. He sat down by the
bed, and began stroking his long chin. It was the longest chin I ever
saw, nearly as long as the rest of his face.

"'And is there any amelioration of the symptoms this morning?' he asked
Mother,--'ame-e-lioration?' (He was very fond of repeating any word that
he thought sounded well.)

"Poor dear mother hadn't the faintest idea what amelioration was; and
she stammered and colored, and said she hadn't noticed any, and didn't
_think_ the child had it. But luckily I was in the 'Fifth Reader' then,
and had happened to have 'amelioration' in my spelling-lesson only a few
days before; so I spoke up and said, 'Oh, yes, Dr. Longman, he is a
great deal better, and he is really hungry to-day.'

"'Ah!' said Dr. Longman, 'craves food, does he?--cra-aves food!'

"Just then Bubble's patience gave out. He was getting better, and it
made him _so_ cross, poor dear! he snapped out, in his funny way, 'I've
got a bile comin' on my nose, and it hurts like fury!'

"Dr. Longman stooped forward, put on his spectacles, and looked at the
boil carefully. 'Ah!' he said, 'furunculus,--furunculus! Is it--ah--is