"Miss, not Mrs."

"I beg your pardon. Really, Miss Phipps, I cannot permit you to take
so much trouble. I must go on, back to the village--or--or somewhere.
I--Dear me?"

"What is it?"

"Nothing, nothing, my head is rather confused--dizzy. I shall be all
right again, shortly. I am ashamed of myself."

"You needn't be. Anybody that has walked 'way down here, a night like
this, on an empty stomach--" She paused, laughed, and exclaimed, "Of
course, I don't mean you walked on your stomach, exactly, Mr. Bangs."

Galusha smiled, feebly. "There were times when I began to think I should
be forced to," he said.

"I don't doubt it. There, there! now don't try to talk any more till
you've had something to eat. Doctor Powers will be here pretty soon; it
isn't very far--in an automobile. I'm afraid he's liable to have a queer
notion of what's the matter with you. The idea of that Primmie tellin'
him you hadn't had anything but rum for she didn't know how long! My,
my! Well, 'twas the truth, but it bears out what my father used to say,
that a little truth was like a little learnin', an awfully dangerous
thing.... There, there! don't talk. I'll talk for both of us. I have a
faculty that way--father used to say THAT, too," she added, with a broad
smile.

When Doctor Powers did arrive, which was about fifteen minutes later,
he found the patient he had come to see drinking hot tea and eating
buttered toast. He was sitting in a big rocker with his steaming shoes
propped against the stove. Miss Phipps introduced the pair and explained
matters to the extent of her knowledge. Galusha added the lacking
details.

The doctor felt the Bangs' pulse and took the Bangs temperature. The
owner of the pulse and temperature made feeble protests, declaring
himself to be "perfectly all right, really" and that he must be going
back to the village. He couldn't think of putting every one to so much
trouble.

"And where will you go when you get back to the village?" asked Doctor
Powers.

"Why, to the--ah--hotel. I presume there is a hotel."

"No, there isn't. The Inn across the road here is the only hotel in East
Wellmouth, and that is closed for the season."

"Dear me, doctor! Dear me! Well, perhaps I may be able to hire
a--ah--car or wagon or something to take me to Wellmouth. I have
friends in Wellmouth; I intended visiting them. Do you know Professor
Hall--ah--George Hall, of New York?"

"Yes, I know him well. He and his family are pat