The singing was over and the sermon just beginning when they reached the church. It progressed satisfactorily to the end. The doctor usually made an important unit in producing that "brisk and lively air which a sermon inspires when it is quite finished." But tonight, a few minutes before the finale came, Mary saw the usher advancing down the aisle. He stopped at their seat and bending down whispered something to the doctor, who turned and whispered something to his wife. "No, I'll stay and walk home with the Rands. I see they're here," she whispered back. The doctor rose and went out. "Who's at the office?" he asked, as he walked away with the boy. "She's not there yet, she telephoned. I told her you was at church." "Did she say she couldn't wait?" "She said she had been at church too, but a bug flew in her ear and she had to leave, and she guessed you'd have to leave too, because she couldn't stand it. She said it felt _awful_." "Where is she?" "She was at a house by the Methodist church, she said, when she 'phoned to see if you was at the office. When I told her I'd get you from the other church, she said she'd be at the office by the time you got there." And she was, sitting uneasily in a big chair. "Doctor, I've had a flea in my ear sometimes, but this is a different proposition. Ugh! Please get this creature out _now_. It feels as big as a bat. Ugh! It's crawling further in, hurry!" "Maybe we'd better wait a minute and see if it won't be like some other things, in at one ear and out at the other." "O, hurry, it'll get so far in you can't reach it." "Turn more to the light," commanded the doctor, and in a few seconds he held up the offending insect. "O, you only got a little of it!" "I got it all." "Well, it certainly felt a million times bigger than that," and she departed radiantly happy. CHAPTER IV. One day in early spring the doctor surprised his wife by asking her if she would like to take a drive. "In March? The roads are not passable yet, surely." But the doctor assured her that the roads were getting pretty good except in spots. "I have such a long journey ahead of me today that I want you to ride out as far as Centerville and I can pick you up as I come back." "That's seven or eight miles. I'll go. I can stop at Dr. Parkin's and chat with Mrs. Parkin till you come." Accordingly a few minutes later the doctor and Mary were speeding along through the town which they soon left far behind them. About two miles out they saw a buggy down the road ahead of them which seemed to be at a stand-still. When they drew near they found a woman at the horses' heads with a broken strap in her hand. She was gazing helplessly at the buggy which stood hub-deep in mud. She recognized the doctor and called out, "Dr. Blank, if ever I needed a doctor in my life, it's now." "Stuck fast, eh?" The doctor handed the reins to his wife and got out.