"I told Bob and Jim about it and we concluded _we'd_ take a hand in it tonight." "Well, let this be the last of it," said the father with mild sternness. "We'll try to have ham enough for all of you without sneaking it. If not, Jacob can have his mother's share and mine." The trio of boys grinned triumphantly at the discomfited Jake, then, the little flurry over, all fell to eating with a will. The doctor's voice came to Mary from the room of the patient. "You're worth a dozen dead women yet," it said. Then a high pitched woman's voice, "I'll tell you what Mary Ann says she thinks about it." "Has she been here today?" If Mary Ann had been there the unfavorable condition of the patient was explained. "Yes, she just went away. She says she believes you're just keepin' Ellen down so you can get a big bill out of her." The doctor was fixing up powders and went placidly on till he got through, then he said "Mary Ann has a better opinion of me than I thought she had. It takes a mighty good doctor to do that. That's a very old song but there are a few people in the world that like to sing it yet. They don't know that there isn't a doctor in the world that knows enough to do a thing like that even if he wanted to. Nature would beat him every time if they gave her a chance." Mary heard the doctor give his instructions and then he came out. As they drove off she asked, "You came pretty near catching a tartar, didn't you?" "Oh, that one is all right. It's her sister that's always raising the devil." "Look! isn't she lovely, John?" "Isn't who lovely?" asked the doctor, looking back at the house in some surprise. "The gentle Shepherdess of Night," Mary answered, her eyes on the moon just rising over the distant treetops. "She's getting ready to 'lead her flocks through the fields of blue.'" "How very poetical we are." "Only an echo from a little song I used to sing when I was a little girl." "Get up, my steeds," urged the doctor, "we must be getting back"; and they sped swiftly homeward through the soft summer night. CHAPTER VIII. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. Ting-a-ling-ling-ling. "Hello." "Is this the doctor's office?" "This is his residence." "Pshaw! I wanted his _office_." "The doctor 'phoned me about ten minutes ago that he would be out for half an hour and asked me to answer the 'phone in his absence," Mary explained, pleasantly. "Oh," said the voice, somewhat mollified, "I'll just call him up when he gets back. You say he'll be back in half an hour?" "In about that time." She went back to her work, which happened to be upstairs this morning, leaving the doors ajar behind her that she might hear the 'phone. In two minutes she was summoned down. "What is it?" "Is this the doctor's office?" "No, the residence." "I rang for the office, sorry to have troubled you, Mrs. Blank," said a man's voice.