the excited woman.

"Now you needn't be funny 'bout it," Rebecca cried, "fer I'm not goin'
to take any impidence. You know who I mean by the selectmen jest's well
as I do. I'd be obliged to ye ef ye'd tell me the way--an' drop that
Bible talk--good every-day English is good enough fer me!"

"In good sooth, dame," he replied, "'tis not every day I hear such
English as yours."

He paused a moment in thought. This was May-day--a season of revelry and
good-natured practical joking. This woman was evidently quizzing him, so
it behooved him to repay her in kind.

"But a truce to quips and quillets, say I," he continued. "'Twill do me
much pleasure an your ladyship will follow me to the selectman. As it
happens, his honor is even now holding court near London Bridge."

"London Bridge!" gasped Rebecca. "Why, London ain't a Bible country, is
it?"

Deigning no notice to a query which he did not understand, the young
fellow set off to northward, followed closely by the two women.

"Keep close to him, Phoebe," said Rebecca, warningly. "Ef we should
lose the man in all this rabble o' folks we would not find him in a
hurry."

"Thou seest, sweet sister," Phoebe replied, "'tis indeed our beloved
city of London. Did I not tell thee yon village was Newington, and here
we be now in Southwark, close to London Bridge."

Rebecca had forgotten her sister's ailment in the fierce indignation
which the bull-baiting had aroused. But now she was brought back to her
own personal fears and aims with a rude shock by the strange language
Phoebe held.

She leaped forward eagerly and touched their guide's shoulder.

"Hey, mister!" she exclaimed, "I'd be obliged to ye if ye'd show us the
house o' the nearest doctor before we see the selectman."

The man stopped short in the middle of the street, with a cunning leer
on his face. The change of purpose supported his belief that a May-day
jest was forward.

"Call me plain Jock Dean, mistress," he said. "And now tell me further,
wilt have a doctor of laws, of divinity, or of physic. We be in a merry
mood and a generous to-day, and will fetch forth bachelors, masters,
doctors, proctors, and all degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, or London at
a wink's notice. So say your will."

Rebecca would have returned a sharp reply to this banter, but she was
very anxious to find a physician for Phoebe, and so thought it best to
take a coaxing course.

"What I want's a doctor," she said. "I think my sister