tempt were all mingled in it.

"Don't worry," said Ralph, kindly. "You know doctoring sometimes comes
by wholesale."

Miss Hitty's relief was instantaneous and evident. "There's regular
prices, I suppose," she said. "Broken toe, broken ankle, broken
leg--each one so much. Is that it?"

Doctor Ralph was seized with a violent fit of coughing.

"How much is ankles?" demanded his inquisitor.

"I'll leave that all to you, Miss Hitty," said Ralph, when he recovered
his composure. "You can pay me whatever you think is right."

"I shouldn't pay you anything I didn't think was right," she returned,
sharply, "unless I was made to by law. As long as you've got to come
every day for a spell, and mebbe twice, I'll give you five dollars the
day Minty walks again. If that won't do, I'll get the doctor over to
the Ridge."

Doctor Ralph coughed so hard that he was obliged to cover his face with
his handkerchief. "I should think," said Miss Mehitable, "that if you
were as good a doctor as you pretend to be, you'd cure your own
coughin' spells. First thing you know, you'll be running into quick
consumption. Will five dollars do?"

Ralph bowed, but his face was very red and he appeared to be struggling
with some secret emotion. "I couldn't think of taking as much as five
dollars, Miss Hitty," he said, gallantly. "I should not have ventured
to suggest over four and a half."

"He's cheaper than his father," thought Miss Hitty, quickly suspicious.
"That's because he ain't as good a doctor."

"Four and a half, then," she said aloud. "Is it a bargain?"

"It is," said Ralph, "and I'll take the best possible care of Araminta.
Shake hands on it." He went out, his shoulders shaking with suppressed
merriment, and Miss Hitty watched him through the grimy front window.

"Seems sort of decent," she thought, "and not too grasping. He might
be real nice if he wasn't a man."

X

Ralph's First Case

"Father," said Ralph at breakfast, "I got my first case yesterday."

Anthony Dexter smiled at the tall, straight young fellow who sat
opposite him. He did not care about the case but he found endless
satisfaction in Ralph.

"What was it?" he asked, idly.

"Broken ankle. I only happened to get it because you were out. I was
accused of being a 'play doctor,' but, under the circumstances, I had
to do."

"Miss Mehitable?" queried Doctor Dexter, with lifted brows. "I
wouldn't have thought her ankles could be broken