answering. Evan was hovering near, to run
errands or show them the way to a physician's.

"All right, Pen." She spoke timidly. Evan was sorry for her.

Penton was uneasy; he hesitated when Evan said: "If you don't mind,
I'll be glad to go with you."

Mrs. Penton spoke out:

"It's awfully good of you, Mr. Nelson. Mr. Penton may have to take
gas."

He did. Nor did ever a youngster take senna less gracefully. The gas
alone probably would not have made a madman of him, but mixed with the
liquor it did. In the earlier stages of unconsciousness Penton jumped
from the table and threatened to kill the doctor. The country
physician only laughed at the wild and, to Evan, appalling curses and
threats of the temporary lunatic. It mattered not to that rustic
doctor whether his patient carried a stiff neck or a limber one--he
would do his work just the same. He happened to be a dentist, which
was fortunate, for he needed dental knowledge to extract a great tooth
from the patient. The further skill of a veterinary surgeon would
scarcely have been superfluous, Evan thought, amid so much horse-play.

Mrs. Penton seemed very much upset, but she shed no tears. The teller
wondered how she could look on at all. It was the first case of gas he
had seen, and it not only awed him but filled him with repugnance.
Painfully was this the case when Penton madly expectorated over an
incredible distance upon the poor doctor's curtains.

Nelson had always had profound respect for whatever manager he worked
under. He looked upon bank officials as something more than men. The
reverence of his mother for institutions and things traditional held to
him. But as he gazed on the squawking Penton, lying stretched out on a
board while the village dentist-doctor dragged at a tooth, he had a
sudden conception of man's equality and his likeness to the beast.
Even bank-managers were poor, puling cowards in the face of pain, or
under the influence of a little gas.

Having slept out his unnatural sleep Penton jumped dazedly from his
board and rushed to the door. Before anyone could stop him (the doctor
did not seem anxious to do so) he had reached the street. Evan ran
after him, and Mrs. Penton after Evan. The long form of the new
manager wobbled across the street toward the bank. Evan came up with
it and steadied it. Mrs. Penton's face was burning red when they
arrived under cover.

"I'm so sorry this has happened, Mr. Nelson," she s