cover the digestive and excretory tracts, and
I shall close with two talks on personal hygiene." This ended the
preliminary matter, and the lecturer proceeded with the body of her talk
in a somewhat more mechanical style. The respiratory system was
dismissed in six minutes, although, in some curious way, Mr. Sprig had
strung the same material out to half an hour.

Before beginning upon the circulatory system, however, she sprang a
surprise. "For your convenience," she explained, "I shall draw a diagram
of the heart and its valves, and with your assistance I shall explain
its action." After a little wrestling with the diagram, which _would_
curl, she managed to pin it to the wall. She then proceeded, in red
crayon, to draw a fully equipped heart. She finished with audible relief
and, turning triumphantly--greeted Miss Balch and her brother Leofwin.

"Dear me, I am afraid we are intruding," said Miss Balch, looking around
with ingenuous charm.

Henry, having heard the bell which the social workers had been too
absorbed to hear, appeared at the door and relieved the situation
temporarily. Leofwin, however, whose eye was naturally caught by the
pictorial, was gazing at the circulatory system on the wall. "What on
earth is that?" he asked, with more curiosity than was perhaps
excusable. "It looks for all the world like some sort of impressionistic
valentine."

Nancy, for one reckless moment, was tempted to say that it was, but
temperate judgment prevailed. After all, why need she be ashamed of what
they were doing?

"Tom and I are giving a course of lectures at the Mill, in hygiene, and
we are just rehearsing a little; that's all. The valentine shows the
heart action. Those arm things are the valves, you see."

"But, really, you know, even a valve must have some perspective."

"Well, of course, I'm no artist. The cut in the dictionary was very
small, and when I enlarged it I tried to get the right proportions, but
I just had my tape measure and----"

"I shall help you. Elfrida will bear me out: I have always been
interested in the lower classes, and I shall love to go with you and
draw it when the time comes."

"Oh, I couldn't let you do that."

"Why not? I admit I've had no experience, but, after all, in a work of
this kind, it is the spirit that counts, isn't it?"

Elfrida had engaged Tom and Henry at a point as far distant as she could
from her brother and Nancy, and she now asked Tom what he thought of
Som