t of all things, a mental
derelict?"

The doctor groaned at the suggestion.

"Opdyke, I'll be hanged if I'll put in all my time, playing
intellectual wet-nurse to Scott Brenton! I've served my turn. If ever
he began to cut his wisdom teeth, it's time he was about it."

The professor took up the metaphor and cast it back upon the doctor.

"A good many babies die of teething," he said. "I've heard you say,
yourself, that it was the one time in all a man's life when he was most
dependent on the ministrations of the doctor."

The doctor rose and straightened up his shoulders.

"Fairly caught," he confessed. "Well, I'll do my best. Meanwhile, how
is Reed?"

"Too busy to think much about himself."

"Not overworking?" the doctor questioned sharply.

"No. At least, not if his mental condition is any index to his
physical. He is eager as a boy over the way his work is coming in. Did
I tell you he has an assistant coming, day after to-morrow? Poor little
Dennison has been swamped, for two weeks, in the rising tide of things
that he knew nothing at all about. I must say he's been heroic in his
efforts to help Reed out."

The doctor nodded.

"Dolph is a good sort. In the last analysis, he is not unlike Reed;
they have the same staying power, the same trick of hating to take
themselves in earnest. Still, for Reed's sake as well as Dolph's, I'm
glad a trained assistant is coming. In fact, I might say I am glad on
my own account."

"You?"

The doctor laughed.

"Yes. I've had Dolph at all hours, tearing his hair in my laboratory,
while I tried to coach him. I do think, for a boy brought up on
belles-lettres, he's made a decent showing as assistant mineralogist. I
like Dolph. He's an all-round good fellow."

The professor laid aside his pipe; then he looked up keenly.

"He's at your house often?" he inquired.

The doctor read his old friend like a large-print page. Reading, he
straightway became impenetrable.

"Yes. He drops in rather often," he assented. "Of course, he knows I am
a good deal interested in Reed's new venture. Wonderful, isn't it, the
way it has turned out so well? If only Brenton had one quarter of his
steady grip!"

But, for the present, steady grip was the one thing Brenton lacked.
Indeed, watching the recent chaos of his domestic life, one could
scarcely wonder. As the doctor had said, reaction was bound to come. It
had been no small upsetting, too, the saying farewell to his
association wi