eer and interesting out of his pocket at the same time,
that Barbara forgot everything else. 'What are you going to do with that
funny thing? Is it a speaking-tube?' she asked curiously.

'I'm going to see whether your heart is in the right place,' answered the
doctor, and he was immediately so overcome at his stupendous levity in
making a joke over a medical examination, that he did not speak another
word till it was completed. As for Babs, she was immensely interested the
whole time, and never took her bright little eyes off his face once.

'Is it in the right place?' she asked him, when he put the queer-looking
thing back in his pocket again.

'Yes,' said the doctor, briefly.

'Is anybody's in the wrong place?' pursued Babs, leaning against his knee
in the most friendly way imaginable.

'Sometimes,' said the doctor. He marvelled at himself for not feeling more
irritated by her, when as a rule he found children so worrying.

'Is yours in the right place?' persisted Barbara.

'I--I hope so,' said the doctor, struggling with a grim smile.

'Same place as mine?' continued Barbara, eagerly.

Miss Finlayson put out her hand to stop her; but Babs did not see. The
doctor saw, and did not take any notice.

'I imagine it is in the same place,' he said feebly.

'But how do you know, unless some one else finds it for you?' inquired
Babs. 'You can't listen to your own heart through that funny thing, can
you?'

'N--no, some one else has to find it,' admitted the doctor, and she
supposed he had remembered something that made him feel shy, for he
coloured furiously and rose to his feet rather hurriedly.

Babs stood gazing up at him attentively, while he exchanged parting words
with Miss Finlayson. 'It's an awful pity you didn't go to see Kit when he
was ill,' she remarked, directly there was an opportunity. 'Kit's doctor
was a beast.'

The long oval face turned slightly red again; and Miss Finlayson said
something very quickly about the wet evening.

'Yes,' replied the doctor, stammering a little; 'I am sorry the evening is
so late,--so wet, I mean, and that I am so late in calling--positively
the first minute I've had to-day,--extremely busy this time of year----'

A hand was stealing inside his, and he had to stop and look down again.
'Do you think you could go and see Kit next time he is ill?' asked Babs,
appealingly. 'It isn't nice to have a beast for a doctor, when you're ill,
is it?'

The doctor went on loo