Martha glanced nervously at the smoke, issuing from cracks and holes on
all sides. It gave her a feeling that the house was on fire. Of
course she knew it was not; but to _feel_ the house is on fire, is only
one degree less alarming than to _know_ it is. However, beetles are
nasty things; and the condescending kindness and regard for Martha's
personal comfort, which crawled about after them in white flannels, was
gratifying to a degree.

So Martha turned and gave the Boy one of her unusual smiles. He was
very intently blowing rings--"bubbles" Martha called them afterwards,
when explaining them to Jenkins; but that was Martha's mistake. They
were smoke rings. It was one of the Boy's special accomplishments. He
was an expert at blowing rings.

Presently:--"Martha, my duck--" he said suddenly.

Martha jumped. "Bless us, Mr. Guy! What a name!"

"What's the matter with it?" inquired the Boy, innocently. "I consider
it a very nice name, and scriptural."

"Oh, I didn't mean m' own name," explained Martha, more flushed than
the warmth of the fire warranted. "Not but what m' godfathers and
godmothers might well 'ave chosen me a better."

"Oh, don't blame them, overmuch, Martha," said the Boy, earnestly.
"You see their choice was limited. If you study your catechism you
will find that it had to be 'N' or 'M'--'Naomi' or 'Martha.' Even at
that early age, they thought you favoured 'Martha' rather than 'Naomi';
so they named you 'Martha.'"

"Well I never!" exclaimed Mrs. Jenkins. "'N' or 'M'! So it is! Now I
never noticed _that_ before. We live and learn! And Jenkins--silly
man--'as always bin annoyed that they named 'im 'Noah.' But how about
when _you_ was christened, Mr. Guy?"

"Oh," explained the Boy, with a wave of his cigarette, "I was
christened a bit later than you, Martha; and, by that time, Parliament
had sat in solemn convocation, and had brought in a Bill to the effect
that all needless and vexatious limitations and restrictions in the
Prayer Book might for the future be disregarded. The first to go was
'N' or 'M.'"

"Well, I never!" said Martha. "I wish they'd ha' done it afore _my_
time."

"You see," expounded the Boy, who was enjoying himself vastly, and
getting the conjunction of the goloshes and the Greek play off his
mind; "you see, Martha, those progressive Bills, intimately affecting
the whole community, of vital importance to the nation at large, are
always blocked by the House