"I know that Mrs. Tellingham is becoming more worried about the doctor than about the lapsed insurance," said Mercy. "Of course, he's a foolish old man without any more head than a pin! But why did she leave the business of renewing the insurance in his charge, in the first place?"
"Oh, Mercy!" protested Ruth.
"No more head than a pin!" repeated Nettie Parsons, in horror. "Why! who ever heard the like? He writes histories! He must be a very brainy man."
"Who ever reads them?" grumbled Mercy.
"They look awfully solid," confessed Lluella Fairfax. "Did you ever look at the whole row of them in the office bookcase?"
Jennie Stone began to giggle. "I don't care," she said, "the doctor may be a great historian; but his memory is just as short as it can be. Do you know what happened only last half when he and Mrs. Tellingham were invited to the Lumberton Association Ball?"
"What was it?" asked Helen.
"I suppose it is something perfectly ridiculous, or Heavy wouldn't have remembered it," Ruth suggested.
"Thank you!" returned the plump girl, making a face. "I have a better memory than Dr. Tellingham, I should hope."
"Come on! tell the joke, Heavy," urged Mary Cox.