"Less what, Ethel? What do you mean?"
"Till the rain stops, Jim, dear; and it's just baby's time for coming down."
"Hang—no, I beg your pardon, Ethel. I'm very sorry, but I must see the end of this."
He rushed out, and the baby found a dull, preoccupied, almost tearful, very unamusing mother to play with that day.
The Doctor marched into Dale's room with a stern look on his face.
"Well, Roberts, how are you?" asked Dale, not graciously.
"What does this mean, Bannister?"
"It means, my dear fellow, that you took my name in vain, and I had to say so."
"I'm not thinking of myself, though it would have been more friendly to write to me first."