“Doctor, please come down here and help us. The roof is leaking awfully and we are about to drown.”

“All right, I'll be down after a little.”

“Don't wait too long.”

Mary's practised ear caught something beginning with a capital D as the receiver clicked.

“Poor old John,” she murmured, “it's awful—the things you have to do.”

The doctor got into his rubber coat and set out for his improvised pest-house.

When he came home Mary asked, “Did you stop the leak?”

“I did. But I had a devil of a time doing it.”

“I'm curious to know how you would go about it.”

“The roof was double and I had to straighten out and stretch the upper canvas with the wind blowing it out of my hands and nobody to help me hold it.”