"Ruminate, yes; but don't make it an excuse for going to sleep," said Isabel. "You must wake up at any rate and tell us a story before the evening is over."
She got Roberts started on his recent trip to see the Indian snake dance at Walpi, and they listened breathlessly till he rounded up safely half-an-hour later. Then Dr. Sanborn was called upon.
"Come, Doctor, we must have your song!"
"His song!" exclaimed Roberts.
"One song?" asked Mason.
"One song alone is all he knows, and the only way he acquired that was by damnable iteration. It was a cheerful lay sung by his nurse in the hospital during a spell of brain fever," explained Isabel.
"Is this thing unavoidable?" asked Mason in illy concealed apprehension.
"Thus we earn our dinner," replied Roberts. "To what length this love of food will carry a man!"
"Well, let's have the agony over at once."
The Doctor lifted his tall frame to the perpendicular as if pulled by a string, and, marching to the piano, waited for Etta to play the chords. His face was expressionless, but his eyes laughed.