The doctor stared, and so did I. At last I exclaimed, "Well! father
thought he'd killed her."

"Yes," cried my mother, "and he's gone away with it on his conscience,
that's some comfort. He won't come back in a hurry; he thinks he has
committed murder, the unfeeling brute! Well, I've had my revenge."

And as she twisted up her hair, my mother burst out screaming:

"Little Bopeep, she lost her sheep.
And couldn't tell where to find him;
She found him, indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For he left his tail behind him."

"Why, then, doctor, it was all sham," exclaimed I.

"Yes; and the doctor's come on a fool's errand--

"'Goosey, Goosey Gander,
Whither dost thou wander?
Upstairs and downstairs,
And in a lady's chamber.'"

The doctor shrugged up his shoulders so that his head disappeared
between them. At last he said, "Your mother don't want me, Jack, that's
very clear. Good-morning, Mrs. Saunders."

"A very good-morning to you, Dr. Tadpole," replied my mother with a
profound courtesy; "you'll oblige me by quitting this room and shutting