you said reminds me. It's the strangest
coincidence!"

"What is it?"

"Your Professor Meschines----"

"On the contrary, he is a most matter-
of-fact old gentleman."

"Do be quiet, and listen to me! When
my mamma was a girl in school, there were
two boys there,--it was a boy-and-girls'
school,--and they were great friends. But
they both fell in love with my mamma----"

"I can understand that," put in Freeman.

"How do you know I am like my mamma?
Well, as I was saying, they both fell in love
with her, and quarrelled with each other,
and had a fight. The boy that won the
fight is the man to whose house I am going."

"Then he didn't marry your mamma?"

"Oh, no; that was only a childish affair,
and she married another man."

"The one who got thrashed?"