the merry pair laughed at one another just as they did in the old
times, which always came back freshly when they went to Plumfield.

'Well, I knew I shouldn't see you for a week if I didn't scare up
some excuse for a call at the office. You are so desperately busy all
the time I never get a word,' explained Tom.

'You ought to be busy too, and above such nonsense. Really, Tom, if
you don't give your mind to your lectures, you'll never get on,' said
Nan soberly.

'I have quite enough of them as it is,' answered Tom with an air of
disgust. 'A fellow must lark a bit after dissecting corpuses all day.
I can't stand it long at a time, though some people seem to enjoy it
immensely.'

'Then why not leave it, and do what suits you better? I always
thought it a foolish thing, you know,' said Nan, with a trace of
anxiety in the keen eyes that searched for signs of illness in a face
as ruddy as a Baldwin apple.

'You know why I chose it, and why I shall stick to it if it kills me.
I may not look delicate, but I've a deep-seated heart complaint, and
it will carry me off sooner or later; for only one doctor in the
world can cure it, and she won't.'

There was an air of pensive resignation about Tom that was both comic
and pathetic; for he was in earnest, and kept on giving hints of this
sort, without the least encouragement.