only the version of the children, who accused the Little Doctor of
trying to make them eat rubber--"just cause she was mad about some
little old candy." The mystification of the others among the Happy
Family, who scented a secret with a joke to it but despaired of wringing
the truth from either Weary or Chip, was dwelt upon with much enjoyment
by the Little Doctor.

It was a good old world and a pleasant, and Chip had no present quarrel
with fate--or with anybody else. That was why he whistled.

Then voices reached him through the open door, and a laugh--HER laugh.
Chip smiled sympathetically, though he had not the faintest notion of
the cause of her mirth. As the voices drew nearer, the soft, smooth,
hated tones of Dunk Whitaker untangled from the Little Doctor's laugh,
and Chip stopped whistling. Dunk was making a good, long stay of it
this time; usually he came one day and went the next, and no one grieved
at his departure.

"You find them an entirely new species, of course. How do you get on
with them?" said Dunk.

And the Little Doctor answered him frankly and distinctly: "Oh, very
well, considering all things. They furnish me with some amusement,
and I give them something quite new to talk about, so we are quits.
They are a good-hearted lot, you know--but SO ignorant! I don't
suppose--"

The words trailed into an indistinct murmur, punctuated by Dunk's jarring
cackle.