Nance was convinced now that the lady was crazy, but she rattled them
off glibly.

"Very good! Now if the little hand of your clock was at twelve, and the
big hand at three, what time would it be?"

Nance pondered the matter deeply.

"Five after twelve!" she answered triumphantly.

"No; try again."

Nance was eager to oblige, but she had the courage of her convictions and
held her point.

"Wouldn't it be a quarter past?" suggested the examiner.

"No, ma'am, it wouldn't. Our clock runs ten minutes slow."

The grave face behind the spectacles broke into a smile; then business
was resumed.

"Shut your eyes and name as many objects as you can without stopping,
like this: trees, flowers, birds. Go ahead."

"Trees, flowers, birds, cats, dogs, fight, barrel, slop, mud, ashes."

"Go on, quicker--keep it up. Nuts, raisins, cake--"