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He rushed to the window. There was a grocery boy driving by.

“Hi! Hi there!” he called out. “Don’t mind anybody’s orders just now! Take me quick to the Hotel!–It’s an Emergency I tell you! She may be gone before I get there!”

We sat down on the sofa and curled up our legs. Our legs felt queer.

My Mother and Father sat down on the other sofa. They looked queer all over. They began to talk about the Village. It wasn’t exactly the Village that we knew. It was as though they talked about the Village when it was a child. They talked about when the Bridge was first built. They talked about the Spring when the Big Freshet swept the meadow. They talked about the funny color of Jason the Blacksmith’s first long trousers. They talked about a tiny mottled Fawn that they had caught once with their own hands at a Sunday School picnic in the Arbutus Woods. They talked about the choir rehearsals in the old white church. They talked about my Father’s Graduation Essay in the High School. It was like History that was sweet instead of just true. It made you feel a little lonely in your throat. Our Tame Coon came and curled up on our legs. It made our legs feel better. The clock struck nine. Our Father and Mother forgot all about us. Pretty soon we forgot all about ourselves. When we woke up the Old Doctor had come back. He was standing by the table in the lamplight talking to my Father and my Mother.

He looked just the same–only different–like a portrait in a newspaper that somebody had tried to copy. All around the inner edges of his bigness it was as though someone had sketched the outline of a slimmer man.–It looked nice.

“Well it was little Annie Dun Vorlees!” he said.

“Was it indeed?” said my Father.

“Hasn’t changed a mite!” said the Old Doctor. “Not a mite!–Oh of course she’s wearing silks now instead of gingham.–And her hair?–Well perhaps it’s just a little bit gray but—-“

“Gray hair’s very pretty,” said my Mother.

“Humph!” said the Old Doctor. “I expected of course that she’d think me changed a good deal. I’ve grown stout. ‘Healthy’ she called it.–She thought I looked ‘very healthy’!” The Old Doctor shifted his feet. He twitched at a newspaper on the table. “That Austrian gentlemen with her isn’t her Husband,” he said. “She’s a–she’s a widow now.–It’s her Husband’s brother.”

“Really?” said my Father.

“Oh Thunder!” said the Old Doctor. “I guess perhaps I spoke a little bit hastily when I was here before–about their ruining the Village!–I’ve been talking a bit with Annie and–” His face turned quite red suddenly. He laughed a little. “There won’t be any changes made at present in the old Dun Vorlees place–I imagine.–Not at present anyhow.”

He looked over at us. We scrunched our eyes perfectly tight.

“Asleep,” he said. He picked up our Book. He tucked it under his arm. He looked at my Father and Mother. “It’s quite time,” he said, “that you started a Bank Account for these children’s college education.–It costs a great deal to send children to college nowadays. Carol will surely want a lot of baseball bats.–And girls I know are forever needing bonnets!” He took two Big Gold Pieces from his pocket and put them down on the table where our Book had been. They looked very shining.

My Father gave a little gasp. He jumped up! He started to argue!

My Mother hushed him with her hand. “S–sh—-not to-night!” she whispered. “Not to-night!”

She looked at the Old Doctor. She looked at our Book all hugged up tight under his arm. Her eyes looked as though they were going to cry. But her mouth looked as though it was going to laugh.

“Oh of course–if it’s in the Cause of Science,” she said. “If it’s in the Cause of Science.”