Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/163

 "Yes, and I am smart."

"Well, then! Well, then!" she impatiently cried to herself, and the next moment she spoke aloud to Mr. Briggs, saying: "Stop a minute, please! I forgot something at Doctor Kennedy's. We'll have to go back."

Neil had a number of patients in his reception room when Charlotte walked in, and a number of others came in while she was waiting there. At last her turn arrived, and in she went, a demure, old-fashioned figure, but her heart beating "Boom … Boom … Boom …" like a little bass drum.

"Why, what a stranger!" said Neil, after the first stare of surprise.

They shook hands in a manner that wasn't far from being formal, and he congratulated her on winning the championship. Charlotte was seated in the patient's chair, tongue-tied, nervous, wondering why on earth she had ever come, her heart no longer booming but