the needle evoked no more than a playful remonstrance from the boy and a
ripple of laughter from the fair executants. At length, alas! Miss
Sophy Rabling, in snipping her bandage from the boy's foot, fumbled and
drove a point of the scissors sharply into his toe.

With a howl he caught at his foot, from which one or two drops of blood
were trickling. And the sight of it so affected Miss Sophy that she
dropped upon the platform in a swoon. A class-mate in the body of the
hall almost instantly followed her example.

The lecturer, I am bound to say, behaved admirably. So far was he from
losing his head, that he instantly seized on the accident to turn it to
account.

"First aid!" he cried. "Subject: Fainting. Patient No. 1, head to be
pressed down below her knees and kept there for a few minutes.
Patient No. 2, to be extended on the floor, care being taken to keep
head and body level. A form being handy, we could, as an alternative,
have hung Patient No. 1 over it, head downwards."

But at this point, unfortunately, the humour of the situation became too
much for Miss Gertrude Hansombody, another of the students. She began
to titter, went on to laugh uncontrollably, then to clench her hands and
sob.

"Subject: Hysterics!" called the lecturer. "Treatment: Be firm with
the patient, hold her firmly by the wrists and threaten her with cold
water--"

He spoke to empty benches. The rest of his pupils had escaped from the