“Or,” put in the School-master, “to condense our illustrations, if the Idiot would kindly go out upon Broadway and encounter the truck, we should find the three combined in him.”

The landlady here laughed quite heartily, and handed the School-master an extra strong cup of coffee.

“There is a great deal in what you say,” said the Idiot, without a tremor.  “There are very few scientific phenomena that cannot be demonstrated in one way or another by my poor self.  It is the exception always that proves the rule, and in my case you find a consistent converse exemplification of all three branches of absent-mindedness.”

“He talks well,” said the Bibliomaniac, sotto voce, to the Minister.

“Yes, especially when he gets hold of large words.  I really believe he reads,” replied Mr. Whitechoker.

[Illustration:  “‘What are the first symptoms of insanity?’”]

“I know he does,” said the School-master, who had overheard.  “I saw him reading Webster’s Dictionary last night.  I have noticed, however, that generally his vocabulary is largely confined to words that come between the letters A and F, which shows that as yet he has not dipped very deeply into the book.”

“What are you murmuring about?” queried the Idiot, noting the lowered tone of those on the other side of the table.

“We were conversing—­ahem! about—­” began the Minister, with a despairing glance at the Bibliomaniac.

“Let me say it,” interrupted the Bibliomaniac.  “You aren’t used to prevarication, and that is what is demanded at this time.  We were talking about—­ah—­about—­er—­”

“Tut! tut!” ejaculated the School-master.  “We were only saying we thought the—­er—­the—­that the—­”

“What are the first symptoms of insanity, Doctor?” observed the Idiot, with a look of wonder at the three shuffling boarders opposite him, and turning anxiously to the physician.

“I wish you wouldn’t talk shop,” retorted the Doctor, angrily.  Insanity was one of his weak points.

“It’s a beastly habit,” said the School-master, much relieved at this turn of the conversation.

“Well, perhaps you are right,” returned the Idiot.  “People do, as a rule, prefer to talk of things they know something about, and I don’t blame you, Doctor, for wanting to keep out of a medical discussion.  I only asked my last question because the behavior of the Bibliomaniac and Mr. Whitechoker and the School-master for some time past has worried me, and I didn’t know but what you might work up a nice little practice among us.  It might not pay, but you’d find the experience valuable, and I think unique.”

“It is a fine thing to have a doctor right in the house,” said Mr. Whitechoker, kindly, fearing that the Doctor’s manifest indignation might get the better of him.