THE two boys parted at Main and B Streets, Fudge to loiter thoughtfully southward under the budding maples and Perry to continue briskly on along the wider thoroughfare to where, almost at the corner of G Street, a small yellow house stood in a diminutive yard behind a decaying picket fence. Over the gate, which had stood open ever since Perry had grown too old to enjoy swinging on it, was a square lantern supported on an iron arch. At night a dim light burned in it, calling the passer's attention to the lettering on the front:
No. 7—Dr. Hull—Office.
Beside the front door a second sign proclaimed the house to be the abode of Matthew P. Hull, M. D.
Nearby was an old-fashioned bell-pull and, just below it, a more modern button. Above the latter
were the words "Night Bell." The house looked
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