Gee! That was pretty! And he dropped back and slept again. When he awoke
there was a real meal for him. No more slops. Soup, and potato and a
bit of bread and butter. Gee! It tasted good! He slept again and it was
morning, or was it the same morning? He didn't know. He tried to figure
back and decided he had been in that hospital about three days, but
when the next morning dawned and he felt the life creeping back into
his veins he began to be uncertain. He asked the nurse how soon he
could get up and get dressed. She smiled in a superior way and said the
doctor hadn't said. It would likely be sometime yet, he had been pretty
sick. He told her sharply he couldn't spare much more time, and asked
her where his clothes were.
She laughed and said: "Oh, put away. You'll have some new clothes when you get well. I heard
Mrs. Shafton talking about it this morning when she was in the office.
She's coming to see you pretty soon, and they mean to do a lot for you.
You brought back her jewels didn't you? Well, I guess you'll get your
reward all right."
Billy looked at her blankly. Reward! Gosh! Was that reward going to
meet him again?
"Say," said he frowning, "I want my own clothes. I don't want any new
ones. I want my own! Say, I got some stuff in my pockets I don't wantta
have monkeyed with!"
"All right," she said cheerily, "They're put away safe. You can have
them when you're well." But when he asked her suddenly what day it was
she said vaguely "Tuesday," and went away. He was so tired then he went
to sleep again and slept till they brought his dinner, a big one,
chicken and fixings and jelly, and a dish of ice cream! Oh, Gee! And
then he went to sleep again. But in the morning--how many days was it
then? He woke to sudden consciousness of what he had to do and to
sudden suspicion of the time. Billy was coming back to his own. His
wilyness had returned. He smiled at the nurse ravishingly and asked for
a newspaper, but when she brought it he pretended to be asleep, so she
laid it down and went away softly. But he nabbed that paper with a weak
hand as soon as her back was turned and read the date! His heart fell
down with a dull thud. The third! This was the day of the trial! It
couldn't be! He read again. Was it really the day of the trial? The
paper that had the court program had been in his trousers pocket. He
must have it at once. Perhaps he had made a mistake. Oh, gee! What it
was to be helpless! Why, he was weaker than Aunt Saxon!