Part 2 (2/2)

'I can't imagine.'

'Well, he pulled him by the sleeve when he took out the--the thing he puts in your mouth, and said kind of hoa.r.s.e, ”Doctor, did you ever tell a lie?” Wasn't that funny?'

Miss Ralston did not answer. She was thinking that David must have been turning over some problem in his mind, to say so much to a stranger.

'Did you give him my message?' she asked finally.

'Yes'm! I told him about rehearsing his piece for Was.h.i.+ngton's Birthday.' Bennie paused.

'Well?'

'He acted so funny. He turned over to the wall, and cried and cried without any noise.'

'The poor boy! He'll be dreadfully disappointed not to take his part in the exercises.'

Bennie shook his head.

'That isn't for what he cries,' he said oracularly.

Miss Ralston's attentive silence invited further revelations.

'He's _worrying_ about something,' Bennie brought out, rolling his head ominously.

'Why? How do you know?'

'The doctor said so. He told my father downstairs. He said, ”Make him tell, if you can, it may help to pull him off”--no, ”pull him up.”

That's what the doctor said.'

Miss Ralston's thoughts flew back to her last interview with David, two days before, when he had broken down so suddenly. Was there a mystery there? She was certain the boy was overwrought, and physically run down.

Apparently, also, he had been exposed to the weather during the evening when he was taken ill; Bennie's chatter indicated that David had wandered in the streets for hours. These things would account for the grippe, and for the abnormal fever of which Bennie boasted. But what was David worrying about? She resolved to go and see the boy in a day or two, when he was reported to be more comfortable.

On his next visit Bennie brought a message from the patient himself.

'He said to give you this, teacher,' handing Miss Ralston a journal.

'It's yours. It has the pieces in it for Was.h.i.+ngton's Birthday. He said you might need it, and the doctor didn't say when he could go again to school.'

Miss Ralston laid the journal carelessly on a pile of other papers.

Bennie balanced himself on one foot, looking as if his mission were not yet ended.

'Well, Bennie?' Miss Ralston encouraged him. She was beginning to understand his mysterious airs.

'David was awful careful about that book,' the messenger said impressively. 'He said over and over not to lose it, and not to give it to n.o.body only you.'

III

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