All these Mrs. Billings hid carefully in her upper bureau drawer and proceeded to dress. When at length she awakened Mr. Billings, he yawned, stretched, and then, realizing that getting-up time had arrived, hopped briskly out of bed.
“You got in late last night,” said Mrs. Billings pleasantly.
If she had expected Mr. Billings to cringe and cower she was mistaken. He continued to dress, quite in his usual manner, as if he had a clear conscience.
“Indeed I did, Mary,” he said. “It was three when I entered the house, for the clock was just striking.”
“Something must have delayed you,” suggested Mrs. Billings.
“Otherwise, dear,” said Mr. Billings, “I should have been home much sooner.
“Probably,” said Mrs. Billings, suddenly assuming her most sarcastic tone, as she reached into her bureau drawer and drew out the patent nursing-bottle, “this had something to do with your being delayed!”
Mr. Billings looked at the nursing-bottle, and then he drew out his watch and looked at that.
“My dear,” he said, “you are right. It did. But I now have just time to gulp down my coffee and catch my train. To-night, when I return from town, I will tell you the most remarkable story of that nursing-bottle, and how it happened to be in my pocket, and in the mean time I beg you—I most sincerely beg you—to feel no uneasiness.”
With this he hurried out of the room, and a few moments later his wife saw him running for his train.