After luncheon or dinner, whatever that meal might be called in camp, Percy got out his motor cycle and proceeded to the Antler’s Inn to ask for news of Phoebe’s father. Ben took the trail to Indian Head and Billie and Dr. Hume went down to the village in the motor car to drum up a search party or find guides to help them scour the mountains. In neither attempt were they in the least successful.
On the way down the mountain, Billie decided to unburden herself of something that had been on her mind for a long time.
“You have never seen Phoebe’s father, have you, Dr. Hume?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Have you ever heard of a case like his? I mean forgetting one’s past.”
“Oh, yes. I have seen a number of cases. The patient usually loses his memory altogether in time and goes insane.”
“But he’s not insane, doctor. He’s not even going insane. Really and truly, except about always trying to find a physician, his brain is as clear as anybody’s.”
The doctor smiled. He liked this earnest, enthusiastic girl who was always doing things for other people and modestly disclaiming credit. There was something masculine in her disregard for small things and the largeness of her views.
“A very nice man has instilled her with extremely big ideas about life,” he reflected. “She is furthermore a wholesome, healthy young creature with a high order of intelligence and a very warm, tender heart.”
So much engaged was he in his diagnosis of Billie’s character that he had almost forgotten the subject of the conversation when she spoke up again rather timidly.