I think somebody snickered.
"Can you show us?"
"Yes," I said cautiously.
I began to adjust the dials. Again the amusement park flickered over the ground glass, as seen through my eyes. I was in line. I put my money on the counter to buy a ticket. I saw a slim white hand reach up to the window from my left and I started to turn. Then it hit me!
That gorgeous blonde! That girl who had thrown her arms around me in the car a minute later. That was Swanberg's wife.
I looked around at them in the court-room. I knew what was happening on the screen. I hadn't looked at her face until she got into the car after me. Mrs. Swanberg was leaning over, now, watching the screen. One arm was slipped through the landlord's elbow and she was surreptitiously but affectionately patting the back of his hand. Swanberg himself looked completely blissful. What had she been out there alone for, that night? Well, no telling. Maybe he'd been out of town and she'd felt like doing something childish. Certainly there was no meanness or deceit in her face. She was in love with him. And he, in spite of all his austerity, was obviously in love with her.
I looked out the window. There was no doubt that the fame of the Brain-Finder by now would be all over town. Within a week we'd be flooded with work—high-priced work. We'd take only the very best cases, the highest priced, the least messy. We'd pay the rent. We'd eat in restaurants instead of carrying sandwiches. In another three months we'd be rolling in money—and almost without work. If we wanted to work hard with the Brain-Finder, we'd make millions. I could maybe find myself the right kind of girl to marry.
I looked back at the screen. I had just settled myself in the seat of the roller-coaster car. A pink dress came into my field of vision on the right. Yes, sir, this demonstration would do it. This, and those to follow. Whatever Judge Monday might say, there would be an appeal, and we'd have to take the thing to the Supreme Court, and how could any judge ignore it if Slim could show the judge himself working on his pet corn the night before? We were about to be what is vulgarly but happily known as "in the bucks."
What would happen to Swanberg? I remembered how I'd always pictured his wife as unattractive, and all of a sudden it made me feel kind of ashamed. He had certainly shown good taste in his choice of a wife.