The days that followed were strange ones for Johnny. At the very beginning, in his enthusiasm for a new and quite wonderful thing, he nearly gave the secret of the thought-camera away.
“Penny for your thoughts!” he said as he met Meggy Strawn on the street the very next day.
“Not for a dollar!” Meg exclaimed.
“All the same, I shall have them!” declared Johnny.
“You never shall!” Meg laughed in his face.
“I have them right now,” Johnny said in a mysterious tone. “I’ll bring them round later.”
He did too. The result was rather surprising. As Meg read her own thoughts, copied by Johnny from the thought picture he had taken, she gave him a startled look. “Why you—” she broke off to stare at him for all the world as if she had never seen him before. For a full moment after that neither of them spoke. When Meg at last broke the silence, it was in a queer small voice.
“Johnny, don’t ever do that again! I don’t know how you did it—you don’t need to tell. But never, never, never do it again!”
“I won’t,” Johnny said soberly. “Here! Shake on it!” Their hands clasped for a space of seconds. Then, without another word, each turned and went his own way.
“Not so good,” was Johnny’s mental comment. “Swell way to lose a good friend.”