But finally he slept. And with the morning youth asserted itself, and he went off to school with new courage to meet whatever might come.
That proved to be nothing unusual. Erminie was there, pale and quiet, but otherwise quite herself. By a subtle understanding that needed no explaining they kept apart. No one seemed to notice them except Jim; at noon he watched Erminie’s every move. At first Billy thought himself over-suspicious; but once when he caught a gleam in Jim’s eye, saw the covert smile on his lips, Billy knew something malicious was brewing; believed that the Kid possessed their secret and only waited his own time to use it—no one could foretell how.
Billy was not very light of heart when he went around after school to Mr. Smith’s town office, and found Dr. Carter there. He wished to talk with Mr. Smith alone, to ask him for employment, for something to do that would be worth good wages at once. He was not skilled of course, but he was strong and quick, able to do a man’s work at hard labor; and with a boy’s optimism he knew he could learn, “Make good from the start.”
Dr. Carter’s genial face and excellent stories, even though Billy knew he had no better friend anywhere, were not welcome to him now. He did not know just how to proceed. He wondered if the two were considering business; though it must be so, since Mr. Smith was a very busy man, and it was still in business hours. And yet they were laughing heartily and had admitted Billy at once.
“Well, what can I do for you, Billy?” Mr. Smith asked cordially. “Jove! It’s time we called you ‘Mr. Bennett,’ you’re such a giant.” Mr. Smith was a short, stout man, and when he stood beside Billy he had to lift his face to look into the boy’s eyes.
The doctor greeted Billy in his quiet, friendly way; and with his firm hand-clasp a quick memory came to Billy of the day, so long ago, when he had found the counterfeiters, and raced to town on his wheel with his secret, not knowing how to tell it till he met the doctor. Again he saw himself, coatless, torn, dusty, freckled, his hair wet and “plastered,” following the immaculate doctor into the grand dining room of the new hotel. After that came the memory of telling his story to the sheriff, and of that awful trip when he led the sheriff and posse up the mountain, through the edge of the forest fire to the counterfeiters’ den. And after that, the rescue of May Nell—
These pictures flashed through his mind during the instant he was returning the doctor’s greeting; and on recalling himself he felt as if he were coming back from a long journey, felt unpardonably abrupt when he tried to state his business to Mr. Smith.
“I came to—I’d like—”
“You’d like a private interview? Is that it?” Mr. Smith prompted.
“The boy’s after a job. Don’t give it to him, Mr. Smith. He’d better play through his vacation; he works hard enough at school to deserve it.” The doctor smiled and rose to go; and Billy wondered how it was that the doctor could “beat a chap’s own thinker to it.” He did not know that the keen, trained sense that enables a skilled physician to read the hidden meaning of every line and tint and pulse of the body, could also reveal to him the meanings the mind writes into voice and eye.