“No, it can’t be, because you see he doesn’t limp at all!”
The man continued to come straight toward them, though Elmer rather suspected that he was eyeing them closely as he advanced, possibly wondering who and what they were. At least he was no tramp, his appearance indicating more or less refinement; though to be sure he was fairly dripping just then, as though he had borne the full force of the downpour.
“Good evening, boys!” he called out as he drew near. “That fire certainly looks tempting; and if you’ve no objections I’d like to warm up a bit. Beastly storm, wasn’t it? I seem to be pretty damp; but it doesn’t matter; nothing really does when you make your mind up not to worry.”
He held his hands out to the blaze as he finished. Elmer stared at him in a puzzled way. To meet such a light-hearted man after the passage of so dreadful a storm, and away up there in the woods, too, was rather bewildering.
“I suppose you’re all wondering who your unexpected guest will turn out to be, boys,” suddenly said the man, turning and surveying them keenly. “Allow me to introduce myself then as Doctor Frank Hitchens, connected with the State Institute for the Insane. I lost my connection with a party out searching this region for a clever inmate who managed to break away recently. At first I imagined you were my companions in the hunt; but as I drew closer I realized my mistake.”
“Oh! is that so, sir?” exclaimed Wee Willie, impulsively. “Why, we happened to meet your two friends recently. They came knocking at the door of our cabin, and at first thought they’d cornered their man. When they found we were only a party of boys from Chester, camping out, they asked a lot of questions; but we couldn’t give them any clue, of course. So you’re the doctor from the Asylum, are you, sir? If you come over on this side of the fire you can dry off without so much of the smoke striking you.”
“Thank you, son, I’ll do so,” the newcomer replied, suiting action to word.
He seemed to like to talk, as though the sound of his voice might be pleasant to his own ears. Elmer held back and listened, hoping to grasp the situation better by observing the expressions that flitted in succession across the face of Dr. Hitchens.
In the first place, he concluded that the other must be unusually smart, for he seemed to be well posted on every kind of subject. As he spoke, Elmer saw frowns, and then shrewd looks flit across his face; from which he also concluded that the medical man must be the possessor of something of a temper; he really looked like one whom it would be unwise to irritate.
Wee Willie apparently was quite taken with the doctor. He asked various questions, and supplied all the information he had at his command, when the other wished to know this or that.