"No, no. I mean it has seemed an infernal long time since the 'Comet'

pulled up down there in the road and you lagged behind."

"Not ten minutes."

"I guess it would have seemed long to you if you had been sitting here since eight A. M. watching every vehicle that pa.s.sed. Not long ago a big black car stopped down there and I was pretty sure it had come to fetch me."

He gave her one of his ingratiating smiles.

"Who was it?" asked Billie.

"I don't know. They saw the doctor for a minute and then went on. But I don't want to talk about them. Why didn't you hurry?"

"I always heard that sick men were children," laughed Billie, "and I can see that you are quite ill because you are such a child. We shall take you home now and feed you up on cream and eggs, providing we can get any."

Billie was glad to see Dr. Hume again. They clasped hands like old comrades. There was a peculiar radiance in his brown eyes as he looked at her.

"You've had a great honor paid you, Miss Billie," he said.

"What in the world?"

"The G.o.ds have chosen you to turn their mills a while and you are turning them pretty fast, I can tell you."

CHAPTER XX.

A LONG SLEEP.

The song of the "Comet's" motor broke the stillness of the afternoon some ten days later as he cheerfully pushed upward on the Indian Head road. Mr. Campbell was at the wheel and beside him sat Billie, glancing up at him from time to time with eyes full of loving devotion. On the back seat was Phoebe, silently contented beside Richard Hook, and the other occupant was Alberdina Schoenbachler, that absurd little hat perched atop her big smiling face.

There had been many days of anxiety and suspense for the people at Sunrise Camp. It was impossible not to feel deeply interested in the strange things that were transpiring in the little cabin on Indian Head.

The two young surgeons had arrived; a tent had been pitched alongside the cabin, and one morning early the operation was performed. Since that time the patient had lain in a stupor. And now Dr. Hume had sent Mrs. Lupo, tamed and domestic, to take Alberdina's place at the camp, and Alberdina was to come at once to the cabin. Mrs. Lupo could give no reason; that was all the message stated, except that the patient was doing well.

The doctor went down the path to meet them, when the car stopped under the brow of the hill. He shook hands with Richard Hook, patted Phoebe on the cheek, and said:

"Hang on to your faith, little girl. It's a wonderful reservoir to draw on."

Then he grasped hands with Mr. Campbell, whom he had met several times now and liked immensely, nodded to Alberdina, and drawing Billie's arm through his, marched on ahead.

"Anybody might think my little girl was a consulting physician,"

remarked Mr. Campbell, amused at the earnest conversation the young girl and the great surgeon had plunged into,--and proud, too, that it should be so.

"Oh, they have lots of secrets from us, Mr. Campbell," replied Richard Hook. "Miss Billie is confidential adviser to the doctor. I don't believe he takes a step without consulting her first."

"Wise man," answered Billie's father. "He'll get some good sound advice, if not entirely professional."

In the meantime, Billie was saying:

"Oh, doctor, what has happened? Is he conscious? Has he spoken? Does he recognize anyone?"

"How could he, child, when there is no one for him to recognize?

Recollect that in coming to, the man has taken up the thread of his life of eighteen or twenty years ago. I would not trust him to see Phoebe at this point. Only the faces of strangers are safe for him for the time being."

"And the stranger never came back who inquired about him that day?"

"No. I told him two weeks would be safer. There is no doubt the man was a personage of some sort. His companion said, 'Yes, Excellency,' as they went down the path. I suppose he's got some kind of a t.i.tle."

"Did he seem excited?" asked Billie.

"I could hardly say excited. He appeared a good deal moved by the story of Phoebe and her father. He asked me if any money was needed."

"Of course you said 'no'?" observed Billie.

"I did. It's my turn now. His turn may come later. I explained to him that any excitement or sudden recognition immediately after the operation might prove fatal or disastrous, and he took himself off. But I consider that Phoebe's father is practically identified."

"Is he conscious?" asked Billie with subdued excitement.

"Not only conscious, but, my dear child, what do you think? Speaking German; not English."

Billie gasped.

"That's why you wanted Alberdina."

"Yes, I needed someone who could speak with him, and a servant would be excellent; better, really, than an educated German. Just now the man's mind is in terrible confusion. He is back in another country somewhere, but he is holding his own, and if he can get over the shock which must come when he links his past with his present, I believe we need have no fear for his reason; but it will be a pretty ticklish moment."

The doctor looked down into Billie's eager, earnest face, and his eyes were filled with admiration.

"Oh, doctor," she exclaimed, "you are so wonderful. Next to Papa, the most wonderful man I have ever met. Richard and I----"

"What!" interrupted the doctor, smiling, "do you mean to say that that young whipper snapper, with his Gypsy notions and his clever tongue, has already photographed himself on your mind? I should never have bathed and bound his wounds if I had guessed it."

"You know you would," laughed Billie, blushing a little. "But he's only a comrade."

The doctor looked into her eyes again.

"That's what they all should be, Miss Billie," he said. "Comrades. And if I were only fifteen years younger, I should be looking for just such a comrade as you."

"But I am your comrade," protested the young girl. "Just as much as Richard's. I'm proud to be. It's the greatest honor that's ever been paid to me."

"Oh, to be young again," sighed the doctor with a humorous lift to his eyebrows. "Oh, to be young, like young Richard, there. But I must remember that I am a very busy middle-aged person with an extremely interesting patient to pull through. I trust he'll thank me for the job."

"Don't you honestly believe he is some distinguished person?"

"I couldn't say, little comrade, but I could guess that he's no ordinary one."

They had reached the cabin now. The others had come up, and they all stood outside talking in low voices. After a brief word with Alberdina, Dr. Hume conducted her into the little room where the Motor Maids and their friends had once found refuge. From the doorway, Billie could see the silver candlesticks on the mantel shelf. Mrs. Lupo had kept them brightly polished and they lent a strange charm and refinement to the bare apartment. Phoebe crept in and knelt outside her father's door.