234 



money will be well spent ; besides, it will be but taking a 

 dose of the doctor's last prescription." 



At nine o'clock on the following Monday morning we 

 were seated in the cars, ready to start for Arenac. There 

 were but few seats occupied, and we arranged our wraps 

 and shawls so as to have as comfortable a time as possible. 

 Just as we had got nicely fixed, two stout countrymen 

 came and sat down in the next seat behind us. They 

 both took out papers and fell to reading. Soon we started. 

 For the first half-hour we were speeding through the 

 suburbs of the city. Then the houses dwindled away, and 

 the open country with the fields and woods slid like a panora- 

 ma past the windows. At first Robert discovered but little 

 of interest outside of the car ; but the sight of the brown 

 fields and bare woods seemed to bring back memories of 

 his boyhood, and he brightened up and manifested more 

 signs of returning health than I had dared to hope for. 

 After a while he became tired of gazing at the scenery, 

 leaned back, and closed his eyes as if to rest, leaving me 

 to my own devices. As for me I was only too happy to see 

 him, as I fondly imagined, already getting better. Just 

 then the two men behind us finished their reading and 

 began to talk. They had evidently never learned the 

 " car- whisper," and I could hear every word. 



"How's business, Jack?" 



