"Finished?" Dr. Lavendar asked.
"No, sir," David said sadly, and started in with a spurt; but the
mound did not seem to diminish, and suddenly his chin quivered. "If
you have to pay for what I don't eat, I'll try," he said; "but my
breast is cold." Reassured on this point, and furtively rubbing his
little chilly stomach, David put down his spoon and slipped out of his
chair, ready to make a night of it. For, supper over, they went to see
a magician!
"I don't know what Mrs. Richie will say to me," said Dr. Lavendar.
"You won't get to bed before ten o'clock!"
"She'll say 'all right,'" said David. Then he added, "The gentleman at
dinner tells lies, or else he's foolish. It would melt before the
heathen got it."
Dr. Lavendar, singing to himself-Hither ye faithful, haste with songs of triumph,-did not hear the morals of his bishop aspersed. He took David's hand,
and by and by they were sitting staring open-mouthed at a man who put
eggs in a pan, and held it over a fire, and took out live pigeons! Oh,
yes, and many other wonders! David never spoke once on his way back to
the hotel, and Dr. Lavendar began to be worried for fear the child was
overtired. He hustled him to bed as quickly as possible, and then sat
down under the far-off chandelier of the hotel bedroom, to glance at a
newspaper and wait until David was asleep before he got into his own
bed. He did not have to wait long for the soft breathing of childish
sleep. It had been poor David's intention to go over in his mind every
single thing he saw the magician do, so that he wouldn't leave out
anything at recess on Monday. Alas, before he could begin to think,
the sun was shining again!
It was Dr. Lavendar who did the thinking before the sunlight came.
Twice, in his placid, wakeful night, he rose to make sure the child
was all right, to pull up an extra blanket about the small shoulders
or to arrange the pillow, punched by David's fist to the edge of the
bed. In the morning he let the little boy look out of the window while
he packed up their various belongings; and when it was time to start,
David could hardly tear himself away from that outlook, which makes
such a mystical appeal to most of us--huddling roofs and chimneys
under a morning sky. But when he did turn to look at Dr. Lavendar,
tucking things into his valise and singing to himself, it was to
realize again the immutable past. "No," he said slowly, "you can't get
back behind, and begin again." Dr. Lavendar, understanding, chuckled.