He raced away over the streets to take a trolley-car for home, having
dismissed the carriage, and craving nothing so much as a long walk in
the cool September night.
At home he found everybody gone to bed except Celia, who met him at the
door. She smiled at him, but he could see that she had been crying.
Although he had carried home a heavy heart, he braced himself to begin
his task of keeping the family cheered up.
"Off all right!" he announced, in a casual tone, as if he had just sent
away the guests of a week. "Splendid train, jolly state-room, porter one
of the '_Yassir, yassir_' kind. Judge and Mrs. Van Camp were taking the
same train as far as Chicago. That will do a lot toward making things
pleasant to start with."
"I'm so glad!" Celia agreed. "How did mother get off? Did her strength
keep up?"
"Pretty well--better than I'd have thought possible after all the fuss
of that last hour. The new doctor braced her up in good shape. He seems
all right. Didn't you like the way he acted? Neither like an old family
physician nor a new johnny-jump-up; just quiet and cool and pleasant.
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