Page:Lippincotts Monthly Magazine-70.djvu/143

Rh "Oh, you are all right to-day," said the doctor. "Any headache?"

"No, but I have more or less vertigo if I turn over suddenly."

"Then don't turn over. If you keep quiet, you will be about able to go out when we close for repairs on the fourteenth."

"May I ask, my dear doctor, how long I have been here?"

"Since July 4, and this is the 10th." He turned to leave me.

"Indeed! A week. Pardon me if I detain you a moment. What happened to me? I have lost nearly a week. It is an absolute blank."

"You want to know what happened? You started out after a Fourth of July frolic to drive over a bridge with no flooring. You were pretty well set up."

"What! I was drunk! Do they say that?"

"They do. A man tried to stop the horse. He succeeded, but there was a smash, and you got a crack on the head, and he broke his leg. The horse had to be shot, and the wagon was in tooth-picks."

"Well," I said, "this is an amazing tale. I was drunk, you say?"

"Yes, so they say. I wasn't there."

"It strikes me as comical."

"Does it? Your idea of a joke is unusual. Wait till you see the man who let you have his horse."

"I presume, sir, that I can pay for it."

"Well, for a fellow that did what you did that is rather cool. You had better keep quiet. In three days I can let you go."

I said, "Wait a little, doctor; there is some queer mistake. I am—I am George Woodburn, of the banking firm of Woodburn & Caruthers, Wall Street. Where is my purse? It was in my inside breast-pocket. There are cards in it."

"Purse? There was no purse."

"And my watch,—a gold repeater?"

The doctor said, "My good man, you are either off your head a bit or else you are playing a little game. It won't do. I have no time to waste. Best keep still. If you get excited, you will only be the worse for it."

The situation was really so odd that as he moved away I laughed outright. This hurt my head, and I reflected that his last advice was good. I said no more until the nurse came with milk and bread and butter, when I asked her, "Miss Wright, have I been here a week?"

"Yes."

"Was I much hurt?"

"Yes,—a cut on the head and one on the cheek. But you got off pretty well—dislocated thumb and sprained wrist."

"The doctor was in a hurry. He should have heard more patiently what I have to say. He seems to me rather positive."

"Oh, that's because he always knows."