At
first I could do nothing but lie flat on my back in a sort of fog,
seeing nothing clearly, thinking not at all. Then came the hours in
which I could do nothing but think, under orders to keep still. Think?
Why, I thought about everything that ever happened, most things that
might happen, and a whole lot that never will. Now comes the third
stage; I can talk better than I can walk. . . . Do you mind listening
while a man raves?"
"Not in the least." She found his mood contagious and, smiling in that
quick, bright way natural to her, showed for a moment the twin dimples
of which together with a host of other things he had had ample time to
think during his bedroom imprisonment. "Please rave on."
"In due course," he mused, "the fourth stage will arrive and I can be
doing something besides talk, can't I? Now let me tell you about the
King's Palace."
"You begin well."
"The King's Palace is where we are going on our first outing. That was
decided three days ago at four minutes after 6 A.M. You and I and, if
you like, Florrie and your kid brother. We'll ride out there in the
very early morning, in the saddle before the stars are gone. We'll
lunch and loaf there all day. For lunch we will have bacon and coffee,
cooked over a fire in one of the Palace anterooms.
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