His grand coach was not far away; the driver had kept the horses moving slowly up and down by the canal, nearly all the time the doctor had been in the cottage. Hans went out also. "May God bless you, mynheer!" he said, blushing and trembling. "I can never repay you, but if----" "Yes, you can," interrupted the doctor, crossly. "You can use your wits when the patient wakes again. This clacking and snivelling is enough to kill a well man, let alone one lying on the edge of his grave. If you want your father to get well, keep 'em quiet." So saying, Dr. Boekman, without another word, stalked off, to meet his coach, leaving Hans standing there with eyes and mouth wide open. Hilda was reprimanded severely that day for returning late to school after recess, and for imperfect recitations. She had remained near the cottage until she heard Dame Brinker laugh, until she had heard Hans say, "Here I am, father!" and then she had gone back to her lessons. What wonder that she missed them! How could she get a long string of Latin verbs by heart, when her heart did not care a fig for them, but would keep saying to itself, "Oh, I am so glad! I am so glad!" XXXV BONES AND TONGUES Bones are strange things. One would suppose that they knew nothing at all about school affairs, but they do. Even Jacob Poot's bones, buried as they were in flesh, were sharp in the matter of study hours. Early on the morning of his return they ached through and through, giving Jacob a twinge at every stroke of the school-bell--as if to say "stop that clapper! There's trouble in it." After school, on the contrary, they were quiet and comfortable; in fact, seemed to be taking a nap among their cushions. The other boys' bones behaved in a similar manner--but that is not so remarkable. Being nearer the daylight than Jacob's, they might be expected to be more learned in the ways of the world. Master Ludwig's, especially, were like beauty, only skin deep; they were the most knowing bones you ever heard of. Just put before him ever so quietly, a Grammar-book with a long lesson marked in it, and immediately the sly bone over his eyes would set up such an aching! Request him to go to the garret for your foot-stove--instantly the bones would remind him that he was "too tired." Ask him to go to the confectioner's, a mile away, and _presto!_ not a bone would remember that it ever had been used before. Bearing all this in mind you will not wonder when I tell you that our five boys were among the happiest of the happy throng pouring forth from the schoolhouse that day.