“He has been shut up here for more than two weeks,” she said, “and he ought to get a breath of fresh air. You go right out, Bob, and stay as long as you want to. There’s one of those mesmerizin’ men at the hall to-night and if I was you I’d go and see him. They tell me he’s somethin’ wonderful. Taylor Hadley told me that he saw this same man over to Hyannis last week and the things he done were nothin’ short of miraculous. He put a boy to sleep right on the stage and then stuck pins in him just as if he was a--a cushion or somethin’. Taylor said it was the funniest thing _he_ ever saw. He laughed till he thought he’d die.” Old Mr. Cook stirred impatiently in the bed. “_Must_ have been funny, especially for the boy,” he observed. “It isn’t such a great trick to stick pins in people, seems to me. Bob doesn’t need to go to the town hall for that. Suppose I stick a few in you right now, Sarah; then we can all have a good time.” The housekeeper did not accept the suggestion. She tartly explained that the boy was mesmerized and didn’t know anything about it. “Anyhow,” she declared, “Bob doesn’t have to go to the show unless he wants to. But he ought to go out somewhere. He needs the fresh air and exercise after bein’ shut up in this house as long as he has.” “He hasn’t been shut up in it any longer than I have.... Oh, well, well! never mind. Stop arguing, for heaven’s sake! Where are you going, Bob?” Bob thought he might go for a walk, or a drive, perhaps. “Where are you going to drive?” “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps over to Harniss, or thereabouts.” “Harniss! Humph! You go to Harniss a lot lately, seems to me. Can’t paint pictures in the night, can you?... Oh, well, go ahead! go ahead!... Say, if you see Foster Townsend you tell him for me that he better be saving up his money. He’s going to need a good many dollars to pay the bill the Supreme Court will hand him pretty soon. He, he! I’m going to get him this time and I only hope he’s beginning to realize it.” The housekeeper cautioned him to be quiet. “The doctor said you mustn’t talk or even think about that lawsuit,” she protested. “You want to get well, don’t you?” “Who said I wasn’t going to get well? You don’t suppose I’ll be fool enough to die until I win that case, do you?... Oh, do shut up! Bob, go, if you want to. Don’t stay too long, that’s all. And come in here and see me when you get back. I’ll be awake. Nobody is going to mesmerize _me_ and stick pins in me.... Clear out!” Bob “cleared out,” glad of the opportunity to escape. The Cook horse never made better time than during that evening’s trip to Harniss.