HERBERT IS PATIENT On the second morning after the accident, Herbert, lying stiffly swathed in bandages, opened his eyes in a partly darkened room.

A nurse was standing near a table, and when the injured man painfully turned his head, the doctor, who had been speaking to her, came toward him.
"I think we can let you talk a little now," he said.

"How do you feel ?" Herbert's face relaxed into a feeble smile.
"Very far from happy.

I suppose I've been badly knocked about ?" "I've treated more serious cases, and you'll get over it.

But you'll have to reconcile yourself to lying quiet for a long while." Herbert made no reply to this, but his expression suggested that he was trying to think.
"Has the thing got into the papers ?" he asked.
The doctor was a little surprised; it seemed a curious point for his patient to take an interest in, but he was willing to indulge him.
"It's early yet, but one of the _Courier_ people stopped me as I was driving out and I gave him a few particulars.