Sheridan pushed a bell-button on his desk. "Gurney said two months
more would put you back where you were. You go home and begin to get
yourself in the right 'mental attitude' before those two months are
up! Good-by!"

"Good-by, sir," said Bibbs, meekly.



CHAPTER X

Bibbs's room, that neat apartment for transients to which the
"lamidal" George had shown him upon his return, still bore the
appearance of temporary quarters, possibly because Bibbs had no
clear conception of himself as a permanent incumbent. However,
he had set upon the mantelpiece the two photographs that he owned:
one, a "group" twenty years old--his father and mother, with Jim
and Roscoe as boys--and the other a "cabinet" of Edith at sixteen.
And upon a table were the books he had taken from his trunk: Sartor
Resartus, Virginibus Puerisque, Huckleberry Finn, and Afterwhiles.
There were some other books in the trunk--a large one, which remained
unremoved at the foot of the bed, adding to the general impression
of transiency. It contained nearly all the possessions as well as
the secret life of Bibbs Sheridan, and Bibbs sat beside it, the day
after his interview with his father, raking over a small collection
of manuscripts in the top tray. Some of these he glanced through
dubiously, finding little comfort in them; but one made him smile.
Then he shook his head ruefully indeed, and ruefully began to read it.
It was written on paper stamped "Hood Sanitarium," and bore the title,
"Leisure."