"She is as well as can be expected," said Janet gravely. "If she had
nothing to worry her mind she would be better in health," and she sighed.

Janet did not explain what this worry was, and even Jess, blunt-spoken as
she often was, could not ask pointblank what serious trouble Mrs. Steele
had on her mind.

Again the Central High girls went in to see the invalid upon Janet's
invitation. They found Bobby Hargrew there before them. Harum-scarum as
Bobby was, nobody could accuse her of lack of sympathy; and she had already
learned that her fun and frolic pleased the invalid. Bobby did not mind
playing the jester for her friends.

Of course, the strange man at the hospital was the pivot on which the
conversation turned.

"Were you there, too, to inquire about him?" asked Mrs. Steele of Janet.

Laura noticed a certain wistfulness in the invalid's tone and look; but she
did not understand it. Merely, Mother Wit noted and pigeonholed the remark.
Janet said practically:

"I can't help feeling an interest in him, as I helped him that evening he
was hurt."

"But have they learned nothing about him?"

"Only that the hundred-dollar bill he gave Chet is probably all right,"
laughed Jess Morse.