At first the voice was far away, then nearer, and finally quite near. He had the dim impression that somebody was pulling him up to a sitting posture.
"Yes, that's my name. How did you know it?"
"Why, certainly. Who told you? And what are you doing here. It isn't very respectable. Are you drunk? And so young, too."
"You may call me by my first name, if you want to; but how does it come? Did Femke tell you? It's a real disgrace to lie here like a hog. What were you going to say?"
Walter rubbed his eyes and felt of his head. "I would like to wash myself," he said, not yet wide awake.
"All right," cried Mrs. Claus. "And you're not hurt, are you? Where is your cap?"
"Good! Come to the pump with me." She led him through the house and across the back yard.
"You needn't be afraid to undress here; nobody can see you. But how did you happen to call me by my first name all at once. Not that I'm offended at all."
Walter was still too much asleep to recall what had happened to him during the past few hours; so he only said that he had a headache and must wash himself first.
Mrs. Claus, noticing that he was ashamed to undress, hung some quilts on the fence, thus converting the yard into a sort of room. It never occurred to her that her own presence might embarrass him. Walter was still not quite pleased with the outlook for a bath; but since yesterday he had been thinking of other things as strange.
He began to strip, allowing Mrs. Claus to help him, just as if he had been fifteen years younger than he was. To Mrs. Claus he was only a child.
She laid him on a bench under the spout and began to pump. At the first drops he shivered; then the water flooded his head and shoulders. He could neither see nor speak. His efforts to speak she interpreted as calls for more water.
"Yes, this will be good for you." Her words were drowned by the splashing water.
"You didn't hurt yourself, did you? Do you think that will be enough now? I've pumped till I've got a pain in my side. But if you think that----"
She stopped all at once, but still held on to the pump handle, as if to show her willingness to continue.
"I forgot entirely to"--she began pumping again--"wash you off with green soap. Femke always washes herself with it. It makes the skin nice and smooth.--You ought to see your back now. It shines like a looking-glass."