'How do you think your uncle looks to-day, my dear?' the old lady asked Lucy when they had got him safely back to the lodge, and had put him in his great armchair, and given him some wine.
There was a shade of anxiety in her voice as she asked the question. Lucy hadn't seen the Master for a week, so she might have been expected to notice any change in him.
'Oh, I think he looks lovely, aunt! He walked back from chapel quite strong.'
Mrs. Rae shook her head; she was not quite convinced.
'There were two of us supporting him, my dear, one on either side, and I thought he leant rather heavily.'
He had nearly crushed the poor little soul into the ground; she could not have supported his weight a dozen steps more.
'Perhaps you are not so strong yourself to-day, auntie dear; you are looking pale. Most likely the weakness is yours, and you are not so well able to bear his weight. He always leans heavily; I often wonder how you and Mary can keep him up!'
'Perhaps so, my dear. I hope it may be so!' But still the cloud on the dear old face did not quite vanish. 'I fancied that his reading in chapel was slower to-day than usual—that his voice was weak. Did you notice it?'
'Oh yes; I noticed that he read lovely! I never heard him read so well as he read to-day.'
'You really think so? I am very glad! The fault must be in me. I don't think I am quite so strong to-day—I can't expect to be at my age; but I am very glad there is nothing unusual the matter with the Master. You would have been quite sure to have noticed it, my dear, if there had been, as you haven't seen him for a week.'