"This is good of you, auntie, to come and meet me. I didn't expect it."
"As if I wouldn't!"
She kissed him again warmly, and the nature of this second embrace conveyed to him the knowledge that something was amiss.
"What's wrong, Dido? Anything happened?"
"It's your father, Roger—he's ill."
"Ill! Why didn't you cable?"
"I did, to your Chicago address, three days ago."
"It should have been Marconied to the boat. What's the matter with him?"
"Typhoid fever, my dear. We've been rather distressed."
His face grew serious.