Zay was nothing loth. They talked of next summer, the elder brother regretting that he would be in Japan in all probability. Then they said a tender good-by, and on the homeward way Willard proposed a call on the Norton’s where there were two charming girls and a few other guests who were having a little dance.
“Oh, yes,” assented the young midshipman. “For you see, girls will be quite out of my line the next three years. I shall sigh for their charms and return a critical and opinionated bachelor, judging all girls by the novels I have read in my solitude.”
“I think I’ll make you out a list,” said Eva Norton, laughingly.
“Do, and send it in a letter with your approval and disapproval of the characters so I shall know what to copy and what to avoid.
“And now you must have one dance.”
Zay thought it rather late, but her brother overruled and they had a merry time, but it was midnight before they returned.
Major Crawford and his wife often had their breakfast in the dainty sitting room up stairs. Zay just glanced in to bid them good-morning as Willard was impatiently calling her down. She had not slept very well and had a headache, and she would not go out for a walk with him. She heard her father reading the paper aloud, so she went to her room and dropped on the bed again. Her throat began to feel sore and swollen. When she heard the doctor’s voice in the hall she leaned over the banister and said: “Dr. Kendricks will you come up here a minute or two?”
“Yes, yes, what now? Did you feast too high yesterday?”
“I don’t know. I feel sick all over. First I’m all of a shiver and then so hot and my head aches.”
“Well, we must inquire into it. Yes, you are flushed and getting excited. I think it is a feverish cold and some indigestion. We’ll soon fix that all right. Luckily I brought my medicine chest along,” and he laughed.