"Very well; go then," returned Aunt Manning. "We can get along perfectly well without you." So he went off laughing and charging them not to allow Mrs. Beltrán to lift a finger.
"Old Betty," said Mrs. Manning as the door closed after him. "As if I don't know how to look after my own niece. A hot crumpet, Katharine, and then another cup of tea. After that you must go up and lie down till dinner time."
There was no use in defying Aunt Manning's orders and Mrs. Beltrán meekly obeyed, but Anita went up with her and sat down in the twilight by her mother's side, after being assured that it was rest and not sleep which was needed.
"It's been so long since we had a real good talk," said the girl, softly stroking her mother's hand. "We have all been so busy, and there has been so much to think about. Tell me about that young man whose eyes are injured. Do you think he will regain his sight?"
"The doctor hopes so," Mrs. Beltrán replied, "though it is a very precarious case. I think they fear the sight of one eye is entirely gone."
"But with one eye it will not be so bad. He will be able to see. There are ever and ever so many persons who do as well as their neighbors, and who have but one eye. I am so interested in him. I don't exactly know why. I suppose because he is more helpless. What is his name? Somehow I haven't liked to ask him, for he evidently thinks I know it, and I've not had a chance to find out."
Mrs. Beltrán was silent a moment before she said: "He has a name which you have often heard. It is not a very common one, yet one hears it in America, too."
"But what is his name? Is there any mystery about it?"
Mrs. Beltrán took Anita's hand in both of hers. "They tell me, dearest, that he is an American," she said after a pause.
"An American? Then how did he come to be in the English army? I thought he didn't speak quite like an Englishman, but then, poor fellow, he is so bandaged up and has been so battered and bruised that no wonder his voice sounds unnatural."