When they arrived home, Jean's first question was about Sunnie. Mrs. Gordon answered her gravely—
"She is better. She has now gone to sleep. Dr. Fergusson has been to see her, and has just left."
Jean went to her room. There she sat down by her fire, and went into a reverie, from which she did not rouse herself till it was time to dress for dinner. The Fergusson family were engrossing her thoughts at present.
"I wish I could know Mrs. Fergusson. And I should like to see the doctor in his own home. He seems unapproachable, unless in Sunnie's company. I am sure he is truly good; but then most of my friends are that. I am sure that Colonel Douglas and Miss Lorraine are. And Mrs. Fergusson has a way of asking the same kind of questions that they do. 'Round what or whom does my life centre?' Round myself. I can answer that easily enough. But the answer would not please her. I wonder if it would the doctor. I think I shall try to get his opinion on the subject."
This idea she carried out a day or two afterwards. She was painting Sunnie, and he had been at the piano carrying them through flights of fancies till Sunnie hardly realised where she was.
"Come back to earth, Sunnie," Jean said, laughing. "You look too far away for me to paint. I shall have to get a telescope to see you with."
"Like the stars," said Sunnie dreamily. "I should like to float through the sky on a star, wouldn't you?"
"I think I should prefer the moon," said Jean; "a new moon would be most comfortable."
"The moon turns round the earth, doesn't it?" asked Sunnie, bent on getting information.
"Yes," replied the doctor; "the moon is our satellite. Do you know what a satellite is?"