"Priscilla!" she exclaimed in astonishment, "why that's my own name! Priscilla Grant I was before I married. Whatever made you think of that?"
Bert did not explain what had caused him to ask the question. Indeed, he was too much surprised at her reply to find anything to say. Such an extraordinary idea had come into his head. What if Mrs. Kay were Mr. Corney's sister after all! Suppose she were his sister, and he had not known her!
Bert fervently hoped that Mr. Corney would come in ere Mrs. Kay was taken back to her own ward. But the thing he so much wished did not come to pass. Contrary to his expectation, the old sailor did not appear that afternoon, and Bert feared that ere the next "visitors' day," Mrs. Kay would have left the hospital.
It was so. Two days later she came into his ward to bid him good-bye. She looked wretchedly ill and tremulous. Indeed, she declared that she felt "all of a shake," and far more fit to be in bed than to be going abroad.
"But they say that I'm better, and shall get on, all right now, if I'm careful, so I suppose it must be so; but I can't help wishing I'd died, for I'm sure my life isn't worth living."
And remembering what he had seen of her life when they had lived under the same roof, Bert was inclined to agree with her; but he was very sorry for her, nevertheless, and would have said something to cheer her if he could. Nothing occurred to him, however, except to say, "Don't talk that way, Mrs. Kay. You'll feel better when you get home. I'll come and see you when I get out of the hospital, if you'll let me."
But she shook her head at the suggestion, and though she bade Bert good-bye with more kindness of manner then she often displayed, she departed without telling him where she lived.
On the following afternoon, the ward was full of visitors, and Bert looked for his friend, Mr. Corney, to make his appearance, but for a while he was disappointed. In despair, he was beginning to persuade himself that his friend must be ill, when, almost at the expiration of the visitors' time, the old sailor appeared at the door of the ward.
Bert uttered an exclamation of joy as he caught sight of him; but as his friend drew nearer, the boy's feelings changed. For something had evidently gone wrong with Mr. Corney. He did not look like himself. His cheerful, beaming expression was gone.
He looked pale and worn and heavy-hearted. His very walk was different. He had passed for an old man before, but a brisk and sprightly one. Now, however, he seemed aged, and bowed by some infirmity, mental or physical.