He did—to the uneasiness of Blue.

“Do you want to take him now?” asked Doodles trustingly. “And tell her, please, that I’d have come myself if I could.”

“I don’t b’lieve she’d care anything about hearin’ him,” began Blue, feeling after an excuse.

“Seem’s if anybody would, ’specially if they were sick,” replied Caruso’s master plaintively. “I don’t see how I can comfort folks any other way.”

Blue looked curiously at his brother.

“You seem to be fierce to comfort somebody all of a sudden,” he laughed.

“Of course, I am! Aren’t you?”

“I d’n’ know—why?”

The clear eyes of Doodles met his brother’s squarely. “You remember what the minister said last Sunday?” A touch of surprise was in the query.

Blue’s cheeks turned a deeper red. “Guess I wasn’t payin’ much ’tention,” he admitted honestly.