"I have forgotten it," Jake assured him. "Don't you fret now!"
Bunny burrowed into his shoulder. "You're so beastly good to a fellow. But you're right--quite right--about the hiding. I only wish you could give me one. It's just that I want."
"No--no!" Jake said tenderly. "I wouldn't lay a finger on you."
"You would if I were sound," protested Bunny, strangling a sob.
But Jake shook his head. "No, sonny, no! I was wrong. It ain't the treatment for a soft-hearted little chap like you. I've been used to dealing with roughs, and I'm rough myself. I try not to be; but there it is. You've sensed it, and so has Maud. But--I say it now, and I'll stick to it--I'll never use violence to you as long as I live."
"Jake, old boy, that's rot!--I--I like you to smack my head sometimes," blurted forth Bunny, still in accents of distress.
Jake laughed a little. "Well, maybe, I'll do that now and then, seeing we're brothers." He was rubbing the head with a caressing hand as he spoke. "You know, I've got a sort of liking for you, little pard; and I want you to grow up a man."
"How can I?" said Bunny very bitterly.
"It ain't the body that makes the man," said Jake gently. "Physical conditions don't matter two cents. Reckon if you were to be a cripple all your days, you could still be a great man. But, please God, you won't be a cripple always. My friend Capper--you've heard me talk of him--he's coming over from the States, and maybe he'll be able to put you right. We'll give him the chance, eh, Bunny? We'll get him anyway to come along and look at you."
Bunny's frail body had begun to tremble. He held very fast to Jake's arm. "Oh, Jake!" he whispered.