Jake stopped, and the old kind smile that once had been so much more frequent lighted his face. "That's right, little pard; you've no call to be," he said. "But I won't have it said that you were brought up in a stable. And I won't have you hanging around with the boys in the yard either. Our language is not your language, and you're not to learn it. Now go and do your duty! I'll take you round the Stables to-morrow."
He bestowed a kindly pat upon Bunny's shoulder, and departed.
Bunny turned round to Maud. "What's the matter with him?" he said.
She sat with her face to the window, her eyes fixed unseeingly upon the sunlit garden. "Nothing that I know of," she said, without moving.
Bunny came to her side. "But, Maud, he isn't always like that, at least he used not to be."
"Like what?" she said.
Bunny was looking at her hard. "You used not to be like this either," he said. "What's happened to you both?"
She gave herself a sharp shake--it was almost like a shudder suppressed--and came out of her reverie. She met Bunny's questioning eyes with a smile.
"My dear boy, nothing has happened. Don't look so suspicious! There! Come and let me look at you! Do you know I hardly know you? You seem so young."
Bunny pushed an arm about her neck, and gave the kiss for which she yearned. "You look years older than you did," he said, with brotherly candour. "I thought you'd get on like a house on fire when you hadn't me to worry you, but you look more down in the mouth than ever."