"Nothing to be done?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No one very good has seen him. He won't let a doctor come near him now."
"Oh rats!" exclaimed Jake Bolton unexpectedly.
She felt her colour rise as he turned his bright eyes upon her.
"You don't say that a kid like that can get the better of you?" he said.
She resented the question; yet she answered it. "Bunny has a strong will. I never oppose it."
"And why not?" He was looking directly at her with a comical smile as if he were inspecting some quaint object of interest.
Again against her will she made reply. "I try to give him all he wants. He has missed all that is good in life."
He wrinkled his forehead for a moment as if puzzled, then broke into a laugh. "Say, what a queer notion to get!" he said.
She stiffened on the instant, but he did not seem to notice it. He leaned towards her, and laid one finger--a short, square fore-finger--on her arm.