‘Bless your little heart!’ she was saying as they entered. ‘There’s nothing the matter with the Doctor, my dear. What makes you think such a thing, eh?’
‘You don’t understand,’ said the little fretful voice from the bed. ‘Kit said–Kit said––’
Christopher pushed Jill on one side, and suddenly knew what he had got to do.
‘That’s all right, Babe; I was only rotting,’ he said bluntly, and patted the hot little hand that lay on the counterpane.
The bright, wistful eyes were fixed searchingly on his face. ‘But you’ve sent him wandering seven times round the world,’ she murmured wearily. ‘You said you had, Kit.’
‘It’s all right, Babe,’ said Kit, again. ‘He’s come back now. I’ve just seen him.’
He only partly understood what she was talking about, but he seemed to know how to satisfy her, and the others drew back and left him to do it alone.
‘You’ve seen him?’ asked Babs, wonderingly. ‘But––’
‘You see,’ said Kit, desperately, ‘it doesn’t take long to get round the world seven times, when–when you’ve got a smart little cob like his!’
The worried look faded out of the child’s face, and she smiled for the first time. ‘That isn’t the reason, Kit,’ she told him. ‘It is because he was once a fairy prince.’