"And how is No. 36?" he asked.
She brightened up. "Going on, Sister Ann says, splendidly. Dr. Ramsay operated on him a fortnight after we started, and it was a complete success. The doctors from St. Peter's were over seeing him yesterday, and even they allowed it was splendid."
"And how about the expenses; will the parents pay anything reasonable for board?"
She shook her head. "Mr. Woods says you cannot expect it. You see the children get their education free, very often their dinners free; so why shouldn't they get cured by charity? There isn't much responsibility left to poor parents now-a-days. It--it doesn't pay."
"And Ramsay?" asked Ned with a smile. "I hope his shirts are in decent order."
She flushed up a brilliant carmine. "Has Dr. Ramsay been complaining?" she asked.
"Great heavens above! No!" exclaimed Ned aghast. "Has it come to that?--no--I haven't seen him yet."
"Perhaps you had better ask him yourself," she said coldly. Then she looked at him. "And about yourself, Ned. You've told me nothing."
"Because, dear," he replied lightly, "there is nothing to tell. By the way, have you heard that Aura Graham married my friend Ted Cruttenden on Valentine's Day? You hadn't? Well, it's a fact anyhow; and she has just lost her grandfather."
"Ned!" she cried rising in swift sympathy, "I--I am so sorry."