"What does what mean, my darling?"
"Why, this funny noise here"—touching his head.
"It means that your poor head aches."
"Oh! but it means something else; it's a sort of rushing and singing noise, always rushing and singing. What is it like? Do help me to remember!"
Sir Everard racked his brain to satisfy the poor little questioner, but to no purpose.
"You're not trying, father," said the little fellow peevishly.
Sir Everard wondered to himself whether the child could be thinking of the rushing of water in the ears described by people rescued from drowning, and answered—
"Is it like the sound of water?"
"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Humphrey; "it's like the sound——," he stopped, and then added, "of many waters."