"Show me," she said to Tony, holding his arm tightly; and he gently led her on to the verandah and up to the chair Ailleen moved forward for her.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "Thank you;" and then, speaking as though with an effort, she asked, "Who are you?"
"This is Tony Taylor—my—my friend," Ailleen said quickly.
The blind woman nodded slowly in answer, clasping her hands together in her lap and closing her lips tightly.
"You should not have gone out in the sun with only that thin rag over your head," Ailleen said gently to her. "You look knocked up. Shall I——"
"No," Mrs. Dickson interrupted quickly and abruptly. "Where's Willy?"
"He's looking at that rail that is broken," Ailleen answered; and Tony, standing by the steps, caught her eye, and forgot the anger he had felt.
"Shall I call him?" he said softly.
The blind woman's hands clutched one another convulsively, and she sat up in her chair, rigid, with compressed lips and pale cheeks, the staring eyes fixed in the direction whence she had heard Tony's voice.
"Tell him to go away. Tell him to go away," she said hurriedly to Ailleen. "I want Willy. I want my boy. Where is my boy?"