“Yes,” said Saxa maliciously, “when I could have set him right with some embrocation and a bit of flannel bandage.”
“Glad the old man’s better,” cried Dana. “Here, you people look white and worried. Order out the horses and come for an hour’s ride.”
“Would you like to go, Isabel?” asked Neil.
“I? Oh, no,” cried the girl hurriedly.
“What a baby you are, Bel!” said Saxa contemptuously. “You’ll come, Neil?”
“I should like a ride,” he replied, “but it is impossible to leave home.”
“Next time I ask you there will be a different answer,” said the girl sharply. “Don’t ask Alison, Dan,” she continued, turning to her sister. “He is going to be a good boy too, and stop and see his papa take his barley-water.”
“Is he?” said Alison gruffly. “Perhaps he was not going to wait to be asked. There is no occasion for me to hang about at home, Neil?”
“N-no, I think not. You can do nothing.”
“I’ll be ready in five minutes, then, girls.”