"Yes, yes. She was very beautiful, doctor, wasn't she? Too beautiful, I fancy; I should have reckoned on that."
His dull, passionless voice jarred on the old man terribly.
"See, lad, you must pull yourself together. The child is alive; keep up heart for the bairn's sake."
"The child? What do I want with the child? It is Kate I want."
"A boy, too—you always wanted a boy, you know," went on the other, not heeding Griff's fretful interruption.
The door stood open, and Griff, looking out across the moor, saw the crimson sun sinking into a grey bank of haze.
"We shall have snow to-night," he said, and glanced at the doctor as if prepared to meet dissent with argument.
"Yes, I fancy we shall—a heavy fall, too."
Griff straightened his shoulders presently, and held out his hand.