"I think about Willie, tossing in his great ship."
A consuming envy of Willie, the sailor brother, assailed Alfred, but no suitable phrase occurred to him. Fancy continued:
"Most of the time, Alfred, my thoughts are with poor Father. He does miss me."
"I'll be bound he does."
"He enjoys such miserable health. He's a real farrier, doctors horses as well as shoes 'em. And he takes his own medicine. I used to water it down, unbeknown to him."
"Horse medicine? That's moving stuff. Looks as if your thoughts, dear, never rambled far from the family."
"Oh, yes, they do. I think a lot, Alfred, about the future."
This was more encouraging.
"So do I; so do I."
"If anything happened to Father or Willie, where would I be?"