“Lots more, but it’ll keep.
“Yours,
“Richard Richard.
“On second thoughts you’d better stand by in N. Y. until I ’phone you, which means that you’re to pay the train fare to Penn Yan. But amn’t I after getting you free wittles for a month? And you know, Jawn, there has been days when free wittles was not to be sneezed at!”
With the characteristic directness of an egoist who knows what he wants, Richard lost no time in searching for Mrs. Wells. He found her in her accustomed place in the lee of the bridge. She was propped up with more than the usual number of cushions, and the pallor of her face struck him instantly.
“My dear lady!” He sat beside her, his voice genuinely sympathetic. “Don’t tell me you are succumbing now, after going through the main part of the voyage.”
“I am never seasick,” she said, with an imitation of her old firmness; “just a little weariness, that’s all.... That’s a good boy——” He was tucking her in dexterously. “You are making me very fond of you.”
“Of course I am,” he cheered her; “it’s a plot.”
“You remind me of what I’ve missed by being so independent all my life. Sit down. You’re not going to run away just because I look a little seedy, are you?”
He sat down on the foot-rest of her chair.
“Here I sit, your squire to command,” he joked.