Some fear seems to come into the boy's voice. 'Don't ask it, father.'
'I shall go on worrying about it if I don't—but just as you like, Dick.'
'Go ahead, father; ask me.'
'It is this. Would you rather be—here—than there?'
After a pause the boy says, 'Not always.'
'What is the great difference, Dick?'
'Well, down here one knows he has risks to run.'
'And you miss that?'
'It must be rather jolly.'
'Did you know that was what I was to ask?'