“It's beautiful,” he remarked a moment later. Under his feet was the velvet grass, the trees arched overhead, and he stood in mottled sunshine. “I wish I could stay for a month.”
“I'll trade places with you,” Al said quickly.
George laughed it off, but he felt a sinking of the heart.
“Look at that oak!” he cried. “And that woodpecker! Isn't he a beauty!”
“I don't like it here,” he heard his brother mutter.
George's lips tightened in preparation for the struggle, but he said—
“I'm going to send Mary and the children off to the mountains. She needs it, and so do they. And when you're in shape, I'll send you right on to join them. Then you can take your summer vacation before you come back to the office.”
“I'm not going to stay in this damned hole, for all you talk about it,” Al announced abruptly.
“Yes you are, and you're going to get your health and strength back again, so that the look of you will put the colour in Mary's cheeks where it used to be.”
“I'm going back with you.” Al's voice was firm. “I'm going to take the same train back. It's about time for that carriage, I guess.”