"Delightfully!" he answered, drawing to the rail; and so they went down very silently with the width of the stairs between them.
CHAPTER XIII
WHEREIN MAY BE FOUND SOME PARTICULARS OF THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF PERHAPS
Mrs. Bowker was a small woman, worn and faded like her carpets and curtains and the dress she wore, but, like them, she was very clean and neat.
"'T is real good of you to come, Miss Hermy," said this small, faded woman, and Ravenslee thought her very voice sounded faded, so repressed and dismally soft was it. "I wouldn't have had the face t' send for you, Miss Hermy, only Hazel calls an' calls, like she's doin' now—listen!"
And sure enough from somewhere near by a small voice reached them, pitifully faint and thin: "Hermy dear, come t' me—oh, Hermy dear!"
"She allus lays an' calls like that lately when her poor hip's worse 'n usual," sighed Mrs. Bowker. "And your gentleman friend—would he like t' see her too?"
"Thank you, I should," answered Ravenslee in his soft, pleasant voice.
"Oh, Mrs. Bowker, this is Mr. Geoffrey," said Hermione a trifle hurriedly, "he came with me to—to—"