'It's all gone,' he murmured like one speaking to himself.
'What is gone, my darling?' asked Lady Carbis.
'The mists, the cobwebs, the black curtain,' he replied.
I heard her gasp as if in fear. I knew of what she was thinking; but she spoke no word. Instead she continued looking at him with love-lit eyes.
For a few seconds he lay like one thinking, then he rubbed the back of his right-hand across his eyes, and laughed like one amused.
'Oh, little mother,' he said, 'it is good to see you again! Good to know—there kiss me. That's right; it makes me feel as though I were a kid again, and you were putting me to bed like you did in the old days.'
Lady Carbis kissed him eagerly, calling him all sorts of endearing names.
'It's your old mother!' she murmured. 'Are you better, Jack, my darling?'
'Yes, heaps better. Why, there you are, dad! You see I've turned up again. Oh, I am glad to see you!' and he held out his hand.
'Jack, Jack,' sobbed his father, 'tell me you are all right.'