"Would you like a doctor fetched from Vaza?"
"No, no, Andro, by no means. What are you thinking of, to make such a disturbance in the middle of the night? Go to sleep now, down there...."
"Will you try to sleep also then, my 'princie'?" he asked, with the endearing diminutive which in his language sounded like a caress.
Othomar nodded with a smile and suffered him to shake up his pillows after the manner of a nurse.
"What a bed!" muttered Andro. "It might be a monument in a cemetery!..."
Then he lay down again, but did not sleep; he stayed awake. And, when Othomar asked, after an interval:
"Are you asleep, Andro?"
"Yes, your highness," he answered, "nearly."
"Is there anything murmuring in the distance? Is it water or ... or is it my fancy?"
The man listened: