Ottilie entered, anxiously:
"Are you awake, Lot?"
"Yes, Mummy."
"Have you had a sleep?"
"Yes, I'm feeling rather well."
"Oh, Lot, you were so bad yesterday and the day before!... You were delirious and kept calling out ... for your father ... and for Elly.... I didn't know what to do, my boy, and at last ..."
"Well?"
"Nothing. Your cough's bad still, Lot...."
"Yes, I caught cold; we know that; it'll get better ... as soon as I'm out of this confounded country, as soon as I'm in Italy."
"I shouldn't go thinking of Italy just yet."