"You'd better not say very much to her. Just say you hope she's feeling all right by now—or something of that sort."
But when they came to the closed door of the girl's room he turned and said: "I'll just go in and prepare her for your visit—if you don't mind?"
Bubbles was lying straight down in bed, for, at her own request, the bolster had been taken away. Her head was only just raised up on the pillow. By the light of the one candle he could see her slender form outlined under the bed-clothes. Her eyes were closed, her features pinched and worn. There was something almost deathly in the look of her little face.
He wondered if she was asleep—if so, it would be rather a relief to him to go outside the door and tell Varick that she mustn't be disturbed. But all at once she opened her eyes widely, and there even came the quiver of a smile over her face.
"Doctor?" she said plaintively. "Doctor, come nearer, I want to ask you a question."
"Yes?" he said. "What is it, Miss Bubbles?"
"I want to ask you," she said dreamily, "why you brought me back? I was beginning to feel so much at home in the grey world. There were such kind people there, waiting to welcome me. Only one friend I felt sad to leave behind----"
"Tut-tut!" he said, a little startled. "You were never anywhere near leaving us, Miss Bubbles."
"I know I was, and you know it, too. But you called me back. Confess that you did!"