“And billiards? We’ll wait for a wet day, because I want you to live in the open air as much as possible. I can’t play decently, but Captain Garrett is staying here, and Jim and Wally come over pretty often.”
“You might let me teach you to play,” he suggested. “Would you care to?”
“Oh, I’d love it,” said Norah, beaming. The beam, had he known it, was one of delight at the new ring in her patient’s voice. Life had come back to it: he held his head erect, and his eyes were no longer hopeless.
“And riding?” she hesitated.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t believe I could even get on.”
“There’s a steady old pony,” Norah said. “Why not practise on him? He stands like a rock. I won’t stay and look at you, but Con could—you see he’s lost a leg himself, so you wouldn’t mind him. I’m sure you’ll find you can manage—and when you get confidence we’ll go out together.”
“Well, you would put hope into—into a dead codfish!” he said. “Great Scott, if I thought I could get on a horse again!”
Norah laughed.
“We’re all horse-mad,” she said. “If I were—like you, I know that to ride would be the thing that would help me most. So you have just got to.” They had arrived at the stables, where Con had the car out and was lovingly polishing its bonnet.
“Con, can you teach Captain Hardress to drive?”