There was no talk of eyes or hair or anything after Rena sat down beside him. He did not say much, but slept a long time, which was a gain, and we began to hope that the fever would reach the crisis at the end of a week instead of running longer, as we had at first feared. Rena stayed till night, and only left then because Tom insisted that she should go.
“I owe him something,” she said, “and I shall come every day till he is better,” and the next morning she was at her post, looking rather pale and hollow-eyed, but determined and brave.
She had brought Irene’s note received the evening before in the letter telling of Johnnie’s death.
“Don’t show it to him now. Wait till he can sense it,” Tom said.
He was taking the lead in the sick-room and was so strong and masterful that Rex continued to improve, and, greatly to our delight, a few days saw the breaking of the fever and the clearing of the mists which had clouded his brain.
CHAPTER XXI
REX’S EXPERIMENT
Rex was very weak but his mind was clear. The eye was gone, and if he remembered it he never spoke of it, but lay very quiet and seemed very happy when Rena was with him, as she was every day. He never mentioned Irene, but Rena told him at last of Johnnie’s death, and gave him Irene’s note, which he read and then put under his pillow, saying: “I am sorry for her, and there’s nothing to forgive. Tell her so when you write.”
That was all, and Tom felt sure that the chapter of Rex’s life as connected with Irene was closed. “But she will try to reopen it,” he said to Rena. “She’ll be coming here. You’ll see.”
This seemed probable, inasmuch as her trunks were still at Mrs. Parks’, and one day when Rex was able to sit up in bed for an hour or so, Rena received a letter from her saying that her mother was better and she was coming to Oakfield very soon. As Rex had not spoken of her since he received her note, it was with some hesitancy that Rena told him of her intended visit. He was very bright that morning, and was sitting up in bed with his dressing-gown on and with a look of expectation on his face as he waited for Rena, who was later than usual.
“Hallo!” he said, when she came in, “I began to think my head nurse had struck.”