“Are you asleep, Aunt Verna? Here is Frank come to see you.”
At these words her eyes opened with a transient gleam of interest, and her white hand fluttered toward him while she murmured:
“I am glad to see you, Frank. You were always one of my favorites.”
He pressed her hand warmly, uttering words of deep sympathy as he sank into the chair the maid placed for him, then a slight pause ensued.
Mrs. Dalrymple’s eyes rested on the pair sitting side by side, and she said, with gentle interest:
“You have been gone a long time, Frank. Have you had many adventures?”
“None but the burning of my ship in mid-ocean while returning,” he replied, causing Cora to exclaim:
“Good heavens!”
Then he remembered that his betrothed had told him the doctors said that something to take Mrs. Dalrymple’s thought from brooding on herself might prove most beneficial, so he continued:
“You would find it quite a thrilling story if you were not too ill to listen to the telling.”