"What, dear? The sea?"
"Yes. The music and the colour and the vastness of it. I can hardly wait until I can go."
There was a long silence. "Why didn't you tell me?" asked the old man. "There would have been some way, if I had only known."
"I don't know, Daddy. I think I've been waiting for this way, for it's the best way, after all. When I can walk and you can see, we'll go down together, shall we?"
"Yes, dear, surely."
"You must help me be patient, Daddy. It will be so hard for me to lie here, doing nothing."
"I wish I could read to you."
"You can talk to me, and that's better. Roger will come over some day and read to me, when he has time."
"He was with me yesterday, while——"
"I know," she answered, softly. "I asked him. I thought it would make it easier for you."