"And is that the reason you asked me if I had seen him?"
"Yes, that and the fact that he didn't appear to be well."
"I don't understand it. Why, he has joked with me all my life, sick or well. It hurts me." And, after a slight pause, he added: "I wonder if he turned on George, too."
"It wouldn't seem so, for as he was going out of the breakfast room he put his hand on brother's shoulder and leaned on him."
Bodney came in at that moment, and, looking about, asked if they had seen Goyle. As he was going out, Howard called him.
"Oh, George, just a moment. Have you noticed anything strange about father this morning?"
And Bodney was master of himself when he answered: "Nothing much. Only he didn't seem to be as well as usual. It will pass off. I wonder where that fellow is?" He strode out, and they heard him talking to Goyle in the hall.
"Put his hand on George's shoulder and leaned on him," Howard mused, aloud. "Then he is not well. George knows it and doesn't want to distress me by telling me. Did he sit up late?"
"No. Mr. Bradley had to go early, and just as he was taking his leave brother stepped in and asked your father to help him with an important matter—some abstract of title, or something of the sort, and they went out and he didn't come back. I don't want to distress you, but your mother said that he walked the floor nearly all night."
"Did she? And George knows more than he is willing to tell. But why do they try to shield me? It would be all right to shield mother if anything were wrong, but if there's a burden, I ought to help bear it."