"Mater, why?"
"Because I shall never be well till I do," she said. "I don't know what it is, but I cannot be still by day, and I cannot rest by night, for thinking of him. Why did I not let you give him something?"
"Mater, I wish to God you had!" the boy said solemnly.
Mrs. Errington did not seem to notice his unusual manner. She was self-engrossed.
"However, we shall see him again, no doubt," she went on. "And then I shall give him something handsome. I know he needs it."
Horace went hastily out of the room. He longed for a wire from Captain Hindford. Next day he "shammed ill," as he called it to himself, so as to get out of going into the Park. So Mrs. Errington went off by herself in a condition of almost feverish anticipation.
"I know I shall see him to-day," she said, as she left Horace.
She returned at lunch-time, and came up at once to his room.
"I have seen him," she said.
Horace sat up, staring at her in blank amazement.