'As I told you, we old people slip from under the stroke. It's you I'm afraid for. Have you cried yet?'
'I can't. It only makes me angry with the Germans.'
'That's sheer waste of vitality,' said Miss Fowler. 'We must live till the war's finished.' She opened a full wardrobe. 'Now, I've been thinking things over. This is my plan. All his civilian clothes can be given away--Belgian refugees, and so on.'
Mary nodded. 'Boots, collars, and gloves?'
'Yes. We don't need to keep anything except his cap and belt.'
'They came back yesterday with his Flying Corps clothes'--Mary pointed to a roll on the little iron bed.
'Ah, but keep his Service things. Some one may be glad of them later. Do you remember his sizes?'
'Five feet eight and a half; thirty-six inches round the chest. But he told me he's just put on an inch and a half. I'll mark it on a label and tie it on his sleeping-bag.'
'So that disposes of that,' said Miss Fowler, tapping the palm of one hand with the ringed third finger of the other. 'What waste it all is! We'll get his old school trunk to-morrow and pack his civilian clothes.'
'And the rest?' said Mary. 'His books and pictures and the games and the toys--and--and the rest?'