"Because you have been ill lately, I hear?"
"Did father tell you so? We only got home the night before last, and now he is gone back again."
"Yes, your father told me. I was sorry to hear of your illness. I am glad you are with us, and will not get too tired," said Kathleen.
"Oh, I'm not afraid of walking, though I like riding better. It's just nothing of a run to the station and back, when one is well. I wish father knew that you were giving me a lift home, seeing I haven't the Kelpie. He has been as frightened about me as if I were a girl. Boys are stronger than girls, you know, Miss Mountford, and can stand a great deal more."
"Sometimes, Ralph, not always. Illness affects both pretty much alike."
Ralph pondered Kathleen's reply, as if not altogether satisfied with it, whilst feeling that, as a boy and a gentleman, he ought not to disagree with a lady.
"Were you long ill?" asked Geraldine.
"Nearly all the while we were away. I had a cold and a cough, and then I got worse and stayed in bed, and a nurse came to the hotel to take care of me. Father was in an awful way one day. Nurse says I did not know him, but I can't just believe that. As if I could forget father!"
There was something touching in the way the boy drew himself up and threw back his head, in contempt at such an absurd notion.
"You would not if you were well, dear," said Kathleen, "but older people sometimes forget when they are very ill. They remember again afterwards."