"You've been worried to death about something, haven't you, Nancy? Well, I'm not going to ask you any questions now, only, whenever you feel that you want to, remember that you can tell me anything. Would you rather I went away now and came back later on, when you are less troubled? Is there anything I can do?"
"Oh, don't go away—I mean, it's very nice to see you. Alma has a nurse now, and I think she is going to be better soon—and it's so cheerful to see you!"
"Does Mr. Prescott know of Alma's illness?" he asked, after a moment's hesitation. "I don't think my aunt does. She has just come back. I landed the day before yesterday, and came down here last night. I—I asked her about you all, and she said nothing about Alma's being ill."
"No, I don't suppose Uncle Thomas does know," answered Nancy. "He comes over to see us every now and then, but then again he'll shut himself up for quite a long while, and I don't think he knows what we are doing any more than we know what he's doing."
"You know I'm buying a house here in Melbrook," said Mr. Arnold, rather irrelevantly. "A very nice house—do you know that yellow one, with the white columns and the porte-cochère over on Tindale Road?"
"I do know the one you mean," cried Nancy. "It's a beauty. There's the loveliest old-fashioned garden——"
"That's it—that's the one. I—you're sure you like it?"
For some reason or other Nancy turned pink at this simple question, and tried to stammer a casual reply. Then he went on serenely:
"I expect to have it in pretty good shape in a week or two, and when your sister is better, I'd love to have you and your mother and Alma come over and have tea with me. Aunt Eliza is directing the furnishing and all that—she's quite in her element, but I'd love to have your expert advice too. Heavens, I don't know anything about chintz, and scrim, and all that sort of foolishness."
He chatted along, telling her about his trip, recounting amusing little incidents of the things that had happened on the boat, and completely carrying her thoughts away from her own personal affairs. But after a little while she began to notice that he was really not thinking about what he was saying, that he seemed to have something on his mind, which he was always on the point of saying, and then veered off to something else. All at once he got up and remarked abruptly: