I cut at a nettle with my walking-stick.

"He is growing, of course."

The doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Then you have noticed nothing else—nothing in his demeanour or conversation—or friends?"

I abandoned my defences.

"Yes, I have noticed it, and I cannot understand it—and I am sorry for it."

"When does he return to school?"

"To-morrow."

The doctor appeared to be thinking. In a minute he looked into my face.