“Oh, yes, much better! He is about again now,” answered young Lady Dumaresq, with a smile in her sweet hazel eyes. “Sit down by the fire, Aunt Mary, and let me take your wraps. Now we will be cosy together over our cup of tea. I want to talk to you about Guy before he comes down. He will never be talked of when he is present. He will tell you he is perfectly well. I wish I could believe it myself!”
“You are anxious still, then?”
“I cannot help being. He keeps so weak, in spite of all we do for him, and he has still a great deal of pain, though he never complains. His heart was affected, you know; it is so often the case in rheumatic fever. The doctors think he will get over it in time; but it is so hard to be patient!”
“Poor children!” said Miss Adene softly. “I have been grieved for you. But the little fellow is well, is he not? You have no anxiety on that score?”
The mother’s face brightened with a soft, sweet smile.
“Oh, the little rogue is as well as possible, and Guy’s great resource when he is ailing! It amuses him by the hour to watch the child at play. And then Ronald has been so good, doing everything indoors and out, so that nobody, I hope, has suffered from the absence of the master’s eye. I think it is quite beautiful, the love between Guy and Ronald! They are more than brothers. Oh, yes, Aunt Mary, I have a great deal to be thankful for!”
“And the summer is before Guy too,” said Miss Adene. “He will make great strides, you will see.”
“Yes, I think so truly; but there is one thing that lies before us—all the doctors say that he must not try another winter in England just yet. I believe now we should have done better to go away in November, as some of them wished; but Guy did not seem fit to move and dreaded the thought so much; and it seemed impossible, and our own man was against it then. But what they all say now is that, if he could get three summers in succession by going away for next winter, he might entirely regain his health; and, of course, for the sake of that we would do anything in the world!”
“Of course! And Guy will probably look forward with pleasure to the thought of the flowers, and sunshine, and blue skies, when he is a little stronger. You know how much I have travelled, and how I enjoy it! I declare I will go with you myself, if you will only ask me, when the time comes!”
Lady Dumaresq clasped her hands in a pretty gesture of delight. Her eyes were bright and sparkling.