“I guess I’ll tell you some other time. Maybe I can get over it myself.”
“It would be the best way if you could.”
He rose and left her bedside, and then he came back. “Ellen, I’ve got something that I wish you would keep for me.”
“What is it? Of course I will.”
“Well, it’s—something I don’t want you to let Lottie know I’ve got. She tells that Mr. Trannel everything, and then he wants to make fun. Do you think he’s so very witty?”
“I can’t help laughing at some things he says.”
“I suppose he is,” Boyne ruefully admitted. “But that doesn’t make you like him any better. Well, if you won’t tell Lottie, I’ll give it to you now.”
“I won’t tell anything that you don’t want me to, Boyne.”
“It’s nothing. It’s just-a picture of the Queen on porcelain, that I got in The Hague. The guide took me into the store, and I thought I ought to get something.”
“Oh, that’s very nice, Boyne. I do like the Queen so much. She’s so sweet!”