"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.
"It is a good thing, on the whole," he said, adding slowly.
"Don't drive the boy; let him forget."
He drove away, and I looked after him in some wonderment, for his words
seemed enigmatical.
As I walked back to my garden I could hear Tommy whistling in his
bedroom. There was a light in the room, and I could see him, half
undressed, fondling one of his white rats. I remembered how he had
insisted on their company and smiled.
"Sir."
From the shadow of the hedge a voice addressed me.
"Sir."
"Hullo," I said. Then, as I peered through the gloom, I saw a young
woman standing before me, and, even in the dusk, I could read the
eagerness in her eyes.
Her face was familiar.
"Surely I know you?" I asked.
"I'm Liza Berrill."
She spoke rapidly; yet, over her message she seemed hesitant.
Then:
"Oh, sir, don't let him be friends wi' that gentleman."