"
"Well, you wouldn't mind that?" said Kirk anxiously.
He had come to be almost morbidly on the look-out for evidence which
might go to prove that this cotton-wool existence was stealing from the
child the birthright of courage which was his from both his parents.
Much often depends on little things, and, if Bill had replied in the
affirmative to the question, it would probably have had the result of
sending Kirk there and then raging through the house conducting a sort
of War of Independence.
The only thing that had kept him from doing so before was the
reflection that Mrs. Porter's system could not be definitely taxed with
any harmful results. But his mind was never easy. Every day found him
still nervously on the alert for symptoms.
Bill soothed him now by answering "No" in a very decided voice. All
well so far, but it had been an anxious moment.
It seemed incredible to Kirk that the life he was leading should not in
time turn the child into a whimpering bundle of nerves. His
conversations with Bill were, as a result, a sort of spiritual parallel
to the daily taking of his temperature with the thermometer. Sooner or
later he always led the talk round to some point where Bill must make a
definite pronouncement which would show whether or not the insidious
decay had begun to set in.
So far all appeared to be well.
Pages:
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226