when others were present was professionally deferential. It was only
when they were alone that the nurse was submerged in the woman.

With her bonnet off and a white cap in its place, she moved about the
room. "I shall be very comfortable," she said, when Derry inquired if
anything could be done for her.

"We haven't any women about the place but Cook," he explained. "She
has been in our family forever--"

"I'll put a day nurse on tomorrow," the Doctor said, "but I want Hilda
with him at night; she can call me up if there's any change, and I'll
come right over."

When the Doctor had gone, Derry, seeking his room, found Muffin
waiting. Bronson bustled in to see that his young master got out of
his wet clothes and into a hot bath. "All the time the Doctor was
talking to you, I was worrying about your shoes. Your feet are soaked,
sir. Whatever made you walk in the rain?"

"I couldn't ride--I couldn't."

The old man on his knees removing the wet shoes looked up. "Restless,
sir?"

"Yes. There are times, Bronson, when I want my mother."

He could say it in this room to Bronson and Muffin--to the gray old dog
and the gray old man who adored him.