Benjamin before him, he began to talk until scores of words stood between
himself and a similar ending.

"Teddy asked to be remembered to you as 'e went off this morning," said
Mrs. Silk, pausing in her labours at the grate.

"I'm much obliged," muttered the invalid.

"He didn't 'ave time to come in," pursued the widow. "You can 'ardly
believe what a lot 'e thinks of you, Mr. Wilks. The last words he said
to me was, 'Let me know at once if there's any change.'"

Mr. Wilks distinctly felt a cold, clammy sensation down his spine and
little quivering thrills ran up and down his legs. He glared indignantly
at the back of the industrious Mrs. Silk.

"Teddy's very fond of you," continued the unconscious woman. "I s'pose
it's not 'aving a father, but he seems to me to think more of you than
any-body else in the wide, wide world. I get quite jealous sometimes.
Only the other day I said to 'im, joking like, 'Well, you'd better go and
live with 'im if you're so fond of 'im,' I said."

"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Wilks, uneasily.

"You'll never guess what 'e said then," said Mrs. Silk dropping her
dustpan and brush and gazing at the hearth.

"Said 'e couldn't leave you, I s'pose," guessed the steward, gruffly.

"Well, now," exclaimed Mrs. Silk, clapping her hands, "if you 'aven't
nearly guessed it. Well, there! I never did! I wouldn't 'ave told you
for anything if you 'adn't said that. The exact words what 'e did say
was, 'Not without you, mother.'"

Mr. Wilks closed his eyes with a snap and his heart turned to water. He
held his breath and ran-sacked his brain in vain for a reply which should
ignore the inner meaning of the fatal words. Something careless and
jocular he wanted, combined with a voice which should be perfectly under
control. Failing these things, he kept his eyes closed, and, very
wide-awake indeed, feigned sleep. He slept straight away from eleven
o'clock in the morning until Edward Silk came in at seven o'clock in the
evening.

"I feel like a new man," he said, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"I don't see no change in your appearance," said the comforting youth.

"'E's much better," declared his mother. "That's what comes o' good
nursing; some nurses would 'ave woke 'im up to take food, but I just let
'im sleep on. People don't feel hunger while they're asleep."

She busied herself over the preparation of a basin of arrowroot, and the
steward, despite his distaste for this dish, devoured i