the same complaint. So long as you were careful
there was no danger. She must take things easily and not excite herself.

Mrs. Phillips acquiesced. "It's turning me into a lazy-bones," she said
with a smile. "I can sit here by the hour, just watching the bustle. I
was always one for a bit of life."

The landlady entered with Joan's tea. Joan took an instinctive dislike
to her. She was a large, flashy woman, wearing a quantity of cheap
jewellery. Her familiarity had about it something almost threatening.
Joan waited till she heard the woman's heavy tread descending the stairs,
before she expressed her opinion.

"I think she only means to be cheerful," explained Mrs. Phillips. "She's
quite a good sort, when you know her." The subject seemed in some way to
trouble her, and Joan dropped it.

They watched the loading of a steamer while Joan drank her tea.

"He will come this afternoon, I fancy," said Mrs. Phillips. "I seem to
feel it. He will be able to see you home."

Joan started. She had been thinking about Phillips, wondering what she
should say to him when they met.

"What does he think," she asked, "about your illness?"

"Oh, it worries him, of course, poor dear," Mrs. Phillips answered. "You
see, I've always been such a go-ahead, as a rule. But I think he's
getting more hopeful. As I tell him, I'll be all right by the autumn. It
was that spell of hot weather that knocked me over."

Joan was still looking out of the window. She didn't quite know what to
say. The woman's altered appearance had shocked her. Suddenly she felt
a touch upon her hand.

"You'll look after him if anything does happen, won't you?" The woman's
eyes were pleading with her. They seemed to have grown larger. "You
know what I mean, dear, don't you?" she continued. "It will be such a
comfort to me to know that it's all right."

In answer the tears sprang to Joan's eyes. She knelt down and put her
arms about the woman.

"Don't be so silly," she cried. "There's nothing going to happen. You're
going to get fat and well again; and live to see him Prime Minister."

"I am getting thin, ain't I?" she said. "I always wanted to be thin."
They both laughed.

"But I shan't see him that, even if I do live," she went on. "He'll
never be that, without you. And I'd be so proud to think that he would.
I shouldn't mind going then," she added.

Joan did not answer. There seemed no words that would come.

"You will pro