Instinctively she lowered her voice.

"The day before poor George was killed, Timmy cried and cried and cried.
It was impossible to comfort him--and he wouldn't give any reason for his
grief. Both Janet and Betty were dreadfully upset. They thought he had
some pain that he wouldn't tell them of, and they would have sent for Dr.
O'Farrell, but they knew he was away, some miles off, at a very difficult
case. Betty actually came in and asked if _I_ would try to make him say
what was the matter! But of course I could do nothing with him. I think
you know that he was passionately fond of George."

"What does Dr. O'Farrell think of it all?"

"He's convinced that Timmy has got a kind of peculiar, rare,
thought-reading gift. He won't hear of its being in any sense
supernatural. I haven't spoken to him about it lately, but the last time
he mentioned the child, he told me he was sure that what he called the
boy's 'subconscious self' would in time sink into its proper place."

"I wonder if it will?" exclaimed Radmore. "I don't see why it should."

"No, nor do I, excepting that, as time goes on, Timmy has become much
more like a normal boy than he used to be. I'm convinced that very often
he pretends to see things that he doesn't see. He loves frightening the
village people, for instance, and some of them are really afraid of him.
They think he can heal certain simple ailments, and they're absolutely
certain that he can what they call 'blight' them!"

"What a very convenient gift," observed Radmore drily. "I've known a good
many people in my time I should have liked to 'blight'!"

Even as he spoke, an unpleasant question was obtruding itself. Was it
possible that Timmy had a "scunner" against poor little Enid Crofton?

"D'you think the child has a jealous disposition?" he asked abruptly.

Miss Pendarth looked round at him, rather surprised by the question.
"He's never any occasion to be jealous," she said shortly. "Betty and
Janet both worship him, and so does his old nurse. I don't think he cares
for anyone else in the world excepting these three. Perhaps I ought to
make an exception in _your_ favour--from what I'm told he cherishes a
romantic affection for _you_."

Miss Pendarth went on: "Mind you--I think there's often a touch of malice
about the boy! Timmy wouldn't be at all averse to doing mischief to
anyone he didn't like, or whom he thought ill of."

"There are a good many grown-up people of whom one can say that,