n simply; "may I come in?"

The boy passed his hand across his eyes as though confused by the light;
then he turned and walked back toward the bed, still rubbing his eyes,
and sat down on the edge.

Selwyn closed the door and seated himself, apparently not noticing
Gerald's dishevelment.

"Thought I'd drop in for a good-night pipe," he said quietly. "By the
way, Gerald, I'm going down to Silverside next week. Nina has asked
Boots, too. Couldn't you fix it to come along with us?"

"I don't know," said the boy in a low voice; "I'd like to."

"Good business! That will be fine! What you and I need is a good stiff
tramp across the moors, or a gallop, if you like. It's great for mental
cobwebs, and my brain is disgracefully unswept. By the way, somebody
said that you'd joined the Siowitha Club."

"Yes," said the boy listlessly.

"Well, you'll get some lively trout fishing there now. It's only thirty
miles from Silverside, you know--you can run over in the motor very
easily."

Gerald nodded, sitting silent, his handsome head supported in both
hands, his eyes on the floor.

That something was very wrong with him appeared plainly enough; but
Selwyn, touched to the heart and miserably apprehensive, dared not
question him, unasked.

And so they sat there for a while, Selwyn making what conversation he
could; and at length Gerald turned and dragged himself across the bed,
dropping his head back on the disordered pillows.

"Go on," he said; "I'm listening."

So Selwyn continued his pleasant, inconsequential observations, and
Gerald lay with closed eyes, quite motionless, until, watching him,
Selwyn saw his hand was trembling where it lay clinched beside him. And
presently the boy turned his face to the wall.

Toward midnight Selwyn rose quietly, removed his unlighted pipe from
between his teeth, knocked the ashes from it, and pocketed it. Then he
walked to the bed and seated himself on the edge.

"What's the trouble, old man?" he asked coolly.

There was no answer. He placed his hand over Gerald's; the boy's hand
lay inert, then quivered and closed on Selwyn's convulsively.

"That's right," said the elder man; "that's what I'm here for--to stand
by when you hoist signals. Go on."

The boy shook his head and buried it deeper in the pillow.

"Bad as that?" commented Selwyn quietly. "Well, what of it? I'm standing
by, I tell you. . . . That's right"--as Gerald broke down, his body
quivering under the spasm of sou