Then
Mrs. Gray took him down to the porch, where the warm May night folded
them softly about. She sat down beside him on a wide settle.
"He is all I have in the world!" cried Richard Kendrick. "If he goes--"
He could not say more, and, turning, put his arms down upon the back of
the seat and his head upon them. Great, tearless sobs shook him. Mrs.
Gray laid her kind hand upon his shoulder, and spoke gentle, motherly
words--a few words, not many--and kept her hand there until he had
himself under control again.
By and by Mrs. Stephen Gray came out with a little tray upon which was
set forth a simple lunch, daintily served. The young man tried to eat,
to show her how much this touched him, but succeeded in swallowing only
a portion of the delicate food. Then he got up. "You are all so good,"
said he gratefully. "You have helped me more than I can tell you. I will
go back now. I want to stay with him to-night, if you will allow me."
They gave him a room across the hall from that in which his grandfather
lay, but he did not occupy it. All night he sat, a silent figure on the
opposite side of the bed from that where the nurse was on guard.
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