Goyle smiled upon him. "But, Mr. Elbridge, a preacher means quite as little when he laughs as when he talks."
This pleased the old man, and he chuckled, his fat sides shaking. Bodney smiled, too, and Goyle gave him a look of approval and it appeared to brighten him. He dressed himself hastily, turning occasionally to heed a remark made by Goyle or the old man, and when he stepped out of the room to go with them to breakfast, his face was not so yellow, nor his countenance so haggard.
About two hours later Florence was sitting alone in the drawing room when Howard entered. She asked him if he had seen his father that morning. He sat down on a sofa beside her and said, after a moment’s reflection:
She seemed worried and did not immediately answer him. He repeated his question. "Because he spoke of you at breakfast," she said. "He didn’t appear at all well—sat staring about, and—"
"Treatment of you? Has anything gone wrong?"
"Yes, in the office, just now. When I went in he jumped up from his desk, threw down a hand full of papers, and stared at me—muttered, seemed to struggle with himself, sat down, and asked me to leave him alone. He never acted that way toward me before. I’m afraid he’s ill. Why, he’s the most jovial man in the world, and—I’m worried. I don’t understand it. If he’s sick, why didn’t he say so?"
"I don’t know, but don’t let it worry you, dear," she said.
"But it does, Florence, to be turned upon in that way. What did he say about me at the table this morning? He surely wasn’t angry because I didn’t get up in time for breakfast."
"Surely not. He didn’t say anything, only asked where you were, and kept staring at the place where you sit."
"And is that the reason you asked me if I had seen him?"
"Yes, that and the fact that he didn’t appear to be well."
"I don’t understand it. Why, he has joked with me all my life, sick or well. It hurts me." And, after a slight pause, he added: "I wonder if he turned on George, too."
"It wouldn’t seem so, for as he was going out of the breakfast room he put his hand on brother’s shoulder and leaned on him."
Bodney came in at that moment, and, looking about, asked if they had seen Goyle. As he was going out, Howard called him.
"Oh, George, just a moment. Have you noticed anything strange about father this morning?"