She lifted her head, returned the caresses lavished upon her by both husband and child, then asked earnestly and half pleadingly, "Won't you tell me if--if Rupert is seriously ill?"
"He is broken down with overwork; has been devoting himself too closely to business, and needs an entire change for a time," replied her husband, speaking in a cheerful tone. "If he will take that at once and for a long enough time he may, I think, be restored to full health and vigor."
"Surely, surely he will do so without delay?"
"I can't say; he thinks it almost impossible to leave his business at present, and would rather try half-way measures first."
"He must be persuaded out of that, and I think can be," she said, her countenance brightening. "Now you must excuse me for a few minutes, my dear; Gretchen is improving, but I cannot yet trust her to bake your waffles quite to my mind."
"Let her try, Milly; how else is she ever to learn?"
"I shall after I have seen that the iron is properly heated and filled," she answered, as she hastened away to the kitchen.
Celestia Ann was at the front gate as Rupert neared it. She turned her head at the sound of his footsteps.
"So here you be at last!" she exclaimed; "and I was lookin' right in the wrong direction. Been up to the doctor's, I s'pose? Well, they're set down to the table without ye. We waited a spell, an' then I told your mother t'want no use, fer ye don't eat nothin' nohow, let me fix up the victuals good's I can."
"I am late, and am sorry if the meal has been kept waiting," Rupert answered, as he hurried past her into the house.
His mother gave him a kindly affectionate smile as he entered the dining-room, and stopped his apology half way.
"Never mind, my son, it is no matter, except that your meal will not, I fear, be quite so good and enjoyable, which is a pity, as your appetite is so poor of late."
There was some anxiety in her look and tone, also in the glance his father gave him as he seated himself at the table.
"I fear you are working too hard, Rupert," he said; "confining yourself too closely to business."
"Just what Charlie has been telling me," the young man responded with a half sigh; "but how is it to be helped?"
"By putting health before business," his mother said, with decision. "My dear boy, if you lose your health, what will become of your business?"