an act of obedience than from a normal desire. He glanced up at his wife and saw that she also noticed Hoyle's languor. They finished the meal in a silence only broken by Hoyle's questions and David's replies, now serious, now teasing and bantering.
"You are so full of interrogation points you have no room for your dinner. Here—drink this milk—slowly; don't gulp it."
"I know what they be. They go this-a-way." The boy set down his glass to illustrate with his slender little hand the form of the question mark. Then he laughed out gayly. "You know hu' come I got filled up with them things? I done swallered that thar catechism Cass b'en teachin' me Sundays."
"No, I'm thinking you just are one yourself."
"'Cause I'm crooked like this-a-way?" He twisted about and looked up at David gravely.
"No, no, son. Doctor didn't mean that," said his sister.
"Finish your milk," said David. "We'll have some fun with the microscope." And once again the child essayed to eat and drink a little.
But the languor and pallor grew in spite of all David could do for him, and as the weeks passed his large eyes burned more brilliantly and his thin form grew more meagre. Cassandra got in the way of keeping him up at the cabin with her, and when she went down to weave, he went also and used to lie on the