Then he went to the patio and called.
Both girls came in, Mercedes leading. Like Nell, she wore white,
and she had a red rose in her hand. Dick would scarcely have
recognized anything about her except her eyes and the way she
carried her little head, and her beauty burst upon him strange and
anew. She was swift, impulsive in her movements to reach his
side.
"Senor, I am so sorry you were ill--so happy you are better."
Dick greeted her, offering his left hand, gravely apologizing for
the fact that, owing to a late infirmity, he could not offer the
right. Her smile exquisitely combined sympathy, gratitude,
admiration. Then Dick spoke to Nell, likewise offering his hand,
which she took shyly. Her reply was a murmured, unintelligible
one; but her eyes were glad, and the tint in her cheeks threatened
to rival the hue of the rose she carried.
Everybody chatted then, except Nell, who had apparently lost her
voice. Presently Dick remembered to speak of the matter of getting
news to Thorne.
"Senor, may I write to him? Will some one take a letter?...I
shall hear from him!" she said; and her white hands emphasized
her words.
"Assuredly. I guess poor Thorne is almost crazy. I'll write to
him....No, I can't with this crippled hand."
"That'll be all right, Gale," said Belding. "Nell will write for
you. She writes all my letters."
So Belding arranged it; and Mercedes flew away to her room to
write, while Nell fetched pen and paper and seated herself beside
Gale's bed to take his dictation.
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