'If you talk any more, child,' interrupted Jill, with decision, 'you will be too tired to have a visitor after tea.'
Jill _was_ a nice person, Barbara settled again in her mind, as they had tea together out of Finny's private tea-set that the Canon had given her last Christmas. She was so nice that she even slipped away afterwards, when Christopher came into the room, so that he and Babs could have their talk together without feeling that somebody else was listening. For all that, neither of them seemed to find it easy to begin, and they remained looking at each other in silence for some moments after Jill had closed the door upon them.
Then Christopher made a great effort and addressed her from the end of the bed, where he had taken up his position.
'Hullo!' he said, tugging at his collar as if to remove some obstruction to his voice.
'Hullo!' answered Babs, faintly, from among her pillows.
Then followed another pause. They both felt there were plenty of things to be said, but somehow they could not think of them just then. Presently, Kit remembered that she was an invalid, and that invalids always had to be kissed. He also decided that the sooner he got it over the better; so he marched round to the side of the bed and kissed her.
'How are you, Babe?' he asked, feeling more at his ease now that this formality was over and he was free to climb on the edge of her bed and sit there swinging his legs.
'Oh, I'm all right,' answered Barbara, heartily.
They both knew she was nothing of the sort, but in the Berkeley family it was a point of honour with every one, even during a visitation of toothache, to declare himself 'all right.'
'How are you, Kit?' asked Babs, after a little further reflection.
'I'm all right, thanks,' answered Christopher, faithfully, and he whistled a tune to fill the next pause. 'Awfully poor lying here, isn't it?' he resumed presently.
Barbara nodded. 'It's stale,' she said expressively.
Kit looked sympathetic. 'It would make _me_ sick,' he observed.
'Oh, it's all right,' Barbara hastened to assure him; and he whistled a little more.
'Jill's all right too, isn't she?' he continued after a while.
'Oh, Jill's all right--_rather_,' said the child, warmly. 'How are the other boys, Kit?'