“I sabe that some of them are,” the other laughed, but not with quite his usual debonair gayety.  For he did not at all like the way things looked.

But though Phil had undertaken to do all the nursing that needed to be done by the family, he was too much of an outdoors dweller to confine himself for long to the four walls of a room.  Besides, he was often called away by the work of looking after the cattle of the ranch.  Moreover, both he and his father were away a good deal arranging for the disposal of their sheep.  At these times her patient hoped, and hoped in vain, that Phyllis would take her brother’s place.

Came a day when Keller could stand it no longer.  In Becky’s absence, he made shift to dress himself, bit by bit, lying on the bed in complete exhaustion after the effort of getting into each garment.  He could scarce finish what he had undertaken, but at last he was clothed and ready for the journey.  Leaning on a walking stick, he dragged himself into the passage and out to the porch, where Phyllis was sitting alone.

She gave a startled cry at sight of him standing there, haggard and white, his clothes hanging on his gaunt frame much as if he had been a skeleton.

“What are you doing?” she cried, running to his aid.

After she had got him into her chair, he smiled up at her and panted weakly.  He was leaning back in almost complete exhaustion.

“You wouldn’t come to see me, so—­I came—­to see you,” he gasped out, at last.

“But—­you shouldn’t have!  You might have done yourself a great injury.  It’s—­it’s criminal of you.”

“I wanted to see you,” he explained simply.

“Why didn’t you send for me?”

“There wasn’t anybody to send.  Besides, you wouldn’t have stayed.  You never do, now.”

She looked at him, then looked away.  “You don’t need me now—­and I have my work to do.”

“But I do need you, Phyllie.”

It was the first time he had ever spoken the diminutive to her.  He let out the word lingeringly, as if it were a caress.  The girl felt the color flow beneath her dusky tan.  She changed the subject abruptly.

“None of the boys are here.  How am I to get you back to your room?”

“I’ll roll a trail back there presently, ma’am.”

She looked helplessly round the landscape, in hope of seeing some rider coming to the store.  But nobody was in sight.

“You had no business to come.  It might have killed you.  I thought you had better sense,” she reproached.

“I wanted to see you,” he parroted again.

Like most young women, she knew how to ignore a good deal.  “You’ll have to lean on me.  Do you think you can try it now?”

“If I go, will you stay with me and talk?” he bargained.

“I have my work to do,” she frowned.

“Then I’ll stay here, thank you kindly.”  He settled back into the chair and let her have his gay smile.  Nevertheless, she saw that his lips were colorless.