Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/179

 speaking. It was a long, tense wait for them all. It was because Dick had been banished for the afternoon, Betsey thought, that the workshop seemed so unnaturally still without him and without those ever-moving wheels. After what seemed an endless time they heard Miss Miranda coming back.

Every face turned, even David wheeled about, but a single glance showed the result of her errand.

"He roused himself a little," she said; "he seemed to understand that you were here and to be trying to remember. And then he began to wander, he talked vaguely of water and stars and that was all. It is of no use."

They shook hands at last and went away, those three men who had brought such hope with them and could leave so little behind.

"I will be in the neighborhood for a few days," Garven said as he bade Miss Miranda good-by. "If there is anything I can do for you, my dear, be sure to send for me. And if he should remember—"

"No," she returned, shaking her head, "I will not hope any longer. We have tried and failed and the affair must be forgotten. It is all over."

David went away with them to the train and Miss Miranda returned to her father. Betsey stood at the door, watching as long as she could as they went down the hill.