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dinner, with a rush of contrition, Mrs. Peyton remembered that she had after all not spoken to Darrow about his health. He had distracted her by beginning to talk of Dick; and besides, much as Darrow's opinions interested her, his personality had never fixed her attention. He always seemed to her simply a vehicle for the transmission of ideas.

It was Dick who recalled her to a sense of her omission by asking if she had n't thought that old Paul looked rather more ragged than usual.

&quot;He did look tired,&quot; Mrs. Peyton conceded. &quot;I meant to tell him to take care of himself.&quot;

Dick laughed at the futility of the measure. &quot;Old Paul is never tired: he can work twenty-five hours out of the twenty-four. The trouble with him is that he's ill.