Page:Stanwood Pier--Harding of St Timothys.djvu/242

212 mitted to see him, and then it was for only a few brief moments.

Harry had hardly more than a glimpse of a frail and emaciated face with big, listless eyes and a smile so wan that it was almost sadder than tears. He left the room feeling oppressed with a sense that there could never be the old, strong Rupert again.

He saw him but twice before going away for the Easter holidays. When he returned after the two weeks' absence, he learned to his sorrow that Rupert had gone. Rupert had improved so much that it had been thought safe to move him; and his mother had taken him South in the hope that there he might regain his health more rapidly.

"And won't he come back to the school at all, sir?" Harry asked the rector, who had given him this information.

"I'm afraid he won't," the rector replied. "You see, he's missed nearly a whole term now, and he will find it impossible to regain his standing with the form. He won't be well and strong for a good while yet."