"I'm not lying to you," she told the crazy man, looking straight into
his glaring eyes. "Your boys were wounded, but not seriously, and they
sailed a few days ago for this country on a hospital ship. They want
to see you more than anything else in the world," she added, playing
on the sudden softness that had crept into his wild eyes. "And they
sent their love to their dad."
At sound of the old loving name all the fight went out of the old man
and he sank to his knees on the grass, sobbing horribly.
They let him alone for a moment, then Betty motioned to Mollie, and
together they lifted him to his feet. The sight of his tear-stained,
unkempt old face, creased and lined with suffering, but with the
wildness gone out of the eyes, stirred a profound pity in the girls
and they wished more than anything in the world to make him happy
again.
"We are going to take you home, Professor Dempsey," Betty told him
soothingly, as with Mollie's help she half led, half carried, him
through the woods toward the spot where they had left the boat, Amy
and Grace following awed and silent behind them.
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