A shade of depression crossed his face.

"I've never weighed more than ten stone in my life," he said, "which is ridiculous, considering my height, and I've actually gone down in weight since we came here.

I daresay that accounts for the rheumatism." Again he jerked his wrist back sharply, so that Helen might hear the grinding of the chalk stones.

She could not help smiling.
"It's no laughing matter for me, I assure you," he protested.

"My mother's a chronic invalid, and I'm always expecting to be told that I've got heart disease myself.