“Not favorable—how?”
“As to entire recovery. The injury to the head seems to be of a more serious nature than was at first thought. We all hoped that the long unconsciousness was due, at least in a measure, to the shock of the accident and the burns, and that when he once began to rally the mind would be clear. But it is not so.”
“He is so weak,” murmured Joan.
“Still it is something beyond mere weakness. Have you not noticed?”
Joan’s face was turned away, and Leo kept silence. She looked round at length with a sudden impatience and distress.
“Go on—oh, go on!” she said. “It is no use putting off. The worst can’t be worse than I often think. You have promised to tell me all—everything—not to hide a single word. I want to know the very worst;” and she clenched one hand over the carriage door. “Quick, please. It is dreadful having to wait like this.”
But Leo was unable to go on. Strong man that he was, not easily overcome at any time, the sight of that pleading girl face, with its quivering lips and dark, troubled eyes, proved too much even for him. His own bronzed cheeks lost coloring with the intensity of pity within—not pity alone, though that at the moment was the main feeling; for George Rutherford was very dear to his heart—and his frank, brown eyes were absolutely full of tears. When he would have answered, his voice failed.
“Leo, I am so sorry.” Joan spoke suddenly in a soft, low tone, more changed in one instant than he would have thought possible. “I am so very sorry. I forgot that dear father is your father as well as mine—as much, I suppose; I don’t know—it seems to me always that nobody can love him as I do. But that must be absurd. I’m afraid I have been selfish, thinking only of my own part in the trouble. But of course it is your trouble too. Would you rather not tell me any more? I’ll try to bear on a little longer.”
Leo was already recovering himself.
“No, no,” he said, huskily; “you have a right to know all.” They were approaching the hotel, and he leant forward to say to the driver—“Go straight on till I tell you to turn.”