"Do, please! I like lessons!"
Nigel laughed, but he did not seem inclined to carry out his threat by active measures. "How has my father been lately?" he asked next. "Not well to-day?"
"Very far from it," Mrs. Browning murmured.
"Nothing definitely wrong?"
"Yes; weakness and depression; and the old pain about the heart, worse than it used to be. He will not have advice; says it is only neuralgia, and nothing can be done. But he ought to consult a London physician. One never can be sure. I have tried in vain to persuade him."
"Perhaps he will listen to me. And you, too—you are not just as you ought to be," Nigel said affectionately.
"I! Oh, that is nothing. I never expect to feel strong."
Then Anice's voice was heard again. "But, Nigel, what can have made you so late? Why didn't you come straight from the station?"
"Anice is a self-appointed Inquisitress-General," interposed Fulvia. "Did you meet anybody by the way?"
"I nearly ran down Mr. Carden-Cox."