"I'll see!" he repeated.
Then he spoke of these friends of his; the husband a college chum, "an awfully decent chap,"—the young wife, barely eighteen, and married three months earlier, whom he had known for years.
Doris would have liked to go with him to the châlet, and to see if she might be of use there. But she felt that the neglected Mrs. Brutt claimed first attention; and he promised to let her know if help were needed.
On reaching Mrs. Brutt's room, she was greeted with a gale which took her breath away, almost as the steep hillside had done. By this time she had learnt to know the agreeable widow as a confirmed grumbler; but till the present hour she had not seen her in a passion. It was not a pleasant sight.
Breakfast had not been carried up till a full hour after Doris's departure; and for that she had to bear full blame, though it was not her fault. Mrs. Brutt had been "quite ill" in consequence, and alone all the morning,—an additional grievance. Doris was a most selfish, thoughtless, unkind girl! So ungrateful!—considering all that she owed to the speaker. Mrs. Brutt would not have believed it of her. But one knew nothing of people till one travelled with them,—a statement which Doris could have endorsed.
She tried to explain, but in vain. The more she tried, the more Mrs. Brutt enlarged on her wrongs. Somehow, all this did not sting like home-worries; perhaps because Doris's mind was full of new interests. She kept her temper, and at length said—
"If you are ill why not see a doctor?"
"So unkind!—when you know there is no doctor to be had in this wretched place!" moaned Mrs. Brutt, by this time reduced to the abject stage. "But I might die, for all you would care."
Doris let this pass, and remarked that there was a doctor—an English one to boot—in that very hotel. The news proved reviving. Mrs. Brutt loved nothing better than to be medically discussed and liberally dosed; and her spirits at once improved.
So when Maurice came in, he found another patient awaiting him; not always a welcome event on a man's holiday. But since she belonged to Doris, he had not the smallest objection. To the latter he confided that he had left Ramsay very ill, and that he feared an operation might prove needful. He would spend the night at the châlet. No, he could not make his intended ascent next day.