"I suppose you'll be glad to get the doctor back?"
The little man looked dubious.
"Yes, but I tell you, mademoiselle, I not feel so sure the doctor means to come back soon, perhaps not for a long time."
"Why, what makes you think that?"
"Ah——" He hesitated, digging the thick toe of his boot in between the cobble stones and gazing at it thoughtfully. "Mademoiselle, the doctor say to me the other day, when the Captain go, I can take a long what-you-call holiday. I can go to my people in Cognac a month, two months, maybe more. He say he not sure what he will do; perhaps he go away from Cannes."
"You mean he might give up his practice?" asked Esther, astonished.
Jacques shrugged expressively.
"I know nothing. He always say he hope one day to stop work again, I cannot tell you. And then he speak yesterday to the Captain and say he think he will—how do you say?—sous-louer the house."
"Sub-let the house! Then he does mean to go away. How extraordinary!"
"To you, mademoiselle, not to me. I know the doctor for a long time. Il fait toujours des bêtises!"