There was a pause. Mrs Forrest and Anna looked at each other: each waited for the other to speak. Must I give up the picnic after all? thought Anna.
“I don’t gather that it’s anything serious,” said Mrs Forrest at length. “I think the best plan will be for me to go over to Dornton, after you’ve started, and see Dr Hunt. Then, if there’s really no danger of infection, you can go there early to-morrow,” She looked inquiringly at Anna, as though half-expecting her to make some other suggestion. The sound of wheels on the gravel, and the tramp of horses, told that the Palmers were approaching: the wagonette, full of gay young people, drove up to the porch.
“Are you ready, Anna?” called out Isabel’s voice.
“Will that satisfy you?” said Mrs Forrest; “you must decide now.”
“We’re late, Anna,” said Isabel again, “why don’t you come?”
Anna hesitated. She looked out at the bright sunshine, where her companions called her to gaiety and pleasure, and then at the letter in her aunt’s hand.
“Here’s your cloak, Miss Anna,” said the maid waiting at the door.
In another moment, it seemed almost without any will of her own, she was squeezed into the carriage amongst her laughing companions, had waved a farewell to Mrs Forrest standing smiling in the porch, and was whirled away to the picnic.
The hours of the sunny day, filled with delight for Anna amongst the pleasant woods of Alderbury, did not pass so quickly at Number 4 Back Row. The Professor was ill. He had had a slight feverish attack to begin with, which passed off, and seemed of no importance, but it had left him in a state of nervous weakness and prostration, at which Dr Hunt looked grave. Mr Goodwin must have been over-exerting himself for some time past, he declared, and this breakdown was the result. It would probably be some time before he could do any work. Perfect rest, and freedom from all care and agitation, were the only remedies.
“Don’t let him know, Delia,” he said to his daughter as he left the house, “that he’s likely to be laid up long. Keep him as quiet and cheerful as possible. I’ll send a line to Mrs Forrest, and let her know that his grandchild may be with him as much as she likes.”