"Oh, my dear, of course. Poor dear fellow! But he'll get over it. We'll pull him round between us."
There was such an air of energy and resource about him that it seemed as if he could do more than a nurse or a doctor. He was wiping his face, which was red, and wet with the rain. He told her hurriedly that he had come up from Suffolk only that afternoon, and had gone to his club for the night. He had dined out, and her message had passed to and fro until it had found him, when he had come straight away. "If I'd only gone home, as I might have done," he said, "I should have been here hours ago, and might have brought a nurse down with me."
He put his arm round her as she bent her head to hide her tears. "There, there, my dear!" he said consolingly. "Don't worry. It will be all right now."
She dried her eyes. "I don't want mother to see me upset," she said; "but I've been so frightened. Father has hardly ever been ill, until lately. He has been so worried and unhappy, I suppose he couldn't throw it off. I'm sure it will be the best thing for him that you have come at once, like this."
A shade passed over his face. "I'd have come before if I'd thought he would want me," he said. "It's been an unhappy business, but it's all over now. It shall be all over. I've taken offence too readily. I won't take offence at anything now."
"I'm sure there'll be nothing to take offence at," she said, a little stiffly. "When you see him, you'll only be sorry for him."
Mrs. Eldridge came in at that moment. "He's awake," she said. "He had heard the car and I had to tell him it was you who had come, William. He wants to see you. I don't know—"
"If he wants it!" he said, preparing to go. "I shan't upset him, Cynthia. And the doctor ought to be here directly."
She took him upstairs. "He's very ill," she said, in a colourless voice. "I know he is, though he says he isn't. I'm sure he mustn't be excited. But I had to tell him you were here, and he would see you at once."