Janet. (Ignoring his question.) Was it a message you had for me?
Carve. No, no. Not a message.... But—the fact is, we're rather upset here for the moment.
Janet. Yes. Illness.
Carve. Now, if it isn't an indiscreet question, how did you know that there was illness?
Janet. I was standing looking at this house and wondering whether I shouldn't do better to go right back home there and then. But "No," I said, "I've begun, and I'll go through with it."—Well, I was standing there when what should I see but a parlour maid pop up from the area steps next door, and she says to me over the railings, "The doctor's just been." Just like that, excited. So I said, "Thank you, miss." I hope it's nothing serious?
Carve. Pneumonia.
Janet. Pneumonia. What a mercy!
Carve. Mercy?
Janet. If you look at it sensibly it's about
[20]the best illness anybody could have in hot weather like this. You've got to keep them warm. The weather does it for you. If it was typhoid now, and you'd got to keep them cool—that would be awkward. Not but it passes me how anybody can catch pneumonia in August.