‘Well, dear, I thought of staying in bed.’
‘You are not—?’
‘What nonsense, dear! I want to keep very quiet until next week, when I may need all my strength.’
‘Dear girl, I would gladly give ten years of my life to have next week past.’
‘Silly old boy! But I do think it would be wiser if I were to keep in bed.’
‘Yes, yes, do.’
‘I have a little headache. Nothing to speak of, but just a little.’
‘Don’t you think Dr. Jordan had better give you something for it.’
‘Do you think so? Well, just as you like. You might call as you pass, and tell him to step up.’
And so, upon a false mission, the doctor was summoned to her side, but found a very real mission waiting for him when he got there. She had written a note for Frank the moment that he had left the house, and he found both it and a conspiracy of silence waiting for him when he returned in the late afternoon. The note was upon the hall-table, and he eagerly tore it open.