"Having known him so long, should you think that his state of health demanded such a step?"
"His appearance at present does not indicate any cause for alarm, and you ought not to conjure a spectre with which to frighten yourself."
"His physician did the conjuring."
She sat down on the stile, and in her strained, sad gaze he measured the depth of her disquietude.
"Mr. Noel, if you know any outside circumstances that appear to necessitate or warrant this sudden abandonment of a brilliant senatorial career, I beg you will be once more your old, kind, candid self and tell me. If I understood I could bear it better."
"You think your father is perfectly well?"
"I cannot see the change he insists has overtaken him of late; can you?"
"Yes. Within the year his nervousness and want of equipoise have been apparent, and when the newspapers stated that his 'medical adviser' had recommended rest and Aix-les-Bains I was rejoiced. The atmosphere of Washington is the worst possible for him. When do you sail?"
"On the twenty-fifth."
"Mrs. Mitchell accompanies you?"