Nearly an hour had passed before he reappeared on the verandah.
“Well, doctor,” said Mr Lechworthy, eagerly. “I have been much alarmed—needlessly, I hope. What is the matter with my niece?”
“I don’t know the name of it,” said Dr Pryce. “I’ve seen it several times here—never in Europe.”
“She is seriously ill?”
“Undoubtedly. But Miss Auriol has a fine constitution, and if we can fight through the next thirty-six hours, recovery is likely to be very rapid. Unfortunately, those two native girls, with the best intentions, have been playing about with native remedies.”
“And they are useless?”
“They are very much worse than that. However, it won’t happen again, and now that I have talked to them, Tiva and Ioia may be quite handy.” At the moment Tiva and Ioia were frightened out of their lives, weeping tears of bitterest penitence, and wishing they were dead.
“Yes,” said Lechworthy, “you will be able to use them as nurses.”
“A nurse who can’t take a temperature isn’t much use to me at present. I shall be nurse and doctor too. But they can do little things under my direction—fetch and carry and so on—and they’re willing enough.”