“I feel a terrible responsibility in having brought Miss Auriol here. I had hoped, doctor, that you would be able to give me better news.”
“Perhaps, that will come to-morrow. Meanwhile, there are things I must see to. Is Smith still here?”
For the moment Lechworthy did not understand that it was of the King that Pryce spoke in this unceremonious way. “The King?” he said. “Yes, he wished to see you.”
“Thanks. I’ll go and find him.” He paused a moment. There was something in the plucky, self-controlled wretchedness of the old man that appealed to him. “There is no immediate danger,” he said. “If there were, I would tell you. I am going to remain here, and in one point I want to prepare you. Miss Auriol is ill now, but she will be worse this evening. I expect a further rise in temperature, and there may be delirium, and in consequence some noise. But you must not let that upset you too much—it’s foreseen and I shall be ready to deal with it. If she gets a good sleep afterwards, I shall be quite satisfied.”
“Thank you very much for telling me. Indeed—I wish I could thank you better for all you’re doing for us. It is good of you to have come and to devote so much time to us. I feel it—far more than I can express at present.”
“My time here is of little value. You understand then—I cannot say that Miss Auriol is out of danger, but there’s room for hope. I’ll do my best, Mr Lechworthy. Go and see her for a few minutes now, if you like. After that, I would rather she were left alone, unless she asks specially for you and begins worrying.”
Mr Lechworthy was almost aggressively cheerful during the few minutes that he spent with his niece. Her room was pleasantly cool, and so darkened that he could only just make out the pale face and the mass of hair on the pillow. Mr Lechworthy expressed the opinion that Pryce seemed to be an able doctor and would put her right in no time.
“And how do you get on with him, my dear?”
“I think,” said Hilda, faintly, “that he is the very gentlest man I ever met.”
“Good,” said Mr Lechworthy. “You like him then. That’s right.”