"I assure you that he shall have every possible care—but I felt that you ought to know. If you should wish to go to him—"
She turned as she reached the bell and looked at him without reply.
"Tell Fanny to pack a few things suitable for the sick room in my suit case," she said to the servant who answered, "and be quick about it." She called him back to add, "Send Mrs. Pennybacker to me."
"Can we catch the three o'clock train?" she asked in a voice so contained that he looked at her in astonishment.
"I fear not. And the next does not go till five. If—I notice that your carriage is at the door. If you would not mind the ride that would be the quickest way to get there. We could make it in an hour by good driving."
"Then we will go that way." Just at this minute Mrs. Pennybacker came in. She sat down, looking her surprise at seeing Mr. De Jarnette. There was that in his face which precluded the thought of his being here for any trivial reason.
"I am going with Mr. De Jarnette to Elmhurst," said Margaret, with preternatural calmness. "Philip is ill—with scarlet fever."
"Scarlet fever!" Mrs. Pennybacker's searching eyes were upon Mr. De Jarnette. "How—in the world—could he have been exposed to scarlet fever?"
"Probably the day of the egg-rolling," Margaret again answered for him. "I leave everything with you. I shall be there indefinitely."
"But Margaret, child, you ought not to go alone. I feel that I ought to go with you. And yet I don't see how I can leave Rosalie. She is in that condition that it is impossible to tell when the end will come. She may linger for weeks and it may come at any moment."