“Ah then, I must certainly go to Munich,” she said. “It will save me no end of worry. Now let us have Peggy in; I want to tell her at once.”
Peggy was but next door, and the summoning of her in took no longer than the opening of it. At present all she knew was that Edith wanted to get a clean bill of health before starting for Munich. She had confessed to fatigue, but had breathed to her sister no suspicion of her fear, and their coming up to town together was a plan that had been formed several weeks before. And though the length of time that she had been kept in the waiting-room, while Edith saw Sir Thomas alone, had a little disquieted her, yet the serenity of Edith’s face when she was admitted to his consulting-room, immensely reassured her. Then Sir Thomas closed the door behind her, and she sat down opposite her sister. Edith spoke:
“Dear Peggy,” she said, “I suppose I ought to break it to you, but it’s so ridiculous to break things. I’ve got consumption. Isn’t it dreadful?”
Peggy looked at her blankly, and then this most unorthodox patient leaned back in her chair and burst into shouts of laughter. She simply could not help it, the blankness of Peggy’s face was so excruciatingly funny. Then the infection of the laughter caught her sister also, and they just sat and laughed. Once Peggy tried to compose her face, and said, “Oh, Edith!” in a trembling voice, but that set Edith off again till the tears streamed.
“Oh, I’m better!” she said at length. “But how funny it was. I should never be good at breaking things to people, should I, Sir Thomas? O Peggy, what a pity Hugh wasn’t here, too! He loves laughing. Yes, and we’re going to Munich just as we planned, and after that I go to Davos for a whole year. Then, if I am good, perhaps I shall be quite well again, and younger and better than I am now. That will be an advantage.”
“Oh, my darling,” said Peggy. “I am so—so—there are no words.”
“No, it was much better to laugh. Fancy there being a humorous side to consumption. What a good thing! And since Sir Thomas has allowed me to go to Munich, I shall not tell Hughie till afterward. And from there I go straight to Davos, and behave too beautifully. That is a fair statement of our interview, is it not, Sir Thomas? Now, Peggy, we must go home to lunch. I am so hungry.”
But the doctor could not quite let this pass.
“I’ve been doing my utmost to persuade Mrs. Grainger not to go to Munich,” he said. “Will she listen to you?”