There was the sound of wheels on the gravel outside.
“That will be the doctor, dear,” said he; “will you go and meet him, and—and the cart must wait if he thinks a priest should be sent for.”
She got up at once.
“Yes, father,” she said.
Helen went out into the hall. Dr. Thaxter had just come in, and at the same moment Nurse Baker hurried downstairs.
“Come up at once, please, doctor,” she said. “He—he came to himself a few minutes ago, after being delirious all night. I took his temperature. It is normal, just about normal.”
Helen’s face suddenly brightened.
“He is better, then?” she said.
Nurse Baker turned to her, as the doctor took off his coat, with infinite compassion in her kind, brown eyes.
“No, dear Miss Helen,” she said. “He is—ah, I need not explain to you. But it is very bad. It is—you must be very brave, my dear. Go to your father.”