“No time to lose ... hours finding you ...” shouted the angry, inarticulate voice.
“She shall come,” said the doctor, ringing off.
He did not, however, summon Rose, but waited until she came to find him.
“Sir Thomas has telephoned,” he told her. “He’s found a solicitor, the best man available probably. He wants you to come as soon as possible.”
“I’m ready now. They’ll let me come to Ces again.”
As they walked along the street, the doctor eyeing every taxi that passed, Rose said in a choked voice:
“It’s like a nightmare. I keep on thinking I shall wake up out of it all. At first, when you told me what it was, it seemed less awful than all the things I’d been imagining. You see, the telegram only said ‘come at once,’ so I didn’t know.... But prison—oh, it’s awful! Is Sir Thomas frightfully angry?”
“He was very angry when I saw him first, but he’ll have had time to cool down. There’s nothing to be gained by being angry, and I think by-and-bye he’ll see that. He’s sent for Ford.”
“Oh, Ford! What can he do, except jeer and sneer? He won’t even be angry. I believe Ces will go clean off his head, if Ford’s allowed near him.”
“Can you tell me anything about Cecil? Did he give you any sort of explanation at all?”