“Well, you’d best be very careful!” said Mrs. Royce.
With this solemn warning in her ears, Lexy descended the stairs. She saw Dr. Quelton standing in the hall, hat in hand, waiting for her. The doctor was rather a disappointment. He was not the dark, sinister figure he should have been. He was a big man, powerfully built, with a clumsy stoop to his tremendous shoulders. His heavy, clean-shaven face would have been an agreeable one if it had not been for its expression, but that expression was not at all an alarming or dangerous one. It was an expression of the most utter and hopeless boredom.
He came toward her.
“Miss Moran?” he asked.
Even his voice was listless, and his glance was without a spark of interest.
“Yes,” said she.
“My brother-in-law, Captain Grey, told us you were here, and I did myself the honor of calling,” he went on.
“You certainly were quick about it!” thought Lexy. “Captain Grey couldn’t have reached his sister’s house an hour ago, and it’s three miles from here. Won’t you come into the sitting room?” she asked aloud.[Pg 333]
“Thank you,” he replied, and followed Lexy into the decorous and dismal room.
He sat down opposite her in a small chair that cracked under his weight, and he smiled a bored and extinguished smile.