He walked past them into the room and over to the table, where his pipe lay among the chessmen. He lit it deliberately and stood smoking it, with one arm resting on the mantelpiece.
“In her present highly nervous condition,” he went on, “the little excitement of this visit has proved too much for her. I shall drive over to the hospital and fetch a nurse—”
“A nurse!” cried the young man. “Then she’s—”
“There is absolutely no occasion for alarm, as I told you before. A few days’ rest and quiet—”
“Look here, sir!” said Captain Grey. “It seems to me—I’ve no wish to be offensive, or anything of that sort, but it seems right to me”—he paused for a moment—“to get a second opinion.”
“I shouldn’t advise it,” replied the doctor blandly.
“Possibly not, sir; but perhaps you would be willing to oblige me to that extent. I don’t want to insist—”
“I wouldn’t, if I were you.”
There was a faint flush on the young man’s dark face.
“Nevertheless—” he began, but again the doctor interrupted him.