"Are those the orders of the doctor?"
"What, wet blankets for you?"
"No; but that everybody must be excluded from Ishmael's room?"
"Yes; his most peremptory orders, including even me for the present."
"Then I suppose they must be submitted to?"
"For the present, certainly."
Claudia shrugged her shoulders with an impatient gesture, and then said:
"You sent for me, papa. Was it for anything particular?"
"Yes; to question you. Have you been long acquainted with this Ishmael Gray?"
"Ishmael Worth, papa! Yes, I have known him well ever since you placed me with my Aunt Middleton," replied Claudia, throwing herself into a chair.