Tor therefore wrote his consent, but determined to see Phil and the doctor before the plan was put into execution; and, to Maud’s despair, announced that he was going to start for Germany at once.
‘Oh, Phil!’
‘Well, Maud, I thought you were so anxious for me to go and see Tor.’
‘Are you going to see him? Are you going to bring him here?’
‘The doctor recommends a sea voyage—you can see what he says if you can read his German hieroglyphics. I must go over and see about it.’
Maud tried to decipher the letter, but ended by bringing it across for Tor to translate. She looked half-pleased, half-disappointed to hear of the plan. Tor left out the piece where the ‘prolonged insensibility’ was mentioned. He did not wish the nature of his friend’s malady to be generally known. The reason for his reticence on this point was simply this. If Mrs. Belassis got hold of the right idea as regards Phil and his friend, and knew that one man was in a state of helpless torpor, it would at once be plain how easily a clever deception might be practised by the other. But if both were in possession of their senses, it was evident that what was done must be by mutual agreement; and so long as this was the case, nobody but the man concerned had any right to interfere with the part his friend was playing.
‘I wish he had suggested sending him to England instead. I believe English doctors could cure him.’
‘Well, if this little fellow fails, we will employ the faculty here; but I’m inclined to try this sea voyage first. The doctors speak with confidence, and one does not like to thwart them on such a point.’
‘But why does he write to ask you? Can’t Mr. Torwood decide for himself?’
‘I’m afraid by this that he’s not so well again, and that he has referred them to me to judge for him. He always threw the management and responsibility of things upon me at the best of times. He is sure to do so more than ever now. I must certainly go over and see about it.’