“Heyst seems to have done you both a lot of good,” Captain Pullen went on presently, “I am sure you are fatter, Margaret, than when you were in Town. And, by the way, how is the daughter?”
“Not very well, I am sorry to say, Ralph! She is cutting more teeth. Elinor and I were consulting whether we should send for a doctor to see her, only this afternoon.”
“By the way, I have good news for you, or you will consider it so. Old Phillips is coming over to join us next week.”
“Doctor Phillips, my dear old godfather!” exclaimed Margaret, “O! I am glad to hear it! He will set baby to rights at once. But who told you so, Ralph?”
“The old gentleman himself! I met him coming out of his club the other day and told him I was coming over here, and he said he should follow suit as soon as ever he could get away, and I was to tell you to get a room for him by next Monday!”
“I shall feel quite happy about my baby now,” said Mrs. Pullen, “I have not much faith in Belgian doctors. Their pharmacopœia is quite different from ours, but Doctor Phillips will see if there is anything wrong with her at once!”
“I hope you will not be disappointed with the Hotel visitors, Ralph,” said Elinor, “but they are a terrible set of riff-raff. It is impossible to make friends with any one of them. They are such dreadful people!”
“O! you mustn’t class them all together, Elinor,” interposed Margaret, “I am sure the Montagues and the Vieuxtemps are nice enough! And du reste, there is no occasion for Ralph even to speak to them.”
“Of course not,” said Captain Pullen, “I have come over for the sake of your company and Margaret’s, and have no intention of making the acquaintance of any strangers. When is the Bataille de Fleurs? Next week? that’s jolly! Old Phillips will be here by that time, and he and Margaret can flirt together, whilst you and I are billing and cooing, eh, Elinor?”
“Don’t be vulgar, Ralph,” she answered, “you know how I dislike that sort of thing! And we have had so much of it here!”