Harold led his father from the room. Elizabeth turned to the minister.
“Oh, Mr. McGowan! Is it––do you think–––Oh! I can’t say it! It’s too awful!”
“We must telephone for the doctor at once. It may be serious.”
“Then, you do think it’s a stroke! What shall we do!”
Mr. McGowan telephoned for the doctor, and when he arrived he sent him at once to the Elder’s room. The physician entered unannounced, stopped short on the threshold, and 71 stared at the two men who were in the midst of a heated discussion.
Elizabeth met the doctor as he came down the stair.
“Miss Fox, will you be kind enough to tell me if your father has had bad news, or sudden grief?”
“Not that I know of, Doctor. Harold had just told him that he must start for Australia to-morrow when Father nearly fainted. That is all that happened.”
“Then, I see no occasion for this. There is nothing organically wrong so far as I can discover. But I shall take his blood pressure to-morrow just to be on the safe side. Call me any time during the night if anything out of the ordinary happens. Keep him perfectly quiet. Good night.”
Harold called Elizabeth from the head of the stair.