Rachel hesitated. “You will be surprised, sir, when you see her. She’s very frail, and––”
“Come on! Take me to my wife at once!”
“You forget, sir. She is not your wife any––”
“Oh, Lordy, Lordy!” fell dismally from his lips.
“And you have a new wife, I hear. So, if I were you, I’d avoid a scene if––”
But he was through the gate, dragging Phoebe after him. Rachel could not keep up with them. The eager little girl led him to the right car and he scurried up the steps, bursting into drawing-room B an instant later.
Nellie, wrapped in a thick garment, was lying back in the corner of the seat, her small, white face with its great dark eyes standing out with ghastly clearness against the collar of the ulster that almost enveloped her head.
He stopped, aghast, petrified.
“Oh, Nellie!” he wailed.
She betrayed no surprise. A wan smile 240 transfigured her thin face. With an effort she extended a small gloved hand. He grasped it and found there was so little of it that it seemed lost in his palm. The sweat broke out on his forehead. He could not speak. This was Nellie!