‘Yes—and because I—’
She burst into tears. The display of emotion came very suddenly; her words had been spoken in a firm voice, and only the pained knitting of her brows had told what she was suffering.
‘If Willie dies, what shall I do? Oh, what shall I do?’ broke forth between her sobs.
Reardon took her in his arms, and laid his hand upon her head in the old loving way.
‘Do you wish me to go up and see him, Amy?’
‘Of course. But first, let me tell you why we are here. Edith—Mrs Carter—was coming to spend a week with her mother, and she pressed me to join her. I didn’t really wish to; I was unhappy, and felt how impossible it was to go on always living away from you. Oh, that I had never come! Then Willie would have been as well as ever.’
‘Tell me when and how it began.’
She explained briefly, then went on to tell of other circumstances.
‘I have a nurse with me in the room. It’s my own bedroom, and this house is so small it will be impossible to give you a bed here, Edwin. But there’s an hotel only a few yards away.’
‘Yes, yes; don’t trouble about that.’