Just then the invalid opened his eyes and gazed full at his son.
“I know what I am saying,” he said quietly. “I recollect all that has passed, but I am too weak and helpless to speak much. Nurse!”
She went to his side.
“Let him stay with me. You can go for an hour or two. I am not going to die—yet.”
She looked at him keenly, and then at Neil, as if to question him, but she did not speak.
“The danger is past,” he said quietly. “You can safely go for a time.”
“Then set me free, sir,” she cried, quickly, her woman’s nature asserting itself now above the habit of the passionless trained nurse. “If there were danger, I would stay, but you say it is past; and it is impossible for me to stay here after what has happened.”
“There is no reason now, madam,” said Neil coldly. “I am doctor, and you are the nurse. You need not fear that I shall speak again. You cannot leave my father yet.”
She looked at him wildly, and then, growing momentarily less self-controlled, she avoided his eyes and turned to the invalid, bending down over him gently.
“Mr Elthorne,” she said; “you have heard your son’s words as regards your state. I cannot stay here now. Give me your permission to go.”