"Not yet," Worth replied. "I am extremely anxious to get him, but there seems to be no possibility of securing his services."
"Nonsense! I'll send him round at once," said his lordship. "Can't afford to lose any more of my family." He bent over Colonel Audley again, and laid his hand on his right shoulder. "Well, Audley, I must go. You'll be glad to know that we're moving on immediately. Old Blucher took up the pursuit last night, and you may be sure we shan't discontinue our operations till we get to Paris. As for Boney, in my opinion, it n'a que se pendre. But I shall be in a bad way without you fellows: take care that you lose no time in rejoining me!"
"I shall report for duty the instant I can stand on my feet, sir. Who takes the despatch to England?"
"Percy, with three Eagles as well. Goodbye, my boy: now, don't forget! I rely on your following me as soon as you may."
He pressed the Colonel's shoulder, and went away, with a nod to Barbara and a brief handshake for Worth.
He was as good as his word in sending Dr Hume to see the Colonel. The eminent doctor presented himself before an hour had passed, briskly expressing his regret at being kept by a press of work from coming sooner.
His arrival coincided with that of the surgeon who had taken charge of the Colonel's case, and Judith was hard put to it to decide which of the two men she disliked most. Mr Jones's air of depression might exasperate her, but nothing, to her mind, could have been more out of place than Hume's cheerfulness. His voice was loud, and hearty; as he followed her up the stairs he talked all the way of trivialities; and when he entered the Colonel's room it was in a noisy fashion and with a rallying speech on his lips.
The Duke's visit had considerably tired Audley, but he roused himself when Hume came to the bed, and managed to smile.
"Well, now, and what is all this?" Hume said, taking his pulse. "I thought I had seen the end of you when I packed you off from Mont St Jean yesterday."
"I am more difficult to kill than you suspected, you see," murmured the Colonel.