Hypatia raised her eyebrows. ‘You’ve quarrelled?’
‘My dear Hypatia, can you imagine Edward being so unreasonable as to quarrel? We could part without tears, I assure you. But that doesn’t mean I can come to Cairo with you. There’s Rosemary to consider.’
Hypatia smiled grimly. ‘That’s very thin. Go and pack your trunk for Egypt, Sheila.’
Conversation was cut short by the arrival of the doctor.
‘She is already a little more comfortable,’ he assured Sheila, ‘and sleeping.’ A fugitive smile crossed his face. ‘She is talking in her sleep about fire-irons, so far as I can make out. A certain poker....’
‘Oh, that’s Poker Morgan,’ interposed Sheila, happy at the sound of so friendly a name. ‘When will you come again?’
‘Mrs. Boddy is with the patient. An admirable person. I shall call again to-night. Now, Mrs. Fairfield, are you a sensible woman?’
Sheila, eagerly submissive, hoped that she was. ‘I’ll do anything for her that you tell me. She’s all I’ve got.’
‘I’m sure you will,’ he said. ‘But if you’re a sensible woman you’ll not be alarmed when I suggest taking a second professional opinion.’
‘Please do,’ begged Sheila, who had long made a secret determination to insist on such a precaution.