His heart beat rapidly and sweat formed on his face. If the pain didn’t go away by the count of ten he would get up and take the special medicine his doctor had given him.
Frightened, Mr Murphy counted and the pain, not subject to this magic, did not go away.
Chapter Six
“It’s twelve o’clock,” Caroline said to Mr Murphy. “I think I’ll go out to lunch, if that’s O.K.”
“Yes, yes, Caroline.”
She thought he looked rather pale. She was about to ask him how he felt but she stopped herself, remembering how he disliked talking about his health. She had noticed that during the last year he had been taking a lot of medicine. Perhaps he was going to die. Caroline began to compose a little drama to herself. Mr Murphy had just collapsed across his desk and she had been the only one to keep a clear head....
“You coming, Caroline?” It was Robert Holton.
“Be right there.” She arranged the papers on her desk, shut the drawers and joined Robert Holton outside the gate of the railing.
“Where’ll we eat today?” asked Holton.
“At the restaurant, of course. Where did you think we would?”