“Quite so. You mustn’t leave him a moment. No one—see, no one—is to come into the room. I’ll be back soon.”
“Very good, sir. Beg pardon, sir.” The good Holt flushed. “What’s the verdict?”
“It’s not all over yet!” Reggie went downstairs.
And it appeared to him that he interrupted the Archduke and the Archduchess in a quarrel. But the Archduke was very pleased to see him, effusive in offering a chair, and so forth. Reggie was not gratified. “I must have nurses, sir,” he announced. “I should like another opinion.”
“You see!” the Archduchess cried. “It is as I told you. This boy!”
“The Archduchess is naturally anxious,” the Archduke apologized. “By all means nurses. But another opinion—you must have confidence in yourself, my good friend.”
“I have. But I want Sir Lawson Hunter to see the case.”
The Archduke shrugged. “It is serious then, Dr. Fortune? We do not wish a great noise. Is it not so, Ianthe?”
“I would give my soul to be quiet,” she cried.
“Quite,” said Reggie.