“It really was remarkable—though I have heard of similar instances—of paralytics leaving their beds during the excitement of a fire, and that sort of thing— I trust there will be no relapse.”
Miss Gilchrist’s tone left no doubt in the minds of her hearers that she was prepared for the worst. Indeed, her eyes were constantly fastened on Professor Pendragon as if she expected him to fall down at any minute.
“There will be none, thank you,” said Pendragon.
Ruth and Terry exchanged glances. Ruth’s eyes asked Terry, “Do you believe me now?” and Terry’s answered, “I don’t know— I don’t understand it at all.”
“Of course we’re all very happy over Professor Pendragon’s recovery,” said Gloria in her most conventional voice, “and of course I don’t really feel any loss about George, though I am sorry he died that way.”
“It is tragic, but now he’s really gone, Gloria,” said Terry. “I’m awfully glad to be rid of him. He was the most disagreeable servant I ever met, if one can be said to meet servants. I don’t think George ever really accepted me. He used to snub me most horribly and I don’t like being snubbed.”
“That reminds me that you haven’t any servant at all, Gloria, so you really must stay here a few days longer. Perhaps I can find some for you—she really can’t go back now, can she, John?”
“Really, Angela, that’s unfair; of course I want Miss Mayfield to stay—we planned to have everybody over the New Year. Perhaps Professor Pendragon can persuade her.”
“I have had little luck in persuading women to do anything—if Prince Aglipogue had not left us so suddenly he might have been more successful.”
There was a little embarrassed silence around the table after Pendragon had spoken, then Angela began talking of some irrelevant subject and the conversation went on, but always Ruth observed that neither Gloria nor Pendragon ever spoke directly to each other, though the omission was so cleverly disguised that no one at the table observed it except Terry and Ruth who always seemed to see everything together. Ruth had been so busy with Gloria and her affairs that she had talked very little to Terry and never alone; but they conversed nevertheless, constantly reading each other’s eyes as clearly as they would a printed page. The same things seemed to amuse them both and except in the realm of mystery which Ruth’s childhood had built about her, they understood each other perfectly. She knew now that he wanted to talk to her, but she pretended not to see, for having begun her task of managing the happiness of Gloria, she was determined to go on, and the person she wanted to see alone was Professor Pendragon.