“Bring him in! What is he waiting for?” demanded a voice which, considering how recently its owner had been at death's door, was surprisingly strong. I entered the room.
He was in bed, propped up with pillows. Beside him sat Mrs. Colton. Of the two she looked the more disturbed. Her eyes were wet and she was dabbing at them with a lace handkerchief. Her morning gown was a wondrous creation. “Big Jim,” with his iron-gray hair awry and his eyes snapping, looked remarkably wide awake and alive.
“How are you, Paine?” he said. “Glad to see you. Sorry to bring you over here, but I had to see you and that doctor says I must stay in this room for a while yet. He may be right. My understanding is pretty shaky, I'll admit. You've met Mrs. Colton, haven't you?”
I bowed and expressed my pleasure at meeting the lady. Her bow was rather curt, but she regarded me with an astonishing amount of agitated interest. Also she showed symptoms of more tears.
“I don't remember whether or not Mr. Paine and I have ever been formally introduced,” she observed. “If we haven't it makes no difference, I suppose. The other members of the family seem to know him well enough. And—and mothers nowadays are not considered. I—I must say that—”
She had recourse to the lace handkerchief. I could understand what the doctor meant by calling her the “most tiring thing in the house.” Her husband laid a hand on hers.
“There, there, my dear,” he said, soothingly, “don't be foolish. Sit down, Paine. Henrietta, perhaps you had better leave Mr. Paine and I together. We have some—er—business matters to discuss and you are tired and nervous. I should go to my room and lie down, if I were you.”
Mrs. Colton accepted the suggestion, but her acceptance was not the most gracious.
“I am in the way, as usual,” she observed, chokingly. “Very well, I should be resigned to that by this time, no doubt. I will go. But James, for my sake, don't be weak. Remember what—Oh, remember all we had hoped and planned! When I think of it, I—I—A nobody! A person without . . . What SHALL I do?”
The handkerchief was in active operation. She swept past me to the door. There she turned.