“A nurse,—why should I have a nurse? I have a maid.”
“You ought never to be without a nurse. You ought never to be alone,” he told her solemnly. “Now do, my dear child, be guided by me.” He smiled and patted her. “I will tell Dr. Kennedy all about it, give him full instructions. I will see you again in a few days. Come, Kennedy, I can give you a lift; we will decide what is to be done.” He smiled his farewell.
“See me again in a day or two! Not if I know it. Not in a day or two, or a week or two, or a month or two.”
She was furious with him, and with Dr. Kennedy for having brought him. Peter Kennedy had acted well, according to his lights. He did not wish to turn his beloved patient over to his all-conquering partner, but the more infatuated he became about her the less he trusted his own knowledge.
“A bad case of angina, extensive valvular disease. Keep her as quiet as possible, she ought not to be contradicted. Get a nurse or a couple of nurses for her. Daughter of Edgar Rysam, the American millionaire, isn’t she? Seems to have taken quite a fancy to you. Extraordinary creatures these so-called clever women! You ought to make a good thing out of the case.”
Kennedy went back to Carbies after Dr. Lansdowne dropped him, made his way back as quickly as possible. Margaret had bidden him return to tell her what had been said.
“Not that I believe in him or in anything he may have told you. He did not even listen to my heart, he was so busy talking and grinning and reassuring me. What did he tell you? That he heard a murmur? I am so sick of that murmur. I have been hearing of it ever since I was a child.”
Peter slurred over everything Lansdowne had said to him, except that she must be kept quiet; she must not allow herself to get excited. He implored her to keep very quiet. She laughed and asked whether he thought he had a calmative influence? He put his arms about her for all that she resisted him and blubbered over her like the great baby he was.
“I adore you, I want to take care of you, and you won’t look at anybody but him.”
She pushed him away, told him she could not bear to be touched.