Nurse interfered and said that Dr. Lansdowne was most able.
“Send her out of the room.” I was impatient at her interference.
“All right, nurse, I’ll sit with Mrs. Vevaseur until you’ve had your dinner. You won’t talk too much?” she said to me imploringly.
“Perhaps,” I answered, and smiled. It was good to have Ella sitting with me again.
“The doctor did not wish her to speak at all, nor to see visitors.”
I don’t know how Ella managed to get that authoritative white-capped female out of the room, but she did; she had infinite tact and resource.
“Shall I get my needlework? Or would you rather I read to you? You really mustn’t talk.”
“Neither. You are not going away?”
“I am staying as long as you want me.”
Not a word about the times when I had told her brutally to let me alone, when I had almost turned her out of the house in London, finally fled from her here. That was Ella all over, and characteristic of me that I could not even thank her. When she said she would stay it seemed too good to be true. I questioned her about her responsibilities.