He heard the telephone ring beneath, and turned quickly.
"I may be wanted," he said. "I'll join you presently. There is my wife's boudoir," and he pointed to a door. "Take Mrs. Paxton in, Theydon. Mrs. Forbes and Evelyn will be glad of your company."
Theydon knocked, and heard Evelyn's voice bidding him enter. Mrs. Forbes was lying on a couch, and her daughter had evidently been seated near her, reading a newspaper.
"I've brought my sister to see you," he explained. "I've been relating such heroic things about you that she simply refused to go home without ocular proof of your existence."
Mrs. Forbes would have risen, but was restrained by the girl's emphatic cry:
"Mother, why won't you behave like an obedient invalid?"
Thus coerced, "Mother" did behave.
"They insist on treating me as a casualty," she cried cheerfully. "What is your sister's name, Mr. Theydon?"
"Mollie," he said thoughtlessly, for he had just touched Evelyn Forbes's hand, and the mere contact gave him an electrical shock.
The women laughed, and Mrs. Paxton blushed.