“The doctor will be here to speak to you in about five minutes, Mrs. Burton, if you can wait so long,” Ralph reported, taking a chair near her.
He looked so unlike his usual self that, for the first time since their meeting, his companion’s attention was arrested.
Ordinarily Ralph Marshall had a debonair air of self-satisfaction and happiness, as if he were pleased with himself and with the world’s pleasure in him—at least his own world, for few of us ever think far beyond it. He was not disagreeable or half so inane as this idea suggests. For the facts were that Ralph Marshall was handsome, charming, and extremely rich. He had always had everything he wished without making the least effort to obtain it. People had always seemed to like him, and girls and women had undeniably spoiled him. So it was not extraordinary that he had a fairly amiable opinion of himself.
However, today Ralph’s face wore another expression; instead of appearing pleased he looked extremely out of sorts with himself, and with everything and everybody.
“Is Peggy very ill?” he asked, endeavoring to speak with careless politeness, but finding himself coloring as he put the conventional question.
Mrs. Burton shook her head.
“No; Peggy says there is nothing the matter, and perhaps she is right. It is only that I am absurdly uneasy when there is the least change in her. Recently she has not looked very well and has not been so agreeable as she ordinarily is. There does not seem anything else I think of as an explanation, except that she is ill.”
Ralph did not flush a second time, but instead had an unexpected sense of well being. At least he had been right in his estimate of Peggy Webster. Whatever he might be himself she was the real thing. Evidently not a word of betrayal of him and his treatment of her had passed her lips. Peggy knew that he valued Mrs. Burton’s and her mother’s friendship, and that he would have been placed in an uncomfortable position with his own family, if they had ceased their friendly attitude toward him.
“What is the matter with you, Ralph?” Mrs. Burton inquired unexpectedly.
This was his opportunity, nevertheless Ralph evaded it.