NONA did not know what to do, whether to go first to Eugenia Castaigne or to Barbara herself. Then she decided that it would possibly be fairer to go directly with her warning to Barbara. In Barbara’s place she would have preferred not having Eugenia prejudiced by an outside person.
However, Nona felt that she was having rather more responsibilities toward her friends than she cared to undertake.
Certainly the duty ahead of her was an utterly disagreeable and thankless one! To warn Barbara that her name was being associated with that of Lieutenant Kelley, that there were even other disagreeable rumors, having some mysterious connection with spying, in which she might possibly be supposed to be playing a part, well, Barbara could scarcely be expected to receive such information calmly, or to feel anything but anger and resentment toward the person who brought her such ill news.
Moreover, Nona knew that Barbara had realized she had not altogether approved of her recent behavior and would be the more annoyed for this reason that she should be the messenger.
Several times Nona almost concluded that she would let the whole matter drop. Sooner or later, in some fashion, the gossip or, perhaps, a serious accusation, would eventually reach Barbara. Possibly someone would come to Madame Castaigne or to Mildred Thornton with the story. In either case she would escape all responsibility.
But, seriously, Nona believed that Barbara should be warned. Her entire behavior, although it had been indiscreet, was perfectly innocent. Therefore, it was unfortunate that she should be the subject of disagreeable discussion, when Barbara herself could, in all probability, end it, whatever she might be forced to suffer as a consequence. Nona finally concluded that she owed it not only to her old friendship with Barbara, but to Barbara’s husband, Richard Thornton, to tell Barbara what Philip Dawson had confided to her. For it had been Philip Dawson’s judgment that Barbara should know, and Nona had confidence in his opinion, if not in her own.
That same evening, after dinner, Nona went directly to Barbara’s room. Whether or not she would find her there she had no idea, as Barbara had not been in the dining-room. But then she might possibly be on duty with a patient.
Fortunately, Barbara now occupied a room to herself. After Mildred Thornton had undertaken the care of Captain Castaigne, she had changed into a small room adjoining his, in order that she might be near should he require her attention during the night.
A little later Mollie Drew was to move across the hall to share Barbara’s room. The week before, Agatha Burton had unexpectedly departed for Paris, saying that she had been called home to New York by the illness of her mother and probably could not return to continue her Red Cross work for several months. However, as Eugenia was expecting two new nurses who had just sailed from a port in the United States, the loss of Agatha’s aid was not important.
When Nona knocked at her friend’s door, there was a brief silence, and then a voice inquired: