"Will he get better?" she said.
"I cannot tell you."
The doctor seated himself and prepared to deal long and leisurely with the case.
"It's impossible to say. He may get better. He may even get well. But I should do wrong if I let you hope too much for that."
"You can give no hope?" she said, thinking that she uttered his real thought.
"I don't say that. I only say that the chances are not—exclusively—in favour of recovery."
"The chances?"
"Yes. The chances." The doctor looked at her, considering whether she were a woman who could bear the truth. Her eyes assured him that she could. "I don't say he won't recover. It's this way," said he. "There's a clot somewhere on the brain. If it absorbs completely he may get well—perfectly well."
"And if it does not absorb?"
"He may remain as he is, paralysed down the left side. The paralysis may be only partial. He may recover the use of one limb and not the other. But he will be paralysed. Partially or completely."