Some one, it was necessary, should adopt measures to destroy the giant, he decided, ere it destroyed her.
"Mrs. Mortomley," he began, "you ought to get out of town for a short time—"
"And leave my husband?"
"No, take him with you."
She shook her head. "You do not know how ill he is. No one knows how ill he is but me, not even the doctors."
"He would get stronger if he were away, and he must be strong before the meeting of creditors. Ask the doctors, and be guided by their advice. Now let me entreat of you to be influenced by what they may say."
"If it were possible to move him it might be better," she said thoughtfully, "but he could not go without me, and I suppose I ought to be at Homewood."
"Why, are Miss Halling and her brother and all those men you told me about not sufficient to take care of the place?" asked Mr. Leigh.
She opened her lips to tell him that Rupert and Antonia had left, but closed them again, feeling ashamed to say how utterly desolate she and her husband were in their extremity.