“I beg your pardon; of course I was not thinking of you, but of my wife.”
“Say what you like to me,” Phemie replied, “but spare your wife. She has suffered enough; she is very seriously ill.”
In answer to which appeal Basil said something under his breath, to the effect that she could sham illness when it suited her purpose, and impose on doctors as she had once imposed on him.
“She is not shamming now, at any rate,” Phemie answered, and Basil continued his walk.
“Is he badly hurt?” he began again, after a pause.
“I am afraid so.”
“Is he in danger?”
“He is.”
“Was he insensible?”
“Yes; he had not spoken when I left.”