“You are wise; there is no need for fear. All will come right, my child.”
She listened intently.
“It is necessary in such operations that the patient should, above all, be cheerful and—and happy—”
“Oh, yes, … and I am happy! Truly! truly!” she breathed.
“—and brave, and patient, and obedient—and—” His voice trembled a trifle. “You must lie very still,” he ended, hastily.
“Will you be here?”
“Yes—yes, of course!”
“Then I will lie very still.”
He left her curled up in an easy-chair, smiling at him with blind eyes; he scarcely found his way down-stairs for all his eyesight. He stumbled to the grill-room door, felt for the knob, and flung it open.
A flood of yellow light struck him like a blow; through the smoke he saw the wine-flushed faces of Colonel Hyssop and Major Brent staring at him.