“No; not very,” she replied steadily.
“I wish,” he said, “you would take all that lace off for a moment.”
“Take it off? Why?”
“That I may see you without it. See the difference it makes. Come, dear, let me unwind it.”
She shrank back. “No, no. Please do not touch it.”
“Philippa, only for a moment,” he persisted, hiding the bitterness that rose in his heart. “Do take it off. I do not like you in it. Let me see you for a moment without it.”
His insistence must have betrayed his suspicion. She met him boldly.
“I cannot take the band off,” she said. “I have had a slight accident. I have hurt my throat.”
“You said it was a cold.”
“I must keep the cold from it.”