“This is in confidence, of course,” Eric interrupted. “You’re not telling my people—or Ivy... or any one?”
“No. But I’ll tell you that, if you try to marry that child in your present state, you’ll deserve to be pulled limb from limb.”
“I don’t propose to.”
“If you’ll wait a couple of years....”
Eric was troubled to keep his brain, now suddenly alert, back to the doctor’s deliberate pace. The immediate future was clear....
“How soon am I to start?,” he asked.
“Get out of London as soon as possible.”
“And—about Ivy. When will she be well enough to be told?”
“I should tell her at once—to-morrow. She’ll see something’s up; she wanted to know to-night why you’d suddenly come back without warning... I find that as a rule it’s best to tell people the truth, however much of a shock it may be. We’re all of us equal to a certain number of shocks; and it seldom becomes less of a shock by postponing it and wrapping it in lies.”
“I’ll tell her to-morrow,” said Eric. “Do you want to do anything more with me?”