“But he will return in a few days,” said Nadia, astonished. “You don’t wish me to telegraph to him? That would make him think that my mother was dangerously ill——”
“Yes?” said the doctor, with an intonation that made her start and shiver.
“But she is not even severely hurt! She has absolutely no pain!” she cried, frantically.
“That is the worst symptom in the case,” he replied, in his most repressive and business-like tone. “She is suffering from paralysis, caused by——” And he entered into a learned disquisition on the exact nature of the injury sustained, culminating in the fact that the paralysis, which was now confined to the lower limbs, must necessarily creep upwards by degrees until it reached a certain point, after which—— He paused, and Nadia, who had been listening like one in a dream, forced herself to ask the question—
“And how long—how long will it be before this point is reached?”
“It may be to-night, it may be to-morrow,” he answered. “Therefore, if I may advise you, send your telegram immediately.”
In a stunned condition she returned into the room to ask her mother the O’Malachy’s address, only to be met by the question why she wanted it.
“The doctor thought he ought to know that you were ill,” she murmured.
“But why?” asked Madame O’Malachy. “He must not be sent for unless it is absolutely necessary. Did the doctor say it was necessary?” she added, quickly.
Nadia bowed her head, unable to speak. For a moment her mother’s eager eyes searched her face keenly, then closed, as though in utter weariness.