"It will be a long time before he can come back to the theatre?" she asked again.
"There is no doubt about that."
"But his voice will be all right when he gets well?"
"Dr. Whitsen seems to think so."
She stood undecided for a moment; then she said,
"Well, I won't write until you give me leave. I don't mind your seeing the letter, when I do. In the meantime, will you tell Lionel how awfully glad I am that he is going on well, and that we shall all be glad to have him back at the theatre?"
"I will give him the message."
"Thanks—good-bye." And therewith Miss Burgoyne and her brother Jim withdrew.
But if Maurice set his face against that young lady being allowed to see Lionel in his present exhausted condition, it was quite otherwise with his notions about Nina. He talked to the three doctors, and to Mrs. Moore, and to Francie—to Francie most of all; and he maintained that, so far from such a meeting causing any mental disturbance, the knowledge that Nina was in London, was close by, would only be a source of joy and placid congratulation and peace. They yielded at last, and the experiment was to be tried on the Saturday morning about eleven. Nina was told. She trembled a little, but was ready to do whatever was required of her.
"Well, now," said Maurice to her, when she came up that morning (he noticed that she was dressed with extreme neatness and grace, and also that she seemed pale and careworn, though her beautiful dark eyes had lost none of their soft lustre), "we mustn't startle him. We must lead up to his seeing you. I wonder whether your playing those Neapolitan airs may not have left some impression on his brain?—they might sound familiar?"