"This is intimidation, Mr. Clifford."
"You are at liberty to give it any name you like. The point is that only by doing as I say can you avoid at the moment a legal investigation."
A second or two elapsed while the doctor looked at him silently, evidently considering the matter. Then without a word he turned and walked heavily towards the fireplace, where he seated himself in the big arm-chair. At this precise moment Miss Clifford came back into the room with a basin of water and a towel. She glanced at the distant figure of the doctor with slight surprise, then at Roger as though scenting something amiss.
"He sent me to get these," she murmured uncertainly. "Is she coming around?"
"You shouldn"t have let him come near her," he returned, shaking his head. "I thought you understood."
She glanced at him in distressed astonishment. Plainly her belief in the doctor remained quite unshaken; she had as yet not the faintest conception of the suspicions in her nephew"s mind.
"Did I do wrong?" she whispered. "I didn"t see how it could make any difference as long as the poor girl wasn"t conscious, and I began to be frightened. Her pulse is so terribly weak!"
"We must get another doctor here as quickly as possible," announced Roger with decision. "Ring for Chalmers; he will attend to it. I daren"t leave the room."
However, it was unnecessary to ring. Chalmers entered at that moment and slipped a key into Roger"s hand.
"I"ll telephone at once, sir," he said. "There is a doctor quite close by, a French one, of course, but I dare say he will be good enough."
"Yes, Chalmers, tell him to come at once, that it is serious. If you can"t get him, try another one; don"t leave the telephone until you"ve found someone. And send one of the maids for a hot-water bottle."
With a nod of understanding the butler went quickly out.
"I"m afraid Therese is rather upset by all this," remarked the old lady as she gently bathed the bloodstains from Esther"s pale cheek. "She can"t stand much of this sort of thing."
It seemed to Roger incredible that his aunt should not suspect something was wrong, yet it was true that she remained in ignorance of what had taken place in his bathroom a few minutes ago. She was merely aware that Therese had retired to her room without offering to a.s.sist them. Without comment Roger renewed his efforts to resuscitate the fainting girl. Her face was ashy, her lips bluish. There was no apparent change in her condition; she continued to lie there so limp and lifeless that Roger became more and more frightened. Yet great as was his fear he dared not call in the services of the man by the fire.
Aware of his aunt"s mystification and disapproval, he still considered the doctor the more serious of two dangers.
"It is the strangest case I have ever known," murmured old Miss Clifford in perplexity. "What do you suppose is the reason for her turning against the doctor so suddenly? Why, I thought they were on the best of terms? And where do you suppose she has been? Did you notice all this mud down the side of her clothes? And no hat, nor bag--so she must be without money."
He nodded gravely, watching eagerly for the least sign of returning consciousness. He could not tell whether Sartorius had administered a _piqure_ of some kind to her or not, and the uncertainty filled him with apprehension. He could not rid his mind of Esther"s stricken cry, "If he does that again I"m finished!" What was it she meant? Was it possible that those red dots on her arm furnished the answer? She might have been out of her senses when she said that, of course. If what the doctor averred was the case, then it was part of her delusion to believe he was trying to injure her. How could one know the truth?
She might die now, so easily; then one could never find out.
She might die----! The fear of this tortured him. The solution of the mystery, even the question of whether his father"s death had been due to natural causes or not sank into comparative insignificance beside that terrifying possibility. Nothing could undo what was done, nothing could bring his father back--but here was this girl whom he loved apparently about to slip over the border-line before his eyes and he could do nothing to save her. The thought drove him distracted.
A maid brought the hot-water bottle: they put it near Esther"s feet, which were icy to the touch, even through her thin stockings. They loosened her clothing, although there was not much to be done in that line, her slender body being innocent of stays. Presently Miss Clifford raised an anxious face.
"Don"t you think we"d better get _him_ to do something after all?" she whispered nervously. "I"m rather frightened!"
He frowned and shook his head, at the same time realising how strange his refusal must strike her. Before he could frame a reasonable reply Chalmers returned to inform him that he had found a doctor, who would be with them in a few minutes.
"Thank G.o.d! Dido, we"ll wait for him."
"Very well, my dear, if you think it"s safe."
She glanced doubtfully at the inert form under the pink coverlet.
"I know what you"re thinking," he said softly, putting his hand on her shoulder, "but I believe I am acting for the best. You must simply take my word for it."
Purposely disregarding her puzzled glance he consulted his watch, then looked towards the figure seated in the armchair by the fire.
Sartorius, perfectly self-contained, was making entries in a notebook, apparently little concerned with what went on behind him. A certain scornful touch about his absolute sang-froid unnerved Roger somewhat.
It made him feel that perhaps he was acting the fool, jumping at false conclusions. Was Esther"s dread of this man purely the creation of a disordered brain?
"_Pardon, mademoiselle!_"
A woman"s voice in the doorway back of him made him start suddenly to find Therese"s maid, Aline, eyeing them with a slightly hostile curiosity.
"_La porte de Madame est fermee a clef. Je demande pardon se je derange Mademoiselle et Monsieur!_"
With a deprecatory manner that was irritatingly exaggerated she crossed the room on tip-toe, bestowing a single searching glance on the sofa and its occupant. Roger wondered how much she had heard in the kitchen. He was sure Chalmers would give nothing important away to the other servants.
"I wonder why Therese has locked her door?" Miss Clifford remarked wonderingly when Aline had disappeared into her mistress"s bedroom.
"She doesn"t usually.... Listen, Roger, was that a car outside?"
Two minutes later Chalmers, with an air of relief, announced:
"Dr. Bousquet, sir."
CHAPTER x.x.xIV
"_Bonsoir, Madame! Bonsoir, Monsieur!_ I hope I have not kept you long. I came as quickly as I could. This is the patient, I suppose?"
He spoke in excellent English, and had a brisk and businesslike air.
He was a small and dapper man with ginger hair cut _en brosse_, and red-brown eyes behind thick gla.s.ses. Setting down his bag on a chair, he cast a professional glance at the prostrate figure under the pink quilt, then running his eyes over the room he discovered Dr. Sartorius.
At once a look of puzzled recognition, tinged with deference, came over his sharp little face. He bowed stiffly.
"Ah, doctor, how do you do?" he greeted his colleague in a slightly diffident tone. "Am I to understand that ... may I ask if I am intruding, or..." and he broke off, obviously uncertain as to the position of things.
Sartorius rose and stood stolidly beside his chair.
"Not at all, doctor," he replied coolly. "Mr. Clifford will no doubt explain why you were sent for. There appears to be a good reason."
Expectantly the little man turned to Roger, who, seeing the necessity of some explanation to satisfy him on a point of professional etiquette, said quietly:
"This lady, doctor, is a nurse who has been employed in our family until my father"s death a few days ago. After the funeral she left the house, then this evening she returned suddenly in a very strange and excited state. A few minutes after she entered the room here she became unconscious. The reason Dr. Sartorius does not attempt to do anything for her is that when he did try she became much worse. It seems that she has taken a marked antipathy to him, we don"t know why."
The Frenchman raised his bushy red brows.
"Ah, ah?" he commented. "May I inquire if you had any knowledge of this antipathy before she went away?"
"I had," replied Sartorius heavily. "I mentioned the fact to Lady Clifford. I had begun to suspect at the last that she might be suffering from some rather obscure mental derangement."
"I see, I see! I daresay you have come to no conclusion as to her present state, doctor?"
"I have not had an adequate opportunity of judging."