She bundled the fur collar closely about his throat and patted him affectionately on the shoulder. He was well over six feet, even though he stooped a little, so that she had to stand on tiptoe to reach him.
"There, I"m all right," the old man objected testily, but he was not displeased.
Perhaps, thought Esther, she was mistaken after all in regard to Lady Clifford"s sentiments towards her husband. She could not, of course, be supposed to be wildly in love with him, but she undoubtedly did appear to be fond of him, even though her feeling might be that of a daughter for a father. At any rate, when it came to the point, she seemed genuinely concerned over the idea of his being ill. Most likely, in common with many very emotional women, she dramatised and exaggerated her slightest feeling, professing far more than she meant.
This would easily explain that conversation at the tea-table. She might have meant all she said at the time, but she had probably forgotten it completely by now.
Waving aside all offers of a.s.sistance, Sir Charles made his way slowly to the car. His sister let him go ahead, then halting on the doorstep, took hold of Esther"s arm confidentially. "One moment, nurse," she said in an undertone, "I"d like to ask you something. Tell me frankly, do you think the doctor saw anything alarming in my brother"s symptoms?"
Her plain, pleasant face was puckered with anxiety, her eyes searched Esther"s.
"Why, no, I honestly think he meant what he said, that it is too soon to tell anything definite."
"I wonder! Doctors are all alike, they never give anything away," and she frowned thoughtfully. "I daresay you think me foolish, but the fact is I am extremely apprehensive. You see, I"m afraid it may be typhoid."
"Typhoid!"
Esther could only repeat the word, unwilling to admit that the same suspicion had occurred to her.
"Yes, there"s a great deal of it about the Riviera this season, as you may know."
"I"ve heard so."
"There have been several cases quite close to us, and one actually in the house, one of the maids. She went down with it four weeks ago, and has had a severe case. She"s in a nursing home now. An attack of typhoid as violent as that would probably prove fatal to a man of my brother"s age and in his state of health--for he hasn"t been at all strong for several years. So you can understand how I--how we--feel about it."
With an impulse of sympathy Esther grasped the gloved hand on her arm and gave it a warm squeeze.
"You mustn"t think such things," she admonished earnestly. "It may be nothing at all serious, over-fatigue, a slight cold. Besides, typhoid fever needn"t be fatal, even at his age."
The elder woman"s face lit up with a sudden, grateful smile.
"You"re right. I shouldn"t cross bridges--and I mustn"t let him see I"m worried. Thank you, my dear!"
She took a step downward, then turned and smiled again at Esther with friendly curiosity.
"What is your name," she asked, "and how do you come to be here?"
Esther told her.
"Well," remarked Miss Clifford, "you"re a very different sort from the young Frenchwoman the doctor had here before you came--all paint and powder, busy making herself up whenever she thought you weren"t looking, always ready for a flirtation." She made a grimace. "Not that she got very far with the doctor, I may tell you," she added, then nodding good-bye, joined her brother in the car.
Esther went into the salon and straightened the disarranged pile of magazines. Then going to the window she peered through the net curtain at the two occupants of the Rolls Royce. The old man was leaning back with his eyes shut and his haggard face sunken into lines of weariness; his sister was adjusting the rug more comfortably about him, watching him with troubled eyes. What a good sort she was! Esther liked her downright honesty and warm-heartedness; she thought she had never met anyone of that age so utterly guileless. How did she get on with her temperamental sister-in-law? What did she think of her really?
She heard the door of the consulting-room open, the other one, leading to the hall.
"You _think_--but are you _sure_?"
It was Lady Clifford who put this question in a voice which, though low-pitched, had a note of sharp insistence.
"Sure! Can one be absolutely sure of anything?"
All the geniality was gone from the doctor"s voice; he sounded cold, as though wearied by a tiresome topic.
"Yes, but you know what my nerves are like! Can"t you say something more?"
A short silence. Then:
"You say he had his milk regularly--the pint and a half a day?"
"Yes, yes, of course--every day."
"Oh, then, I don"t think I should worry."
The front door closed; a moment later the car drove away.
Puzzled and slightly curious, though not intensely so, Esther found herself wondering what meaning there was in the doctor"s last words.
Was the old man ill--or wasn"t he?
As she continued putting the room to rights the doctor pushed open the gla.s.s doors and stood regarding her undecidedly. There was no clue to his thoughts, but then there seldom was.
"Fools, these people," he remarked at last. "The more money they have the bigger fools they are. Always insisting that you tell them more than you know yourself, never willing to wait for a disease to declare itself."
With a kind of contemptuous snort he lumbered back into the consulting-room and closed the door. Had he been offering an explanation in case she had overheard? Or merely expressing aloud a general opinion regarding patients, all of whom he evidently held in scorn? For the life of her she could not decide.
CHAPTER VII
Several days slipped by, during which she heard nothing further of the Cliffords. Nor indeed did she think about them very much, there being more vital matters to occupy her attention. Esther was but mortal.
There was a particular chestnut-coloured crepe-de-Chine jumper in a shop-window along the Croisette that drew her like a magnet--her colour, and what a background for her golden amber beads, brought her recently by a patient from Peking. Should she give way to the extravagance, or ought she to save her money? The problem was a weighty one. Besides this, there was a young Italian, merry and good-mannered, whom she had met at her hotel, and who was beseeching her to come out one evening and dance. What ought she to say to him?
Her soul longed for gaiety--Italians were good dancers, as a rule.
There was, moreover, a letter from New York from the devoted doctor who wanted to marry her, a long letter, fraught with complete understanding and fidelity which left her cold, but gave her something to think about. On the whole she had quite enough to occupy her idle thoughts.
Yet now and again she recalled the sudden liking she had felt for Miss Clifford, and at these moments she wondered what was happening to the old cotton manufacturer up there in La Californie. She knew the doctor called twice daily. She decided to question him.
"Doctor, what happened to Sir Charles Clifford?"
"Happened?"
The doctor frowned into a test-tube and waited for her to explain.
"I mean, if he is ill, what has he got?"
"Oh, typhoid fever," replied the doctor indifferently, intent on his experiment.
"So it was typhoid after all!" Esther exclaimed, conscious of a certain regret.
He lowered the tube and slowly levelled his small dull eyes upon her.