Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 2.djvu/74

60 if they might have matters between them, and Tony yielded to the impulse to prove to Rose that though there were things he kept from her he kept nothing that was not absolutely necessary. "There's something else I've got to do—I've got to stop at the Doctor's."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "To consult him?"

"To ask him to come over."

"I hope you're not ill."

"Never better in my life. I want him to see Effie."

"She's not ill surely?"

"She's not right—with the fright Gorham had this morning. So I'm not satisfied."

"Let him then by all means see her," Rose said.

Their talk had, through the action of Vidal's presence, dropped from its chilly height to the warmest domestic level, and what now stuck out of Tony was the desire she should understand that on such ground as that he was always glad to meet her. Dennis Vidal faced about again in time to be called, as it were, if only by the tone of his host's voice, to witness this. "A bientôt. Let me hear from you