I left my mother fairly well---she has been recovering fast
lately, and she only has one nurse now. Unfortunately, she, too, was out
for the afternoon. I came back to find my mother ill and much
upset---and there's no use denying it--she'd all the symptoms of having
been--well, frightened. I can't think of any other term than
that--frightened. And then I learned that, in my absence, Mr. Eldrick's
clerk, Mr. Pratt--you know him--had been here, and had been with her for
quite an hour. I am furiously angry!"
Collingwood had expected this announcement as soon as she began to
explain. So--the trouble was beginning!
"How came Pratt to be admitted to your mother?" he asked.
"That makes me angry, too," answered Nesta. "Though I confess I ought to
be angry with myself for not giving stricter orders. I left the house
about two--he came about three, and asked to see my mother's maid,
Esther Mawson. He told her that it was absolutely necessary for him to
see my mother on business, and she told my mother he was there. My
mother consented to see him--and he was taken up. And as I say, I found
her ill--and frightened--and that's not the worst of it!"
"What is the worst of it?" asked Collingwood, anxiously. "Better tell
me!--I may be able to do something."
"The worst of it," she said, "is just this--my mother won't tell me what
that man came about! She flatly refuses to tell me anything! She will
only say that it was business of her own.
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