To such charming as that his ears were deaf;
they pricked at the faintest sound of distant cheering. It would be
something to show even Aunt Maria that he was not done with; what would
it not be to show it to the world--and to that wife of his whom he loved
and could hold only by his deeds?
"I only know what the doctors say," remarked Miss Quisante. "They say you
must throw up everything."
"You wouldn't have me risk another of those damned strokes, would you?"
he asked, the mockery most evident now in his voice and look. "Lady
Mildmay implores me to be careful, almost with tears. I suppose my own
aunt'll be still more anxious, and my own wife too?"
"Doctors aren't infallible. And they don't know you, Sandro. You're not
like other men." Hard as the tone was, his ears drank in the words
eagerly. "They don't know how much there is in you."
Again he leant forward and said almost in a whisper,
"May thinks I'm done for?" Aunt Maria nodded. "And she'll nurse me? Take
me to some infernal invalids' place, full of bath-chairs, and walk beside
mine, eh?" Aunt Maria smiled grimly.
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