There was but little risk in so doing, he argued with
his friend, and it was their duty so to do. If the old man should assert
himself to the doctor as Lord Maulevrier, the declaration would pass as
a symptom of his lunacy. But it happened that the physician arrived at
Fellside on one of Lord Maulevrier's bad days, and the patient never
emerged from the feeblest phase of imbecility.
'Brain quite gone,' pronounced the doctor, 'bodily health very poor.
Take him to the South of France for the winter--Hyeres, or any quiet
place. He can't last long.'
To Hyeres the old man was taken, with Mrs. Steadman as nurse, and the
Austrian valet as body-servant and keeper. Mary, for whom, in his
brighter hours he showed a warm affection, went with him under her
husband's wing.
Lord Hartfield rented a chateau on the slope of an olive-clad hill,
where he and his young wife, whose health was somewhat delicate at this
time, spent a winter in peaceful seclusion; while Lesbia and her brother
travelled together in Italy. The old man's strength improved in that
lovely climate.
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