"Melrose was away. Old Dixon said
they should only come in over his body--but was removed. Undershaw got
four labourers to help him, and, by George, they carried the man in! They
found the drawing-room downstairs empty, no furniture in it, or next to
none--turned it into a bedroom in no time. Undershaw telegraphed for a
couple of nurses--and when Melrose came home next day--_tableau_! There
was a jolly row! Undershaw enjoyed it. I'd have given anything in the
world to be there. And Melrose'll have to stick it out they say for weeks
and weeks--the fellow's so badly hurt--and--"
Lydia interrupted him.
"What did Doctor Undershaw say of him to-day?"
She bent forward across the tea-table, speaking earnestly.
Tatham looked at her in surprise.
"The report is better. Had you heard about it?"
"I must have seen him just before the accident--"
"Lydia! I never understood," said Mrs. Penfold rather bewildered.
Lydia explained that she too had seen Doctor Undershaw that morning, on
his way to the Tower, in Whitebeck village, and he had told her the
story. She was particularly interested, because of the little meeting by
the river, which she described in a few words. Twenty minutes or so after
her conversation with the stranger the accident must have happened.
Mrs. Penfold meanwhile was thinking, "Why didn't Lydia tell me all this
on the drive?" Then she remembered one of Lydia's characteristics--a kind
of passionate reticence about things that moved her.
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