"I really do not know." She knew perfectly well that Sabina's knowledge of nursing was of the most perfunctory kind. "She has had experience of all kinds of illness, I believe, and she is thoroughly trustworthy. She could be installed here as an attendant on Miss--Miss West." Attendant! "As spy" she meant, on all poor Cynthia's movements. "I should like to see the woman first," said the doctor bluntly. He was not easy to manage, as Flossy swiftly perceived. "If she is competent for the task, I have no objection--Miss West must not be allowed to overdo herself; but I myself should prefer to send a person who is accustomed to deal with illnesses of this kind." "As you please, of course," said Flossy. She saw that it would be of no use to press Sabina Meldreth upon him, much as she would have liked to secure the services of a spy and an informer in the house. As she paused, the General came forward. "I should like to know, sir," he said, bristling with indignation, "what you mean by saying that that young lady--that girl--has a right to be here? I do not understand such language?" "Why, of course she has a right to be here," said the doctor, staring at him in a purposely matter-of-fact way, "since she is the lady that he is engaged to marry." "Marry! Bless my soul--no such thing!" roared the General, utterly forgetting that there was an invalid in the adjoining room. "Why, he's going to marry my----" "Dear Richard, hush, hush!" said his wife, laying her hand entreatingly upon his arm. "Don't make such a noise--think of poor Hubert!" "Kindly moderate your voice, sir," was the doctor's dry remark. "My patient will hear you if you don't take care." "It does not matter to me whether he hears me or not," the General began; but Flossy's hand tightened its grasp upon his arm in a way which he knew that he must obey. The General was a docile husband, and his protest died away in inarticulate angry murmurs. "Don't trouble about it, General--I will arrange everything," said his wife caressingly. "Go over to the window again and leave me to speak to Doctor Middlemass for a moment;" and, as the General retired, still growling, she half smiled, and raised her eyes to the doctor's face as if she invited sympathy. But Doctor Middlemass looked as unresponsive as a block of wood. "I must go to my patient," he said, "It was to see him, I presume, that I was summoned?" "Not entirely," said Flossy very sweetly. "We wanted to know whether it was absolutely necessary that Miss West should stay with my brother." "Absolutely necessary, madam!" "Then of course we should not think of objecting to her presence, which, I must tell you, is painful to us, because----" "Excuse me, madam," said the doctor, who was certainly a very uncivil person, "if I say that these family-matters are of no interest to me, save as they affect my patient."