Isla did not see her employer till ten o’clock next morning, by which time she had breakfasted _tête-à-tête_ with Mr. Bodley-Chard. When she was asked to go to Mrs. Chard’s room the expression of her face indicated that she had not had a pleasant morning. Mrs. Chard was not yet out of her bedroom, which communicated with the boudoir by folding-doors. She was lying down, but her pale face brightened at sight of Isla. "Good morning, dear. I wanted to see you ever so long ago, but Edgar said you had not time to come." "Oh," said Isla stiffly, "I did not know you wanted me, or I should have been here sooner. I hope you slept well and feel better this morning?" "I sleep too much, I think," she said with a weary yawn. "I was asleep by half-past nine last night, and I’m not long awake. Yes--I’ve had breakfast, all I ever do take. Sit down, and tell me what you have been about. Did you have a comfortable night, and did they get you all you wanted?" "Everything. My wants are simple, and I can help myself. The housemaid is very kind and attentive." "And you gave Edgar his breakfast? I hope you enjoyed that. Isn’t he charming? And I must tell you a great secret. He is charmed with you. I am so glad, because I’ve had such trouble with my lady-housekeepers. Either they could not get on with my husband, or they wanted to be with him too much. Women are so tiresome and so catty to one another." Isla repressed an inordinate desire to laugh. "Tell me what you talked about, won’t you?" Mrs. Chard continued. "It’s being kept in the dark in my own house that I hate so much. It isn’t fair--do you think it is? For, after all, though I am not strong I do take an interest in things." "I didn’t say much. Mr. Chard talked a good deal--principally about you." "Oh, indeed; and what did he say? Told you all sorts of naughty things, I suppose?" The spectacle of this elderly woman waxing coquettish on the subject of her husband filled Isla with a curious mixture of pity and amusement. "No. He was chiefly trying to impress on me the fact that you are very ill and that you require to be kept quiet and not worried in the least." "Dear Edgar! he is most considerate! He quite spoils me." "I was very much surprised to hear that you had no doctor in attendance, Mrs. Bodley-Chard. Wouldn’t it be better for you to see some one?" Mrs. Bodley-Chard uplifted her hands in mute protest. "Doctors! I’ve spent fortunes on them, and they’ve never done me the smallest good. The last one I had--a man from Mount Street, a very new broom who was going to sweep the West End quite clean--quarrelled with Edgar. What do you think? He actually had the audacity to say that there was nothing whatever the matter with me and that, if I were a poor woman who had to get my living, I should be going about quite well." Isla privately wished she knew that doctor. She felt sure that she should like him.