"I don't know as it's any use my sayin' it," she began as if half to
herself.
The doctor saw that she was much troubled and the kindness of his nature
was roused.
"Don't be afraid of me," he said. "You have come here to tell me
something, tell it frankly. I am a friend of both the people you
mention."
"You can't be that," she suddenly cried. "Nobody can't be that!"
"Why not?"
"You ought to know."
She said it fiercely. All her self-consciousness was suddenly gone, swept
away by the flood of thought and of remembrance that was surging through
her mind.
"Why can't you see what he is," she exclaimed, "any more than he can,
than Julian--Mr. Addison, I mean? Any one'd think you was all mad, they
would."
Doctor Levillier was glad he had admitted the lady of the feathers to his
presence. Interest sprang up in him, alive and searching.
"Tell me what you mean," he said. "Are you talking about Mr. Cresswell?"
"Yes, I am; and I say of all the beasts in London he's the greatest."
Cuckoo did not choose her words carefully. She was highly excited and she
wanted to be impressive. It seemed to her that to use strong language was
the only way to be impressive. So she used it. The doctor's face grew
graver.
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