Through the silk of her gloves her thumbs
and fingers felt silently the warm sables of the rug that caressed her
knees. And she thought that this feeling, and the feeling in her heart,
must be constituent parts of the emotion called happiness. If the four
ladies could see her now! If they could see her now, Cuckoo thought, she
would take off her veil, just for a moment. When the aspect of the street
began to change, when little gardens appeared, and bare trees standing
bravely in the sun behind high walls and iron gates, the doctor said to
Cuckoo:
"Now I will tell you why I telegraphed to you."
And then Cuckoo remembered that she was in this wonderful expedition for
a reason. The doctor continued speaking in a low voice, with the obvious
intention of being inaudible to the coachman, whose large furred back
presented an appearance of broad indifference to their two lives.
"You remember what I said to you the other day--that perhaps you could
help Julian from great evil."
Cuckoo nodded earnestly.
"And you are prepared to do anything you can?"
"Yes."
She had forgotten the smart carriage, and the horses that never came
down, now.
"Good," said the doctor, shortly and decisively. "I will speak to you
quite plainly to-day, for something leads me to trust you, and to say to
you what I would say to no other person.
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