If you can't protect yourself it's my duty to do it for you....

Do you want Portlaw to see you ?--Wayward ?--these doctors and nurses and servants?
How long would it take for gossip to reach your family!...

And what you've done for their sakes would be a crime instead of a sacrifice!" She looked up; he continued his pacing to and fro but said no more.
After a while she rose; an immense lassitude weighted her limbs and body.
"I think I am fit to go now," she said in a low voice.
"Use a sponge and cold water and fix your hair and put on your shoes," he said.

"By the time you are ready I'll be back with the truth." She was blindly involved with her tangled hair when she heard him on the stairs again--a quick, active step that she mistook for haste; and hair and arms fell as she turned to confront him.
"It was a sinking crisis; they got him through--both doctors.

I tell you, Shiela, things look better," he said cheerily..