He bowed mockingly with his old manner, and walked toward the door, meeting Lillian as she came in.
"So long, Lil," he said carelessly. "I'm going for a long walk. See you later."
She looked at him searchingly. "All right," she answered laconically, and then came over to me.
"Mr. Gordon will be here in a half-hour," she said. "Please try to rest a little before he comes."
She lowered the shades, and my pillows, kissed me gently, and left the room. But I could neither rest nor sleep. The wildest conjectures went through my brain. Who was Robert Gordon, and why was he so strangely interested in me?
MADGE FACES THE PAST AND HEARS A DOOR SOFTLY CLOSE
It seemed a very long time to me, as I tossed on my pillows, beset by the problem that even the name Robert Gordon always presents to me, before Lillian came back to my room. But when she entered she said that Mr. Gordon would soon arrive and that I must be prepared to see him, so she bathed my hands and face and gave me an egg-nog before propping me up against my pillows to receive my visitor.
"Of course you will stay with me, Lillian, while he is here," I said.
She smiled enigmatically. "Part of the time," she said.
But when Mr. Gordon came, bringing with him an immense sheaf of roses, she left the room almost at once, giving as an excuse her wish to arrange the flowers.
My visitor's eyes were burning with a light that almost frightened me as he sat down by my bedside and took my hand in his.
"My dear child," he said, and though the words were such as any elderly man might address to a young woman, yet there was an intensity in them that made me uncomfortable. "Are you sure everything is all right with you?"
"Very sure," I replied, smiling. "If Mrs. Underwood would permit me to do so, I am certain I could get up now."
"You must not think of trying it," he returned sharply, and with a note in his voice, almost like authority, which puzzled me.
"Thank God for Mrs. Underwood!" he went on. "She is a woman in a thousand. I am indebted to her for life."
I shrank back among my pillows, and wished that Lillian would return to the room. I began to wonder if Mr. Gordon's brain was not slightly turned. Surely, the fact that he had once known and loved my mother was no excuse for the extravagant attitude he was taking.