"There," he said at last, "I don't think we need to be alarmed. Put on your dress, little girl, and wait downstairs for your husband, will you? I want just a word with him about what he is to do for you."
Helen obediently dressed and went. The doctor followed her to the door, saw her downstairs, and returned to me. I sat frozen in my chair.
"Ted," he said, examining some instrument on his desk, "there were tubercular bacilli in her sputum."
I continued to sit in silence. The room was growing hazy, and I could not struggle to any words.
"We've got the case in an early stage--so early, in fact, that I don't even yet say the diagnosis is final. With open-air treatment, she should be well again in a year. But you'll have to be careful with her. You must leave England in September."
"Leave England," I said mechanically, my tongue sticking to my throat, making it difficult to speak. "Where are we to go?"
"Up the Nile--Assuam is a good place--or out to the desert; say your own Southern California."
"Egypt or California?" I echoed, like a ventriloquist's puppet.
"Meanwhile, live in the open all you can--but no violent exercise. Don't let her ride or play tennis. A little gentle walking; nothing more."
I got to my feet. "Doctor, I want to know the truth. What chance have we?"
"Why, the best of chances. The will to win, that will do it, Ted. Keep your nerve and don't let her be frightened. Cures are often made, at this stage." He added: "I'm going to have more analyses made. It's still possible we are wrong."
"Absolutely certain, if you follow instructions. Will that satisfy you?"
"I don't want to be satisfied. I want the truth."
The doctor walked up and down the room for a moment or two.
"Ted," he said slowly, turning to me, "I'm a doctor, not a prophet. Cures are possible with modern treatment. I can't say more. She is young, has lived a good, clean life, and has a good physique. Everything possible is in her favour. Don't leave her too long downstairs, or she may worry."
I groped toward the door, the doctor close at my elbow.
"Remember, Ted, that cheerfulness is our most important ally. Whatever you feel, don't let her see you anything but cheerful. By the way--" he paused.
"She ought not to kiss her baby or be too close to it."