"He wouldn't go."
"What nonsense! He's gone now, I suppose?" Nan spoke irritably. The
tightness of the doctor's bandages was causing her considerable pain.
"Oh, yes, he went some time ago," Mona assured her. "But he is sure to
come back presently, and say good-bye."
"Say good-bye!" Nan echoed the words slowly, a dawning brightness in her
eyes. "Is he--is he really going, then?" she whispered.
"He says he must go--whatever happens. It was a solemn promise, and he
can't break it. I don't understand, of course, but he is wanted at
Kimberley to avert some crisis connected with the mines."
"Then--he will have to start soon?" said Nan.
"Yes. But he won't leave till the last minute. He has chartered a special
to take him to Plymouth."
"He knows I can't go?" said Nan quickly.
"Oh, yes; the doctor told him that last night."
"What did he say? Was he angry?"
"He looked furious. But he didn't say anything, even in Dutch. I think
his feelings were beyond words," said Mona, with a little smile.
Nan asked no more, but when the doctor saw her a little later, he was
dissatisfied with her appearance, and scolded her for working herself
into a fever.
"There's no sense in fretting about it," he said. "The thing is done, and
can't be altered. I have no doubt your husband will be back again in a
few weeks to fetch you, and we will have you quite well again by then.
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