Doctor's Orders by Eleanor Farnes Page A

... ” Diana began.
    “I know,” he said, and he suddenly smiled. “You do a good deal of apologizing on behalf of that young woman, do you not? Why did you agree to spend the summer in this way?”
    Diana smiled back, agreeably surprised at his friendliness.
    “I owe her father a great deal,” she said. “He has been very good to me. It is a small thing for me to do.”
    “Ah, yes,” said the doctor abruptly. He walked to the window and came back again. “As we have to wait, you must let me give you some tea.”
    “No, please,” said Diana, getting up too. “We cannot waste your time like this. We must forego the appointment.”
    “You will have to wait in any case, as you have arranged to meet here. You may as well have tea.”
    “But I need not usurp any more of your time.”
    “My time, except for Anthea, is my own until six o’clock, when I must be at the clinic for consultation, so you may safely relax.”
    “She is a very naughty girl,” said Diana, determining what she would say to Anthea when that young person was available.
    The tea was brought in, the secretary came in with some messages before leaving for the day, accepted a cup of tea and departed, and the doctor and Diana talked. He was surprised to learn that she had never been abroad before, and Diana was explaining that her aunt, who brought her up, had nursed the strange idea that all foreigners were heathen, dissipated, wicked and predatory, and was quite convinced that England ought to be more than sufficient for all right-thinking people. They were laughing together over this, in a more friendly fashion than any that had so far existed between them, when the maid announced M l le. Nicol, and Antoinette came into the room.
    She was supremely sure of herself, and extremely chic. Her slim-fitting dress was of grey tie-silk, her little Paris hat white, as were her gloves. Diana wondered if she always managed to look as if she had just stepped from the pages of the glossy fashion magazines.
    “How nice to find you at home, and not desperately busy,” she said, speaking in French. “And how comfortable and domestic you look. May I join you for tea?”
    Dr. Frederic was already bringing her a chair, and introducing her to Diana.
    “But I remember you,” said Antoinette. “You were with the pretty girl who had the so-nice mink coat. You are English? Perhaps it is nicer we should all talk in English.”
    Diana explained that the pretty girl in the so - nice mink coat had been very naughty today, and that was why she had wasted the doctor’s time in this fashion.
    “Oh, it is good for him,” said Antoinette, smiling at him fondly. “He should have more occasions when somebody wastes his time for him—it relaxes him.”
    “You do your best, Antoinette,” he told her.
    “Indeed yes, I know that I sometimes take more of your time than you are willing to give. He works much —much too hard,” she added to Diana. “If I did not sometimes bully him to take me to frivolous occasions, he would be much too serious. But you must admit, Armand, that you always enjoy such occasions.”
    “Who could help enjoying himself in your company, my dear?”
    “Pfff!” she exclaimed gaily. “Such a little compliment. But tell me, Miss Pevrill, what part of England do you come from? I know England quite well, and like it always so much ... ” and the conversation was established on normal, polite lines.
    When it was time for the doctor to leave for the clinic, Anthea had still not arrived, and Diana was beginning to be anxious. Antoinette asked Dr. Frederic to drop her at her house, and they left together, as handsome and elegant a couple as anyone could wish to see. Dr. Frederic said he would return in about an hour, and then, if Anthea had not arrived, he would make enquiries. If she had, and they had left for their hotel in the mountains, he would write to them about a new appointment.
    The maid took away the tea things, and Diana waited in an