Outside there was enough to do, in the disorganized state of the
sick and panic-stricken household, where nobody was effective but
the French valet and one very stupid kitchen-maid. Lena helped the
St. Faith's nurse in her charge of the French maid, but almost all
her time in the morning was spent in domestic cares for the sick and
for her father; and when he was once up, he was half plaintive, half
passionate, if she did not at once respond to his calls. She read
the papers to him, walked up and down the terrace with him while he
smoked, and played bezique with him late into the night, to distract
his thoughts. And where were hers, while each day's bulletin from
Compton Hall was worse than the last? Little Joe Reynolds had been
sent home on being taken ill, and she would fain have gone to see
him, but detentions sprang up around her, and sometimes it would
have been impossible to go so far from the house, so that days had
become weeks, and the month of October was old before she was
walking down the little garden of old Betty's house. The door
opened, and Julius Charnock came out, startling her by the sight of
his worn and haggard looks, as he made a deprecating movement, and
shut the door behind him.
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