She moved now very slowly towards the chair, with the air of one fulfilling a hateful task.

The fingers which accepted his hands were extended almost hesitatingly.

He drew her closer to him and held her there.
"Your mother, my dear Esther, is, I regret to say, suffering from a slight indisposition," he remarked.

"She has been confined to her room for the last few days.

Just a trifling affair of the nerves; nothing more, Doctor Sarson assures me.