Page 111 - lady-chatterlys-lover

sleek and blond, and his face fresh, his blue eyes pale, and
a little prominent, his expression inscrutable, but well-bred.
Hilda thought it sulky and stupid, and he waited. He had
an air of aplomb, but Hilda didn’t care what he had an air
of; she was up in arms, and if he’d been Pope or Emperor it
would have been just the same.
’Connie’s looking awfully unwell,’ she said in her soft
voice, fixing him with her beautiful, glowering grey eyes.
She looked so maidenly, so did Connie; but he well knew
the tone of Scottish obstinacy underneath.
’She’s a little thinner,’ he said.
’Haven’t you done anything about it?’
’Do you think it necessary?’ he asked, with his suavest
English stiffness, for the two things often go together.
Hilda only glowered at him without replying; repartee
was not her forte, nor Connie’s; so she glowered, and he was
much more uncomfortable than if she had said things.
’I’ll take her to a doctor,’ said Hilda at length. ‘Can you
suggest a good one round here?’
’I’m afraid I can’t.’
’Then I’ll take her to London, where we have a doctor we
trust.’
Though boiling with rage, Clifford said nothing.
’I suppose I may as well stay the night,’ said Hilda, pull-
ing off her gloves, ‘and I’ll drive her to town tomorrow.’
Clifford was yellow at the gills with anger, and at evening
the whites of his eyes were a little yellow too. He ran to liver.
But Hilda was consistently modest and maidenly.
’You must have a nurse or somebody, to look after you

110 Lady Chatterly’s Lover