Part 46 (1/2)
Two days later a little woman might have been seen paying a cabman at the door of No. 12, Prince's Mansions. She argued with him over the fare, but finally yielded to his terms, and then she tripped upstairs, throwing back her long widow's veil, which she always insisted on wearing. She reached the door which had been indicated to her as the one leading to Florence's room. She tapped, but there was no answer. She tried to turn the handle: the door was locked. Just as she was so engaged, a girl with a bright, keen face and resolute manner opened the next door and popped out her head.
”Pardon me,” said Mrs. Aylmer the less, for of course it was she, ”but can you tell me if my daughter Florence is likely to be in soon?”
”Your daughter Florence?” repeated the girl. ”Are you Mrs.
Aylmer--Florence's mother?”
”That is my proud position, my dear. I am the mother of that extremely gifted girl.”
”She is out, but I daresay she will be in soon,” said Edith Franks.
”Will you come into my room and wait for her?”
”With pleasure. How very kind of you!” said Mrs. Aylmer. She tripped into the room, accepted the seat which Edith pointed out to her near the fire, and untied her bonnet strings.
”Dear, dear!” she said, as she looked around her. ”Very comfortable indeed. And is _this_ what indicates the extreme poverty of those lady girls who toil?”
”That is a remarkable sentence,” said Edith. ”Do you mind saying it again?”
Mrs. Aylmer looked at her and smiled.
”I won't say it again,” she said, ”for it does not fit the circ.u.mstance.
You do not toil.”
”But indeed I do; I work extremely hard--often eight or nine hours a day.”
”Good gracious! How crus.h.i.+ng! But you don't look bad.”
”I have no intention of being bad, for I enjoy my work. I am studying to be a lady doctor.”
”Oh, don't,” said Mrs. Aylmer. She immediately drew down her veil and seated herself in such a position that the light should not fall on her face.
”I have heard of those awful medical women,” she said, after a pause, ”and I a.s.sure you the mere idea of them makes me ill. I hope they will never become the fas.h.i.+on. You expect medical knowledge in a man, but not in a woman. My dear, pray don't stare at me; you may discover that I have some secret disease which I do not know of myself. I do not wish it found out even if it exists. Please keep your eyes off me.”
”I am not going to diagnose your case, if that is what you mean,”
replied Edith, with a smile. ”I am by no means qualified: I have to pa.s.s my exams in America.”
”Thank you.” Mrs. Aylmer sighed again. ”It is a relief to know that at present you understand but little of the subject. I hope some good man may marry you and prevent your becoming that monster--a woman doctor.
But now to change the subject. I am extremely anxious for my daughter to return. I have bad news for her. Can you tell me how she is?”
”Well, I think,” replied Edith.
”You know her.”
”Oh, yes, rather intimately. Have you not heard our news?”
”What news?”
”She is engaged to my brother.”
”What?” cried Mrs. Aylmer. She sprang to her feet; she forgot in her excitement all fear of the embryo medical woman. She dropped her cloak and rushed forward to where Edith was standing and seized both her hands.