Sheldon and Diana had pleaded--Georgy
with as much earnestness as she could command; Diana as forcibly as she
dared argue a question in which her voice had so little weight.
But upon this point Mr. Sheldon was adamant.
"She will be better off in London," he said resolutely. "This trip to the
seaside was a whim of my wife's; and, like most other whims of my wife's,
it has entailed trouble and expense upon me. Of course I know that Georgy
did it for the best," he added, in reply to a reproachful "O Philip!"
from Mrs. Sheldon. "But the whole business has been a mistake. No sooner
are we comfortably settled down here, than Hawkehurst takes it into his
head to be outrageously alarmed about Charlotte, and wants to bring
half-a-dozen doctors round the poor girl's bed, to her inevitable peril;
for in an illness which begins and ends in mental depression, all
appearance of alarm is calculated to do mischief."
Having said this, Mr. Sheldon lost no time in making arrangements for the
journey. A carriage was ordered; all possible preparations were made for
the comfort of the invalid--everything that care or kindness could do was
done; but the cruelty of the removal was not the less obvious. Georgy
wailed piteously about the sixes-and-sevens to which they were being
taken. Diana cared nothing about sixes-and-sevens; but she felt supreme
indignation against Charlotte's stepfather, and she did not attempt to
conceal her feelings.
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