"Nonsense!" she exclaimed crossly, "You don't stay in bed because you've scratched your ankle."
"No. But you must remember you've had a bit of a shock."
By this time Kitty and Roger had joined them, overhearing the last part of the conversation.
"Of _course_ you'll go to bed at once," asserted Kitty firmly. "Will you give her a hand upstairs, Barry?"
"You see?" said Barry, regarding the patient humorously. "Come along, Nan! Shall I carry you or will you hobble?"
"I'll _walk_," returned Nan with emphasis.
"Bed's much the best place for you," put in Roger.
He followed her to the foot of the staircase and, as he shook hands, said quietly:
"Where's Penelope?" asked Nan, as Barry assisted her upstairs with a perfectly unnecessary hand under her arm, since--as she curtly informed him--she had "no intention of accomplishing two faints in one day."
"Penelope is out with Fenton--need you ask?" And Barry chuckled good-humouredly. "Kitty fully expects them to return an engaged couple."
"Oh, I do hope they will!" cried Nan, bubbling up with the instantaneous feminine excitement which generally obtains when a love-affair, after seeming to hang fire, at last culminates in a _bonâ fide_ engagement. "Penny has kept him off so firmly all this time," she continued. "I can't think why, because it's perfectly patent to everybody that they're head over ears in love with each other."
Barry, who could have hazarded a very fair idea as to the reason why from odd scraps of information on the subject elicited from his wife, was silent a moment. Finally he said slowly:
"I shouldn't ask Penelope anything about it when she comes in, if I were you. If matters aren't quite settled between them yet, it might upset everything again."
Nan paused outside the door of her bedroom.
"But, my dear old Barry, what on earth is there to upset? There's no earthly obstacle to their marrying that I can see!"
As she spoke she felt a sudden little qualm of apprehension. It was purely selfish, as she told herself with a twinge of honest self-contempt. But what should she do without Penelope? It would create a big blank for her if her best friend left her for a home of her own. Somehow, the inevitable reaction of Penelope's marriage upon her own life had not occurred to her before. It hurt rather badly now that the thought had presented itself, but she determined to ignore that aspect of the matter firmly.