He
wanted a nurse for the foreigner whose arrival was expected on that
evening, and he had offered the place to Fanny. "Your ladyship will, I
hope, excuse me; I have taken the place."
This amazing end to the strange events which had just been narrated
proved to be more than Iris was immediately capable of understanding.
"I am in the dark," she confessed. "Is Mr. Vimpany a bolder villain
even than I have supposed him to be?"
"That he most certainly is!" Fanny said with strong conviction. "As to
what he really had in his wicked head when he engaged me, I shall find
that out in time. Anyway, I am the nurse who is to help him. When I
disobeyed you this morning, my lady, it was to go to the hospital with
Mr. Vimpany. I was taken to see the person whose nurse I am to be. A
poor, feeble, polite creature, who looked as if he couldn't hurt a
fly---and yet I promise you he startled me! I saw a likeness, the
moment I looked at him."
"A likeness to anybody whom I know?" Iris asked.
"To the person in all the world, my lady, whom you know most nearly--a
likeness to my master."
"What!"
"Oh, it's no fancy; I am sure of what I say. To my mind, that Danish
man's likeness to my lord is (if you will excuse my language) a nasty
circumstance.
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