“Mrs Swinton! I have good news, the very best of news!” Swinton lurched into his house, swaying in the grand hall as he looked around him. Mrs Swinton hurried out to meet him.
“Swinton! What time do you call this? Have you been drinking?” She noticed me and stopped, with one hand over her mouth. “I do apologise, Mr Elliot! What must you think of us?”
I realised she was in her nightclothes, smiled and politely turned my back. “It’s quite all right, Mrs Swinton, you are perfectly decent, and I am a doctor.”
“Father! Are you all right?” Evelyn was also in her nightclothes and a very captivating sight she was, with a night-cap not quite succeeding in controlling all her hair and her bare ankles and feet protruding delicately. “Oh! Martin!” She stepped behind a high-backed chair to hide her
