When he missed him,--in the smoking-room, that was,--he asked for him.
"I don't see the chap who came in with us," he said. "Clever fellow. Like
to know his name."
The staff did not know.
K. sat alone on a bench in the hall. He wondered who would tell Sidney; he
hoped they would be very gentle with her. He sat in the shadow, waiting.
He did not want to go home and leave her to what she might have to face.
There was a chance she would ask for him. He wanted to be near, in that
case.
He sat in the shadow, on the bench. The night watchman went by twice and
stared at him. At last he asked K. to mind the door until he got some
coffee.
"One of the staff's been hurt," he explained. "If I don't get some coffee
now, I won't get any."
K. promised to watch the door.
A desperate thing had occurred to Carlotta. Somehow, she had not thought
of it before. Now she wondered how she could have failed to think of it.
If only she could find him and he would do it! She would go down on her
knees--would tell him everything, if only he would consent.
When she found him on his bench, however, she passed him by. She had a
terrible fear that he might go away if she put the thing to him first. He
clung hard to his new identity.
So first she went to the staff and confronted them. They were men of
courage, only declining to undertake what they considered hopeless work.
The one man among them who might have done the thing with any chance of
success lay stricken. Not one among them but would have given of his
best--only his best was not good enough.
"It would be the Edwardes operation, wouldn't it?" demanded Carlotta.
The staff was bewildered. There were no rules to cover such conduct on the
part of a nurse. One of them--Pfeiffer again, by chance--replied rather
heavily:-"If any, it would be the Edwardes operation."
"Would Dr. Edwardes himself be able to do anything?"
This was going a little far.
"Possibly. One chance in a thousand, perhaps. But Edwardes is dead. How
did this thing happen, Miss Harrison?"
She ignored his question. Her face was ghastly, save for the trace of
rouge; her eyes were red-rimmed.
"Dr. Edwardes is sitting on a bench in the hall outside!" she announced.
Her voice rang out. K. heard her and raised his head. His attitude was
weary, resigned. The thing had come, then! He was to take up the old
burden. The girl had told.