The nurse appeared. "You, Miss Conover?"
"Yes." Kitty realized at once that she must take the nurse into her
confidence. "I have made a really important discovery. Did Cutty say
when he would return?"
"No. I am not in his confidence to that extent. But I do know that you
assumed unnecessary risks in coming here."
Kitty shrugged and produced the wallet. "Is Mr. Hawksley awake?"
"He is."
"It appears that he left this wallet in my kitchen that night. It might
buck him up if I gave it to him."
The nurse, eyeing the lovely animated face, conceded that it might.
"Come, I've been trying futilely to read him asleep, but he is restless.
No excitement, please."
"I'll try not to. Perhaps, after all, you had better give him the
wallet."
"On the contrary, that would start a series of questions I could not
answer. Come along."
When Kitty saw Hawksley she gave a little gasp of astonishment. Why, he
was positively handsome! His dark head, standing out boldly against the
bolstering pillows, the fine lines of his face definite, the pallor--he
was like a Roman cameo. Who and what could he be, this picturesque
foundling?
His glance flashed into hers delightedly. For hours and hours the
constant wonder where she was, why no one mentioned her, why they evaded
his apparently casual questions. To burst upon his vision in the nadir
of his boredom and loneliness like this! She was glorious, this American
girl. She made him think of a golden scabbard housing a fine
Toledo blade. Hadn't she saved his life? More, hadn't she assumed a
responsibility in so doing? Instantly he purposed that she should not be
permitted to resign the office of good Samaritan. He motioned toward the
nurse's chair; and Kitty sat down, her errand in total eclipse.
"Just when I never felt so lonely! Ripping!"
His quick smile was so engaging that Kitty answered it--kindred spirits,
subconsciously recognizing each other. Fire; but neither of them
knew that; or that two lonely human beings of opposite sex, in touch,
constitute a first-rate combustible.
Quietly the nurse withdrew. There would be a tonic in this meeting for
the patient. Her own presence might neutralize the effect. She had not
spent all those dreadful months in base hospitals without acquiring a
keen insight into the needs of sick men. No harm in letting him have
this pretty, self-reliant girl alone to himself for a quarter of an
hour. She would then return with some broth.