Joan’s colorless lips could hardly frame the word—“Hurt!”
“I am afraid so—very much.”
“Worse than others?”
“You were nearest the engine; and his end of the compartment—” Leo seemed unable to continue, yet those craving eyes would not let him off. “There was—Joan, will you not come with me? We shall know—presently.”
She almost stamped her foot.
“There was—what—what? Tell me.”
“From the engine—a rush of boiling water—that, or hot steam; I don’t know which—or how,” Leo said with difficulty. “He seemed to be severely scalded.”
“Could he speak?”
“No.”
“Not—not—dead?”