She told him what had passed.
"I know," he said. "Here it is." He produced the bit of paper. "I'll burn it," and he held it to the bowl of his pipe.
"No!" cried the girl. "Give it me."
She took it straight back to the sick man.
He lit a match and watched it burn with eyes that were almost covetous.
"That's the last of 'em," he said. "Now I shall die in the open like a gentleman."
He was, in fact, dying very fast.
It did not need Dr. Pollock's assurance to make the girl aware of that.
She longed to help him.
"Would you like to see Mr. Haggard?" she asked awkwardly.