"Then I must be frank. She has received probably fatal injuries to spine and brain, and paralysis has resulted. Whether the paralysis will be permanent I cannot say now, because the extent of the shock has yet to be determined."
"She is not entirely unconscious."
"I am sure she is. On what do you base your opinion?"
"I know too well the expression of her eyes, and it changed when I spoke to her."
"Her tongue is certainly paralyzed, and she can move neither hand nor foot."
"I do not wish her carried to the charity hospital, though doubtless the treatment is the same. Please take her to the Mercy Infirmary, and will you be so kind as to let me sit close to her in the ambulance?"
Keenly the doctor scanned the convulsed face, where overmastering emotion defied control.
"Your wife, you said? My friend, don't you think it time you laid aside your disguise? Priests are not—in this country—given to acknowledging their wives so publicly. It may be all right, but your marital claims and your clothes don't seem to fit."
"I am not a Romanist. I belong to an Episcopal celibate Order, and my superior understands and directs my movements. If you knew everything you would pity me——"
The surgeon took off his hat, bowed, and waved him to a seat in the ambulance.