"If you will step this way, madam, you can see Miss Marsh for a few minutes."
"That's Paula's nurse," whispered Tod.
He also rose and went toward the ward with his mother, but the nurse held up her hand.
"Not you, sir, only the lady," she said.
"There's no danger, is there?" inquired Mrs. Marsh timidly.
"Oh, she's not very dangerous! She won't bite you!" grinned Tod reassuringly.
"This way, please, m'm," said the nurse.
Holding the door open for the visitor, Mrs. Johnson waited until she had entered and then closed it carefully behind her. Tod stood looking after the two women until the door was shut in his face, then he walked over to the window and stood gazing disconsolately out into the grounds. How he envied his mother that brief interview with Paula. Never so much as now did he realize how he loved her. Each day that went by without his seeing her seemed to make his passion burn stronger. And to think that she was kept an unwilling prisoner within these grim walls! Nervously he began to pace the floor. When would Ricaby be back? The examination would soon take place upstairs. They ought to corner Cooley before it began. Would they succeed in frightening him? So preoccupied was he with his thoughts that he did not hear anyone enter. But a cough suddenly made him look up. The old male attendant was standing by the foot of the staircase, looking at him:
"Say, Collins," exclaimed the young man, "can't you get me a brandy and soda? I'm awfully dry. This place gives me the blues."
The old man shook his head violently.