The girl came quickly down the steep flight of stairs, holding a flickering candle above her head.
“I think he’s fainted,” Ken said.
“Can you carry him up? I have a room at the head of the stairs.”
Ken managed to get Johnny across his shoulder and he staggered up the stairs after the girl, who lit the way.
He got Johnny into a small room, lit only by an oil lamp.
“Put him on the bed.”
When he had lowered Johnny on to the bed, he turned to look at the girl and he saw with a sense of shock it was the girl he had met in the amusement arcade.
“Hello, handsome,” she said, smiling at him. “So you’re still in trouble.” She handed him the oil lamp. “Hold it so I can take a look at him.”
Too surprised to say anything, Ken held the oil lamp while she quickly cut away Johnny’s coat sleeve and shirt. The sight of the blood and the torn flesh sickened him.
“It could be worse, but I’ve to stop that bleeding,” she said calmly. She moved quickly across the room, filled a basin of water, went to a cupboard and pulled out a couple of towels and came back to the bed.