“I came for you,” the Dean said to the Doctor. “My secretary was suddenly taken ill. She is in the infirmary and the nurse advised calling you.”
“I’ll come at once,” the Doctor said.
Gale, too, gathered up her books and made her way to the door. There the Dean joined her.
“Gale, I haven’t seen you for a week or more.”
“No,” Gale agreed.
The Freshman went down the stairs with the Dean and the Doctor. They stopped on the steps outside to talk before separating. Gale was talking to the Dean when the Doctor suddenly pushed them roughly to one side.
“Look out!” she shouted.
There was a tinkle of glass and a dark stain spread on the stone steps at their feet. The three bent over it before the Doctor whirled and ran into the building.
“A test tube of acid!” Gale cried in amazement. “I wonder how that came to fall out the window?”
“Fall? Perhaps it was thrown,” the Dean murmured, looking up at the windows to the Chemistry room which fronted on the campus.