“The nearest?” said the policeman. And he told him. “Leave a message for you, Sir?”
Lilly wrote his address on a card, then changed his mind.
“No, I'll run round myself if necessary,” he said.
And the policeman departed.
“You'll go to bed, won't you?” said Lilly to Aaron, when the door was shut. Aaron shook his head sulkily.
“I would if I were you. You can stay here till you're all right. I'm alone, so it doesn't matter.”
But Aaron had relapsed into semi-consciousness. Lilly put the big kettle on the gas stove, the little kettle on the fire. Then he hovered in front of the stupefied man. He felt uneasy. Again he took Aaron's hand and felt the pulse.
“I'm sure you aren't well. You must go to bed,” he said. And he kneeled and unfastened his visitor's boots. Meanwhile the kettle began to boil, he put a hot-water bottle into the bed.
“Let us get your overcoat off,” he said to the stupefied man. “Come along.” And with coaxing and pulling and pushing he got off the overcoat and coat and waistcoat.
At last Aaron was undressed and in bed. Lilly brought him tea. With a dim kind of obedience he took the cup and would drink. He looked at Lilly with heavy eyes.