She whispered in his ear.
“The brute—telephoned. Please don’t talk.”
The doctor arrived. His examination was over in a few moments.
“Nothing serious,” he declared. “The knife was pretty blunt fortunately. How did it happen? It seems like a case for the police.”
“It was an accident,” Wingrave declared coolly.
The doctor shrugged his shoulders. He was busy making bandages. Lady Ruth rose to her feet. She was white and giddy. The commissionaire and Morrison were talking together at the door. The latter turned to Lady Ruth.
“Do you think that we had better send for the police, your ladyship?” he asked. “It was the young man who came in with Mr. Wingrave who must have done this! I thought he was a very wild-looking sort of person.”
“You heard what Mr. Wingrave said,” she answered. “I don’t think that I should disobey him, if I were you. The doctor says that, after all, it is not very serious.”
“He can’t have got far,” the hall porter remarked. “He only slipped out as we came in.”
“I should let him go for the present,” Lady Ruth said. “If Mr. Wingrave wishes to prosecute afterwards, it will be easy for him to do so.”