She held out her hands to him, gropingly. "Going?"
"Yes. I'm coming back, week after next, to get you. I'll not talk this way ever again. Don't forgive me—you can't.
"You'll have to go down to our hospital, perhaps for a couple of weeks," he concluded.
He stepped from the room so silently, passed so quickly on the turf, that she was not sure he had gone. He never saw her hands reach out, did not hear her voice: "No, no! I'll not go! Let me be as I am!"
CHAPTER XXVI
THE WAYS OF MR. GARDNER
Two figures stood regarding Doctor Barnes as his car turned into the willow lane out-bound for the highway.
"Why didn't he say good-by, anyways, when he left?" commented Wid, turning to Annie Squires. "Went off like he'd forgot something."
"That's his way," replied Annie, rolling down her sleeves. They had met as she was passing from the barracks cabin. "He's a live wire, anyways. God knows this country needs them."