This was not just what Kate wanted to hear. "Why didn't you say something when I first came in?" she asked, her suspicion reflected in her voice.
He did not seem nonplused but he answered slowly: "I heard someone come in. I didn't pay much attention, that's about the truth."
"What are you doing in there in the dark?"
He was provokingly deliberate in answering. "You probably haven't heard about Abe Hawk?"
Her manner changed instantly and her voice sank. "Is it true that he is dead?"
"Yes."
"He didn't drown that morning, did he?" she asked eagerly anxious. "You thought he could get out—what happened?"
"He got out of the creek. But he strained his wounds—they opened. I wasn't much of a surgeon. I got him to the hospital—he died there. I had no place to take him then. I wouldn't leave him there alone. Belle said I might bring him here. I'm spending my last night with him."
"You're not trying to spare me, are you?" she asked, unsteadily. "He really did get out of the creek?"
"He did get out."