"I am afraid the doctor will not let him be moved. I suggested bringing them in here, but Mr. Gale tells me the doctor said it would be fatal to move either at present."
"Then I'll stay and nurse him there. Sure it's that woman I'll watch. I'll go away at once."
He did not detain her. He did not even suggest she was going on a useless journey. But he sighed deeply as she left the office.
"Little wonder she is a widow," he murmured to himself. "I wonder how long the late Mr. Burke managed to survive it? I hope they keep her at Taloona for a month."
But she did not reach there that day.
On the way she met Gale returning.
"And what's the news of the poor injured creatures?" she cried as she reined in.
Gale shook his head.
"You were not thinking of going out there, were you?" he asked.
"I'm going out to do what I can to soothe the suffering of the unfortunates," she answered. "Mr. Wallace was telling me. What a frightful thing to happen to them, Mr. Gale. Sure the awful news was too much for me to bear, and I just fell like one dead at the sound of it. You'll see the mark on my face. They tell me I fell against the counter in the bank and might have killed myself entirely with the terrible smash I came against the wretched sharp edge, only that I struck it with my face instead of the back of my head, though it's little thanks to the bank, seeing the way they made the clumsy thing."