"At what?"
"I shudder to think. Please let me in!"
"But why are you all doubled up like that?"
Tired of words, Marc reached up to the screen to pull it away so he could get behind it. Unfortunately, it was at this same instant that Toffee decided to shove it open to make room. With their combined efforts, the screen buckled, folded, teetered and fell, cracking Marc solidly on the head. The next moment found him in an unconscious sprawl on the floor. The area behind the screen was starkly deserted. The observers crowded in swiftly to see what had happened.
"Good God!" the doctor cried, staring down at Marc. "It's Pillsworth, the man they're looking for in Surgery!"
"Is he dead?" the nurse asked.
The doctor shook his head. "He's breathing. Run and call an orderly to take him along instantly. Hurry!"
As the nurse hurried off, the elderly patient removed one of the crutches from the side of her chair and passed it experimentally through the vacant area beyond the screen. She shook her head in perplexity.
"By golly," she said, "I could have sworn he was talkin' to somebody back there."