Lumsden cleared a chair, and, pulling it forward, bade the girl, with a gesture, sit down.
"Any change, Webber?" he asked.
"It may be a few minutes yet. Hush!"
He got up and put his ear to the boy's mouth. A faint snore was audible. He looked up at his partner.
"'Cheyne-Strokes' breathing beginning, Girling."
"Is he suffering?" Bryan asked. He seemed to have lost interest in the technicalities of the question. "That's all I want to know."
"No, no," said the younger man. "Please believe us, Sir Bryan. He won't have suffered from first to last."
"Why's it such a long business?"
"Oh! seven hours is nothing unusual. The power of resistance in children his age is generally much greater. Twelve to fourteen is quite common. I still believe, Webber, there was subcutaneous administration as well."
"Perhaps. I could find no puncture, but his reaction to the ether certainly looked like it."