'What I don't understand,' explained Dick, 'is that the word I caught was Abinger. Now, I am quite certain that he only knew me as Noble Simms.'
'Some one must have told him your real name,' said Mary. 'Is he asleep now?'
'That reminds me of another thing,' said Dick, looking at the torn card in his hand. 'Just as I was coming away he staggered off the couch where he is lying to his desk, opened it, and took out this card. He glared at it, and tore it in two before I got him back to the couch.'
There were tears in Nell's eyes now, for she felt that she understood it all.
'It is horrible to think of him alone up there,' she cried. 'Let us go up to him, Mary.'
Mary hesitated.
'I don't think it would be the thing,' she said, taking the card from Nell's hand. She started slightly as she looked at it, and then became white.
'What is his name, Dick?' she faltered, in a voice that made Nell look at her.
'Angus,' said Dick. 'He has been on the Press here for some months.'
The name suggested nothing at the moment to Nell, but Mary let the card fall. It was a shabby little Christmas card.