In half an hour Tom looked into the doctor's face:
"Why, it's Doctor Williams?"
"Yes."
"What—what's happened?"
"It's only a scratch for you, my boy. You'll be well in a few days——"
"Well in a few days"—he repeated blankly. "I can't get well! I've got to die"—his head dropped and he caught his breath.
The doctor waited for him to recover himself to ask the question that was on his lips. He had gotten as yet no explanation of the tragedy save Cleo's statement that the major had shot Tom and killed himself. He had guessed that the ugly secret in Norton's life was in some way responsible.
"Why must you die, my boy?" he asked kindly.
Tom opened his eyes in a wild stare:
"Helen's my wife—we married secretly without my father knowing it. He has just told me that Cleo is her mother and I have married my own——"