"I'm sorry," she said. "Why have you asked for me?"
"They told me I couldn't keep him at home—that I must bring him here.... Mary, you will do what you can for him?"
She raised her head calmly.
"He is sure of careful nursing," she answered; "no patient is neglected."
"I know. I know all that. I thought that you——"
"I'm not in the children's ward," she said; "there isn't anything I can do."
He looked at her dumbly. Mere indifference his agitation would have found vent in combating, but the conclusiveness of the reply left him nothing to urge.
"I must be satisfied without you, then," he said at last. "I thought of you directly."
"He'll have every attention; you needn't doubt that."
"Such a little chap—among strangers!"