“Still nothing from Doctor Sherman?” he whispered in grave anxiety.
“Nothing,” said Miss Sherman, looking straight into her questioner’s eyes.
“Too bad, too bad!” sighed Doctor West. “He ought to be home!”
Miss Sherman let the first trace of feeling escape from her compressed being.
“But still there is a chance?” she asked quickly.
“A fighting chance. I think we shall know which it’s to be within an hour.”
At these words Katherine heard from behind her ever so faint a sound, a sound that sent a thrill through all her nerves. A sound like a stifled groan. For a minute or more she did not move. But when Doctor West and Miss Sherman had gone back to their places and Doctor West had begun the final fight for Elsie’s life, she slowly turned about. Before her was a door. Her heart gave a leap. When she had entered she had searched the room with a quick glance, and that door had then been closed. It now stood slightly ajar.
Some one within must have noiselessly opened it to hear Doctor West’s decree upon the patient.
Swiftly and silently Katherine slipped through the door and locked it behind her. For a moment she stood in the darkness, striving to master her throbbing excitement.
At length she spoke.