“Yes, Corole,” I said decisively. “Why did you come here? And how did you get into the room?”
“I think your presence demands an explanation,” added Dr. Balman quietly.
She looked at me, she swept Dr. Balman’s mild brown eyes, she flickered a green glance at Dr. Hajek, she drew her silk wrap more closely about her, she moved her brown hands uneasily up and down its collar, and she finally replied.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I got to thinking of Louis and somehow—got the idea that if I came over here I might be able to—to——” Her excuse died away from very lack of body, she took a long breath, and raised her eyelids insolently. “I felt I must see Room 18. So I came. I got in at the window. If you have nothing more to say—Good-night.” Her strange eyes swept us and actually they harboured a gleam of amusement. Then she drew the cloak tightly about her, walked to the window, put one hand on the sill, and with a long, graceful movement swung herself over the sill and through the window. It was done with the nonchalance and ease of an animal and she did not even glance back at us. For an instant her gold hair shone beyond the window, then the screen came down upon a black void and she was definitely gone.
No one left in the room spoke. Dr. Hajek made a motion as if he thought to accompany her but thought better of it. Dr. Balman reached for Mr. Gastin’s pulse. Maida crossed the room swiftly and went into the corridor. As her starched skirts rustled past the bed Mr. Gastin took his eyes from the window.
“I think,” he said feebly. “I think I should like to have an upstairs room.”
“We’ll see in the morning,” I said absently.
“In the morning!” observed Mr. Gastin with feeling. “Do you think I’m going to stay in this haunted room for the rest of the night!”
And believe it or not, we had to give up and bundle him on a truck and take him to a temporary bed in the charity ward! This was the first time in all my years of nursing that I was so influenced by a patient and this was not accomplished without resistance on my part and extremely sulphuric language on his. In fact, he proved to be versatile in the latter respect, attaining heights that made my hair stand on end. Dr. Balman was quite scarlet at the end of one climactic triumph and sent Dr. Hajek hurriedly for the truck.
So, all in all, it was not until I was back in the wing, and our patients had been assured by the story of a mouse that Maida in a burst of unexpected mendacity brought forth, and things were quiet and peaceful again, that I began to wonder what had been the purpose of Corole’s visit.