Then his eyes flamed, his cheeks became purple, and Marcella thought for an instant he would have struck her. Finally he turned down his shirt-cuffs and walked away.
"You understand," he said thickly, turning upon her, with his hat in his hand, "that I shall not attend this case again till your Association can send me a nurse that will do as she is told without insolence to the doctor. I shall now write a report to your superintendent."
"As you please," said Marcella, quietly. And she went to the door and opened it.
He passed her sneering:
"A precious superior lot you lady-nurses think yourselves, I dare say.
I'd sooner have one old gamp than the whole boiling of you!"
Marcella eyed him sternly, her nostrils tightening. "Will you go?" she said.
He gave her a furious glance, and plunged down the stairs outside, breathing threats.
Marcella put her hand to her head a moment, and drew a long breath. There was a certain piteousness in the action, a consciousness of youth and strain.
Then she saw that the landing and the stairs above were beginning to fill with dark-haired Jewesses, eagerly peering and talking. In another minute or two she would be besieged by them. She called sharply, "Benny!"
Instantly Benny appeared from the landing above, elbowing the Jewesses to right and left.