Dr. Nash had paused by the solitary lamp, but his efforts to induce it to burn more brightly resulted in extinguishing it entirely, leaving the bedroom illuminated by the firelight only. He turned at Miss Ward’s approach and addressed her in a low voice.
“Get the lamp from downstairs,” he whispered. “This one is burned out.”
Betty Carter, paying no attention to the others, halted by the bedside just as Miss Ward started for the door.
“I’ve come, Paul,” Miss Ward heard her say as she darted out of the room. “I am here to keep my word. Dr. Nash is with me.”
Miss Ward’s mystification lent wings to her feet, but when she made the turn of the last landing of the staircase her foot slipped on some snow left on the hardwood by the clergyman’s rubbers, and she went headlong to the floor. Considerably shaken by her fall, it was some moments before she could pull herself together and get to her feet. Taking up the lamp with a hand not quite steady, she walked upstairs. As she entered the bedroom she saw Betty Carter standing apparently just where she had left her and Doctor Nash closing his prayerbook.
“... I pronounce you man and wife.” The solemn words rang their meaning into Miss Ward’s ears as she took in the significance of the scene. “Come, Betty, we have no time to linger,” and stepping forward, Doctor Nash laid his hand on the girl’s arm.
With a gesture as if awakening from a dream, Betty Carter raised her head and faced Miss Ward. The nurse almost cried out as she met the full gaze of her tragic eyes.
“Surely you are not going?” she exclaimed. “Now—after—?”
“Yes.” Betty’s beauty was of an unusual type and Miss Ward’s heart gave a sympathetic throb as she came under the magnetism of her personality. “We—I will be back,” and before Miss Ward could gasp out a question, she hurried swiftly from the room, the clergyman at her heels.
Her mind in a daze, Miss Ward stood in the doorway of the bedroom holding the lighted lamp so that they might see their way to the staircase, but her half-formed intention of carrying the lamp to the head of the stairs altered when she saw that the clergyman was provided with a powerful pocket searchlight. She stood where she was until she heard the front door close with a distinct slam, then went thoughtfully into the bedroom.