“He had a good night, Mr. Carter. But I haven’t seen him since seven this morning.”
“His mind?”
“I fancy it is better. He seems to remember things a little. I feel sure he will recover in time.”
This nurse had had long experience, comparatively. She was nearly thirty years of age, and was considered one of the most competent of her profession in the hospital. When she said a patient was better, there was reason to believe she was right.
“I’m glad to hear it, Miss Jordan. Were you going to see him now?”
“Yes. I don’t go on till seven. But as I am in the hospital, I’ll go in, of course, to see my patient. I am deeply interested in the case. It is a sad one, it seems to me, for I hear that he is a very wealthy man.”
Miss Jordan looked inquiringly at Nick. But if she expected to receive any information from him as to Howard Milmarsh’s private affairs, she was disappointed. The detective was not given to idle gossip.
The young man was known in the hospital as Robert Gordon. If he had been entered in the name of Howard Milmarsh, there would have been altogether too much curiosity about him, in Nick’s opinion.
The two reached the door of the private room, and Miss Jordan tapped at the door.
It was opened quickly, and Nick saw that there were three doctors and as many nurses standing between him and the bed, and all were talking with more excitement than is usual in a sick chamber.