“Will it be a very painful operation?” asked the girl.
“Not at all; and the anaesthetic prevents consciousness. If Swot were a little older, I should not have had to trouble you. It is a curious fact that boys, as a rule, face operations more bravely than any other class of patient we have.”
“I wonder why that is?” queried Constance.
“It is due to the same ambition which makes cigarette-smokers of them—a desire to be thought manly.”
Once the carriage reached the hospital, Constance followed the doctor up the stairs and through the corridor. “Let me relieve you of the coat, Miss Durant,” he advised, and took it from her and passed it over to one of the orderlies. Then, opening a door, he made way for her to enter.
“The two were quickly seated on the floot”
Constance passed into a medium-sized room, which a first glance showed her to be completely lined with marble; but there her investigations ceased, for her eyes rested on the glass table upon which lay the little fellow, while beside him stood a young doctor and a nurse. At the sound of her footsteps the boy turned his head till he caught sight of her, when, after an instant’s stare, he surprised the girl by hiding his eyes and beginning to cry.
“Ise knowed all along youse wuz goin’ to kill me,” he sobbed.