"Yes?"
"Am I much hurt? How much hurt, do you think?"
"I don't know how much. I think the arm is broken. The leg may be only sprained. Then there's the cut—I daresay that isn't very much—but one can't tell that."
"I must have come an awful mucker," Gerda murmured, after a pause. "It must have looked silly, charging over the edge like that.... You didn't."
"No. I didn't."
"It was stupid," Gerda breathed, and shut her eyes.
"No, not stupid. Anyone might have. It was a risky game to try."
"You tried it."
"Oh, I ... I do try things. That's no reason why you should.... You'd better not talk. Lie quite quiet. It won't be very long now before they come.... The pain's bad, I know."
Gerda's head was hot and felt giddy. She moved it restlessly. Urgent thoughts pestered her; her normal reticences lay like broken fences about her.