Sister Ursula held up one hand warningly as she stooped over the invalid.
For the second time did Cott van Cott misinterpret the gesture and heaved himself upward, the violin and the bow clicking and rattling at every stride. He was fleeing to the leads to save his life and his violin from death by fire—fire in the basement—and the crowd in the street roared below him with the roar of a full-fed conflagration.
The invalid fell back on the pillows and wiped his eyes. The hands of the clock were on the hour appointed for the medicine, lacking only the thirty seconds necessary for pouring it into a wine-glass. He took it from Sister Ursula’s hand, still shaking with helpless laughter.
“took one little brass thimble-like thing
from its inside.”
“God bless you, Sister Ursula,” he said. “You’ve saved my life.”
“The medicine was to be given,” she answered simply. “I—I could not help coming that way.”
“If you only knew,” said the invalid. “If you only knew! I saw it from out of the windows. Good heavens! the dear old world is just the same as ever. I must get back to it. I must positively get well and get back. And, Sister Ursula, do you mind telling me when you’re quite composed everything that happened between the time the door shut and—and you came in that way?”
After a little Sister Ursula told, and the invalid laughed himself faint once more. When Sister Ursula re-settled the pillows, her hand fell on the butt of a revolver that had come from the desk by the head of the bed. She did not understand what it was, but the sight pained her.
“Wait a minute,” said the invalid, and he took one little brass thimble-like thing from its inside. “I—I wanted to use it for something before you went out, but I saw you come up, and I don’t want it any more. I must certainly get back to the world again. Dear old world! Nice old world! And Mrs. Cassidy prayed with you in the cellar, did she? And Van Cott thought it was a fire? Do you know, Sister Ursula, that all those things would have been impossible on any other planet? I’m going to get well, Sister Ursula.”