The doctor looked up at him curiously and his eyes rested on Inman’s swollen and discoloured face.
“You’ve been in the wars yourself, I see,” he remarked. “That’s a nasty bruise you’ve got!”
“Yes,” said Inman, “it is”; and vouchsafed no other reply.
When he left his shake-down in the parlour the next morning he found the doctor drinking a cup of tea in the kitchen. The old man’s eyes were tired and he looked weary; but his voice was cheery as he said:
“I must get away for a few hours. There are others who must be seen; but though your wife isn’t out of the wood yet, we have not worked all night for nothing. I’ll be round again at noon.”
“I’m much obliged to you,” said Inman calmly. “I wouldn’t have her die for the world. I want her to get well and strong—aye, by Jove, and to have her feelings. She hasn’t been out of my thoughts all night.”
The doctor stared at him. “Very natural, of course,” he said. He was thinking to himself that he would never have expected this reserved, obstinate-looking young fellow to be so deeply affected by the anxiety that throws some men off their balance at these times.
Baldwin was unbearable that morning and for once Inman was not conciliatory. Both men felt that they were objects of interest to the others and both knew that their affairs would have been discussed in the public-house the night before; but whereas Baldwin was too muddled by drink and worry to pay any attention to the idle talk of his neighbours Inman was chafing under a sense of deep humiliation; and his ill-temper which he had carefully cloaked from the men, found an outlet when he was summoned to the office just before noon.
No sooner was the door closed than Baldwin let loose a flood of coarse language on which the information he intended to impart was carried in disjointed fragments that told Inman nothing.
“Look here, Mr. Briggs!” he said, so sharply that Baldwin stopped with an abruptness that proved his astonishment. “If you’ve anything to say get it said, and don’t unload all your foul talk on to me. Why the devil should I have my ears turned into sewers for all your filth? The post can have brought you naught you haven’t expected. If you want my help, get to the point, and if you don’t I’ll go back. I’m in a mood to jack the whole thing up this morning, and let you go to hell your own way.”