“Will you tell her that if there is anyone else she wishes to see I will bring him? I only want her to be happy.”
The nurse looked at him with her calm, kind eyes, which had seen all the horror and pain of the world, and yet, filled with the vision of a world without sin, remained serene.
“I will tell her when she is a little calmer.”
Dirk, filled with compassion, begged her to take the message at once.
“It may cure her. I beseech you to ask her now.”
With a faint smile of pity, the nurse went back into the room. We heard her low voice, and then, in a voice I did not recognise the answer:
“No. No. No.”
The nurse came out again and shook her head.
“Was that she who spoke then?” I asked. “Her voice sounded so strange.”
“It appears that her vocal cords have been burnt by the acid.”