Doctor Groom's voice reached them.
"Have you found her? Is she in the dining room?"
Without any thought of disloyalty Bobby recognized the menace of coincidence.
"Take your cloak off," he whispered. "Leave it here."
"Why?"
While he drew the cloak from her shoulders he raised his voice.
"Carlos has been hurt. The doctor asked me to find you."
His simple strategy was destroyed by the appearance of Rawlins. The detective came directly to them; nor was the coincidence lost on him, and it was his business to advertise rather than to conceal it. Without ceremony he took the cloak from Bobby. He draped it over his arm.
"The doctor," he said to Katherine, "wants a basin of warm water, some old linen, carbolic acid, if you have it."
She nodded and went back to the kitchen while Bobby returned with the detective to the hall. Paredes's eyes remained closed.