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Rh she said. “But ﬁrst I should like to know more about the poor man who was hurt. I meant to see his wife yesterday, but Mr. Gaines told me she would be at work till six, and it would have been difﬁcult to go after that. I did go to the hospital; but the man was sleeping—is Dillon his name?—and the matron told us he was much better. Dr. Disbrow came in the evening and said the same thing—told us it was all a false report about his having been so badly hurt, and that Mr. Truscomb was very much annoyed when he heard of your having said, before the operatives, that Dillon would lose his arm.”

Amherst smiled. “Ah—Mr. T ruscomb heard that? Well, he’s right to be annoyed: I ought not to have said it when I did. But unfortunately I am not the only one to be punished. The operative who tied on the black cloth was dismissed this morning.”

Mrs. Westmore ﬂamed up. “Dismissed for that? Oh, how unjust—how cruel!”

“You must look at both sides of the case,” said Amherst, ﬁnding it much easier to remain temperate in the glow he had kindled than if he had had to force his own heat into frozen veins. “Of course any act of insubordination must be reprimanded—but I think a reprimand would have been enough.”

It gave him an undeniable throb of pleasure to ﬁnd that she was not to be checked by such arguments. “But he shall be put back—I won’t have any one [ 101 ]