Page:The Yellow Book - 04.djvu/83

Rh to dismiss him, her voice softening. "Doctor Green will tell you best to-morrow."

Farrell entered his room and took off his coat. His ears, grown delicate to the merest suspicion, seemed to catch a sound upon the stillness, and opening the door he looked out. All was quiet; the great lamp upon the landing swung noiselessly, shedding its dim beams upon the pannelled [sic] walls. He shut to the door, and once more was in the wilderness of his own thoughts. The doctor came twice that next day. In the morning a white and anxious face met him on the stairs and scanned him eagerly.

"She is going on, going on" said he deliberately.

"Then the danger is past?" cried Farrell, his heart beating with new vigour.

"No doctor can say that," said the doctor slowly. "She is as well as I expected to find her. It was very difficult."

"But will she" began Farrell, stammering.

"Well?" exclaimed the doctor sharply.

"Will she live?"

The doctor's eye avoided his. "Those things are never certain," he said. "You must hope. I know more than you, and I hope."

"Yes, yes," cried Farrell impatiently. "But, my God, doctor, "he burst forth, "will she die?"

The doctor glanced at him and then away. "It is possible," he said gravely.

Farrell leaned back against the handrail and mechanically watched him pass the length of the hall and let himself out. Some one touched his arm, and he looked up. "Come, sir, come," said the nurse. "You musn't give way. Nothing has happened. She is very weak, but I've seen weaker folk pull through." He