She had
nothing to do with the play save to act well her part. It was not for her
to arrange the lines or manage the parts of the other players. The
feeling possessed her that, indeed, she had somewhere rehearsed the scene
many times before. Stepping quickly to the bed she saw that her patient
was still apparently sleeping. Then she stood trembling, listening to the
step in the hall as Dan approached.
He knocked the second time before she could summon strength to cross the
room and open the door.
"May I come in?" he asked hat in hand.
At his words--the same that he had spoken a few hours before in the
garden--the nurse's face grew crimson. She made no answer, but in the
eyes that looked straight into his, Dan read a question and his own face
grew red as he said, "I called to see your patient. Dr. Oldham asked me
to come."
"Certainly; come in." She stepped aside and the minister entered the
sick-room. Mechanically, without a word she placed a chair for him
near the bed, then crossed the room to stand by the window. But he did
not sit down.
Presently Dan turned to the nurse. "She is asleep?" he asked in a low
tone.
Miss Farwell's answer was calmly--unmistakably professional. Looking at
her watch she answered, "She has been sleeping nearly two hours."
"Is there--will she recover?"
"Dr. Abbott says there is no reason why she should not if we can turn
her from her determination to die."
Always Dan had been intensely in love with life.
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