Nicolle Terasse
and others were whispering loudly to Tim Denton. That was the only
sound, until the Healer got to the door. Then, on the steps, he turned
to the multitude.
"Peace be to you all, and upon this house," he said and stepped through
the doorway.
Tim Denton, who had been staring at the face of the Healer, stood for an
instant like one with all his senses arrested. Then he gasped, and
exclaimed, "Well, I'm eternally--" and broke off with a low laugh,
which was at first mirthful, and then became ominous and hard.
"Oh, magnificent--magnificent--jerickety!" he said into the sky above
him.
His friends who were not "saved," closed in on him to find the meaning
of his words, but he pulled himself together, looked blankly at them, and
asked them questions. They told him so much more than he cared to hear,
that his face flushed a deep red--the bronze of it most like the colour
of Laura Sloly's hair; then he turned pale. Men saw that he was roused
beyond any feeling in themselves.
"'Sh!" he said. "Let's see what he can do." With the many who were
silently praying, as they had been, bidden to do, the invincible ones
leant forwards, watching the little room where healing--or tragedy--was
afoot.
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